THE GOOD WORK IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 



been able to demonstrate on the author- 

 ity of the expert buyers of London, Liv- 

 erpool and Glasgow that no superior 

 fruit of the kind forwarded has been 

 put on these markets. And their testi- 

 mony is no empty sound. We have the 

 money jingling down in our pockets 

 from satisfactory sales made there this 

 autumn. We have been- largely work- 

 ing in the dark up to the present, plant- 

 ing the trees for years aback palmed off 

 on us from all sources — some, indeed 

 the great majority of them, untrue to 

 name and inferior stock from all points 

 of view, — unloaded here at big profit 

 because a more discerning class of buy- 

 ers in Ontario or Nova Scotia cast it out 

 entirely. Thus with all these drawbacks 

 we have gone ahead remarkably in the 

 science of pomology and demonstrated 

 to the most hardheaded community to 

 convince at all times, our own Island, 

 to its evident surprise and amazement, 

 that we can grow superior fruit. It 

 takes time to effect changes in public 

 sentiment ; we have certainly experi- 

 enced this tardy process in horticulture 

 here. But as the French proverb says : 

 " Le monde s'agite et Dieu le mene." 



Brought together by the public-spirit- 

 ed Governor, our fruit raisers and their 

 friends formed the " Prince Edward Is- 

 land Fruit Growers' Association." The 

 first meeting was not promising but the 

 Governor persevered. Interest in the 

 matter having seized others of the pro- 

 fessional community and the good work 

 of the Ontario Society having been 

 brought to the notice of all concerned, 

 a more enlightened essay was made last 

 year and, as a consequence, the Associa- 

 tion was established on the same plan 

 as that of Ontario, to which it was affili- 

 ated and incorporated in due course by 

 Provincial statute. A moderate grant 

 was also secured from the Government 

 for the Society and the Horticulturist 



Fig. 1595.— Rkv. Father Burkk's Pres- 

 bytery, Alberton, p. E. I. 



became its organ. 



The first annual meeting since reor- 

 ganization took place at Charlottetown 

 on the 2 1 St of March last. The ses 

 sions were attended by the Lieutenant- 

 Governor, the Premier, the Mayor, 

 judges, clergymen, professional men and 

 merchants, besides the most enlightened 

 and cultured element of the agricultural 

 community. The President, Edward 

 Bayfield, Esq., presided, while all the 

 officers were in their places and about 

 all the members except Senator Fergu- 

 son, engaged in the session at Ottawa, 

 were present. 



In the interval between meetings the 

 Association had expended much energy 

 and employed its grant in making a trial 

 shipment of Island apples to Britain, as 

 a practical test of the Island's capabili- 

 ties in fruit growing, and to ascertain if 

 shipments of this fruit would be suffi- 

 ciently remunerative to make orcharding 

 an avocation for the money that it af- 

 fords. 



The Government wishing to keep 

 abreast of the Association and help 

 trade in other directions, sent the Trea- 

 surer of the Association, Joseph Wise, 

 Esq., M.P., as a commissioner to Eng- 

 land to study the markets and report 

 thereon. One hundred and eight bar- 

 rels of apples shipped under the per- 



^85 



