THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August, 1914. 



The Canadian Horticulturist Sii§iffiSiEi^^^^^^^^^ 



COMBINED WITH 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 

 AND BEEKEEPER 



with nhicli has been Incorporated 



The Cnniidlan Bee Journal. 

 Published by The Horticultural 

 Publlsh:ng Company, Limited 



PBrrKRBORO, ONTARIO 



H. Bronson Cowan Managing Director 



The Only Magazine* in Their Field in the 



Dominion 



Official Organs ok the Ontario and Quebec 



f"Bu:T Growers' Associations 



and of The Ontario and New Brunswick 



Beekeepers' Associations. 



REPRESENTATIVES 



UNITED STATES 

 STOCKWELLS SPECIAL AGENCY 

 Chicago Office— PeoDle's Gas Building. 

 New York Office— 286 5th Avenue. 



GREAT BRITAIN 

 W. A. Mountstephen, 3 Regent St., London, S.W. 



1. The Canadian Horticulturist is published in 

 two editions on the 25tih day of the month pre- 

 oedine date of issue. The first edition is known 

 as The Canadian Horticulturist. It la devoted 

 exclusively to the horticultural interests of 

 Canada. The second edition is known as The 

 Canadian Horticulturist and Beekeeper. In this 

 edition several pages of matter appearing in the 

 first issue are replaced by an equal number of 

 I>ag«s of matter relating to the bee-keeping in- 

 terests of Canada. 



2. Subecriptlon price of The Canadian Ilorti- 

 culturiat in Canada and Great Britain, 60 cents 

 a year; two years, $1.00, and of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist and Beekeeper, $1.00 a year. For 

 United States and local subscriptions in Peter- 

 boro (not called for at the Post Office), 25 cents 

 extra year, including postage. 



3. Remittances should be made by Post Office 

 or Express Money Order, or Registered Letter. 



4. The Law la that subscribers to newspapers 

 are held responsible until all arrearages are 

 paid and their paper ordered to be discontinued. 



5. Change of Address— When a change of ad- 

 drees is ordered, both the old and the new ad'- 

 dreases must be given. 



6. Advertising rates, $1.40 an Inch. Copy 

 received up to tie 20tb. Address all advertising 

 correspondence and copy to our Advertising 

 Manager, Peterboro, Ont. 



CIRCULATION STATEMENT 

 The following is a sworn statement of the net 

 paid circulation of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 for the year ending with December, 1911. The 

 figures given are exclusive of samples and spoiled 

 copies. Moat montihs, Including the sample cop- 

 ies, from 13,000 to 15,000 copies of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist are mailed to i>eopIe known to 

 be interested In the growing of fruits, fiowers 

 or vegetables. 



January. 1913 ....11,570 August. 1913 12.675 



February, 1913 ...11,55D September, 1913 13 729 



M^J«h. IWJ 11.209 October. 1913 . 13 778 



April. 1913 11.970 November. 1913 ..12 %7 



^v- WIS 12.368 December. 1913 ..13.233 



June. 1913 12,618 ' 



•f"'y- 191J 12.626 Total ..150,293 



Average each issue in 1907, 6,627 



_ ' 1913, 12,524 



Sworn detailed statements will be mailed 

 upon application. 



OUR GUARANTEE 



We guarantee that every advertiser in this 

 issue IS reUable. We are able to do this because 

 the advertising columns of The Canadian Hor- 

 tiuulturist are a« carefully edited as the read- 

 ing columns, and because to protect our read- 

 ers we turn away all unscrupulous advertlaers. 

 Should any advertiser herein deal dishonestly 

 with any subscriber, we will make good the 

 amount of his loss, provided such transaction 

 occurs within one month from date of this issue, 

 tliat it is reported to us within a week of its 

 occurrence, and that we find the facts to be as 

 stated It is a condition of this contract that in 

 writing to advertiserB you state : " I saw your 

 advertisement in The Canadian Horticulturist." 



Rogues shall not ply their trade at the expense 

 of our subscribers, who are our friends, through 

 the medium of these columns; but we shall not 

 attempt to adjust trifling disputes between sub- 

 scribers and honourable business men who ad- 

 vertise, nor i>ay the debts of honest bankrupts. 



Communications should be addressed 

 THE CANADIAN HORTIOUI/TUBIST, 



PETERBORO, ONT. 



EDITORIAL 



AN ECONOMIC IMPOSSIfilllTY 



These are days when we hear much alxiut 

 the "back-to-the-land" movement. Majfa- 

 zines feature articles which describe the 

 jfreat financial success some former city 

 dweller has made by deserting^ the city and 

 taking^ up market gardening, fruit growing, 

 dairying, or some other kindred farm oc- 

 cupation. These articles create an im- 

 pression that the time is ripe, consequent 

 upon the high cost of living and rurall de- 

 population, for many city people to move 

 out to the country. Many people really 

 expect to see such a movement take place 

 ere long. 



There are many! reasons why such a 

 migration can never take place under ex- 

 isting conditions. One of the principal 

 of these is the tendency of land to increase 

 in value in proportion as the demand for 

 it increases. Fruit growers especially have 

 inoticed this tendency. Let us illustrate 

 how this principle works. 



