274 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, 1913 



The New United States 



dian Fruit 



WHAT effect will the new United 

 States tariff on fruit have on the 

 Canadian fruit industry? This is 

 a difficult question to answer. The 

 Ijroduction of fruit both in Canada and the 

 United States varies so greatly year by 

 year amd also by districts there is certain 

 to be an almost equally great variation in 

 the effect of the new tariff. On the whole, 

 it cannot help but be beneficial. In years 

 of heavy production in Canada it will mi in 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to 

 our fruit growers. 



The fruit growers of British Columbia 

 will benefit the least. The great fruit pro- 

 ducing states of the Pacific Coast more 

 than supply their local demands with the 

 f result that there is not likely to be much of 



an opening for British Columbia fruit in 

 the adjoining states. At times fruit from 

 British Columbia will cross the border, es- 

 pecially into the north-western states, and 

 be sold in some of the large cities of the 

 middle west. 



THE EAST WIT.I. BENEFIT 



Ontario will benefit to a marked extent. 

 Had the change in the tariff taken place six 

 weeks earlier it would have meant many 

 thousands of dollars to the peach growers 

 of Ontario. Each year large quantities of 

 Ontario fruit will find a market in the 

 states. The Niagara District will benefit 

 especially as will also the counties border- 

 ing along Lake Erie, and the St. Clair 

 River. 



Nova Scotia should find a market for 

 considerable of its fruit in the New England 

 amd Atlantic Coast States, particularly in 

 seasons of scarcity on the other side. The 

 short haul will effect a great saving in the 

 marketing of this fruit. 



THIS year's sales 



The change in the tariff came into effect 

 too late this year to be of much benefit to 

 Canadian growers. Practically all of the 

 Ontario apples, and the same is largely true 

 of Nova Scotia's crop, had been sold by the 

 first of October to go either to the west or 

 to Europe. The crop of apples being short 

 both in the United States and in Canada, 

 sales were made early at good figures. 

 gboweb's opinions 



Desiring to ascertain how leading grow- 

 ers and commission men looked on the situ- 

 ation. The Canadian Horticulturist wrote 

 to a number of them. Among the replies 

 received were the following : 



Robert Thompson, Manager, St. Cathar- 

 ines Cold Storage and Forwarding Co. : — 

 "In seasons of scarcity of fruit and vege- 

 tables in the states, there will be a greater 

 demand for produce from Canada, should 

 we happem to have a good crop. We will 

 also create a demand for fruit and vegeta- 

 bles that are .grown here in greater abun- 

 dance and to better perfection owing to our 

 late seasons. We will for the present not 

 have to contend with any shipments from 

 across the line owing to the high Canadian 

 tariff. But I can see trouble ahead for the 

 Canadian fruit growers and producers. 

 There will be a demand from the Canadian 

 public for the duties to be lowered or taken 

 off the same lines coming into Canada. 

 The Canadian fruit and vegetable growers 

 will never be satisfied to allow the Canadian 

 Government to take the duty off fruit and 

 vegetables coming into Canada and at the 

 same time continue the high duties on our 

 supplies, such as spray material, pumps, 

 baskets, leno for covering baskets, and 

 everything that they use in connection with 



Tariff and the Cana- 

 Industry 



the business. The unfairness of any pro- 

 posal to take the duties off fruit and vege- 

 tables coming into Canada while retaining 

 the high protection on supplies, would mean 

 that our growers would have to pay from 

 twenty-five to thirty-five per cent more than 

 .growers in the states. 



"I will give you a few instances: The St. 

 Catharines Cold Storage Co. bought this 

 season two hundred thousand Lino covers 

 from the manufacturer on the other side, 

 and paid thirty-five per cent, duty, or exact- 

 ly one-third of a cent each, or six hun- 

 dred and sixty-six dollars duty more than 

 the grower on the other side of the line is 

 charged. Several hundred thousand bas- 

 kets had to be purchased, on which a duty 

 of thirty per cent, is levied. On basket fas- 

 teners they charge thirty per cervt. ; on spray 

 pumps from twenty-seven and a half to thir- 

 ty-five per cent. So you can readily see how 

 we are handicapped. 



"When our growers are assured that these 

 duties will be lowered then we will be will- 

 ing to consider the lowering of the duties 

 on fruits and vegetables. Every one, grow- 

 srs and consumers alike, would be bene- 

 fited by such a general reduction, but not 

 by such a one-sided reduction as I can see 

 the Canadian consumer is getting ready to 

 demand. 



"This season is one permitting the Can- 

 adian grower to ship his produce to the 

 other side with profit, but possibly next 

 season we might not be favored with such 

 excellent crops, and the American produce 

 might then come in here in competition. 

 As one of the .growers I am in favor of a 

 reduction on all duties but not any one- 

 sided affair in which the grower will get the 

 worst of the bargain." 



