298 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



Ontario Vegetable Growers' Convention 



The Annual Convention of the Ontario 

 Vegetable Groweis' Aasoclation was held In 

 the railway committee rooms, parliament 

 buildings, Toronto, on November 24th. The 

 funeral of the Hon. Jas. Duff, Minister of 

 Agriculture, which was held on Tuesday — 

 the date set for the convention — necessitated 

 the postponement of the convention until 

 Friday. Telegrams to this effect had been 

 sent out to the secretaries of the different 

 societies on Sunday night, Ibut unfortunate- 

 ly all the members did not receive notice of 

 the change. A number of delegates came 

 Tuesday, and were unable to wait over until 

 Friday. This probably acted to some ex- 

 tent as a damper on the meeting, Tiut a 

 very successful convention was held despite 

 this fact. 



President F. F. Reeves, of Humlber Bay, 

 in his" opening address, commented on the 

 prosperous condition of the association. The 

 special garden competition has ibeen very 

 successful, and has awakened much inter- 

 est in keeping the individual gardens clean. 

 He suggested that the association make 

 representation to the Department of Agri- 

 culture that work be undertaken to compile 

 careful and concise statistics regarding the 

 vegetable growing industry, and further that 

 this and other valuable data he prepared so 

 as to give our Canadian heroes a chance to 

 turn to the business of growing vegetables 

 after they return home. 



A motion was passed that the Ontario 

 Vegetaible Growers' Association express 

 their deep regret at the death of the late 

 Minister, Hon. Jas. Duff. Another resolution 

 moved that the convention ask the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to provide for collect- 

 ing statistics and data of the vegetable 

 growing industry of the Province. 



In his report, Secretary-Treasurer J. 

 Lockie Wilson, spoke of the need for greater 

 uniformity in judging the different compe- 

 titions'. He suggested that the judges get 

 together for a short course before going out 

 to judge. They could thus ibecome better 

 acquainted with the standards wtich the 

 s'core card tries to represent. Mr. Wilson 

 suggested that work lae undertaken to grade 

 vegetables^potatoes, onions and tomatoes 

 Into fancy, No. 1, No. 2, etc., much as we 

 have apples graded at present. The vege- 

 table exhibit at the C. N. E. this year wws 

 badly staged. The men in charge did not 

 take enough interest in this exhibit to see 

 that the vegetables were replaced by fresh 

 specimens. The vegetables after the flrst 

 week, in many cases, decayed, and present- 

 ed a very uninviting appearance to the 

 visitor. 



Mr. S. C. Johnson, Vegetable Specialist, 

 presented his repont. The season has been 

 unfavorable for experimental work, hut much 

 good has been accomplished by work already 

 done. The spraying of celery is rapidly be- 

 coming a common garden practice. Mr 

 Johnson estimates that at least fifty thous- 

 and dollars worth of celery has >been saved 

 by this practice during the pasit summer. 

 Dust mixtures have ibeen experimented with 

 in spraying onions, potatoes and celery The 

 results have been very satisfactory, but 

 this practice cannot be recommended until 

 further investigations have been carried on. 



Mr. J. J. Davis, of London, Ontario, took 

 up the subject of score cards in garden con- 

 tests. He criticised the score cards formerly 

 used, and made .-everal suggestions where 

 It might be improved. A lively discussion 

 followed, and the following resulted: (1) 

 s^- •■-atness of rows, 10 pts. (2) Arrange- 

 ment of space, 10 pts. (3) Neatness and 



cleanliness around yards and bui.dings, 10 

 pts. (4) Neatness, care and cultivation of 

 the garden itself, 40 pts. (5) Cleanline.ss of 

 fence corners and heailands, 10 pts. (6) 

 Closeness of planting and marketable value 

 per acre, 20 pts. 



Mr. A. MoMeans, Brantford, gave a very 

 instructive address on "Home Grown Vege- 

 table Seed." The slogan of the vegetable 

 grower should be "quality," not "quantity," 

 when buying his seed. He instanced two 

 plots of vegeitaJbles of the same variety, the 

 seed of which cost the same, but was from 

 different grower*. The crop on one plot 

 was worth forty dollars more than that on 

 the other. The great difference in strains 

 of the same variety is caused by a difference 

 in the ideals of contract growers. In many 

 cases a description of a variety in the seed 

 catalogue is vague. Every variety should 

 be accurately described, and the type photo- 

 graphed for the benefit of the seed grower. 



In the discussion that followed, Prof. Crow 

 stated that they have tried out Canadian 

 grown seed. The best seed comes from the 

 growers who have carried on this business 

 longesit Prof. Crow thinks the solution of 

 the seed problem is in obtaining .someone to 

 grow seeds e.specially for the Ontario Vege- 

 table Growers' Association. There is money 

 in it for anyone who will take up this pro- 

 fession. 



Mr. Henry Broughton, of Samla, gave an 

 address on "The Field Cultivation of Early 

 Potatoes." Mr. Broughton was instrumental 

 in forming a co-operative company, which 

 imports its potato seed from Wisconsin. 

 The average yield of potatoes in the Sarnia 

 district is 150 bags per acre. Mr. Brough- 

 ton went fully into the cultivation of pota- 

 toes, ,and presented an estimate of the cost 

 of producing one acre of potatoes. In his 

 opinion it cost about eighty dollars per acre. 

