146 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



trees will confer a favor by corresponding 

 with the Department of Agriculture at To- 

 ronto. If parasites can be» obtained that 

 will be effective in destroying the codling 

 months, and they can be bred in sufficient 

 numbers to distribute to favorable points, 

 there may be accomplished a very valuable 

 work in helping bur apple growers to hold 

 in check this most destructive enemy to jur 

 most, valuable 

 fruit crop. Ap- 

 ple growers all 

 over Ontario 

 should be inter- 

 ested in this im- 

 portant investi- 

 gation. 



Fruit Growers' 



Unions 



Commission Sales 



Give Notliing 



to Growers 



w 



E have 

 reached a 



crisis in the his- 

 tory of fruit 

 growing in On- 

 tario. We have 

 been piling our 

 fruit into the big 

 cities to be sold 

 at whatever it 

 will bring, and 

 commission men 

 have used fruit 

 sent by one grower to cut prices with that 

 sent by another, until we must call a halt or 

 give up the business. 



This was clearly brought out at a series 

 of fruit growers' meetings held recently in 

 the Niagara district. At the Grimsby 

 meeting, Mr. Usher, of St. David's, strong- 

 ly urged the adoption of some plan by which 

 the fruit grower should be no longer at the 

 mercv of the commission merchants. Last 



Fig. 2772. G. C. Creelman, B.S.A 



year he had shipped 15,000 baskets of fruit, 

 and when at the end of the year he reckoned 

 up all the expenditures for work, packages, 

 etc., he found that he had no money left as 

 an income from his fruits. " We should 

 unite," said he, " and agree together that we 

 will not produce a pound of fruit for less 

 than two or three cents, as the case may be. 

 and agree to stand by that price, even if we 



lose some fruit 

 by it. How is it," 

 said he, " that the 

 canning factories 

 are now getting 

 double the price 

 for canned fruits 

 than they got 

 some years ago, 

 and the fruit 

 grower gets less. 

 Simply because 

 the canners unite 

 and the fruit 

 growers do not 

 unite to protect 

 their own inter- 

 ests." 



Union of Fruit 

 Growers Needed 



Every one 

 seemed to agree 

 that a union of 

 some kind was 

 most essential — 

 a good strong 

 union, which 

 should include all the prominent fruit 

 growers of the province ; a union where 

 members would agree not to sell their 

 fruits below a certain price, and, if 

 they shipped on commission, not to ship to 

 rival houses. Every trade and business 

 these days has its union, even the workmen 

 employed by the fruit grower, and, if he, 

 alone, will not agree to co-operate with his 

 brother fruit grower, he must expect to get 



