202 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August. i:nc. 



Niagara District Notes 



By F. G. H. Pattison, Winona, O t. 



During the last week of June a great im- 

 provement In the weather took place, since 

 when we have had steady, bright, fine wea- 

 ther only broken by an occasional thrnider- 

 storm. July 11th to 13th, inclusive, a hot 

 spell visited us, the temperature running 

 up to over 90 in the shade all three days. 

 On July 2nd, the eastern portion of the Nia- 

 gara District, from St. Catharines to the 

 Niagara River, wa-s visited by a heavy 

 storm of thunder and lightning, accom- 

 panied by a very high wind, which almost 

 reached the proportions of a cyclone. In 

 several localities large hailstones fell. Both 

 hail and wind did a lot of damage, many 

 fruit trees being blown down. Considerable 

 Quantities of green peaches, pears, and other 

 fruits were knocked off the trees. The 

 cherry crop was considerably damaged, and 

 a good deal of harm was done to straw- 

 berries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, 

 etc. Tomato and potato plants were also 

 damaged, being stamped down flat. The 

 western end of the district had a storm 

 with a good deal of rain and some wind, but 

 no appreciable damage was done there. 



At the present date (July 14), the straw- 

 berry crop is nearly over. It has been the 

 best in years, both in quantity and quality, 

 and the growers have done well out of it. 

 The lowest prices reached were 9c to 10c 

 per box, and by the crate, $1.80 to $2.00. 

 Canning factories contracted at 6c per box. 

 Mr. Jas. Wag.staffe, head of Wagstaffe's 

 Limited, a jam factory in the outskirts of 

 Hamilton, -stated as follows:' "We usually 

 import from 50 to GO carloads of American 

 strawberries prior to the beginning of the 

 Canadian berry season. This season, owing 

 to the plentiful local supply, we have only 

 imported 30 carloads, and expect to break 

 all previous records this year in the quan- 

 tity of berries handled." 



Clarksons, near Toronto, report a very 

 large crop. They are said to have had in 

 the neighborhood of one million boxes, and 

 for some time were shipping at the rate of 

 from four to five carloads per day. 



The Canadian Express fruit special made 

 its first trip of the season, per G.T.R., on 

 June the 27th. At St. Catharines, all the 

 loading is being done at the Western Hill 

 station, instead of at Geneva Street, as for- 

 merly. The express company is erecting a 

 new fruit shed near the Western Hill sta- 

 tion, to facilitate the handling of fruit. This 

 fruit special will run daily till the end of 

 the fruit season. 



At a recent convention of canners, etc., 

 Mr. Wagstafte was the only representative 

 vho refused to be included in the canners' 

 amalgamation, preferring to conduct his 

 business on an independent basis. 



A report from Niagara-on-the-I>ake for the 

 last week of June isays : HomeTgrown straw- 

 berries, the finest ever seen, are coming in 

 *o the local stores in large quantities, and 

 are meeting with a ready sale. The berries 

 are large and much sweeter than the 

 Southern fruit which has been on the mar- 

 ket earlier in the season. 



At the present date (July 14th), fruit 

 prospects for the Niagara District are as 

 follows: Gooseberries, red and black cur- 

 rants, are excellent crops. The two former 

 have already appeared on the market. 

 Small goosebeiTies (such as Downimg) 

 meet with a poor sale, but large goose- 

 berries are in good demand. Black currants 

 are likely to sell well. Jam factories are 

 contracting at from 6 to 7 cents per lb. 

 Raspberries and blackberries suffered a 

 good deal from winter-killing and al.so from 

 the excessive v.'et weather, but all healthy 



biLS-hes are heavily loaded and there will be 

 a good crop, provided the weather is not too 

 dry. 



Early sweet cherries have been scarce 

 and prices good. L<ate black cherries are a 

 better crop, but later white ones are quite 

 scarce. Sweet cherries are likeJy to sell 

 well at from $1.00 to $2.00 per large ba.s- 

 ket. Sun cherries are not more than from 

 r.O to 60 per cent, of a crop, and there is 

 likely to be a good demand for them; 75c 

 to $1.00 is the ruling price at present. 



Plums are not more than half a crop. 

 Bradshaws are the best. Lombards are 

 about half a crop. Gages are light; Early 

 Japanese are a failure, except Burbank, 

 which has about 30 per cent, of a crop. 

 Grand Duke, Reine Claude and Monarch are 

 fine. 



Pears: Bartletts, 65 to 75 per cent, of a 

 crop; Duohess, light; Anjou and Kieffer, fair. 



Peaches are from 70 to 80 per cent, of a 

 crop. Early and late peaches are good. Bl- 

 bertas, fair; Crawfords, Pitzgeralds, etc., 

 rather light. 



Apples are about half a crop in this dis- 

 trict, and promise to be of good qualitv 

 where spraying has been properly done. 

 There seems to be less scab here than in 

 any other part of Ontario, and the codling 

 moth has not been as bad as usual. 



A report from Beamsville, of July 10th, 

 -says : "All varieties of sweet cherries "started 

 off at soaring prices. The crop will appar- 

 ently be hardly half that of last year. 



"Strawberries are getting on the light 

 side, and very few will be coming in after 

 to-morrow. The clear weather has improved 

 the cherry crop, and the various varieties 

 are nice samples. Red currants are due 

 any day now. The crop is very fair and the 

 fruit in good condition." 



