June, igii 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



A Succcful Vineyard in a North-Eastern Portion of Ontario, where the Seasons are Cold 



west''o^OUa;r^nd''d^si""o'La'^eirita^,nia"''T^^ °' »""■« Corners, a short distance 



incident to it. location, he succeeded Ir^^owTn^^ rcefs",^ff. Sr;iriSL\!Trlp'^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



Co-opcratioi\ in Fruit Marketing in N. S. 



I 



S. C, Parker, Berwick, Secretary of the 



THE export of apples from the Ann- 

 apolis Valley of Nova Scotia, has 

 grown from 35,000 barrels in 1893- 

 1894 to 750,000 in 1909-10. This is 

 only a beginning- of what is to come. Ten 

 years will see this output doubled and 

 twenty years will mean an annual output 

 of from two to three million barrels of 

 apples from this section of country, one 

 hundred miles long and from four to ten 

 miles wide. 



Situated as this valley is, its extremity 

 about one hundred miles from Halifax, 

 an ocean port with many steamship lines 

 making it their winter terminus, and with 

 good harbors for small steamers at 

 Kingsport, Annapolis and Port Wade, 

 right in the orchards, a system of ship- 

 ping has grown up that is unique in the 

 history of apple marketing. In the early 

 years of the industry there were few if 

 any buyers. The district was removed 

 from the great centres of population, and 

 the quantity of apples was so small that 

 outside buyers did not come in to look 

 after them. 



London was the principal market and 



the early growers individually picked, 



[packed and usually consigned their fruit 



ito that market. It was all very easy; 



a dozen English commi.ssion houses had 



csident agents making their headquar- 



!rs here for the fruit season. These in 



turn had local agents at every shipping 



[station, and the farmer handled his crop. 



Nova Scotia Fruit Groweri' Asiociatisn 



be it large or small, in his outhouse 

 or cellar, hauled them .in small lots to 

 the shipping station,, where the agent 

 combined them in carload lots and for- 

 warded to the consignee. The consignor 

 heard no more of his goods for about 

 four weeks when he received his account 

 sales with a check for the net proceeds. 

 This was a species of cooperation but the 

 profits were all on one side. The trans- 

 portation companies took a generous 

 slice. The general agent took all his 

 conscience would allow, and divided the 

 pot among his sub-agents. They in turn 

 provided for their subs. 



"The greater fleas had lesser fleas upon 



their backs to bite 'em ; 

 The lesser fleas had smaller fleas, and so 



ad infinitum." 



Then the consignee charged commis- 

 sion, insurance, brokerage, wharfage, 

 lighterage, cartage, porterage, and half 

 a dozen other 'ages, or sometimes lump- 

 ed them all in a lot as "our charges." The 

 growers fretted long under this burden, 

 but individually were helpless. 



MORE STORAGE NEEDED 



Ten years ago the export reached 300,- 

 000 barrels, and a new system was in- 

 augurated to meet the increased output. 

 More storage room was needed, and the 

 erection of frost-proof warehouses on the 

 line of railway was begun. These were 



built in some cases by English commis- 

 sion houses, some by local dealers, and 

 some by the growers combining. Here 

 large quantities of apples were collected, 

 packed and shipped under a more uni- 

 form system. This, too, was a species of 

 cooperation, but still did not put the pro- 

 fits in the right place. Once inaugurat- 

 ed., the warehouse system grew with as- 

 tonishing rapidity. The farmer who a 

 few years before was growing a few 

 score or possibly a few hundred barrels, 

 was now getting a thousand or thous- 

 ands. He needed more frost proof stor- 

 age and expert help for packing. In 

 1910 every station on the Dominion At- 

 lantic Railway between Annapolis and 

 Windsor had from one to six of these 

 buildings, from 75 to 150 feet in length, 

 and with storage capacity of from 5,000 

 to 15,000 barrels each. To these ware- 

 houses the fruit is brought as picked 

 from the trees, and here gangs of skill- 

 ed packers work by day, and in the rush 

 sea.sons often by night, turning out car- 

 loads of straight lots uniformly and skil- 

 fully packed. 



Another revolution quite as remark- 

 able, has come in the past decade. Before 

 the warehouse system was established, 

 and farm packing was the rule, individual 

 consigning was also the rule. In 1900 

 probably 75 per cent, of the output was 

 consigned by the grower in small lots to 

 the commission men. Now the universal 

 tendency is to sell as picked, "tree run," 

 as it is technically called, and in 1909 

 probably 75 per cent, of the crop was sold 



