288 



THE CANADIAN HORTI C F L T U RIST 



December, !9I3 



The Plum Industry of Ontario 



F. M. Clement, Macdonald CoUefe, Quebec 



JUST a few words more to sum up my 

 remarks and draw some conclusions 

 and I am through. In those dis- 

 tricts usually considered too cold for plum 

 production some native varieties are like- 

 ly to prove hardy. De Soto Stoddard, 

 Wolf and Hawkeye, and Cheney, do 

 well with us. Cheney buds have surviv- 

 ed forty-three deg^rees below zero. These 

 varieties will not likely ever prove seri- 

 ous competitors with domestic varieties 

 in the open market, but they are worthy 

 of a place in the home garden and for 

 locaJ planting and it is the duty of our 

 experiment stations to select or breed var- 

 ieties that will thrive in the colder parts. 



The tendency is to drop the once great- 

 ly lauded Japanese varieties for heavier 

 plantings of Reine Claude, Green Gage, 

 Niagara, Monarch, Grand Dukes, Ger- 

 man prunes, Italian prunes, and, for the 

 western markets. Damsons. 



Plums, at present prices, seem adapted 

 to large scale production rather than in- 

 tensive plantings. The cheapest land on 

 the farm, provided the soil is suitable, 

 is the place for them. They thrive as 

 well on clay as on the richest sands. 



If plums are worth planting at all, 

 they are worthy of good care and atten- 

 tion. They respond as quickly to care 

 as does any other fruit. 



♦This article comprises the concluding para- 

 graphs of a paper read before the recent annual 

 conTention of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



The time is ripe for planting plums of 

 certain varieties. The demand will have 

 increased very materially for good fruit 

 by the time they come into bearing. 



I would recommend the following var- 

 ieties for commercial plantings in the 

 leading plum districts: Burbanks in lim- 

 ited numbers, provided the grower is pre- 

 pared to thin so as to keep up the size ; 

 Bradshaw — one of the best canning and 

 market blue plums. It is always in de- 

 mand because of its quality, earliness and 

 medium to large size. Reine Claude and 

 the other plums of similar type for gen- 

 eral market, dessert and canning pur- 

 poses. The trees are often delicate and a 

 little difficult to grow but bring a good 

 price and generally yield well. 



Monarch — This is a large sized blue 

 plum of medium quality. It is in good 

 demand because of its late season and 

 large size, and is n good bearer. 



Grand Duke — A large blue and egg- 

 shaped plum that is in good demand be- 

 cause of its late ripening, large size and 

 fair quality. The egg shaped plums are 

 always popular. 



German prunes, are in heavy demand, 

 are of the highest quality, and free from 

 stones. They are adapted for dessert, 

 cooking or making prunes, and are one 

 of the best sellers. Many were sold at 

 forty to forty-five cents a gallon retail 

 in Montreal this year. 



Italian prunes hav« been verv' heavily 



/ 



planted. They are larger than German 

 prunes and are expected to some day re- 

 place them. Damsons, Common Damson 

 and Shropshire Damson, bring the high- 

 est prices. It will pay to plant them for 

 the western markets. They are used 

 largely for preserving. Other good varie- 

 ties are: Shiro, Quackenboss, Gueii. 



The Flavor of British Columbia 

 Apples 



W. J. Sheppard, Nelten, B.C. 



On page nine of the November number 

 of The Canadian Horticulturist, I notice 

 the following paragraph: "A compari- 

 son of the quality of the fruit of British 

 Columbia with that of the product grown 

 in Ontario, has often been made. The 

 answers which we have received by those 

 on the spot in regard to this particular 

 point assure us that while British Colum- 

 bia apples are generally of better size and 

 almost invariably of better color they can- 

 not compare favorably with Ontario fruit 

 when flavor is considered." 



I should like to enquire if samples of 

 the same varieties of apples grown in 

 British Columbia and also in Ontario 

 have been compared side by side, and 

 these conclusions as to flavor arrived at? 



The great trouble in Britsh Columbia 

 is that by far too many varieties are 

 grown, and that the highly-colored, flav- 

 orless kinds, that please the eye only, 

 were, as a rule, given the preference 

 when the orchards were first planted. Of 

 course in a new country, the original 

 planters, often without any experience, 

 and consequently nothing to guide them, 

 were almost bound to make mistakes of 

 this kind which as time goes on will have 

 to be rectified. Numbers of trees are 

 now being yearly headed back, and ap- 

 proved varieties grafted thereon. 



In a local paper here only this week 

 it is stated that the Kootenay Fruit 

 Growers' Union shipped out eigthy-four 

 varieties of apples this season, and the 

 manager is most emphatic in drawing 

 attention to the absolute necessity for re- 

 ducing the number. There can be no 

 doubt whatever that the most satisfac- 

 tory plan would be for the growers in 

 each district to ascertain which of the few 

 good marketable varieties succeed best 

 in their localities and to specialize in these 

 kinds only and weed out all others. 



I cannot believe that there is very 

 much in this question of the superiority 

 of flavor. Of course, it may be true to a 

 certain extent, especially when the trees 

 have experienced a check of any kind, 

 but I do know that I have tasted apples 

 grown in British Columbia of such varie- 

 ties as Gravenstein, Cox's Orange Pip- 

 pin, and Northern Spy, Delicious and 

 Wagner, of superb flavor, that I am quite 

 certain would be hard to beat in Ontario 

 or anywhere else. As to size and color, 

 it goes without saying they could not be 

 excelled at all. 



