42 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Februai f, 191 4 



Ontario and the Northwest Market 



E. F. Palmer, Ontario Fruit Branch, Toronto, Ont. 



F Ontario is to retain a fair portion of the 



I northwest market, apple growing must be 

 made a business. During the past 

 year Ontario has shown that she can pro- 

 duce just as good fruit in every respect as 

 British Columbia. The Canada Land and 

 .-\pple Show is evidence of this statement, 

 whore Ontario carried off first and second 

 prizes in the competition in apples, while 

 British Columbia came third. We can pro- 

 duce the fruit but we have got to advertise 

 it. Ontario should have fruit at every large 

 exhibition throughout the northwest, not 

 just one or two. British Columbia spends 

 ten dollars annually advertising her fruit 

 where Ontario spends one. What are we 

 doing to advertise ours? 



.-Mready Ontario has lost much of the 

 Northwest fruit market. Why? Because of 

 our iwlicy, or rather lack of policy, in send- 

 ing to this valuable market too much 

 poorly packed, poorly colored and poor- 

 ly graded fruit. We have made no effort to 

 retain or extend our market there, but rath- 

 er the reverse. -Xnd the expected is hap- 

 pening. Western grown fruit is forcing On- 

 tario out of market after market, for the 

 western growers realize the importance of 

 this Northwest market, and they are extend- 

 ing it by puttiing up good fruit in good 

 packages, and by judicious advertising. 



What has Ontario done to advertise her 

 apples in the morthwest .'' Little, but try"- 

 ing to see how much poor fruit she can 

 send without the fruit inspectors detecting 

 it. There is much good Ontario fruit, too, 

 of course, but there is enough, and more 

 than enough poorly packed and poorly 

 graded fruit to give all Onitario stuff a 



black eye. Only in few cases is fruit being 

 put up that will successfully compete with 

 fruit from British Columbia and the west- 

 ern states. .'\nd what encouragement is 

 there for a few to put up an honest pack 

 when they have to sell their fruit in the face 

 of an existing prejudice ? Just this — that, 

 while Ontario fruit as a whole has a bad 

 name, and will have until better cultural and 

 packing methods are more generally used, 

 yet those who are putting their fruit up as 

 •veil packed and graded as western fruit, 

 are receiving prices that more than pay 

 them for their extra trouble. They are 

 selling to dealers, however, who know their 

 pack and who therefore have confidence in 

 them. Mow much confidence have western 

 fruit dealers in the average Ontario pack 

 that goes to the west ? 



NOT IMl'UOVI.V(i 



I have said that we have made no effort 

 to extend or evem retain our share of the 

 northwest market — no continued effort. We 

 have done even less. We have persisted in 

 sending poor grade fruit, while our western 

 competitors have improved their grade and 

 increased their advertising year by year. 



It is now time for someone to say that 

 western fruit hasn't the (|uality of Ontario 

 fruit. I hear that statement wherever I go, 

 and I hate to hear it, not because I am 

 originally from British Columbia, but be- 

 cause it sounds too much like trying to jus- 

 tify poor grading and packing. But why 

 avoid the real issue by harping on quality? 

 We are losing this market, and it is poor 

 methods that are losing it. Extra quality 

 of fruit alone will not save us. The past 

 has proved that. How much is there in this 



"superior" quality anyway.' Thk>«e who are 

 in the habit of comparing an Ontario Snow 

 and a British Columbia Snow, an Ontario 

 Mcintosh and a British Columbia Mcin- 

 tosh, just for a change compare a British 

 Columbia Jonathan and an Ontario Jona- 

 than, a British Columbia Spitzenberg and 

 an Ontario Spitzenberg, a British Columbia 

 Yellow Newtown and an Ontario N<*wtown. 



