CANADIAN FRUIT WINS HONORS AT ST. LOUIS 



T. H. RACE^ CANADIAN COMMISSIONER'S STAFE^ ST. LOUIS^ MO. 



RECENT shipments of new fruit from 

 Canada have greatly brightened up 

 the exhibit at St. Louis. The apple display 

 comprised a considerable number of varie- 

 ties from the crop of 1903, still in excellent 

 condition. 



One thing, the Canada fruit exhibit at St. 

 Louis has demonstrated is the superiority of 

 the Canadian apple in point of keeping 

 qualities. The Spys, Russets, Ben Davis, 

 Canada Red, Scarlet Pippin, Cranberry Pip- 

 pin, Lawver and Red Cheek Pippin, all to 

 be seen in the Canadian exhibit at this time, 

 are as bright and crisp as when they were 

 put in cold storage. There are still, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Knowlton, about 250 cases 

 in cold storage after giving away nearly 100 

 cases on " Apple Day," October 4. Can- 

 ada, in fact, was the only exhibitor who was 

 able to contribute wholly from her stock of 

 1903 to that general give-away. And, it 

 was not discovered by the thousands of peo- 

 ple, who were sent off rejoicing in the pos- 

 session of a good apple, that they were 

 munching a Canadian fruit a year old. 



The finer fruits, so-called, such as peaches, 

 pears and grapes, have arrived throughout 

 the season in pretty good shape. There 

 are some very fine peaches and grapes on 

 display frorn Mr. L. Woolverton, of Grims- 

 by, and some excellent pears from Mr. W. 

 Warnock, of Goderich. The last named 

 contributor also sent with his consign- 

 xnent a mammoth squash weighing 403 

 pounds. We had a good sized squash be- 

 fore, from Mr. W. Rennie, weighing 305 

 pounds, which was attracting a good deal of 

 attention. The one from Mr. Warnock 

 is proving an eye-opener to the Americans 

 down here, and they are beginning to believe 

 now that Canada is really a country of big 



things. A squash is not a fruit, and it was the 

 fruit exhibit that I started to write about. 

 During October, Mr. Knowlton has been re- 

 moving much of the fruit preserved in jars, 

 from the tables and replacing it with the 

 fresh stock arriving. He found that it had 

 discolored so much as to be unattractive, 

 and thought it better to put it out of sight 

 and replace it with something more sightly. 



The state of Wisconsin is making a very 

 showy display with the Northwest Green- 

 ing, the McMahon White, Wolf River and 

 Alexander, all good show varieties without 

 much quality. This Greening and the Mc- 

 Mahon seem to do particularly well in Wis- 

 consin, as the Ben Davis does in Arkansas. 

 My observation is that the Ben Davis grown 

 in Arkansas is superior in quality to that 

 grown anywhere else in America, and al- 

 most equal in size to that grown at the Pa- 

 cific Coast. 



The awards for the exhibits in the palace 

 of horticulture have not been announced yet, 

 but I understand that the committee on 

 awards has recommended a grand prize for 

 the general make-up, arrangement and com- 

 prehensive collection of the Canadian dis- 

 play, and a gold medal for general quality 

 of apples. 



We are frequently asked the question what 

 Canada is making such a " great spread " 

 down here for, and our answer is, to draw 

 attention to the wonderful resources, capa- 

 bilities and productiveness of our country 

 generally, and to attract settlers to our 

 Northwest provinces especially. In the fur- 

 therance of that great and patriotic purpose 

 the Canadian fruit exhibit and those who 

 have had charge of it have contributed no 

 small share. 



Apple buyers do about as they please. Very 

 few growers ship their own fruit, therefore the 

 majority realize small profits, which are dis- 

 couraging, and lack of interest and little atten- 

 tion to cultivation result. — (C. L. Olmsted, 

 Wentworth Co., Ont. i^ 



The Horticulturist is one of the best monthly 

 publications I know of. Its reports on the 

 fruit markets of the Dominion and also the Eng- 

 lish market are worth more than ten times its 

 subscription price to any fruit grower. — (John 

 Spencer, Henrysburg, Que. 



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