January, 191 1 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



13 



said applies with abcut equal force to the 

 other excellent fruit sections of Ontario. 



The British Columbia growers deserve 

 their success. They have overcome great 

 lifBculties. They have good fruit lands and 

 'Mey are making the fact known to the 

 world. Their government is backing them 

 up energetically. In time our Rip Van 

 A^'ink'ps in the East will come tc life but in 

 the meantime it is a phame to disturb them. 



A GREAT VICTORY 



Fruit and vegetable growers especially 

 but many other classes of the community 

 as well may well congratulate themselves 

 over the great victory that has been won, 

 through the Board of Railway Commission- 

 ers, in regard to express rates. The de- 

 cision of the beard is the most important 

 it has ever issued. It supports practically 

 every contention made by the fruit grower.s 

 when they gave evidence before the commis- 

 sion. The tariffs are declared to be too high 

 and must be reduced, fruit rates between 

 Ontario and the west must he lowered, car- 

 load rates must be provided between all 

 points where fruit and vegetables move or 

 are likely to move, existing forms of con- 

 tract are unfair to the shippers, the gradu- 

 ated charges on express freight are unjust. 

 Both companies must fyle new tariffs within 

 the next three months. 



Until the new tariffs have been settled it 

 will be impossible to decide how much this 

 victory is going to mean tc the fruit and 

 vegetable interests. The development of 

 the fruit trade with the west is certain to 

 increase greatly. Hundreds of thousand.s of 

 dollars a year more will remain in the hands 

 of the growers. Fruit and vegetable grow- 

 ing will be made more profitable and in 

 consequence a certain increase in produc- 

 tion will follow. Together with these bene- 

 fits must be considered the effect this victory 

 will have in encouraging growers to fur- 

 ther unite, even more effectively than they 

 have in the past, in pressing for additional 

 reform.s — not necessarily only in railway and 

 express matters btit in other directions as 

 well. 



Quebec Fruit Growers Discuss Matters 



I 



I 



Each year the directors of the horticul- 

 tural societies in Ontario have to face the 

 problem of how they can make their pre- 

 mium lists mo.st attractive, within the limit 

 of their funds, as well as how they can make 

 their meetings more interesting and their 

 exhibitions of greater educational value. 

 Valuable information bearing on these 

 points is brought out each year at the an- 

 nual convention of the Ontario Horticul- 

 tural Association but lack of time precludes 

 these matters being discussed as thoroughly 

 as their importance deserves. There is an 

 opportunity here for the performance of 

 good work by the superintendent of hor- 

 ticultual societies. Arrangements might bo 

 made with the different societies for the 

 purchase of enough additional copies of all 

 printed material they issue to make it pos- 

 sible to have a copy of each mailed to the 

 secretary of every horticultural society in 

 the province. The expense would be trifl- 

 ing. The benefit derived would be great. 



The Briti.sh Columbia government, not 

 spasmodically, but regularly and persist- 

 ently exhibits large quantities of British 

 Columbia fruit at the leading Old Country 

 exhibitions. Its main object is not to pro- 

 cure more markets for its fruit but to se- 

 cure well-to-do settlers for its undeveloped 

 fruit lands. It is succeeding. The tide 

 of immigration to the we.st, past the fruit 

 lands of the east, proves this. By and by 

 the east will decide to do something. . .. 



The annual meeting of thePomological and 

 Fruit Growing Society of the province of 

 Quebec was held at St. Hyacinthe, Que., 

 December 6 and 7. It was attended by 

 many of the leading authorities on fruit 

 growing in the province. The general at- 

 tendance also was large. Among more pro- 

 minent people present were Prof. W. S. 

 Blair, of Macdonald College; Dr. C. Gor- 

 don Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist ; W. 

 T. Macoun, Dominion Horticulturist ; R. 

 W. Shepherd, Como ; N. E. Jack, Chateau- 

 guay Basin ; Robert Brcdie, Notre Dame de 

 Grace ; Rev. H. H. Dickson, Rectory Hill ; 

 J. C. Chapais, St. Denis en Bas ; Rev. 

 Fathers Leopold and Oliver and Brother 

 Ligouni, of La Trappe; J. M. Misch, M. 

 Byers, Geo. Roach, S. Crawfield. of Ab- 

 botsford ; Archie Ferguson, Montreal and 

 Peter Reid, secretary, Chateauguay Basin. 



FRT7IT EXHIBIT 



There was an excellent exniDltion of 

 winter fruit grown in the province, com- 



Gratifying Results 



"The results from our advertise- 

 ments in The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist during the past four years 

 have been most gratifying. The 

 success of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist as an advertising medium is 

 essentially correlated with the excel- 

 lence of its reading matter, which 

 is appreciated by every intelligent 

 and progressive horticulturist." — 

 Dominion Offices of The Potash Syn- 

 dicato, Toronto. 



prising a large number of cases and barrels 

 of apples and other fruit, as well as over 

 a hundred plates of fruit. There was a 

 large exhibit from the Dominion Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, showing the products 

 of different districts of Canada, while the 

 Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa sent 

 thirty plates of choice fruits, most of which 

 had been grown from seedlings. 



