THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIrtT. 



225 



tracted for with the tree pedler until 

 the last tree is dead. 



In order that this statement may be 

 better understood, I will endeavor to 

 show what kind of knowledge is neces- 

 sary to secure success. But first let me 

 impress upon your minds this one 

 fundamental fact, which becomes ap- 

 parent to any one who has eyes to see 

 and ears to hear. That the climate in 

 this riding is eminently suitable to the 

 health, growth and development of all 

 the hardy varieties of apples. Let this 

 fact be accepted, then the causes of 

 failure will be much easier understood. 



To the person about to plant an 

 orchard, the first question for decision 

 should be : Is the fruit I purpose 

 growing intended for the use only of 

 my own family; or am I going into 

 the business of fruit growing as a com- 

 mercial enterprise, i.e., growing fruit 

 for market^ Let this question be well 

 considered, and it will be seen that 

 farmers' orchards generally are either 

 too large or too small. Too large for 

 the use of their family, and too small 

 to deserve the necessary attention for 

 profitable marketing. When a little 

 more fruit is grown than the family 

 requires, the balance is often wasted. 

 Being too small to pay for marketing 

 at the proper time, cattle, sheep and 

 pigs are allowed to help themselves, 

 and if a i)ortion of the overphis be 

 taken to market, the fruit is often in 

 such bad condition that less — some- 

 times one-half less — than the proper 

 marketing value is all that can be 

 realized for it. I have seen two lots of 

 apples of the same variety offered for 

 sale on the same day in this town, one 

 of which was sold at once at 80 cents 

 i)er bushel ; the other was with diffi- 

 culty sold at 50 cents per bag. The 

 lot which brought 80 cents per bushel 

 had been carefully hand picked, placed 

 in baskets and taken to market in a 

 good spring waggon. The other lot 



had been shaken from the trees, thrown 

 into bags like so many potatoes, and 

 then taken to town in a lumber waggon. 

 Those at 80 cents paid a handsome pro- 

 fit, while the lot at 50 cents per bag- 

 were — not quite so profitable ; the 

 grower of which said he could not afford 

 the time to handle these apples, as he- 

 was, at that time, too busy with fann 

 work. That man's orchard was too 

 large. The farmer who plants more 

 fruit trees than is necessary for an 

 abundant supply for his family, unless 

 he be well versed in practical pomology, 

 and is prepared to give the necessary- 

 time and attention to his orchard, will 

 certainly find it, in most cases, an 

 unprofitable speculation. Profitable 

 orcharding is the result of judicious 

 selection of varieties, intelligent culti- 

 vation and treatment, and timely and 

 ample provision made for handling and 

 marketing the fruit. 



A few years ago, at a summer meet- 

 ing of the Fruit Growers' Association 

 of Ontario, during a season when sum- 

 mer apples had been a poor crop gener- 

 ally, and therefore had brought large 

 prices, one gentleman stated that he 

 had only about a half crop, yet he had 

 sent several hundred barrels to Mon- 

 treal, which brought him about $5.00 

 per barrel. That man's orchard is not 

 too large, although it contains about 

 300 acres. Another man stated that 

 he, too, had sent a few barrels of the 

 same variety to Montreal a week or 

 two later, and had received less than 

 $2.00 per barrel. That man's orchard, 

 although but a few acres in extent, was 

 probably too large for him. The next 

 question will naturally be : What 

 varieties are you to plant 1 Now, don't 

 go to nurserymen's catalogues for an 

 answer to that question. Neither 

 should you allow the ubiquitous tree- 

 pedler to have one word to say on the 

 subject, because as a rule these gentry 

 know less about the matter than you 



