i8o 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



It was also decided that in future exhibitions 

 no more than one entry be made in any section 

 unless the second and other entries be distinct 

 named varieties. 



At a meeting of the directors, held imme- 

 diately after the annual meeting, Mr. T. W. 

 Robbins was appointed secretary- treasurer at a 

 salary of $25. 



THE CARNATION SHOW. 



The Toronto Electoral District Society, the 

 Toronto Gardeners' and Florists' Association 

 and the Toronto Horticultural Society recently 

 held their annual joint carnation show at St. 

 George's Hall, when a goodly show of exhibits 

 from Ontario districts, as well as from Joliet, 

 Buffalo and Lafayette, were displayed. Sev^ 

 eral new varieties of roses were suibmitted to 

 the public, namely, the La Detroit, the General 

 McArthur, beautiful hybrids of the light pink 

 variety, the lates.t importation from the United 

 States. The central piece of the Canadian ex- 

 hibits was undoubtedly the beautiful Fiancee 

 vase, which won the Lawson gold medal at De- 

 troit at the last exhibition. 



FRUIT GROWERS AND CO-OPERATION. 



Addressing the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' 

 Association at Bridgewater, Mr. W. A. MacKin- 

 non, Chief of the Fruit Division, Ottawa, spoke 

 as follows : 



"This is the most important subject be- 

 fore the fruit growers of Canada to-day. 

 Individuals can accomplish very little if they 

 work entirely alone. , All the fruit growers' 

 societies and associations should co-operate and 

 pull together. Look at the work of the manu- 

 facturer's association. Whenever they speak, 

 they speak as one man, and they are getting 

 what they ask to a great extent. "That is why 

 I suggest that fruit growers should \ake a les- 

 son from them, and that all local jealousies 

 should be put aside, for they are worse than 

 fungous diseases. 



" These are the objects which I think should 

 be obtained by co-operation. First of all, 

 growers who are beginning to plant in a new 

 district might co-operate to secure information 

 and purchase the best varieties of trees for that 

 district at the lowest price. Seven or eight 

 varieties are plenty for any district, and each 

 man would probably want three or four of 

 these. Then these growers might get together 

 and agree to adopt uniform methods of culture, 

 pruning, spraying, which would result in an en- 

 tire uniform quality of fruit. Growers within 

 a radius of five miles with a total of, say, 4,000 

 trees, could co-operate to secure effective and 

 systematic spraying by means of power outfits. 



" Another advantage of co-operation is in 

 securing cheap and reliable supplies, such as 

 implements, chemicals for spraying, and pack- 

 ages for shipping fruit. The man who wants 

 only 200 barrels must pay a higher price for 

 them than if he were buying all the barrels re- 

 quired in the district. By putting up packing 



houses at proper centres it will be possible to 

 secure uniform grading and packing by experts, 

 who will pack the fruit like machines and turn 

 out an even grade all through. A great deal 

 of the success of the California fruit is due to 

 this system, and we heard at the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' Association how Ohio growers had 

 prospered under the co-operative method of 

 packing and marketing peaches. Large quan- 

 tities of one grade of fruit are packed in exactly 

 similar packages, and purchasers know that 

 they can get as many as they want of that par- 

 ticular kind in one place. This facilitates sales 

 and enables the growers to avoid glutted mar- 

 kets, for even with apples there is a time when 

 it is well to ship and a time wihen it is not well 

 to ship. With the best of orchard manage- 

 ment there will always be some culls, which 

 might be disposed of economically if a number 

 of farmers owned a co-operative evaporator. 



" Advertising can Ibe done much more effec- 

 tively by co-operation. For instance, if you 

 had a Bridgewater Co-operative Association, 

 the buyers who attended your sales would be 

 able to depend upon the fruit and would buy 

 without hesitation. You cannot overestimate 

 the value of advertising such as that. You 

 would also have more influence with transpor- 

 tation companies to get fair rates, reasonaWe 

 care and better cars. Bear in mind that the 

 transportation companies are groups of stock- 

 holders who want dividends, but do not forget 

 that you want dividends too. You must bring 

 pressure to bear upon the managers of these 

 companies and upon the Railway Commission 

 to secure the removal of real grievances. 



" I should like to see the county vice-presi- 

 dents throughout this province consider and re- 

 port upon the feasibility of co-operative asso- 

 ciations in each county. At Walkerton, On- 

 tario, there is a co-operative association that 

 Ibegan with a small number of members. Now 

 they have more applications for membership 

 than they are willing to grant. With such a 

 powerful organization they can say to a negli- 

 gent member : ' You do not cultivate your or- 

 chard ; you are sending in sixty per cent, of No. 

 2 apples. We cannot allow this, and will refuse 

 to accept your fruit unless you cultivate and 

 spray properly.' When an association attains 

 to that point it can insist on up-to-date methods 

 throughout the district. That is what I hope 

 to see established everywhere in Canada. 



THE TOWNSHIP FAIR. 



The Hon. Mr. Dryden, who presided at the 

 evening session of the convention of the Fair 

 Association, advised forming the township 

 shows into one good show in each county. While 

 many good reasons might be advanced for one 

 county in preference to a number of inferior 

 township shows, we do not think the time has 

 come when the township show should be given 

 up. Many of them are doing excellent work, 

 and give a good reason for their existence. A 

 well managed township show, with the educa- 

 tional features predominating, and limiting 



