The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXVI 



JANUARY, 1913 



No. I 



The Value of Books to the Fruit Grovirer' 



A. Bonar Balfour, Pilrig Fruit Farm, Port Dalhousie 



I 



PRESIDENT Taft in his address be- 

 fore the National Conservation 

 Congress at Kansas City, Mo., 

 said of farming that " It is now 

 almost a learned profession," and 

 designated it as " the profession ot 

 farming." This shows that what a few 

 years ago was thought good enough 

 only for the mentally dull or ine!T ' ■ 

 members of the family has come t. .>■ 

 front with attraction sufficient to 'tilf- 

 est the most proficient members : I -j- 

 ciety. In all probability, in a f \>. \ ears' 

 time, it will take the foren-^jKl rank of 

 all occupations whereby "am has to earn 

 his living and make a competence. The 

 production of food for a growing popu- 

 lation has become a vital question. 



Modern methods of rapid and easy 

 transit and with a still. more rapid com- 

 munication has broken down the isola- 

 tion of the farm. Modern machmery has 

 robbed it of much of the drudgery, so 

 that now the farm is no longer the abode 

 of brawn, but of brain, and the greater 

 endowed the brain the greater the pro- 



A catalogue of books bearing on horticultural 

 subject* and fertilizers may be obtained free on 

 application to The Horticultural Publishing Co., 

 Ltd.. Peterboro, Ont. 



fits, and accordingly the higher the 

 standards of living. It is said of us in 

 our youth that we go to school not so 

 muc!i to learn as to learn how to learn. 

 Th/i is, the brain is trained into lines 

 of thought — the greater the efficiency of 

 the thought the better direction should 

 i e given our labcrs, and consequent 

 greater profits result. 



DIFFERENT OONDTTIONS 



When the writer was in California, he 

 met a young Englishman of a progres- 

 sive turn of mind. He told me that in 

 England you have to keep within your 

 own boundaries, while in California 

 things were different^you could go over 

 the fence and see what your neighbor 

 was doing. Indeed, he said, it is your 

 duty to do so, and whatever you find 

 he is doing better than you can do, you 

 are expected to adopt it and work it into 

 your own scheme of affairs. Unfor- 

 tunately some of our neighbors live too 

 far off for us to see what they are doing, 

 but thanks to the press there is permit- 

 ted us an intercommunication by means 

 of books and periodicals. 



Books that are of interest to the fruit 

 grower in helping him in the promotion 



of his business for the most part treat 

 only on one branch or phase of that 

 business. They are written by one who 

 in all probability has devoted the greater 

 part of his life to the study of that one 

 subject and not only represents years 

 of labor, but also the expenditure of 

 much money in the pursuit of the know- 

 ledge of the .subject they represent and 

 you owe it as a duty to yourself to study 

 such books as are in direct line with 

 your life work — the work by which you 

 earn a livelihood for yourself and family 

 and on success in which depends the 

 quality of your comforts. Books pre- 

 sent to you the viewpoints of others, a 

 study of these may modify or round out 

 your own, may increase your accom- 

 plishments and heighten your efficiency, 

 and thereby cultivate and develop your 

 mental and physical powers, awaken 

 your latent energies, and open to you a 

 new and wider horizon. 



Thus it is that the fruit growing pro- 

 fession is elevated to the plane of the 

 learned profession. The growing of fruits 

 and intensive cultivation demands inten- 

 sive thoughts-correct lines of thought 

 are only promoted through the study of 



A Portion of the Apple Show, Held Last Fall, at Summerland, B.C. The Artittic Displays are Shown on the Left 



and the Boxed Apples on the Right 



