NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



177 



plum crop, I bought two carloads of this 

 variety at Winona, and paid from 30 to 35 

 cents a twelve quart basket for them. 



Do you buy cider apples ? 



'•Yes, indeed I do; but not for the Simcoe 

 factory. I buy them for S. Allen, of Nor- 

 wich, who makes a special business of cider 

 making. This man started business as a 

 poor boy. He got a small cider press and 

 set it up in his woodshed, and kept at the 

 business till he mastered it, and now he has 

 the best outfit in the country and has made 

 a fortune out of the business. He is known 

 the country over, and sends his travelers as 

 far west as Winnipeg to sell his cider." 



Does he get apples enough in Norwich ? 



"Oh no, he buys everywhere. Some years 

 he almost sweeps the country for cider 

 apples. In 1901 I bought about fifty carloads 

 for him at 20 cents a bushel. Of course that 

 was exceptionally high, but he always pays 

 a fair price. Some years I buy one hundred 

 carloads for him, and I get most of them in 

 the northern sections, along the east coast 

 of Lake Huron 'and south of the Georgian 

 Bay, especially about Collingwood and 

 Owen Sound." 



A Visit to tlie Hamilton Factory. — Calling 

 at the works of the Hamilton branch of the 

 Simcoe Canning Co., one day in April, we 

 were courteously received by Mr. Moffat, 

 the manager, who was pleased to give any 

 information of value to fruit growers. "I 

 would be sorry, however," he said, "to have 

 you fruit growers run away with the idea 

 that this business could be successfully run 

 by a company of farmers. It is a special 

 business and needs experts to manage it or 

 it would result in financial failure. We do 

 a large business ; in 1899 we put up 40,000 

 bushels of tomatoes, and paid about 25 cents 

 a bushel for them." 



Please give me some idea of the prices you 

 pay for fruits. 



' 'Well, we buy in twelve quart baskets, and 

 for red currants we pay 25 to 30 cents, some- 

 times 35 cents ; black currants 70 cents ; 



red cherries 75 and 85 cents ; ox heart 

 cherries $1.00 ; gooseberries 60 cents ; 

 KeifTer pears 25 to 30 cents." 



Do you like Keiffer as well as any for 

 canning? 



"Yes, it is as good as any for this purpose. 

 We let them stand until they yellow up a 

 bit, and we can take our time in handling 

 them. We add a little sugar and they can 

 splendidly. 



We use Bartlett and Flemish Beauty also, 

 but do not care for any pears less in size 

 than two inches in diameter." 



Plums for Profit. — Mr. Vance Cline, of 

 Winona, is one of our principal plum grow- 

 ers ; he has a very large commercial orchard 

 near Winona, a part of which has been in 

 full bearing for many years and a part is just 

 beginning to be profitable. We took the 

 occasion of his recent call at our office to ask 

 him which plum he found most satisfactory 

 for the profit. "The Bradshaw," he said, 

 "it is excellent in quality, early, productive 

 and carries fairly well." 



How about Washington ? 



" Well, it is a plum to eat, but it does not 

 carry. I have a good lot of trees, but I am 

 digging them out on that account. No 

 matter how careful you are in packing them 

 they will open up spotted when they reach 

 the market. Once I tried wrapping each 

 plum separately, and shipping them in fancy 

 packages, but they opened out spotted just 

 the same, and do not sell well. 



Do you like General Hand ? 



" Well enough, if I can get it, but the 

 trouble is I cann6t get the fruit. It does not 

 bear well, and hence is unprofitable." 



Is Pond's Seedling profitable ? 



" No, it is beautiful in appearance, but 

 like the Keiffer pear it has no quality, and 

 nobody wants a secbnd baiske't. "' . ' 



Quackenbos is all right and so is Reine 

 Claude. Both of these are profitable var- 

 ieties. I think the French prune too would 



