PRINCE EDWARD HOR'nCULTURAL PARLIAMENT. 



131 



have dried up and disappeared with the 

 forest, and sunburnt fields, once laden with 

 luxuriant crops, scarcely render any return to 

 the husbandman's toil. The climatic in- 

 fluence arising from these changed condi- 

 tions, although not so marked as in inland 

 countries, are altogether against us." 



It is not strange that an island like 

 Prince Edward with such a coastline should 

 be a great loser by floods and freshets as 

 the great woods which covered it are cut 

 away. The loss to the fruit growers has 

 been extensive, too, and if measures be not 

 taken to repair the general removal of the 

 forest, there may well be grave doubts en- 

 tertained as to the island's future as a fruit 

 country. This feature professional horti- 

 culturists have been qiiick to grasp, as will 

 be seen by another excerpt from the same 

 source. 



"Writing to me last summer just before 

 taking passage for Europe, Professor 

 Macoun, whom we are all glad to have with 

 us here to-day, said : 



' ' 'Whenever and wherever you can, preach 

 the preservation of your woods. If the 

 protection aff'orded by your fine woods is 

 removed, I fear that fruit growing there 

 will not be nearly so successful as it prom- 

 ises to be.' Nobody doubts the truth of 

 this statement. But without a healthy 

 public sentiment, an awakening to the 

 knowledge and needs of the case, as well as 

 proper action on the part of the government, 

 what can be done ? Prof. Macoun, no 

 doubt, believes that our province will lose 

 its adaptability for fruit raising, not only 

 by the fact that the loss of the forest may 

 bring adverse climatic conditions, but also 

 because we must also protect our trees 

 from the summer gales to mature good 

 fruit, no matter how well they may do 

 otherwise. This question of protection 

 enters very largely into the economics of 

 fruit-growing. The past year has demon- 

 strated that, beyond the peradventure of a 

 doubt. Ontario alone lost millions of 



dollars by her storm-swept orchards, the 

 other provinces were also heavy losers, and 

 here those who had no proper windbreaks 

 have lost their entire crop. I remember 

 well asking an enterprising tree agent from 

 New Brunswick, where proximity to the 

 United States makes men veracious, if it 

 wasn't necessary to get up a good wind- 

 break in this country before attempting to 

 grow apple trees. ' If our apple trees 

 won't stand it out in the open I won't ask 

 any man to plant them,' was his answ^er. 

 They might stand it in the open, but stand 

 is about all they would do. We want fruit — 

 and to produce fruit in this country, apart 

 from all other considerations, we must 

 protect it, after it has formed on the trees. 

 I have a windbreak on the N., N. E., and 

 N. W. , the exposed points of my situation, 

 and while my neighbors' trees were swept 

 early in August, I harvested my entire crop. 

 The importance of forest protection to the 

 fruit growers of the country cannot then be 

 overestimated." 



The Government which owned all the land 

 originally has never moved to preserve any 

 portion of our beautiful forest. We might 

 be receiving a big revenue from our timber 

 lands to-day, when revenue is so much need- 

 ed, had some prudent system of reserve been 

 adopted. The timber is gone and monetarily 

 the country has not benefited to the extent 

 it ought, while in every other way the whole- 

 sale slaughter of trees has been a great 

 curse to it. The practical question is, 

 what are you going to do about it? The 

 representative men of the country, the 

 Governor, Premier and ministers of the local 

 government, Sir Louis Davies and the visit- 

 ing professors and the press declared the 

 discussion most timely and no doubt it will 

 be productive of much good. This resolu- 

 tion crystallized the whole matter : 



Moved by A. A. Moore, seconded by D. 

 P. Irving, and 



'^'^ Resolved y That the Government be 

 asked to give its serious consideration to the 



