May, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



129 



now the margin in most lines is small in- 

 deed, and in many lines has been wiped out. 

 As pointed out elsewhere in this issue, 

 the cost of grape twine has increased from 

 ten cents to twenty-flve cents a pound, and 

 of blue stone from fifteen cents to thirty 

 cents a pound. These advances are typical 

 of similar advances that are taking place in 

 many other lines. The supply of woollen 

 goods has become so depleted that they can 

 hardly be obtained. The price of certain 

 inks used in the publishing business has ad- 

 vanced from twenty-flve cents to a dollar 

 and a half to two dollars a pound. The 

 public as yet does not realize this condition. 

 The thrift campaign that has been inaugur- 

 ated by the Dominion Government is there- 

 fore timely and necessary. If the war con- 

 tinues much longer it is going to be neces- 

 sary for all of us, including those in com- 

 fortable circumstances, to exercise every 

 economy to make ends meet. The interests 

 of the nation require that we should start 

 now if we have not already done so. 



with it, we have been holding it. Informa- 

 tion as to whom this article was by will be 

 appreciated. 



Each year when the spring fever makes 

 itself feit, thousands of amateur "fruit and 

 flower growers feel the impulse which first 

 stirred them as children to dig in the earth 

 and grow things. With many the impulse 

 dies almost as soon as felt. With others a 

 half-hearted start is made but is soon aban- 

 doned. The proportion of those who pro- 

 ceed and succeed is lamentably small. One 

 reason for this is the lack of helpful infor- 

 mation in regard to how to grow even the 

 most common flowers and vegetables. Early 

 this spring horticultural societies would be 

 well advised were they to appoint press 

 committees to deal with this situation. 

 These committees might clip helpful articles, 

 such as several of those, for instance, which 

 appear in this month's issue of The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist, and hand them to their 

 local paper for publication. Every paper 

 in the land is free to republish the articles 

 that appear in The Canadian Horticulturist. 

 Probably there Is no one way in which so- 

 cieties could accomplish more helpful work 

 than by making public timely, practical 

 articles just when needed. 



At the recent session of the Ontario 

 Legislature, the fine for spraying fruit trees 

 in bloom was increased from one dollar to 

 five dollars. The reason for the amend- 

 ment was the fact that many fruit growers 

 were not deterred from spraying their trees 

 by the formerly small fine. The article in 

 this issue of The Canadian Horticulturist, 

 by Prof. Hewitt, showing the marked influ- 

 ence bees have in fertilizing fruit blossoms, 

 reveals how important it is that bees shall 

 be protected from poisonous sprays during 

 the blooming season. It is in the interest 

 of fruit growers that the statute shall be 

 enforced. 



PUBLISHER'S DESK 



ik\/k^ik\ikwmkWk¥iiimY/^<'rm6i'm/wrs\ 



Our front cover illustration shows a scene 

 in the garden of Mr. Jo<hn Drust, of Ben- 

 miller, Huron Co., Ont. Were the promised 

 bloom there shown to be realized this year 

 in the orchards of the land the question of 

 over-production would then be serious. 



Some time since we received an interest- 

 ing typewritten article entitled "Green- 

 house Problems." which appeared to be the 

 manuscript, of an address delivered at some 

 meeting of fruit or vegetable growers. A^ 

 the name of the author was not 'nrni.ihed 



One of the oldest subscribers of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist is Mr. Chris. Firth, 

 the secretary of the Durham Horticultural 

 Society. Mr. Firth is one of a very few, 

 we believe less than half a dozen, men who 

 have taken The Canadian Horticulturist 

 every year since its inception in 1878. In 

 a letter to The Canadian Horticulturist, re- 

 ceived during April, Mr. Firth expressed 

 the belief that he had been taking The 

 Canadian Horticulturist since 1873. This, 

 however, could not be the case, as The 

 Canadian Horticulturist was not started 

 until January, 1878. However, Mr. Firth 

 was probably a member of The Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' Association in 1873, which 

 five years later started The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist. The long continued association 

 of Mr. Firth with The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist and his loyal support is much appre- 

 ciated by all connected with it. We trust 

 he will continue a regular reader for years 

 to come. 



One of the interesting features of the 

 June issue of The 'anadian Horticulturist 

 will be an article entitled "The Control of 

 Enemies of the Rose," by iMr. P. E. Buck, of 

 the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. 

 Mr. Buck's articles are always practical and 

 helpful and this one will be especially in- 

 teresting to rose growers. 



Horticultural societies that would like us 

 to send sample copies to prospective mem- 

 bers are requested to send us lists of names 

 and addresses as early in the spi^ng as pos- 

 sible. This is an. excellent method of ob- 

 taining new members where The Canadian 

 Horticulturist is given as a premium. 

 * • • 



We have openings for subscription repre- 

 sentatives in the leading fruit districts. 