SHOULD BE A BENEFIT 



J. W. Smith & Son, Winona, Ont. : "The 

 new tariff regulations of the LTnited States 

 should have a good effect on account of the 

 large markets opened to the grower. It 

 should raise the prices to a certain extent, 

 but if they had made it free entirely it would 

 have been much better. The business that 

 will be done mow will be mostly through 

 wholesale houses, and the consumer on the 

 other side will not get the benefit as he 

 should. Had they taken the duty off entire- 

 ly our producers then would have gone af- 

 ter the retail trade. As it is the tariff will 

 so interfere with business we will have to 

 direct our shipments through wholesale 

 houses and they will look after the tariff. 

 The new arrangement should benefit the 

 majority of fruits, particularly the tender 

 fruits, such as peaches, berries amd grapes, 

 especially at the points where there are 

 large cities just across the border." 



WILL HELP FRUIT GROWERS 



H. W. Dawson, Brampton, Ont. : "The 

 mew United States tariff will be a 

 benefit to the fruit industry in Canada but 

 it would be much better for the producers 

 if Canada could adjust her tariff so as to 

 take advantage of all the benefits. As I 

 am not so closely in touch with the ship- 

 ments here as formerly I cannot give you 

 particulars. One of the largest growers of 

 peaches who was a strong opponent of re- 

 ciprocity in 1911, told me recently that the 

 bigest mistake he ever made was to vote 

 against reciprocity ; that if he had had ac- 

 cess to the markets of the United States this 

 one season he would have been hundreds of 

 dollars ahead. That, he said, applied to all 

 peach growers in the district. The freer 

 exchange of perishables we can have with 



the States the greater will be Canada's bene- 

 fit." 



W. J. Kerr, Ottawa: "The new United 

 States tariff arrangements on the vegeta- 

 bles of Canada, I do not think will make 

 any great difference to us except in the_ 

 vicinity of large American cities. .At Pre 

 ■cott there may be some trade worked up with 

 Ogdensburg, and at Windsor with Detroit. 

 Canada is not likely to become a vegetable 

 exporting country in the near future. We 

 are buying hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars worth of vegetables from the United 

 States annually. Every large city in Can- 

 ada buys large quantities from the United 

 States. The Soo, Port Arthur and Fort Wil- 

 liam import very large quantities. The 

 great truck gardens of the Atlantic coast 

 states, as well as parts of western New York 

 and Ohio, as well as several other parts of 

 the Union, grow enormous quantities of veg- 

 etables and will likely continue as in the 

 nast, to use Canada as a dumping ground 

 for great quantities of their surplus, so un- 

 less Canada removes her tariff walls condi- 

 tions will likely remain much as' they are. 

 Were Canada to remove her restrictions we 

 would in a very few years see the growers 

 on this side practically put out of business 

 by the growers in the more southern coun- 

 try, where two and often three crops a year 

 can be grown in the open ground." 



The Barrel Package — ^Somc 

 Defects to Remedy 



D. E. Lothiaa, B.S.A., Pettrboro C«., Oat. 



We cannot change the taste of the 

 market in a day. Those experienced 

 in any commercial enterprise, no 

 matter what the nature of it 

 may be, will testify to the correctness of 

 thqt statement. Though it mav ultimately 

 rome to pass that we shall change from 

 the barrel to the box package in the ship- 

 nin? of apples, we need not expect that 

 this will occur in a day either. It there- 

 fore behoves us to improve as far as is 

 possible meantime the commonly accepted 

 rackage and to attempt in even.' way to 

 make perfect the condition of that package. 



One common imperfection, a fault which 

 can be easilv remedied, is due to the fac' 

 that orchardists commonly leave their bar- 

 rels exposed to weather conditions with the 

 result that the inner side of the staves be- 

 comes warped and uneven. This mav not 

 necessarily be obvious to one examining 

 only the outside of the barrel. Again many 

 barrels when they are manufactured are 

 set up with staves of uneven thickness with 

 the result that considerable shoulder may 

 be found to project on the inside. It was 

 found last season by some of the fruit in- 

 soectors that some of these barrels had a 

 shoulder of thr-ef'-sixteenths of an inch pro- 

 jecting almost the whole way from the head 

 to the tail of the barrel, with the result 

 that when the barrels were packed and the 

 nress applied th° whole row of apples ex- 

 tending along this shoulder was Dressed 

 against it and sufficiently bruised to make 

 them unfit for human consumption. The 

 erection of a rain shelter and the inspec- 

 tion of the new barrel wiU correct these 

 defects. 



BETTER QUALITY LABOR 



.'^t a time whon we hear so much about 

 distrihutine labor, on the farm, the or- 

 rhardist mav not be made anv excention 

 to this reouirement. In order to snread his 

 labor ovr the season, it is advisable to 

 ere<-t a home coonerage building. The 



whole outfi* need not cost more thai fift^- 

 fo seventv-fiv« dollars. Such an outfit will 

 b/»ln to n'-ovide the laborer with work all 

 the vear round. 



