NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



251 



half bushel or bushel cases, should have, in 

 addition to the grade mark, the net weight 

 or number of specimens of fruit contained in 

 the packages. 



5. Regular fruit shippers to be allowed to 

 have a registered number or mark recorded 

 at Ottawa, similar to the cheese factories. 



6. Brand on outside of fruit package — 



1 (c) Canada or Canadian. 



2 (6) Variety of fruit. 



3 («) Grade of fruit. 



4 {d) In boxes number of specimens or 



net weight. 



5 Name or private mark of shipper. 



7. Fruit inspectors to be appointed, who 

 will have authority to open any package 

 bearing a grade mark, and if the contents 

 be not up to grade, the parties concerned to 

 be prosecuted. 



(Signed), J. M. Fish, 



A. Brodie, 



R. W. Shepherd, 



Committee. 



Adopted at the annual meeting of the 



Pomological and Fruit Growing Society of 



the Province of Quebec, held on the 21st 



February, 1900. 



W. W. Dun LOP, 



Sec. - Treas. 



Our Report for 1899 — The following 



notice of our last report has just been given in 



the Mail Empire : 



The Provincial Department of Agriculture has 

 just issued the 31st annual report of the Fruit- 

 Growers' Association of Ontario, for the year 

 1899, which will be found valuable by orchardists. 

 It contains the proceedings of the annual meeting 

 of the association, including many papers on a 

 variety of horticcltural topics, embodying the 

 experience of some of the leading fruit-growers 

 and practical scientists. Among those whose 

 contributions appear are W. A. Whitney, E. C. 

 Beman, A. H. Pettit, G. T. Powell, Dr. Harri- 

 son, Professor H. L. Hutt, Professor W. T. 

 Macoun and Professor J. W. Robertson. The 

 paper of the latter on " Commerce in Large 

 Fruits " has a special interest in view of the 

 attention now being directed to opening up a 

 remunerative export trade in Canadian food pro- 

 ducts a subject of which the writer is specially 

 qualified by his experience to treat. The princi- 

 pal difficulty in establishing this trade on a per- 

 manent and satisfactory basis has been the variable 



and sometimes inferior quality and condition of 

 the shipments owing to carelessness in packing 

 and poor transportation. Professor Robertson 

 reiterates the lesson that to hold the market and 

 do a profitable trade it is absolutely necessary to 

 have uniformly good fruit alike throughout the 

 package, in sound condition, with good keeping 

 qualities for the general consumer, and superior 

 qualities for the class who are willing to pay 

 extra for such. He gave an account of the 

 results of trial shipments of pears, peaches and 

 apples made by the Dominion Department of 

 Agriculture, the experience gained affording 

 many practical suggestions to fruit-growers and 

 shippers. Mr. Pettit, in a paper on the same 

 subject, urged the appointment of Government 

 fruit inspectors to examine fruit destined for the 

 British market, and the establishment of standards 

 of excellence, in accordance with which the ship- 

 ment should be classified as a guarantee of quality 

 to the purchaser. 



The subject of spraying was also fully con- 

 sidered, W. M. Orr, President of the Association, 

 furnishing the details of extensive spraying 

 experiments made under the direction of the 

 Ontario Department of Agriculture at various 

 points in the Province, and Professor Macoun 

 presented the results of similar operations at the 

 Ottawa Central farm. Experiments are now in 

 progress at the farm to determine if possible the 

 best time to whitewash the trees, so as to secure 

 the best results. It is proposed to test this appli- 

 cation as a remedy for the San Jose scale. 



Dr. William Saunders' address on the market 

 afforded by Manitoba and the North-West for 

 Ontario fruit products, indicates the probability 

 of building up an extensive trade in that quarter. 

 Last season over 200 carloads of grapes were 

 successfully shipped to the North-West, and a 

 larger quantity could have been disposed of. 

 Advice was given to fruit-growers to endeavor to 

 secure this market. The report ought to be 

 studied by all interested in the production or 

 shipment of fruit, as it will be seen from the 

 above partial summary of its contents that it com- 

 prises much practical information. 



The Noxious Insects Act. — In response 

 to the request of our Association, through 

 its Committee on the Codling Moth, the 

 Ontario Legistature has recently passed the 

 following Act : 



1 . This Act shall be known as The Noxious In- 

 sect Act. 



2. The following provisions of this Act shall 

 come into force and take effect as to every muni- 

 cipality the council of which shall by by-law de- 

 clare this Act to be in force therein. The coun- 

 cil may at any time repeal such by law, and there- 

 after this Act and any regulations made there- 

 under shall cease to apply or be in force as to 

 such municipality. 



3. Upon the recommendation of the Minister of 

 Agriculture the Lieutenant-Governor in Council 

 may make such regulations for the prevention 

 and destruction of insects injurious to trees, 



