THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



affections. I am inclined to the belief 

 that it will live long here and do well 

 in any part of the Province. 



As you know, the Federal Govern- 

 ment sent us a man last year to prune, 

 spray, graft and pack, we thought. 

 Well, very little practical good came out 

 of the mission. We had not the right 

 man and instead of being in the charge 

 of the Association, which has an interest 

 in fruit raising only, he fell into the 

 hands of the politicians. I need not 

 tell you the result. His mission has 

 been a complete blank. He only 

 attempted to spray, anyhow, and it has 

 come to this, that a man with a proper 

 machine and the formula can spray 

 after one attempt, if he understands his 

 machine and is possessed of ordinary 

 intelligence, as well as the best of them 

 And the orchardist who attempts to raise 

 fruit now without spraying is a back 

 number. All then must learn to spray 

 for themselves. 



As to grafting, our Association se- 

 cured a very considerable number of 

 good scions from Nova Scotia and else- 

 where last fall, and expected that the 

 specialist sent down from Ottawa would 

 put them on a number of orchards 

 throughout the Province at a minimum 

 of cost. He never touched them, and 

 consequently the most of them were 

 lost. A Mr. McLaughlin came over to 

 us later, and some of them he secured 

 and put on for us at 3 cents a piece. 

 This was perhaps a little dear, but many, 

 knowing they were growing unprofitable 

 trees, were glad of his assistance at any 

 cost. He is a good man, knows his 

 business, and while we are not able to 

 see yet whether his scions are true to 

 name, we believe him to be thoroughly 

 honest. I am told that he put on some 

 30,000 scions. That ought to effect 

 much good. The season was too far 

 advanced when he came, and, therefore, 

 he could not get all around. 



There can be no doubt but that prun- 

 ing is an important matter in orchard- 

 ing. An amateur will never cut out 

 enough wood. All our Island trees are 

 not half pruned. We expected the ser- 

 vices of an experienced man to show us 

 how to prune and leave us his own work 

 for an object lesson. We were again 

 disappointed. 



As to packing fruit, this year there is 

 little or none of it to be done. The 

 Lake Huron, our first cold storage (and 

 dear only knows what kind of cold 

 storage) steamer this season sailed for 

 England last week. She took only 

 about 100 bbls. of apples, shipped by 

 Mr. Sharp, our Vice-President. The 

 government man, we don't know what 

 he is doing at all, or if he is in the 

 Province. At any rate, his mission was 

 a frisco, and pity it was too, when the 

 right man in right hands could have 

 done so much. The moral is : keep 

 politics a thousand miles away from 

 experimental work, whether agricultural 

 or horticultural, if you want to do any- 

 thing serviceable. 



Those of us who sprayed this year 

 found the greatest possible benefit from 

 it. Unfortunately we desisted too soon. 

 Seeing the crop to be small, many let 

 the last spraying slip, and but for that 

 the result would have been perfect. 

 The fruit, however, was comparatively 

 clean and well sized, the foliage bright 

 and verdant till the frosts came. Hence- 

 forward everybody who wants a crop of 

 good fruit will have to get his pump out 

 in the early spring, and follow the spray- 

 ing calendar to the letter till the end of 

 the season. This is the only law to 

 follow for success. It is a hard enough 

 law, but it is imperative. Dura lex 

 sed lex. 



With the next a good year, the fruit 



industry will go on here with leaps and 



bounds. Many good orchards are being 



planted out ; the people are caring for 



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