Vegetable Growers Hold Their Annual Conference 



THE ninth annual convention of the 

 Ontario Vegjetable Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, held in the Parliament Build- 

 ings, Toronto, Nov. 19th, was attend- 

 ed by a strong representation of enthu- 

 siastic and wideawake members of the 

 Association. The inembers seemed to 

 have attended with the intention of im- 

 parting and receiving as much helpful 

 knowledge as possible in the limited per- 

 i(xl of time available. Cooperation was 

 the strong point emphasized. 



President C. W. Baker, London, Onl., 

 gave the members a hearty welcome. 

 His outlook on the future of the As.socia- 

 tion was most optimistic. "Get your 

 hand out," he said, "and let's get bet- 

 ter acquainted. Let's have a real heart 

 to heart talk. It is our privilege, our 

 duty and our opportunity. Let us dream 

 dreams of the garden of Canada and its 

 future. We can best keep up-to-date by 

 being members of the Vegetable Growers 

 Association. Individualism is a back 

 number." Mr. Baker recommended the 

 following work for the ensuing year: The 

 organization of new branches, following 

 up the proposed legislation dealing with 

 weights and measures by the Dominion 

 Government, the encouragement of the 

 branches to increase their membership, 

 and buying and selling cooperatively. He 

 also suggested having a trade paper, or 

 a page in some farm paper devoted to 

 this work. 



Mr. J. Lockie Wilson, secretary-treas- 

 urer, reported splendid wurk by the Asso- 

 ciation in the past year. He emphasized 

 the fact that the market end of farming 

 is where emphasis should be laid. Brain 

 as well as muscle, he said, has to enter 

 into this work. We can win out if we 

 have cooperation. Mr. Wilson discussed 

 the advisability of having a trade paper 

 for the Association. He was opposed to 

 an organization of this kind having an 

 official organ but favored the idea of the 

 executive getting in touch with a number 

 of the leading papers so that the associa- 

 tion might from time to time send in in- 

 formation of interest to vegetable grow- 

 ers. He believed there would be no dif- 

 ficulty in getting a score of papers to take 

 up this line of work. 



"Irrigation and its practical results," 

 was the subject on which Mr. J. J. Davis 

 of London, Ont., based his remarks. He 

 said that the first time he used water for 

 his crop was on a large patch of pickling 

 cucumbers. Although he had a very 

 crude system, it opened his eyes to the 

 advantages of irrigation and as a result 

 he installed what is known as the Skin- 

 ner method of irrigation. "I believe, "~^ 

 he said, "that if it wasn't for the water 

 I would go out of the gardening busi- 

 ness." He estimated the cost of his 

 equipment at about one thosand dollars. 



The memliers were greatly interested in 

 his address at the clo.se of which consid- 

 erable discussion took place. 



Hon. J. S. Duff, Minister of .'\gricul- 

 ture, (Congratulated the Association on its 

 success from year to year. "You have 

 branched out," he said, "and your sphere 

 of work has its ramifications in every 

 portion of this great province. We are 

 coming to a time when truck farming 

 will be more and more a speciality." 



A problem of great moment to vegeta- 

 ble as well as fruit growers is the trans- 

 portation problem. Robert Thompson of 

 St. Catharines, dealt with this subject. 

 He strongly favored the shipping of pro- 

 duce by freight rather than by express. 

 Shipping by freight enables those send- 

 ing off the shipments to load the cars 

 themselves and in this way prevent many 

 broken packages and damaged produce. 



An address on "Cooperation in the 

 Purchase of Supplies and Marketing of 

 Produce," by Mr. W. J. Kerr, Wood- 

 roffe, showed that he was vi^orking with 

 the best interests of the Association at 

 heart. Mr. Kerr was last year appointed 

 purchasing agent for the association and 

 his seed price list indicated that a large 

 percentage of the profits go into the 

 hands of the members who purchase from 

 him. Several of the members gave him 

 their orders for seeds for next year. 



