270 



OF GENERAL INTEREST. 



ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SHOW. 



Already elaborate preparations are being 

 made for th-e show. The Toronto Horticultural 

 society purpose offering prizes amounting to 

 $1,300 or $1,400, and inviting exhibits from all 

 parts of the province and from the United 

 States. The Ontario Fruit Growers' associa- 

 tion will only offer about $500 in prizes, but will 

 spend considerable money securing representa- 

 tive exhibits from the Experiment stations 

 and from the districts in which the directors of 

 the association are located. Money will also 

 be appropriated for the transportation of ex- 

 hilbits and for keeping them in cold storage. 

 The Bee Keepers' association will offer some 

 $200 in prizes. 



The prizes will be offered in such a way as to 

 make the exhibits of as great educational value 

 as possible. The intention is to hold the 

 flower exhibits in one rink, the fruit and honey 



exhibits in the second rink, and an exhibit of 

 orchard machinery in the open space of land 

 lying between the two rinks. The rinks and 

 the intervening ground are surrounded by a 

 high fence. 



The annual meetings of the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' association and of the Ontario Bee 

 Keepers' association will be held at the time of 

 the show. It is possible that there will ilso 

 be a meeting of representatives of the provin- 

 cial horticultural societies. The Fruit Division 

 at Ottawa has agreed to make an exhibit of 

 commercial fruit packages. Demonstrations 

 will be given in packing fruit. Under the di- 

 rection of the Farmers' Institutes ways of pre- 

 paring fruit and honey for the table will be 

 shown by some of the lady institute demonstra- 

 tors. The prize list committees of the various 

 associations will shortly have their lists com- 

 pleted and ready for distribution. 



Fruit Prospects Throughout the Dominion 



As a result of enquiries made throughout the 

 Dominion the Fruit Division at Ottawa an- 

 nounces that the damage from mice has been 

 most serious in Ontario and Que'bec. There 

 has been a serious increase in the number of 

 mice during the past year. The damage to 

 nursery stock was particularly severe, and it is 

 safe to say that not less than 25 per cent, of all 

 stock " heeled in " out doors has been destroyed. 

 The injury was almost nothing where young or- 

 chards had clean culture throughout the sea- 

 sion. The loss will probably reach about 25 

 per cent, of all young trees. The practice of 

 the best orchardist seems to be to grow the 

 cover crop even at the risk of encouraging the 

 mice and to protect the trees against their at- 

 tacks. Keeping a small circle about the trees 

 clean is not, in itself, a sufficient protection. 

 DAMAGE BY FROST. 



The damage by frost, though exceedingly 

 serious in Ontario and Quebec, will not affect 

 to any great extent the amount of fruit put on 

 the market this year, except in the case of 

 plums and peaches. Apples and pears were 

 seriously injured along the northern border of 

 the fruit belt. The Baldwin, Greening, Ontario, 

 Spy and Blenheim have been killed in places 

 where they are usually considered hardy. Top- 

 grafting only very slightly increases the hardi- 

 ness of the variety. None of the large apple- 

 producing sections were seriously injured. 



The Flemish Beauty pear again proved one 

 of the hardiest of good varieties. In both pear 

 and apple orchards the trees suffered much less 

 from frost and more from mice when grown in 

 sod or cover crop. Plums were killed in some 

 of the heavy plum-producing sections, and in 

 all probability the buds are so seriously injured 

 everywhere as to render a heavy crop this year 

 improbable. • 



The reports from the Essex peach district 

 show a damage approaching that of 1899; 50 per 

 cent, df the trees will be killed outright. The 

 Niagara district is not so severely injured. The 

 Crawford type proved particularly tender. 



Cherries are also injured severely in bud. Small 

 fruits escaped with less' injury. 



Cold Storage Company's Meeting 



The annual meeting of the St. Catharines 

 Cold Storage and Forwarding company was held 

 May 21. The financial statement for the year 

 showed a surplus of over $700, which was con- 

 sidered highly satisfactory. It was announced 

 that in future the directors will help members 

 more than in the past in the purchasing of sup- 

 plies, 'baskets, >barrels, spraying materials and 

 similar articles at wholesale prices. The fruit 

 of members will be sold direct to consumers 

 and dealers. 



During the past five years over $3,000 of the 

 surplus earnings have been used to reduce the 

 original debt on the plant. This debt now- only 

 amounts to $1,500. In the future it is expected 

 dividends will be paid on the stock. Up to the 

 present no new stock has been offered for sale 

 since the company's inception, but some new 

 stock will now be offered for sale at par. The 

 board of directors was re-elected. The general 

 feeling was that the company had been very 

 successful during the past year. 



The Inspectors Meet. — A meeting of the Do- 

 minion Fruit Inspectors was held at the Central 

 Experimental Farm at Ottawa, May 17, 18 and 

 19. The idea of the- gathering was to bring the 

 inspectors in touch with each other and to in- 

 form them of the latest developments in all 

 branches of the fruit industry. Model orchard 

 meetings were conducted for their instruction, 

 and addresses were given by Mr. W. A. Mac- 

 Kinnon, chief of the Fruit Division, Ottawa ; 

 Dr. Fletcher, Mr. W. T. Macoun, and other au- 

 thorities. 



The advertisement of the Pure Culture Spawn 

 appears in this issue for the first time. They 

 invite the attention of all mushroom growers to 

 their new " Tissue Culture Pure Spawn," grown 

 after improved methods, fully described in 

 their interesting circular, on the origin, history, 

 and improvement of " Mushroom Spawn." 



