12 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



Quebec Fruit Growers Hold Profitable 



Meetings 



THE Fomological and Fruit Growing 

 Society, of the Provace of Quebec, 

 h©ld its annual meeting at Macdonald 

 College, December SUi and lOth. Wliile the 

 number of members in attendance was not 

 as large as Uiat of last year, yet the interest 

 was keener than ever. This was evidenced 

 by the discussion following each address. 



After the opening address by the Presl- 

 deal, R. A. Rousseau, the members were 

 cordially welcomed to the halls of Macdon- 

 ald College by Dr. F. C. Harrison, President 

 of the College. Hon. J. Ed. Caron, Minister 

 of Agriculture for the Province of Quebec, 

 explained what the Provincial Governmeni 

 was endeavoring to do to benefit the fruil 

 growers. Having mentioned the value of 

 the demonstration orchards, and the demon- 

 strations given at many different places in 

 the Province, he outlined a plan which was 

 already under way, whereby the farmer 

 with the aid of experts, would grow their 

 own nursery stock for the orchards that 

 were to be. The nurseries now established 

 aggregate ten acres in extent. Either in 

 lihe addresses or discussions nearly every 

 problem of vital importance to the fruit 

 grower was touched upon. 



The Rev. Father Leopold's interpretation 

 and remarks on the Inspection and Sales 

 Act made It clear that it was necessary to 

 explain to farmers aud fruit growers this 

 act a little more in detail, endeavoring to 

 fix in their minds standards as to size, 

 amount of coloring, etc., and to Impress up- 

 on them the fact that to set a standard 

 higher than that called for by the "Sales 

 Act," would be of the greatest benefit, not 

 only to themselves, but to fruit growing in 

 general. The purpose of the Act was to help 

 them rather than hinder, while at the same 

 time protecting the consumer. The ques- 

 tion of making a separate class of wind falls 

 was brought up and many growers felt, after 

 the experience of the past season, when a 

 great deal of money was lost on account of 

 the large number of wind falls, that these 

 apples might be classed separately, and the 

 grade marked in some way so as not to con- 

 fuse it with the ordinary grades. In this 

 way the grower might get a fairer deal. 

 This year windfalls. No. 1 fruit, except for 

 a slight bruise, and capable of being kept 

 for considerable time, had to be classed as 

 No. 3 grade and, of course, brought a small 

 return. 



A Recognized Authority. 



Much interest was taken in the address of 

 Mr. B. C. Case, of Sodus, New York, a re- 

 markably successful fruit grower of that 

 state. S'peaking of Mr. Case, Dominion 

 Fruit Commissioner, D. Johnson said he 

 con.sidered him to be the most successful 

 fruit grower he had met in his 4,000 mile 

 tour of orchard inspection in the Eastern 

 and Western United S'tates and Canada. He 

 is a thoroughly practical man, havins; some 

 650 acres. mo.'?tIy of apple orchard, 130 acres 

 being in cherries. On his farm are growing 

 some of the finest Baldwins and Greenings 

 In the country. Mr. Case was enthusiastic 

 in his encouragement to the fruit growers 

 to solve the problems confronting them. 

 Forty years ago production of apples was 

 small and what were produced were used for 

 maiking elder. As a young man he was ad- 

 vised to tear out the two and one-half acres 

 of apples he had and plant com or clover 

 or some more profitable crop. No one 

 dreamed then what the future of the apple 



indus.try would be. Now the two and one- 

 half aores of orchard will give a greater 

 return than ail the rest of the farm would 

 at that time. 



"In New York state evaporation of apples 

 is no small branch of the apple industry. 

 This takes care of the inferior fruit. Dis- 

 tribution is the weak point to-day. Only 

 half the problem is solved when the fruit is 

 packed and at the station. With proper 

 organization and good management there 

 would be ao over-production. If each per- 

 son in the United States ate one apple each 

 day, the biggest crop ever produced 

 (59,000,000 barrels) would not be halt 

 enough to meet the demand. The best pack 

 is the only pack to bring success. The pooi 

 pack deceives only the packer. The 

 essentials to the greatest success are: "Do 

 unto others as you would they should do to 

 you," and "love your neighbor as yourself." 

 Then will come that co-operation wbich is 

 so necessary to large and permanent mar- 

 kets. 



Prof. T. CF. Bunting said that juat as good 

 fruit can be grown in Quebec as in any 

 other fruit growing district, and splendid 

 markets are available. From statistics it 

 might appear that we have a large number 

 of trees coming into bearing each year, but 

 ia reality there are comparatively few. 

 There have been ao large plantings, flUlng 

 in vacancies caused by winter killing and 

 neglect account for a great number. Not 

 over twenty-five per cent, of trees planted 

 ever come into profitable bearing. To size 

 up the situation correctly, the number of 

 unprofitable as well as the profitable bearing 

 trees should be coasidered, not simply bear- 

 ing trees. 



