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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ENTHUSIASTIC. 



Fig. 1766. H. A. Stewart, Pres. P.E.I. Assocn. 



llVERYWHERE horticulture at the 

 present time is on the alert. The 

 old associations are as strenuously 

 exerting- their influences as in the 

 days of their inception; the new are starting- 

 out with a vig-or and intellig^ence which 

 promises everything- for their usefulness. 

 Nearly every province has now its well or- 

 g^anized Fruit Growers' Association, and the 

 valuable work they are doing- to spread the 

 principles of horticulture is before us all. 

 Ontario, mother and mistress of all these 

 daug-hter societies, has no need of blushingf 

 for her prog-eny. 



In January the two Maritime Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Associations held their annual conven- 

 tions. I have no brief to speak for Nova 

 Scotia, which will be ably reported by some 

 local pen. Our Prince Edward Island F. 

 G. A. is in hig-h spirits. Never since its in- 

 aug-uration was anything^ like the reception 

 g^iven it by the public at larg-e as last week 



when it held its meeting in Charlottetown. 

 Not only did the best farmers and fruit raisers 

 of the province turn out almost to a man, 

 but the representatives of all the other walks 

 in life, recogfnizing- the g-ood work she was 

 doing-, were there to do her honor and lend 

 the assistance of their council and member- 

 ship. The Governor of the Province, the 

 Bishop of the Diocese, the Mayor of the city, 

 the President of the Board of Trade — all vied 

 with each other in g^iving- her countenance — 

 all admitted freely what she has already done 

 for the Island and the still g-reater thing-s she 

 was to do for it in the coming years. And 

 the Association was alive to the importance 

 of her position, and rose to it mag-nificently. 



The day sessions were for the transaction 

 of business, the hearing- of reports, adopting- 

 resolutions, appointing^ officers and commit- 

 tees and listenings to and discussing^ papers. 

 The hall was always crowded during those 

 sessions, and even those who had never heard 

 horticultural discussions before weie at the 

 opening- and ling^ered until the last word was 

 said at the closing. On one evening a g^rand 

 entertainment, interspersed with five minute 

 addresses on some subjects connected with 

 horticulture, was held. The venture was a 

 decided success, and reflected the g-reatest 

 credit on its enterprising^ projectors. A larg-e 

 audience assembled and the best talent of the 

 capital g-ladly contributed to the musical and 

 literary numbers. The Governor himself 

 presided. Everybody — those from the coun- 

 try and those from the towns — thoroug^hly 

 enjoyed themselves, and the last feature, the 

 giving- away of the large fruit display, was 

 by no means the part of the programme the 

 least appreciated. 



Prince Edward Island is now receiving 

 nearly three-quarters of a million dollars 

 yearly from dairying, and she only took to 

 the industry a very few years ago. Nor is 



