ID 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition - 



daughter Dominion of Canada, both des- 

 sert and culinary, the leading varieties 

 which secured the verdict being Cox's 

 Orange Pippin and Newton Wonder. Can- 

 ada, we have no hesitation in saying, ac- 

 cepts the verdict, and la compensated in 

 a measure by the knowledge that, while 

 agreeing It is a waste of time to teach 

 one's grandmother to suck eggs, Canadian 

 packing methods have enjoyed the distinc- 

 tion of being held up as an example to 

 our growers which has been followed, so 

 that what is on the face of it a victory fo:- 

 the Mother Country is one that actually is 

 shared by the whole family. When the 

 distance travelled by the competing apples 

 from Canada is taken into consideration, 

 the a(Ch;ievem'ent of the home-grower is 

 not so very extraordinary after all, for 

 the advantages were mainly on our side. 

 Canadian growers exhibiting were further 

 handicapped by the very early date of the 

 show, rendering It necessary to pack the 

 apples from British Columbia as early as 

 Sept. 25, and those from the eastern prov- 

 inces not later than Oct. 5. This draw- 

 back, too, had the effect of considerably 

 reducing the number of entries that would 

 have been expected to come forward under 

 more propitious circumstances. It is only 

 fair to Canada that these things should 

 be made known. We give the information 

 not as an excuse or in extenuation, but 

 simply as an explanation. For ourselves, 

 we are reluctant to regard the British 

 Empire section as a competition between 

 Great Britain on one side and the Over- 

 seas Dominions on the other. We dislike 

 the idea altogether. The Crystal Palace 

 Kniit Show we shall always best remember 

 as the finest and greatest exhibition of 

 apples and of fruit growing and distribut- 

 ing accessories the world has ever known, 

 demonstrating what the British (in its im- 

 perial term) fruit grower can really ac- 

 complish when once he has made up his 

 mind to do a thing." 



Smith, Fruit Trade Commissioner, Liver- 

 pool, in 'Weekly BuUstln, Department of 

 Trade and Commerce, Ottawa. 



Missing Quebec Exhibits 



AN unfortunate misunderstanding on 

 the part of London correspondents of 

 Canadian newspapers resulted in the 

 publication of a despatch to the affect that 

 nearly 100 boxes of Quebec apples had 

 been lost in transit, thus casting an unde- 

 served reflection on the steamship services. 

 The facts are that no definite advices had 

 been received as to the quantities of Que- 

 bec apples actually shipped, nor had the 

 Agent-General for Quebec bean notified as 

 to Quebec arrivals, as was done in the case 

 of the other provinces. Copies of all pre- 

 paid entries from Quebac, however, had 

 been forwarded to the Fruit Trade Com- 

 missioner, who also had other reason to ex- 

 pect the Quebec shipments on the ss. Meta- 

 gama, along with tha Ontario and New 

 Brunswick exhibits. The latter duly ar- 

 rived, and the quantities reached the total 

 that had been expected. 



In the case of Quebec, however, there 

 was a wide discrepancy between entries 

 and arrivals, and, in the absence of notifi- 

 cation in this regard, there wan at first 

 some thought that tha fruit mi,e;ht have 

 been miscarried in some way. When it was 

 dafinitely ascertained, however, that all Que- 

 bec entries, whether of 6 or 20-box lots that 

 had arrived, wera complete, it appeared al- 

 together unlikely that any mishap had hap- 

 pened to the balance, and the conclusion 

 was reached, since confirmed from Canada, 

 that, lor some reason not yet explained, a 

 portion of tha Quebec entries had not been 

 sent forward. In the meantime, however, 

 the report as to loss In transit had been 

 given regrettable publicity. — J. Foisyth 



I NIAGARA PENINSULA | 

 Suggestions Wanted 



E. F. Palmer, VIneland Station, Ont. 



IN the spring of 1922, the Horticultural 

 Experiment Station will have control of 

 an additional 35 acres of good land, suit- 

 able for all kinds of fruit and vesetables. 

 Definite experimental and breeding work 

 has bean planned for a part of this area 

 only. There are many other projects which 

 might and should be undertaken. This letter 

 is written with the ob.ject of securing the 

 views of growers as to new cultural prob- 

 lams which they consider should be studied 

 in an experimental way. The major lines 

 of experimental work now being carried on 

 at the station or already planned for the 

 coming spring are as follows: 



1. Variety tests of apples, pears, plums, 

 cherries, peaches, grapes, etc., comprising 

 over 1,000 varieties of fruits. 



2. Summer vs. winter pruning of apple 

 trees, vs. no pruning. 



3. Study of the effect of varying degrees 

 of dormant pruning on the development of 

 the apple. 



4. Study of the interrelation of pruning, 

 soil fertility apd distance of planting In the 

 peach. 



5. Study of the comparatlva merits of 

 clean cultivation, alfalfa sod mulch and 

 grass sod mulch for apples and pears. 