Prof. A. H. MacLennan, of Guelph, 

 suggested that letters of regret be sent 



to Mr. Thomas Delworth, of Weston, 

 and Mr. Jos. Rush, H umber Bay, two 

 worthy members of the As.sociation, who 

 were unable to Ix; present. Mr. Wilson 

 said he would take this matter in hand. 



S. C. Johnston, B.S.A., gave some 

 suggestions on suitable types of green- 

 houses and progressive vegetable cul- 

 ture. He said that vegetable growing 

 under glass is becoming one of the im- 

 portant features of agriculture. Some of 

 the points in building a greenhouse are : 

 .Suitable location, ample means of drain- 

 age, avoid cold, wet spots, and make ex- 

 posure an important feature. He also 

 discussed the advantages of various kinds 

 of houses. For the progressive vegetable 

 grower he enumerated methods and ap- 

 pliances that are being adopted by vege- 

 table men in the States, which might be. 

 appliccable to Ontario vegetable grow- 

 ers. 



The report of the delegate to the .Amer- 

 ican Vegetable Growers' Convention was 

 given and it was suggested that this As- 

 sociation be invited to hold their conven- 

 tion in Toronto next year. This matter 

 was left in the hands of the executive. 



At the evening session Prof. Mac- 

 Lennan gave an address on "Diseases of 

 Vegetables," dealing particularly with 

 the use of Bordeaux mixture. .\ lantern 

 talk was also given by Mr. W. R. Cobb, 

 New York, on "Greenhouse Construc- 

 tion and Heating. 



Vegetable Gro^ng Experiments^ 



A. H. MacLtanu, B. 



IN many sections of Ontario it is becom- 

 ing a proplem to obtain the necessary 



quantity of barnyard manure used in 

 intensive gardening. As the industry 

 grows, this will become more acute as it 

 has in many parts of the United States. 

 On this account it is necessary that we 

 make use of commercial fertilizers. 



For the past three years we have been 

 carrying on tests with commercial fertili- 

 zers in different combinations in our Col- 

 lege. While this work has been very 

 successful, it brings one to the conclusion 

 that if we are to obtain results that will 

 be of value to our commercial growers, 

 we must carry on tests in each district. 

 These tests need not be elaborate, in- 

 volving a great amount of labor and fig- 

 ures, but can be judged by rcmparison. 

 They would give us a much more definite 

 idea of how we must combine the differ- 

 ent constituents to meet the needs of each 

 particular section and crop. 



In talking this fall with a couple of 

 men who represented large commission 

 houses in Ontario, they spoke of the in- 

 creasing demand for head rather than leaf 



•Extract from a paper read before the recent 

 annual convention in Toronto of the Ontario 

 Vegetable Growers' Association. 



294 



S.A., Goelph, Oat. 



lettuce. You will remember that this 

 matter was brought up at your last meet- 

 ing. I have been experimenting for two 

 or three years to find out what conditions 

 are necessary for its growth here in On- 

 tario. We found that in our clay soil 

 sub-irrigation is absolutely essential, but 

 I should think in the sandy soil that 

 many of you have in your greenhouses, 

 the method used in Boston of soaking 

 the soil two or three days ahead of plant- 

 ing, would answer the purpose. I find 

 also that transplanting into two-inch pots 

 before they are placed in the bed helps 

 greatly to obtain a perfect stand. 



I have also been growing cauliflow-er 

 among my third or fourth crop of lettuce. 

 I find a good demand for it at a fair 

 price. We start the seed in late Novem- 

 ber and carry the planrts in two and a 

 half or three inch pots until ready for 

 the bed. 



For some years I have been trying to 

 breed a cucumber of the American type 

 with the fruiting habits of the English 

 varieties which will set freely without be- 

 ing polinated. You all know that in dull 

 weather most of our American varieties 

 refuse to set unless bees are kept in the 