 Those interested are invited to write to 

 us direct. 



SOCIETY NOTES i 



\:^rm6iYifmt^mmi'ntw»^rkvmmmmmmrm 



The St. Thomas Tulip Show. 

 Great preparations are being made by the 

 members of The 'St. Thomas Horticultural 

 Society for the Festival of Tulips which will 

 be held in St. Thomas, May 11 to 14. The 

 festival will be conducted under the auspices 

 of The Ontario Horticultural Association. 

 Everything will be free. Some two hun- 

 dred varieties of tulips of every shade and 

 color will be on exhibition. The public beds 

 along the streets contain 25,000 tulips and 

 the parks and private gardens have 200,000 

 more. It is expected that these will be In 

 full bloom. A cup is being offered to the 

 Society making the best display of twenty- 

 tive varieties of five blooms each, and a 

 medal for the best five blooms of any one 

 variety. Sunday, May 14 will be known as 

 Tulip Sunday. Special rates have been 

 granted by the railroads. Societies that can 

 conveniently do so might find it profitable 

 to send delegates. 



Hamilton. 

 The illustration of Hamilton boys with 

 bird houses of their own construction pub- 

 lished elsewhere in this issue shows an in- 

 teresting line of work conducted this year 

 by the Hamilton Horticultural iSociety. 

 Under the auspices of the society a series 

 of garden Arts and Crafts Exhibitions is 



being conducted. The first of these was the 

 bird house section. Fully two hundred bird 

 liouses were presented for competition. The 

 competitors were members of the manual 

 training classes of tllie city. The exhibits 

 were shown in one of the city stores. Some 

 of the bird houses were sold by the boys, 

 the proceeds being turned over to the Red 

 Cross funds. The Boys' Scout bird house 

 display will be staged shortly and the Gar- 

 den Stands Section about the same time. 

 The iMay meeting of the Society will take 

 the form of a trip to Dr. Clark's tulip gar- 

 den at Grimsby. 



Export Apple Trade 



By F. H. Grindley, B.S.A., Assistant to the Fruit 

 Commissioner, Ottawa 



OWING largely to the fact that cargo 

 space on transatlantic steamers is 

 considerably restricted, frtiit shippers 

 have met with some difficulty this year in 

 the matter of delays in transit. After ar- 

 rival at British ports, fruit is frequently left 

 in the ship's hold for periods extending 

 sometimes as long as two weeks. These 

 delays result in a deterioration of the 

 quality of the fruit and a consequent falling 

 off in the prices received by the shipper. 



Recently, too, when the matter of limiting 

 the imports of certain commodities was 

 under consideration by the British Govern- 

 ment, many classes of fruit (including ap- 

 ples) were listed. For several days this 

 caused quite a panic among English fruit 

 dealers, inasmuch as such a move would 

 very seriously affect about two hundred 

 thousand of these men in that country. 

 Fortunately, apples were later removed 

 from the list, and Canadian shippers now 

 have an open market in England for that 

 fruit, provided that the necessary vessel 

 space can be obtained. 



There are, however, so many shipments 

 of more necessary food stuffs, etc., being 

 imported into Great Britain that apples are 

 sometimes delayed at points of export. 

 Twenty-flve carloads (5,000 barrels) of On- 

 tario apples, consigned to England via Bos- 

 ton on the s.s. Franklin, were held up at 

 the latter port on account of the vessel be- 

 ing unexpectedly commandeered by the 

 British Government. A serious situation re- 

 sulted, inasmuch as there was no other 

 vessel leaving Boston for fur weeks, and 

 the local market was already supplied with 



''we have been advised ^^ f r_^ J Forsy^tli 

 smith, Canadian Government Fruit Trade 

 commissioner, of Leeds, England, that a 

 similar situation, or one X^,«T annle 

 nounced, will exist when the ne^xt apple 

 "h ppmg season opens, and we feel that 

 Canadian shippers will do well to ake any 

 steps which may lead to a more satisfactory 

 consideration of their interests. 



U is not possible to predict just what con- 

 ditions will surround the Canadian export 

 frut trade in six months' time but it seems 

 reasonable to suppose that it the home de^ 

 mand can be increased there should be no 

 difficulty in disposing of an average crop, 

 especiany as the quantity of American ap- 

 ples imported into Canada promises to he 

 considerably below normal. 



Items of Interest. 



The death took place In February of Mr. 

 Thos H. Cunningham, Inspector of Fruit 

 Pests for British Columbia, Mr. Cunning^ 

 ham served the Board of Horticulture of 

 British Columbia for many years, with zeal 

 that made his name known throughout the 

 province. Much of the freedom of the pro- 

 vince from serious pests is due to the efforts 

 of IMr. Cunningham to prevent the importa- 

 tion of infected stock. 