Where it Is advisable to plant, large plant- 

 ings would prabably fare better than smaU 

 ones, as considerable money would be invest- 

 ed and, therefore, the orchard would be 

 likely to receive bette-r care. 



Too many varieties were being planted, 

 also varieties wUch had not been tested 

 for hardiness, or those which were decidedly 

 too tender. Young trees were bought and 

 set out simply on the recommendation of 

 the tree agent, who often knew nothing of 

 conditions. 



The number of varieties, the poor choice, 

 close planting, and the lack of thorough 

 spraying were responsible for failures in 

 many cases, and the small degree of success 

 attained in so many others. 



In Quebec 'Mcintosh and Fameuse should 

 he the chief varieties, planted with few 

 others, probably in the proportion of 50 per 

 cent. Mcintosh and 40 per cent. Fameuse. 



Several of the addresses given were illus- 

 trated with laatem views, and many ob- 

 scure points were made clear in this way. 

 The views shown by Mr. R. B. Whyte, of 

 Ottawa, were particularly fine. He took his 

 audience on an Interesting trip through the 

 parks and gardens of England, visiting on 

 th© way Stoke Pogis, and many other his- 

 torical and beautiful places. 



Mr. M. B. Davis spoke oa "The renovation 

 of an old apple orchard by dehorning," that 

 Is, cutting hack to the larger limbs and 

 growing a new top. In this way profitable 

 crops had been obtained In three years af- 

 ter cutting back. Treatment of wounds 

 with creosote and coal tar was advised. De- 

 horning sometimes dors more to Invigorate 

 an old tree than cultivation and fertilizers. 

 The best time to perform this operation is 

 In Hard). 



Prof. iLockhead showed the relation of 

 fruit spur formation to pruning, bringing 

 out the fact that the crop next season de- 

 pended upon the treatment given this sea- 

 son. 



Mr. Duports, Macdonald College, found 

 from experiments he conducted during the 

 past season that the most effective single 

 spray for the Bud Moth, was the one ap- 

 plied as soon as the leaves were fairly well 

 expanded. The spray mixture was lime 

 sulphur with arsenate of lead. The appllca- 

 tion given three days before the opening of 

 the flowers was next in effectiveness. The 

 one applied as soon as the larvae began to 

 enter the buds, was not very effective, 

 which Is contrary to the general opinion. 

 The combination of second and third sprays 

 given In ordinary spray calendars should be 

 .sufficient to control this pest. 



The paper read by Mr. W. T. Macoun, of 

 the Dominion Experimental Department, 

 Ottawa, on the work of the Experimental 

 Station in Quebec, was very interesting to 

 the growers of this Province. Some valu- 

 able Information was given regarding tl;e 

 degree of frost In the different districts >n 

 Quebec. — A.C.O. 



The Future of Fruit Growing 



"I do not believe that there are any 

 grounds for pessimism as to the future of 

 fruit growing in Ontario," said P. W. 

 Hodgetts, of Toronto, recently while ad- 

 dressing a meeting held in connection with 

 the recent Lambton County Horticultural 

 Exhibition. "The business will have its ups 

 and downs, as in the past. Gluts there 

 have been many times, growers discour- 

 aged and orchards neglected, but to the 

 man with energy and push and stlck-to-it- 

 iveness, along with common sense, the fu- 

 ture is just as bright as it ever was. When 

 we consider what our apple growers are up 

 against in marketing the miscellaneous as- 

 sortment of apples planted In Ontario thirty 

 or forty years ago, one almost wonders that 

 we have made the success we have. Small 

 orchards, of many varieties, fully fifty per 

 cent, not wanted in the present markets at 

 any price, trees neglected through ignor- 

 ance or lack of care, in early days poor 

 marketing facilities, etc., all have been 

 against us. 



"With new orchards of larger size, fewer 

 and better varieties and improved methods 

 of marketing, Ontario can still more than 

 hold her own In all markets of the world. 

 The west is handicapped by expensive labor 

 and land, and the extreme east by a more 

 unfavorable climate. Ontario has large 

 local markets, and is favorably situated for 

 export and prairie markets. Nova Scotia 

 is well situated for its export trade, but 

 lacks both local and prairie markets. The 

 west also lacks local markets and has ex- 

 tremely heavy transportation charges to 

 British and European markets. With every- 

 thing in our favor I would not hestitate to 

 continue planting with varieties in demand 

 and in blocks of large enough size to pro- 

 vide straight or mixed cars as the various 

 markets demand. 



Of other fruits, the present situation Is 

 favorable to pears, sweet cherries, straw- 

 berries and raspberries, and not so good for 

 plums, sour cherries, red currants and 

 American gooseberries, except for local 

 markets. The peach has always been an 

 uncertain quantity, large profits or heavy 

 losses coming at times. The future out- 

 look would not deter me from continuing 

 in the fruit business and increasing my 

 acreage under the favorable conditions of 

 Lambton county." 



Tou cannot plant poor off- type potatoes 

 year after year, and get good results. 



