October, 1914 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



249 



British Columbia in 1914-15 appropriated 

 one hundred and five thousand dollars to 

 promote the horticultural interests of that 

 province. Ln spite of her vastly larger pro- 

 duction of fruit Ontario will have to "go 

 some" to equal that appropriation. 



SOCIETY NOTES 



The Fourth Dominion Fruit Conference 



St. Thomas 



The membership of the St. Thomas Hor- 

 ticultural Society has long- since passed the 

 1,000 mark and is rapidly forging towards 

 1,300. This year 100 public beds were 

 planted on the boulevards, containing over 

 5,000 plants. Over 4,000 roses and shrubs 

 vrere given to the members last spring and 

 21,000 tulip bulbs have been ordered for 

 this fall's distribution among the members, 

 as well as 14,000 for use in the public beds. 

 The beds will be of solid colors and of good 

 varieties. A practical gardener has been 

 engaged to take charge of the beds. There 

 was a large number of entries in the con- 

 test for lawns, gardens, factories, and 

 schools. The, prizes, consisting of cut 

 glass vases, medals, lawn mowers, and 

 water rollers, are valued at over $400. The 

 contest between the schools this year was 

 so close that three of them stood equal on 

 the first inspection. 



Hamilton 



As a result of much good work, includ- 

 ing the lundertaking of a number of new 

 activities, the Hamilton Horticultural So- 

 ciety his year has taken on a new lease of 

 life, with prospects improving for still bet- 

 ter work and an increased membership in 

 the future. As much of the credit for this 

 condition has been due to the efforts of the 

 efficient and indefatigable secretary, Mrs. 

 Ada L. Pons, the directors recently show- 

 ed their appreciation of Mrs. Potts' good 

 work by presenting her with a handsome 

 umbrella, suitably inscribed. Many nice 

 things were said by the directors of Mrs. 

 Potts' accomplishments. Descriptions of 

 some of the leading gardens of the city have 

 been published in some of the city papers, 

 and public visits have been made to some of 

 the best gardens. 



Dundas 



The Dundas Horticultural Society, only 

 recently organized, has already attained a 

 membership of almost one hundred. The 

 committee is still at work canvassing for 

 members. 



Pctcrboro 



Mb. E. F. Collins, Superintendent of 

 Parks, Toronto, acted as judge recently in 

 the annual lawn and garden competition, 

 in which much interest was taken. He 

 pronounced the lawns of Messrs. T. F. 

 Matthews and S. D. Hall as being almost 

 perfect. Mr. W. J. Kennedy won the prize 

 for the best display of flowers, with Mr. 

 John Williams a good second. 



During July, Bliss H. Fawcett, Upper 

 Sackville, N.S., marketed twelve tons of 

 strawberries from six acres of land. T'' 

 gather this crop he employed forty men, 

 women, boys and girls. lor a ■'ncnth. The 

 industry employs five men and five women 

 from May 1 to October 1, keeping down 

 weeds, planting, and keeping the patch in 

 order. Mr. Fawcett plantej sLk acres ai new 

 plants this season, and will have twelve 

 acres in strawberries for the market in 1915. 



THE fourth Dominion conference of 

 fruit growers was held a; Grimsby, 

 Ontario, September 2nd to 4th, under 

 the auspices of the Dominion Depart- 

 ment of .-Xgriculture. Asi will have been 

 seen by the list of resolutions adopted by 

 the conference, published on page 237 of 

 this issue, many important subjects were 

 dealt with. The conference proved, as did 

 its predecessors, that the best interests of 

 the fruit indusry of Canada require that 

 national gatherings of this kind shall be 

 held in order that national problems may 

 be dealt with on a national basis. These 

 gatherings also serve to bring the scatter- 

 ed fruit interests of Canada into closer 

 touch. 



The idea of holding the conference in 

 Grimsby, Ontario, which is in the heart of 

 the Niagara fruit district, proved a good 

 one. The delegates were able to concen- 

 trate all their attention on the business in 

 hand until it was completed, and at the 

 same time the fruit growers from the other 

 provinces were given an opportunity to get 

 in touch with the great fruit interests of 

 the Niagara district. 



CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS 



The conference opened on Wednesday 

 afternoon. September 2nd, with practically 

 all the delegates present. Canada's recent- 

 ly appointed Dominion Fruit Inspector, Mr. 

 D. Johnson, was appointed chairman, to 

 preside at all the meetings. Tables were 

 so arranged throughout the hall tha|t the 

 delegates from the different provinces were 

 able to sit in separate groups around con- 

 veniently arranged tables. On the con- 

 vention platform was a display of fruit 

 from the different provinces, which was 

 examined with much interest by the dele- 

 gates. 



THOSE PRESENT 



The conference was a most representa- 

 tive one. The delegates present were as 

 follows : 



Prince Edward Island — A. E. Dewar and 

 Theodore Ross, Charlo^tetown. 



Nova Scotia — F. W. Bishop, Paradise ; 

 Prof. W. H. Brittain, Truro; Mannin.g 

 K. Ellis. Port Williams; A. K. McMahon, 

 Aylesford; S. C. Parker, Berwick; W. W. 

 Pineo, Waterville ; Prof. M. Gumming, 

 Truro; A. S. Banks. 



New Brunswick — W. B. Gilman, S. B. 