Grapes look very healthy and are likely 

 to have a full crop. 



The Experimental Station, at Vineland, 

 has had a company of boys from a Toronto 

 boys' home engaged at various kinds of 

 ^ork on the farm. These boys are having 

 their annual summer outing, camping near 

 the harbor; and by working partially for 

 the Government during the day are enabled 

 to pay the expenses of the outing. 



At a meeting of the Citizens' Freight and 

 Express Campaign, held in East Toronto 

 early in July, it was resolved: "That the 

 Ratepayers' and Business Men's Associa- 

 tions of the East End pledge their support 

 and aid to the Citizens' Exnress and Freight 

 Oampaiigii Committee in their campaign in 

 securing free freight and express delivery 

 through all parts of the city." 



Comprehensive plans have been laid for 

 the cairying out of canned fruit campaigns 

 in this district this year, for the benefit of 

 Canadian soldiers in the hospitals of 

 France and Great Britain. 



An arrangement has been arrived at 

 whereby the first campaign, now opening 

 for the preparation of berries and other 

 early fruits, will be carried on in Hamilton. 

 Later in the season, during the peach har- 

 vest, the campaign will open in St. Cathar- 

 ines, with an objective 6t 50,000 quarts. 



Meetings of the (Canadian Club Committee 

 and the fruitgrowers of Burlington, Winona, 

 Grimsby, and Beamsville, took place be- 

 tween the 11th and 14th of July, and the 

 fruitgrowers, in the some generous spirit 

 that prevailed las-t year, signified their in- 

 tention of supporting the work of the Cana- 

 dian Red Cross Society fruit department in 

 a thorough and far-reaching manner. 



A report from Hamilton, of July 11th, 



says: "There will be a great differenc.- .n 

 the 'various late cherry crops this vcar 

 There is likely to be a large quantity of 

 black sweet cherries, while the white varie- 

 ties will be very scarce. The reason is thai 

 the black cherries bloomed later than the 

 others and thus escaped much of the wet 

 weather." 



In the Winona district there will be a fair 

 crop of sour cherries, while in the neighbor- 

 hood of Burlington there are not many on 

 the trees. The rea.son given is that in some 

 districts the growers did not get an oppor- 

 tunity to spray the trees at the proper time. 

 It is reported that in the central part of 

 Halton County there is a blight on the cher- 

 ries. As a consequence, they have fallen 

 from the trees. 



A report from Lambton County says that 

 the fruit crop looks good. Peaches promise 

 a good crop. Leaf curl has been bad in un 

 sprayed and insufficiently sprayed orchards. 

 Apples promise a medium crop. Heavy 

 dropping has taken place in some section.s. 

 Small fruits are a good crop, particularly 

 raspberries. 



A report from Simcoe, Norfolk County, 

 says: "In all the unspfayed orchards and in 

 many sprayed orchard.s — so called — apple 

 scab was evident, both on the leaves and 

 fruit. In the unsprayed orchards, of course, 

 this will catise the dropping of nearlv all 

 the young fruit." 



Mr. Jas. E. Johnson has word from New 

 ■Vork State that apples are already very 

 scabby there, and that the total apple crop 

 will be much reduced on that account. We 

 therefore believe that the careful fruit 

 grower who has made a thorough job of 

 spraying this year will find a ready market 

 for his fruit, as good clean frtrit will likely 

 be scarce and high priced. We are conse- 

 quently advising growers to apply a fourth 

 and possibly a fifth spray to insure the crop, 

 if possible, from further attacks of fungus 

 diseases." 



In spite of the backward spring and the 

 late setting of plants. Mr. C. H. Godfree 

 claims the record for the St. Catharines dis- 

 trict in producing the first ripe tomatoes. 

 These plants, which were "Brace's First 

 and Best," were not set out until May 24th, 

 and the first ripe fruit was picked aboM the 

 2nd of July. On Monday, July 10th, the 

 first basketful was picked, and was of first- 

 class quality. 



A report from Toronto, of July 11th, says 

 that cherries are spoiling terribly this sea- 

 son, a few hours often sufficing for them to 

 go bad. The best eating sweet cherries are 

 selling around $1.50 to $1.75 per 11-quart 

 basket this week. Ordinary cooking cher- 

 ries are worth 50c to $1.00. according to 

 quality. 



On July 10th a deputation from the Beams- 

 ville fruit dealers waited on the Beamsville 

 Council and asked for the privilege of load- 

 ing shipments from their platforms along 

 King Street, on the cars of the H., G. & B. 

 There is no accommodation for this fruit 

 now at the Dominion Express shed at the 

 H., G. & B. station. The Council agreed to 

 grant this privilege as long as the fruit was 

 not loaded out of waggons. The Superin- 

 tendent of Works is to keep an eye on the 

 operations and see how they work out. 



On July 13th there was abundance of 

 small fruits on the central market, Hamil- 

 ton. Red currants sold at 8c per box. Straw- 

 berries were very scarce at $2.00 to $2.75 

 per crate. Sweet cherries, $1.00 to $1.50 per 

 large basket; sour cherries, 6.^c to 90c; new 

 potatoes, 55c to 65c per basket; new peas, 

 50c to 55c per basket; new carrots and 

 beets, 30c to 35c per doz.; new cabbage, 60c 

 per doz.; new beans, 80c to 90c per basket; 

 gooseberries, 10c per box. Home-grown 

 tomat«es are expected to be on the market 

 very soon. 



