November, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



2C5 



barrel, instead of four, as recommend- 

 ed. This does not injure the foliage." 



When one knows what to look for it 

 is comparatively easy to detect the 

 eggs of the pear psj'lla. 

 In the nymph stage the insect lives on 

 'the foliage and branches of the tree. 

 The damage is done by the insect 

 exuding a honey dew whidh turns black 

 land discolors the fruit. To one vv"ho is 

 •accustomed to this insect, its presence 

 •may be detected without even looking 

 at the tree. Wasps and hornets feed 

 on this honey dew and wherever dam- 

 age from pear psylla is being done one 

 can hear the hum of these insects. 



This year Mr. Beaman will have only 

 a small crop. Where last year he had 

 200 barrels of Bartletts, this year he 

 will have only 30 to 40 barrels. 



"Two factors worked for a small 

 crop in my orchard, ' ' said Mr. Beaman. 

 "First, we had such an unfavorable 

 season that our crop M-ould have been a 



light one in any case, and then a wind- 

 storm which visited this district about 

 September 1st completed the disaster. 

 I have not been, however, so unfortun- 

 ate as my neighbor, Mr. F. B. Love- 

 kin," and he pointed to some of the 

 damage done to his neighbor's farm. 

 Mr. Lovekin, one of the largest orch- 

 ardists of Ontario, had eighteen large 

 apple trees taken out root and branch, 

 a barn and a windmill blown down, and 

 much fruit destroyed. 



Mr. Beaman markets all his fruit in 

 barrels. The pears are shipped to 

 commission merchants in Montreal in 

 the fall. Spy apples that are also 

 grown successfully, are packed in bar- 

 rels and stored until the middle or the 

 end of April. They are then shipped 

 to Montreal, where they have some- 

 times brought as high as eight dollars 

 a barrel. Mr. Beaman's farm is beau- 

 tifully situated on the shore of Lake 

 Ontario. It is in one of the best fruit 

 sections of the province. 



Lessons from the 1916 Apple Season 



p. J. Carey, Dominion Frail Inspector 



THERE are apple growers in On- 

 tario this year who are making 

 large returns from their orch- 

 ards. This is the case, in spite of the 

 fact that the season has been an un- 

 favorable and for most growers an un- 

 profitable one. The successful growers 

 are men who, through careful attention 

 to business, have reaped •^ood crops of 

 clean apples. Although the number of 

 such orchards is not large, it is suf- 

 ficient to demonstrate that it is pos- 

 sible to grow clean fruit under the 







T 



Prbss released after top has been nailed on. 



Note pan above for nails and rack at leift for 



boards. 



most unfavorable conditiohs. This 

 should serve as an object lesson, and 

 should inspire those who have had only 

 partial success to still greater efforts 

 iiJong the line of spraying. 



The apple situation this season is 

 perhaps the most disappointing and 

 most discouraging in the history of ap- 

 ple growing. The general quality oi' 

 the fruit has never been vvoree, but 

 those who are vitally interested in the 

 betterment of the apple industry, may 

 take consolation in the knowledge that 

 climatic conditions had very much to 

 do with the general quality, as well as 

 with the shortage of the crop. It is 

 only fair to our growers to say that 

 many of them worked diligently and 

 put up a good fight, hoping to win out, 

 but the odds were against them. The 

 pride and ambition of anany good 

 prchardists have received a setback. 

 They have been forced to the con- 

 clusion that it is not an easy task to 

 grow first class apples in Ontario. 



Where spraying was thoroughly and 

 systematically done we have a per- 

 centage of clean fruit. Where this 

 operation was neglected orchards con- 

 tain nothing but a;bsolute trash. 

 Marketing the Crop, 



As the growing sea.sou was full of 

 difficulties, resulting in a failure to pro- 

 duce fruit of good quality, one would 

 at once conclude that the marketing of 

 such a crop would not be an easy task. 

 The shortage of the supply is the only 

 factor that relieves the situation. The 

 consumer must have some apples re- 

 gardless of the quality or prices. Deal- 



Baskets of I'ruit for shiiwnent to the western 



provinces are better protected by crates. These 



are especdally necessary where fruit must be 



reshipped. Note "Uizzie" stand. 



ers, sizing up the situation, bought 

 rather freely, paying good prices. 

 There is a free movement of anything 

 fair with an indication that it will take 

 the whole crop to supply the demand. 

 When fruit is of poor quality, there is 

 always a danger of trouble in carrying 

 out contracts. This is more especially 

 true when the principal defect is the 

 fungus on the apples, which often 

 causes the fruit to change while in 

 transit. This will be met to some ex- 

 tent by the fact that the marking on 

 •packages will be low, a very large per- 

 centage being marked "No. 3." This 

 grade mark will cover all the fruit 

 .packed, from some orchai-ds. In this 

 case, a distinguishing mark on pack- 

 ages will indicate that the fruit is 

 superior to that found in ordinary 

 "No. 3." 



The Dominion Fruit Branch, anxious 

 to protect the consumer as well as to 

 help out the producer, is doing its ut- 

 most to make the best of a bad situ- 

 ation. Inspectors are instructed, that 

 while there is to be no falling dowoi in 

 the grades, they are to give the packer 

 every assistance in the orchards, in 

 order that the fruit may be put on the 

 market, marked what it really is. 



A large number of growers will be- 

 come discouraged with their failure to 

 produce good fruit, and possibly will 

 let the orchard take care of itself. 

 There is also a danger of many pro- 

 ducers neglecting their orchards, owing 

 to the fact that dealers came forward 

 t;nd paid for defective fruit prices that 