I>OI.VT» T<l XOTK 



Further it must be icmembered that the 

 -Northwest is a market of comparatively low- 

 grade fruit. The west has not shipped her 

 fancy varieties there in any quantity but 

 has sent such varieties as Ben Davis and 

 Rome Beauty. .Also the average age of the 

 orchards in British Columbia is only nine 

 or ten years, and everyone knows that fruit 

 from young trees is not as high quality a!> 

 from mature orchards. Much, too, of west- 

 tern fruit has in the past been over-irrigat- 

 ed. This produces poorer quality, poorer 

 keeping fruit. However, these poor quality 

 varieties of apples, and apples from young 

 orchards, have been compared by the north- 

 west people, many of whom are from On- 

 tario, to high quality varieties as King, 

 Spy and Russet, from mature Ontario or- 

 chards. Hemce largeh- the impression that 

 western fruit is of inferior quality. 



I.n.SIXG THl': -M.VKKKT 



However, if we have better quality fruit, 

 that doesn't alter the fact that the north- 

 west market is slipping away from us. For 

 in addition to poor grading, we have not 

 the color nor the pack, nor the attractive- 

 nes of package of our western competitors. 

 That is, as a general rule, our apples are 

 inferior to western apples in color and at- 

 tractiveness of pack. The exhibitions in 

 which there has been a chance to compare 

 fruit from the two provinces have proved 

 that Ontario can produce just as good fruit 



No. 28 



Planet Jr 

 Combined 

 Hill and Drill Seed- 

 er, Wheel Hoe, 

 Cultivator, 

 Rake and 

 Plow 



The newest and most 

 accurate Planet Jr seeder. 

 Sows all garden seeds in 

 hills or drills, opens the 

 furrow, covers, rolls down, 

 and marks next row all at 

 once, lias steel frame and 

 bandies, and complete set 



of attncliments. Light enoueh 



for woman's use. 



Scientific Cultivation 



Getaway from Useless drudgery and 

 old-time wasteful cultivating methods in 

 your family garden and on your farm. 

 Use the Planet Jr and do the work of 3 to 

 6 men better, quicker, cheaper. Planet 

 Jrs are light, strong, lasting. $2 to $100. 

 Ful ly guaranteed. 



■t'Uirir Our new 72-paBe illustrated catalogue of 60 

 ^ •^■-•'-i implements for all farm and garden uses. 

 Write postal today, 



S L ALLEN & CO 



Box 1106G PiUladelpliIa 



Write !or llie name ol our nearest ageocr 



Planet Jr 

 Combined 

 HiU and Drill Seed. 

 er. Double Wheel 

 Hoe, Culti- 

 vator and 

 Plow 



:-^ 



^^^^^ ^_ Wnle lor Ibe name ol our nearest ageocr B^p 



Planet Jr. 



A capital implement for 

 large-scale gardening es- 



fiecially. It has a steel 

 rame. and complete seed- 

 ing and cultivalmg attach- 

 ments. The hoes run close 

 to row without danger to 

 leaves or roots. , 

 Two acres a day can be 

 worked with this tool. 



Planet Jr 12-tooth 

 Harrow, Cultivator 

 and 

 Pulverizer 



N. 



30 1 Planet Jr Single 



I Wheel Hoe, 

 Cultivator, Plow, 

 Rake and 

 Marker 



[7J—J^ Planet Jr Horse 

 I I Hoe, Culti- 



vator, and Hiller 





An invaluable tool in tlie niarket-crarden, 

 truck and strawberry patches. lias new 

 steel wheel which prevents clogging. Its 

 12 chisel-shaped teeth cut out all weeds, stir 

 and mellow the soil and leave the ground in 

 the finest condition without throwing dirt 

 plants. 



A new Planet Jr Single Wheel Hoe thnt 

 is light, strong and practically indestructible 

 — the frame and handles are steel. It is 

 completfly equipped for plowing, hoeing, 

 cultivatine. and raking. The marking at- 

 tachment insures rapid, economical wheel- 

 jioeing. 



Does more and better work than any other 

 horse-hoe ever invented. It is light and 

 easily handled, yet unusually strong. Has 

 new steel wheel which prevents clogging 

 with trash. Quickly adjusted to rows up to 

 3M feet apart. Vine-turner attachment is 

 great for many crops at last workin.g3;_ 



