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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTCRIST. 



PRINCE EDWARD HORTICULTURAL PARLIAMENT. 



ITH us here in Prince Edward 

 Island, horticulture is making 

 steady and substantial progress. 

 It is true there are some who 

 feign to have no faith in scientific methods 

 and still adhere with a tenacity worthy of a 

 better cause to the rule of thumb in hor- 

 ticulture as well as other matters, but their 

 number is growing smaller and smaller, and 

 beautifully less. Ignorance dies hard any- 

 where but especially in high places, and it 

 is really wonderful how sometimes one has 

 to fight for ordinarily advanced methods 

 with those who should be formally engaged 

 in forging forward along those lines. The 

 exigencies of the times project some people 

 into positions for which they have not a 

 single qualification. It takes time to 

 smother all those things out ; it will do so 

 finally. The true friends and lovers of 

 horticulture must be persuaded to be patient 

 and unselfish and on no account allow their 

 enthusiasm to cool on account of certain 

 incongruities in organization, no matter 

 how thrilling. 



The year that has just closed has been a 

 fair fruit year in Prince Edward Island. It 

 has not been by any means a full year, how- 

 ever. There was a considerable yield of early 

 apples thrown upon the market even earlier 

 than the season by the great gales which 

 swept over the province in August. We 

 have no way of handling a glut of this kind. 

 The later varieties were also affected by the 

 winds — blown off where not protected and 

 rendered valueless. In some cases, how- 

 ever, and with some varieties, the harvest 

 was satisfactory, both with regard to qual- 

 ity and quantity. Spraying as well as 

 thinning, when necessary, undoubtedly makes 

 far superior quality in wet years, like last 

 especially. 



The annual meeting of our F.G.A. took 

 place at Charlottetown on the 6th and 7th 



of February. We had the great pleasure 

 of having Professor Macoun, horticulturist, 

 of the Central Farms with us. In order to 

 get him we had to hold our meeting immed- 

 iately after that of the Nova Scotia asso- 

 ciation which he was attending. February, 

 on account of its boisterous nature, is no 

 month to hold meetings here, but we some- 

 times have to make shifts to suit circum- 

 stances. The weather was anything but 

 favorable for a large attendance of country 

 horticulturists, and therefore they did not 

 come out in such numbers as we could have 

 desired, but a number of citizens filled up 

 the places and all the sessions were fairly 

 well attended. 



At the first session, after the reading of 

 the minutes, the president delivered a well 

 written and carefully thought out address 

 on the general purposes of the fruit industry 

 under his presidency. He asked for action 

 to prevent the introduction of the San Jose 

 scale and pleaded for government assistance 

 to carry out the schemes of the association. 

 The members of the government, including 

 the Premier, were present. His address was 

 unanimously received and ordered to be 

 printed. 



The first paper — that of the writer on 

 "Foresting and Horticulture" — was then 

 read and elicited a discussion which was 

 carried on through all that session. This 

 important question of Foresting is doubly 

 important to P. E. I., "scarcely 100 years 

 ago," said the paper, "and Prince Edward 

 Island was one insular forest ; to-day not 

 enough lumber could be found on it to keep 

 one good steam mill agoing the year 

 around ; many of our farmers cannot secure 

 wood enough on their holdings for the 

 kitchen stove alone ; a majority of the 

 holdings are absolutely without protection 

 from the sweeping winds ; the springs and 

 streams which once watered the meadows 