6. Grape: correlation of the number of 

 buds left in pruning and the vigor, produc- 

 tiveness an(} longevity of the vine. 



7. Study of height of heading in rasp- 

 berriss in relation to vigor, crop produc- 

 tion and cane support. 



8. Comparative value of various high- 

 grade fertilizers for outdoor tomatoes. 



In addition to these, experiments have 

 been completed on the following problems: 

 Overhead Irrigation of raspberries and 

 strawberries; Irrigation of asparagus; irri- 

 gation and fertilizer tests for early beets, 

 early carrots and celery; northarn vs. south- 

 ern-grown potatoes as seed tubers; self- 

 fertility and self-sterility of grape varieties: 

 value of certain self-fartile varieties of 

 grapes as pollenizers for self-sterile varie- 

 ties; ringing grapes; plum vs. peach roots 

 for peaches for heavy soils ; spring vs. fall 

 planting of fruit trees. Tha title, in each 

 case, indicates the nature and scope of the 

 experiment. 



We ask fiuit and vegetable growers to 

 carefully read this list, and would appreciate 

 suggestions for new lines of work which 

 they consider we should undertake. Write 

 or visit the station immediately so that 

 necessary stock, etc., can be ordared for 

 spring delivery. 



the most ideal way of keeping the cars 

 cooled. Shipments leaving Hamilton on 

 Saturday are ready for the Winnipeg mar- 

 ket on Monday. Cheaper transportation In 

 sight should sea a great improvement in 

 both variety and quality of Ontario fruits 

 from the new and successful organization. 

 The western business has been in charge 

 of Arthur H. Brown, who states that they 

 were extremely succassful the past season 

 with a limited quantity of strawberries and 

 raspberries. 



Shippers Await Settlement 



SHIPPERS of fruit from this district are 

 wondering when the Canadian National 

 Express Company Is going to make sat- 

 tlements for packages which wcra sold by 

 the company last season, says the St. 

 Catharines Standard. The matter has been 

 taken up by the local agent, but tho offi- 

 cials highar up have not yet shown results 

 as yet. True some of these accounts were 

 handed down from the Canadian Express 

 Company. Did not the present company as- 

 sume the liabilities as well as the assets of 

 tha company? 



One shipment in question was straw- 

 berries. They were sold in Toronto be- 

 cause connections had been missed. Is the 

 shipper to blame for this? The company 

 requast that all fruit he shipped on the 

 special train run for that purpose. The 

 shippers can't see why the company Is noV 

 liable, and if they claim they are not, why 

 they (the company) don't have the cour- 

 tesy to answer communications and state 

 thair position. 



Niagara Fruit for West 



ACCORDING to a press despatch from 

 Winnipeg, in December, Ontario straw- 

 berries and raspberries will next sea- 

 son be plentiful on all western markets. 

 Over 200 carloads of Ontario fruits and 

 vagetables were handled through the Win- 

 nipeg office of the Niagara Peninsula Grow- 

 ers, Ltd., In 1921. Greater preparations are 

 being made for the handling of the next 

 crop. 



The express companies all give excep- 

 tionally good service to perishable fruits, 

 and the government has expended a great 

 deal of money In exparlmenting to find out 



Basket Prices for 1922 



F. G. H. Pattison, Winona, Ont. 



I HAVE been informed that the price of 

 baskets for next season is likely to be 

 around $100 a thousand for 11-quarts 

 and ?80 for 6-quarts. This appears to be 

 much too high. Both materials and wages 

 are away below last season, and from all 

 accounts local basket factories have been 

 making good profits of late and they ought 

 to share up with the growers now. 



The new basket factory in Niagara Town- 

 ship, for instance, owned and managed by 

 the local fruit growers, which only started 

 last season, is reported to have made a 

 profit of nearly 40 per cent its first season. 

 If that be the case, what have the other 

 basket factories in the Niagara District 

 been making? Manifestly, they have been 

 doing very well indeed, and they should 

 be more reasonable this year. An obvious 

 cure for overcharging in the matter of 

 baskets is for the fruit growers' co- 

 operative to establish some basket factories 

 of their own. 



The Vlnaland Branch of the Ontario 

 Vegetable Growers' Association met at the 

 Horticultural Experiment Station on Decem- 

 ber 9, and elected the following ofiicers: 

 Hon. pres., E. F. Palmar; pres., Chris. 

 Fretz: vice-pres., Leo Martin; sec, O. J. 

 Robb; treas., J. W. Philbrlck; directors, the 

 foregoing and Gordon Fry. 



An interesting feature of the Canadian 

 Government's display at the Imperial Fruit 

 Show was an exhibit of fresh grapas from 

 the Niagara District. Red Rogers and Ver- 

 gennes had been collected by J. R. Hast- 

 ings, Chief Fruit Inspector for Western On- 

 tario, and sent to the show packed in cork 

 in boxas. Mr. Carey said that the first-class 

 condition in which they arrived showed that 

 Niagara District grapes could be shipped 

 successfully to England in that way. 