OFFICERS ELECTED 



The following officers were elected : Hon. 

 patron, Hon. Sydney Fisher, Minister of 

 Agriculture ; hon. president, U. Keynaud, 

 La Trappe, Que. ; hon. vice-president, 

 Prof. W. S. Blair, Macdonald College; 

 president. Rev. R. H. Dickson, Rectory 

 Hill ; vice-president. C. P. Newman, La- 

 chine Locks ; secretary-treasurer, Peter 

 Reid, Chateauguay Basin. 



Directors :— G. B. Edward, Covey Hill ; 

 E. A. Russell, Abbotsford ; U. P. Hitch- 

 cock, Massawippi ; A. D. Verrault, Village 

 des Aulnaies ; Auguste Dupuis. Village des 

 Aulnaios; Robert Brodie, Montreal; Dr. 

 Grignon, Ste. Adele ; H. W. Thompson, 

 Hudson Heights and N. E. Jack, Chateau- 

 guay Basin. 



Executive Committee : — -Prof. Blair and 

 Messrs. R. W. Shepherd, C. P. Newman, N. 

 K. Jack. Rev. R. H. Dickson and Peter 

 Reid. 



In regard to the appointment of dele- 

 gates to the Dominion Fruit Conference, 

 next year it was decided that the president 

 and secretary of the association should be 

 delegates ex-officio, and that five others 

 should be sent, including Messrs. Chapais, 

 Dickson, Shepherd. Brodie and Jack. It 

 was also decided that the executive might 

 appoint Mr. Byers and others to attend 

 as representatives of the association apart 

 from the Government invitation. 

 - -The usual auranier meeting next year will 



be held at Inverness during September. 



president's ADDRESS 



Prof. Blair of Macdonald College, in his 

 presidential address gave a resume of the 

 years' work in fruit growing. He dealt 

 carefullv with the surface cultivation, prun- 

 ing and spraying, and estimated that it 

 would cost at least $30 a year to keep an 

 orchard in good fruit producing condition. 

 With such treatment he computed that the 

 average profits during the first fifteen pro- 

 ducing years should be between $50 and $80 

 an acre, while after that when the trees 

 had reached maturity, the profits should 

 double that amount. 



PEAR culture 



Mr. W. T. Macoun gave an elaborate ac- 

 count of pear culture in Quebec Province, 

 reviewing efforts in this direction from the 

 earliest available data. These records show- 

 ed that' pear culture had not been a com- 

 mercial success in the province, mainly ow- 

 ing to climatic conditions, but also in some 

 degree to the choice of unsuitable varieties. 

 The only varietv which had been shown to 

 succeed to any marked degree was the 

 Flemish Beauty. 



A paper was read by Mr. L. V. Per- 

 ron, a student at Macdonald College, on 

 "Orchard Spraying." He went into the de- 

 tails of machinery, spraying mixture, 

 pumps, nozzles and time for spraying, and 

 showed the great improvements that could 

 be made in the productivity of orchards 

 by such treatment. 



Prof. Lochhead, of Macdonald College, 

 also read a paper on "Fruit Spurs," giving 

 a studv of twig life, and showing the effect 

 of such study on the proper pruning of dif- 

 ferent varieties. 



At the night session an address was given 

 by Dr. C. G. Hewitt, Dominion Entomolo- 

 gist, on "Insect Enemies of Fruit," in 

 which he enumerated the most common 

 pests, and gave advice as to the best meth- 

 ods of exterminating them. 



Father Leopold, of La Trappe, read a 

 paper on how to set out an orchard, soil 

 preparation and pruning methods. 



Mr. R. W. Shepherd, of Como, described 

 a trip through the Okanagan Valley, Kel- 

 owna, and other famous fruit growing dis- 

 tricts of British Columbia. Although the 

 results obtained were marvellous Mr. Shep- 

 herd did not consider the fruit of equal 

 quality to that produced in Quebec pro- 

 vince, although it was generally larger. 

 cooperation 



The advantages of cooperation were point- 

 ed out by Mr. R. Brodie, of Montreal, who 

 showed what fruit growers in portions of 

 the United States and in other parts of 

 Canada had accomplished by united effort. 

 Mr. Brodie urged the adoption of coopera- 

 tive efforts in Quebec but after considerable 

 discussion it was decided that the apple 

 and other fruit growers of this province 

 were too scattered and too prosperous to 

 want any cooperative aid. Quebec, it was 

 declared, had several special advantages. 

 First, it grew such apples as the Fameuse 

 and Macintosh Red, which were famed all 

 over this country as well as in England, for 

 their unapproachable flavoi , ana as a re- 

 sult growers this year were able to get four 

 and five dollars a barrel for No. 1 apples. 

 And in addition to this the apple growers 

 of the province not only had tfie Montreal 

 market anxious to got their best fruit at 

 fancy prices, but had half a million people 

 along the lower St. Lawrence eager to buy 

 their second fruit, at prices which could he 

 secured nowhere else in Canada. 

 ■ Mr. Shepherd reported that the exhibit 

 of F.ameuse and Maolnto.sh Red apple.? {^t 