 Hatheway, and A. G. Tumev, Fredericton ; 

 H. H. Smith. 



Ouebec — Robt. Brodie, Westmount ; Prof. 

 T. G. Bunting, Macdonald College; Rev. H. 

 A. Dickson, Rectory Hill; N. E. Jack, Cha- 

 'eauguay ; Rev. Father Leopold, La Trappe ; 

 Peter Reid, Chateauguay Basin ; R. A. 

 Rousseau, .4cton Vale; Mr. Fisk, Abbots- 

 ford. 



Ontario — G. C. Brown, Brighton; W. H. 

 Dempsey, Trenton ; Dr. A. J. Grant, Thed- 

 ford; R. W. Grierson, Oshawa ; C. W. 

 Gurney, Paris ; P. W. Hodgetts, Toronto ; 

 Elmer Lick, Oshawa ; A. Onslow, Niagara- 

 on-the-Lake ; A. W. Peart, Burlington ; M. 

 Snetsinger, Thornbury ; Robt. Thompson, 

 St. Catharines; F. S. Walbridge, Belleville; 

 Prof. J. W. Crow, Guelph. 



Manitoba — Prof. F. W. Broderick, Her- 

 bert Emery, and D. Dingle. Winnipeg. 



Saskatchewan— C. L. Walker, Regina. 



British Columbia — Thos. Abriel, Nakusp ; 

 J. G. Metcalfe, Hammond; John E. Reekie, 

 Kclowna; R. Robertson, Vernon; Jas. 

 Rooke, Grand Forks; R. M. Winslow, Vic- 

 toria; Jas. Johnson, Nelson; G. J. Coulter 

 White, Summerland. 



In addition to the foregoing a number of 

 other prominent people were present, in- 



cluding W. T. Macoun, Dominion Horti- 

 culturist, and J. A. Ruddick, Dominion 

 Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner, of 

 Ottawa ; Prof. L. Caesar, Provincial En- 

 tomologist, G-uelph; P. J. Carey, of the 

 Dominion Fruit Division, Toronto; and the 

 following fruit inspectors : R. G. L. Clarke, 

 Vancouver; R. R. Waddle, Simcoe, Ont. ; 

 C. W. Baxter, Ottawa; G. H. Vroom, Mid- 

 dleton, N.S. ; A. H. Flack, Winnipeg; F. 

 L. Gable, Ancaster ; B. Honsberger, St. 

 Catharines ; J. J. Pritchard, Harrison ; W. 

 G. Smith, Burlington ; F. L. Derry, and 

 E. H. Wartman, Montreal. In addition to 

 the fruit inspectors, other prominent frui'c 

 growers present included Senator E. D'. 

 Smith of Winona, M. C. Smith of Burling- 

 ton, and many others. 



OPENING SESSION 



The opening session on Wednesday after- 

 noon was occupied with the organization of 

 committees. This was followed by a most 

 able address, entitled "Transportation as 

 .'\pplied to Fruit," by G. E. Mcintosh, 

 Traffic Expen for the Ontario Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Association. Mr. Mcintosh had pre- 

 pared a paper, the reading of which occu- 

 pied an hour. He pointed out that until 

 recently fruit growers had devoted their 

 attention almost entirely to improving their 

 methods of production. Of recent years it 

 has become evident that the question of the 

 marketing and general distribution of the 

 fruit crop is almost equally as important. 

 In this connection the question of trans- 

 portation presents many important pro- 

 blems. Lack of space makes it impossible 

 to more than mention this paper here. Ex- 

 tracts from it will be published from time 

 to time in The Canadi'm Horticulturist. 

 Mr. Mcintosh showed that Canadian rail- 

 ways discriminate against the fruit growers 

 in many important respects and that they 

 are not giving the service that is provided 

 by the railroads in a number of the States 

 in the American Union, which were men- 

 tioned by Mr. Mcintosh. Later the confer- 

 ence adopted a resolution asking the Gov- 

 ernment to investigate the various points 

 brought out by Mr. Mcintosh. 



COI,D STORAGE PROBLEMS 



On the conclusion of the afternoon ses- 

 sion the delegates were invited by Cold 

 Storage Commissioner J. A. Ruddick to 

 visit the pre-cooling and cold storage plant 

 established recently by the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment at Grimsby, an illustration of 

 which appeared in the July issue of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist. The visit proved 

 a most interesting one. Several carloads 

 of fruit were in the building being cooled 

 in the different chambers preparatory to 

 shipment. A car of fruit was being loaded 

 while the delegates were there. Mr. Rud- 

 dick and his assistant, Mr. Smith, took (he 

 delegates all over the plant, explained its 

 construction, its cost, the system of refri- 

 gerating used, and the benefits to be de- 

 rived by the location of such a plant in all 

 large fruit exporting districts. The plant 

 is splendidlv constructed and reflects cre- 

 dit on the Department of Agriculture. 



At the Wednesday evening session Mr. 

 Ruddick gave an address on the pre-cooling 

 of fruit. The subject being an important 

 one was followed with interest by the dele- 

 gates. This address and discussion is re- 

 ported separately. 



STKVMaHlIP R.VTES 



One of the most striking incidents of the 

 conference took place over a matter 

 brought up by the Nova Scotia delegrates. 

 Mr McMahon informed the conference 

 that Nova Scotia growers were faced with 



