THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



61 



vants, to increase the comfort, refine- 

 ment, and happiness of every Canadian 

 home. In this sense it is a patriotic 

 task, but though patriotic it is not self- 

 sacriticing, for it is discharging a debt 

 ')ntracted by accepting the gifts on 

 he condition of publishing the experi- 

 nce. It is not self-sacrificing because 

 it is one of those labors which carry 

 their rewards with them. Who has 

 not felt the fascination which holds the 

 mind in delightful captivity as it 

 watches the development of the useful 

 and beautiful in fruits and flowers 1 I 

 for one cheerfully obey the kindly be- 

 hest of the Association to report, but 

 firstly beg to wedge in a short para- 

 graph on 



REPORTING. 



The Association is not a speculation, 

 not a Credit Mobillier, an institution 

 of hawks to capture pigeons, that it 

 invites the marvellous — the report ad- 

 yiptandum vulyus. The Fruit Growers' 

 Association is none of these, but a 

 community of mutual teachers and 

 learners. It therefore wants facts in 

 the form of experiences, most of all, 

 plain, broad-footed, brawny-handed, 

 and proletarean, if you like, on the 

 one hand ; on the other, scientific, but 

 cautious ; aesthetic, but ever rational, 

 whilst exploring the realm of the 

 beautiful. Again, it solicits all the 

 facts affecting the experiment ; not a 

 one-sided array to parade a pet theory 

 or thing, but both sides. The witness 

 not in court may be the very one re- 

 quired to complete the chain of evi- 

 dence. The stereotyj:)ed expression, 

 "in my grounds" such a grape mil- 

 dewed, or such a pear blighted, 

 althougli a fact, and therefore of some 

 value, is not suflicient. We know, 

 heoretically and practically, that differ- 

 'uces of results are mainly duo to 

 "lifferences of treatment, climate, soil, 

 l>osition, each one of these facts adds 

 to the value of the other in a cumula- 



tive ratio. The problem cannot be 

 solved except by the use of all the 

 factors. Yet how rarely are the factors 

 given. A simple statement of success 

 or failure, little more. One gratifying 

 excei)tion to this will be found in the 

 Horticulturist for December, 188-"), 

 under the caption " Grapes— a Re- 

 view." That review is admirable for 

 the fullness of data. 



Let us glance at a few of the 

 agencies which more or less modify 

 results or quite baffle our eflforts in 

 plant culture. Climate, which may be 

 said to include locality, aspect, altitude, 

 protection, air draughts, vicinity to 

 swamps and small bodies of water. A 

 little body of water to tender plants 

 is what Pope says a defective education 

 is to the mind. ** A little learning is 

 a dangerous thing." So are swamps 

 and small bodies of water. Here, also, 

 will come in barometric pressure, per 

 cent, of cloudiness, sudden extremes. 

 These in summer, more especially, 

 afi*ect development and quality of fruit, 

 in autumn the ripening of the sap, and 

 consequently hardiness of the plant to 

 withstand the winter. 



Then again the soil and drainage, 

 heavy or light, close or porous, argil- 

 laceous, calcareous or arenaceous, and 

 so on. I may almost say ad libiticm, 

 ad infinitum. There is scarcely a plant 

 known to horticulture that is not 

 partial to some certain soil and climatic 

 conditions, more or less difiering from 

 the wants of nearly every other plant. 

 There is scarcely a defect or difficulty 

 hinted at above that may not be sufli- 

 ciently mitigated or overcome for all 

 practical purposes by the art of the 

 skillful cultivator. The facts and ex- 

 periences which create that skill it is 

 the object of the Association through 

 its reports and through its organ, the 

 Horticulturist, to place in the posses- 

 sion of every Canadian who, however 

 luxuriously he may hQ—recubans sub 