Toronto has a population of approxi- 

 mately five hundred thousand. Suppose 

 ten thousand people in Toronto decided 

 that they were going to give up city life 

 and go in for farming. The first thing they 

 would have to do would be to take stock 

 of their resources. Next they would have 

 to ascertain what investment they would 

 have to make to obtain the necessary land. 



Suppose they found that the best fruit 

 ■land, such as that in the Niagara district, 

 was worth two hundred dollars to fifteen 

 hundred dollars an acre, the best ordinary 

 farm land from seventy-five to one hundred 

 and twenty-five dollars an acre, medium 

 good farm land from forty to seventy-five 

 dollars an acre, depending on its location, 

 and poorer land twenty to forty dollars an 

 acre 



Of the ten thousand would-be fruit grow- 

 ers or farmers, two thousand might be able 

 to purchase the higher-priced land, three 

 thousand the best farm lamd, three thou- 

 sand ordinary farm land, and the remain- 

 ing two thousand the poorer class of land. 



With these facts before them, suppose 

 these ten thousand people set to work to 

 purchase land at the prices w'hich they had 

 decided were within their reach. What 

 would happen ? Simply this : As soon as 

 the first two or three hundred of the first 

 two thousand began to purchase the best 

 fruit land at the prices memtioned, the 

 holders of such land would advance its 

 purchase price ten, twenty-five, fifty, pos- 

 sibly one hundred per cent. The result 

 would be that only a small percentage of 

 the two thousand would be able to secure 

 such land as they were looking for. Those 

 who could not would then be forced either 

 to give up all idea of settling on the land 

 or to buy poorer land than they had first 

 intended to purchase. This would increase 

 the number of peopfle seeking that class 

 of land, and it also would increase in value 

 with a similar result. The same principle 

 would hold true of all the other grades of 

 lamd on the market, limited only by the 

 amount of it offered for sale and the Tium- 

 ber of people desiring to purchase it. 



This tendency of the price of land to 

 increase in even more rapid ratio than the 

 demand will always make it impossible for 

 any large number of city dwellers to leave 

 the crowded cities to engage in rural oc- 

 cupations. It is because our available free 



land is about exhausted and because occu- 

 pied farm and fruit land is held at values 

 that are high, considering its productive 

 I)OWer, that immigrants and farmers' sojis 

 are unable any longer to obtain Jand at 

 prices which are within their reach and 

 thus are forced to settle in our urban cen- 

 tres and engage in occupations in which 

 the ownership of land is not essential. 



This is the main explanation of the pro>- 

 blems that have been raised by the more 

 rapid increase of urban than rural popula- 

 tion by the increased cost of living and by 

 the growth of slum areas in our cities. It 

 explains, also, why we are hearing more 

 and more about the '"land" question. The 

 sooner we recognize that these problems 

 are going to increase in importance, and 

 that existing conditions are going to be- 

 come worse rather than better, particularly 

 in our fruit districts and in the market gar- 

 dening sections adjoining our larger cit- 

 ies, unless we settle this land question, by 

 among other things, taxing land accord- 

 ing to its value, the sooner will we make 

 progress toward their solution. The onlj 

 difference between the land question in 

 Great Britain and in Canada is that it is 

 farther advanced there than here, and thus 

 thev h.'ivc been forced to deal with it. 



PROTECTION OF BIRD LIFE 



Every observant fruit grower has long re- 

 cognized the fact that the great majority of 

 birds are beneficial rather than injurious to 

 the orchard. While some species consume 

 considerable quantities of fruit at certin 

 seasons, they are beneficial at other periods. 

 Were they in time to become exterminated 

 the number of pests of different kinds that 

 the fruit grower would have to contend with 

 would be greatly increased through the dis- 

 turbance to the balance of nature now main 

 tained by bird life. 



We have been slow to recognize the im- 

 portant part played by birds, but as a re- 

 sult of costly experience we are begimning 

 to find how necessary it is ..hat bird life 

 shall be protected. In May the United 

 States Senate passed an appropriation of 

 fifty thousand dollars for the enforcement 

 of a new federal law for the protection of 

 migratory birds. The president of the 



-American Game Protective .Association, Mr. 

 John B. Burnham, is now urging the adop- 

 tion of a treaty by the United States and 

 Canada that will have for its object the 

 protection of all birds that migrate between 

 the two countries. Such a treaty has been 

 drafted and is mow being pushed in Con- 

 gress by friends of the .Association. While 

 the provisions of such a bill may require 

 careful consideration, the general principle 

 is one which will meet with general ap- 

 proval in Canada. 



THE SOD MULCH 



A short time ago there appeared in a 

 United States periodical an article dealing 

 with the sod mulch method of orchard man- 

 agement. Much stress was laid upon the 

 merits of this system as proved by investiga- 

 tions conducted by experiment stations in 

 the states of New York rnd Ohio. The ar- 

 ticle in question leaves the impression that 

 the sod mulch is to be preferred to cultiva- 

 tion. It must be remembered that the or- 

 chards in which the sod mulch proved so 

 successful were located on hilly ground or 

 possessed unusual soil conditions. In or- 

 der to give both sides of the case, extracts 

 from the article mentioned and from the 

 New York state bulletin are published else, 

 where in this issue. 



