440 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



barrels to sell had offered to take 75 cents. In 

 grapes for domestic use he counted on from $20 

 to $30 a ton as the ruling price. Speaking of the 

 show, Mr. Orr said : " This show is two weeks 

 too early for all but the very earliest fruit. It is 

 impossible to get color so early in the season. If 

 the show could be even ten days later it would 

 add very much to the size and appearance of the 

 fruit exhibit." 



In the Fruit Department of the Fair were 

 shown boxes with early apples and pears done up 

 in wax paper for shipment to the Old Country. 

 " If we can but get the price that we got last 

 year," said Mr. Orr, " it will pay us to take even 

 this trouble in preparing fruit for shipment. We 

 can hardly expect, however, to get a very large 

 market unless means be devised for shipping at 

 less cost." 



One of the best features in the fruit department 

 was the display made by the different Ontario 

 experimental fruit stations. This display occu- 

 pied one large table and the fruit was of splendid 

 quality. One section was devoted to exhibiting 

 crabs and Duchess apples grown on St. Joseph's 

 Island. " That exhibition,'' said Mr. Orr, " was 

 quite a surprise to us. A great many people had 

 no idea that such good fruit could be grown so 

 far north" 



There was found standing quietly m a corner 

 of the building given up to fruit one whose name 

 is but seldom heard by the public. P^X. the same 

 time few statesmen have done more towards 

 bringing Canada to the stage of development 

 which has been reached. This was A. M. Smith, 

 of St. Catharines. Some 38 years ago that 

 gentleman, acting with the father of Linus 

 Woolverton, set out the first peach orchard in 

 what is now the Niagara fruit district. This 

 orchard was established at Grimsby on the farm 

 occupied then, as it is occupied now, by the 

 Woolverton family. 



" Five or six hundred trees were set out at that 

 time," said Mr. Smith. " People in the neighbor- 

 hood said we were crazy for doing it ; that we 

 would not know what to do with the fruit when 

 produced. We also set out in a nursery planta- 

 tion some five or six thousand young peach trees, 

 and it was again said we were wasting our 

 money — that, if all these young trees grew we 

 would be unable to find a market for them. But 

 I had faith in the venture. Before starting to 

 grow peach fruit in Canada I had imported 

 peaches from Lockport, N. Y., and sold them in 

 Canadian towns. I felt sure if a market could be 

 found for American fruit one could be found for 

 Canadian fruit. When our trees began bearing 

 we induced the express company to open an 

 office at Grimsby, and we comirtenced shijy^ing 

 our fruit to Hamilton, Gait, London and Guelph, 

 and other towns. From our first orchard we 

 sold some peaches up to $4 per busheV, while a 

 common price was £rom $1 to $3. When we 

 netted $300 from one acre of peaches in a single 

 ye«r the movement began t;o spread with marvel- 

 lous rapidity. It spread even to Wincwia, where 

 it was supposed the soil was such that would not 

 grow peaches, but it was soon fourkd out that this 

 land would grow the trees as well as that about 

 Grimsby. The late Mr. Woolverton and myself 



also established a nursery for the propagation of 

 grape vines. W. H. Orr, of Fruitland, set out 

 what was perhaps the first vineyard for the pro- 

 duction of grapes in a commercial way. He sold 

 his first grapes in Hamilton at 8, 9 and 10 cents 

 per pound." 



" I only wish," put in ,Mr. Orr, who was stand- 

 ing alongside, "that we could get the same 

 prices now. We made more from one acre then 

 than we can from ten acres to-day." 



" Of the extent of the Niagara fruit industiy," 

 Mr. Smith went on, " all the world knows more 

 or less to-day. At St. Catharines, where I helped 

 start the first canning factory, there are five 

 factories in existence to-day. From one station 

 in the Niagara fruit district, E. D. Smith is now 

 shipping three or four carloads of fresh fruit 

 daily, while a neighbor of hi? is shipping two or 

 three cars. Taking the whole Niagara district, 

 at a conservative estimate, the value of the fruit 

 crop in one year will amount to §2,000,000. All 

 this has been accomplished within one genera- 

 tion." 



Apples in Barrels. — ^The following- in- 

 structions for grading and packing apples 

 were sent us by Mr. Ernest Heaton, To- 

 ronto : 



1. Take barrels to the orchard, hand pick 

 the apples, and fill the barrels from the 

 baskets as they are brought from the lad- 

 ders, putting the baskets down into the 

 barrels, and turning them over with great 

 care. Apples should not be picked on a hot 

 day, nor if the apples are wet. Be particular 

 not to pack any apples which have dropped 

 from the trees. Haul to the barn imme- 

 diately, and store the barrels on a dirt floor, 

 if possible, as it is cooler and damper and 

 better for the apples. Barrels should not 

 be left in the orchard exposed to the hot 

 sun and wet weather. 



2. When you are ready for packing, take 

 a table ten feet long- by three feet wide, with 

 sideboards about eight inches high. Line 

 the table with carpet or canvas, to prevent 

 bruising- the apples. Pour out three barrels 

 on the table at a tirne. With two men to 

 sort, use six baskets. Make at least three 

 grades of apples, putting each gr-ade into a 

 separate basket. ^ 



3. First grade apples must be kand picked 

 frcvm the tree, of g-ood color and of normal 