 In Onitario we need but two varieties of po- 

 tatoes, an early and a late variety. The po- 

 tato association was made necessary when 

 the farmers around Sarnia commenced to 

 cater to the early potato trade. An order 

 may come in from Toronto for one car of 

 potatoes to be delivered next day. By co- 

 operating, a number of farmers can get to 

 work digging potatoes to fill this order. 

 Thus eight or ten men, each digging fifty 

 bags of potatoes, can fill the required car. 

 This would be impossible without co-opera- 

 tion. 



Mr. Broughton's reference to the importa- 

 tion of potato seed brought on a discussion 

 as to the advantages of northern grown 

 over southern grown seed, and the following 

 resolution was passed: "Resolved that the 

 Vegetable Growers' Association of Ontario, 

 having in mind the great importance to the 

 market grower of the early potato crop, and 

 the difficulty of securing reliable seed, do 

 hereby respectfulliy urge the appointment 

 of a specialist to undertake the experimental 

 work with this crop along the line of work- 

 ing out the best methods of producing high 

 class seed, and also with the object of im- 

 proving, by selection or breeding, our .pres- 

 ent varieties. 



"The Standardization of Vegetables," was 

 dealt with by C. E. Durst. TTribana. 111. There 

 is a great need for standardization In vege- 

 table seed. There are altogether too many 

 varieties on the market, and worse still, one 

 variety may pass under several names. The 

 better the variety the more names, for In- 

 stance, the Earliana tomato has between 

 thirty and forty different names, Mr. Durst 

 suggests that. (1) Name be composed of as 

 few words as possible — all superfluous ad- 



jectives should be dispensed with. (2) A 

 name already in use for one variety should 

 not be used by another. (3) After names 

 have once been given they should never be 

 changed. 



'Mr. T. M. Mulligan, Ottawa, and T Del- 

 worth, Weston, took up the subject of 

 Skinner Irrigation. The irrigation system 

 has been of untold value to the vegetable 

 growers during the hot, dry season just 

 passed. Mr. Delworth stated that irrigation 

 enables him to grow two crops on his land 

 in the same season. He took off a crop of 

 eaHy potatoes in late July, then planted 

 celery, and is now marketing twenty-seven 

 thousand off one acre. This would have 

 been impossible without irrigation Mr 

 Mulligan has his overhead pipes on posts 

 6 ft. 6 in. high, to allow cross cultivation 

 Mr. Delworth questioned the advisability of 

 this. He thinks it better to have pipes not 

 more than four feet high. They do not sway 

 in the wind, and it is easier to reach them 

 if a nozzle becomes clogged. Mr. Cook has 

 been receiving much satisfaction from the 

 Skinner System, which he has suspended on 

 heavy number seven wire. By this means 

 he has few posts in his field, and can drive 

 underneath the pipes. Mr. O. J. Robb, Vine- 

 land Station, stated that it costs $3.60 to 

 irrigate one acre for ten hours, giving it 

 one inch of water. 



Mr. Roadhouse, Deputy Minister of Agri- 

 culture, then came before the convention, 

 bringing the greetings of the Government, 

 and the thanks of the Department for the 

 thoughtfulness of the association in post- 

 poning the convention on account of the 

 funeral of the late Minister. 



Greenhouse tomato growing was discussed 

 by James D. Nairn, Hamilton. Mr. Nairn is 

 a well known tomato grower. He grows 

 lettuce as a winter crop, because his toma- 

 toes in the winter have been susceptible to 

 blight. Tomatoes are planted about the 

 fir.st of January, for sprjng growing. But 

 two varieties are grown in his houses. These 

 are Carter's Sunrise, of which about ten 

 thousan-d plants are grown, and about five 

 hundred plants of Bonnie Bess. 



Mr. Nairn has been troubled for a num- 

 ber of years with a peculiar blight among 

 his tomatoes. The Department of Plant 

 Diseases at O. A. C. Guelph, has been work- 

 ing for some time on this disease, but so 

 far have not found a remedy. Mr. Nairn 

 grows his tomatoes on the. ground, rather 

 than on benches. Tomatoes should be kept 

 growing from the start, and kept watered 

 from underneath. He places a straw mulch 

 to prevent splashing. 



Chas. Syer. Bartonville, gave the conveji- 

 tion his methods of growing celery. A 

 paper sent in by Paul Worth. Cornell Uni- 

 versity on "Successful Growin-e of Cabbag- 

 es," was not read, because of lack of time, 

 but will appear in the annual report. 



An inovation was here introduced, when 

 Mr. John Camp(bell gave an address on 

 "Onion Growing." illustrated by moving pic- 

 tures of the different phases, presented by 

 Mr. S. C. Johnson. These pictures have 

 been taken with the idea of using them in 

 lecture work throughout the country. They 

 should certainly help to create an interest 

 in the industry wherever they are shown. A 

 noteworthy feature about them is that the 

 films are fire proof. It will therefore be, per- 

 fectly safe to show them in any lecture hall. 



Canadian Horticultural Convention 



(Continued from page 297.) 



The second day of the convention began 

 with a very interesting paper on "Vines and 

 Their Uses," by Mr. Macoun, Dominion 

 Horticulturist. 



