292 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



orchard meeting-s in the Lake Ontario, Bay 

 of Quinte and St. Lawrence valley regions. 

 Mr. Lick reports g-ood meetings. In some 

 cases in spite of very inclement weather for 

 orchard demonstration work, and at this 

 very busy season of the year when large 

 crowds are not to be expected, the attend- 

 ance at many of the meetings was a sur- 

 prise to the speakers. Farmers seem very 

 anxious for this definite, practical sort of in- 

 formation. They want information on the 

 actual work and practice of fruit growing, 

 by men who have made a success right in 

 this line of business. Farmers are begin- 

 ning to realize that the orchard is worthy 

 of care and attention, that proper spraying 

 and pruning will ensure a good quality of 

 fruit, and that manuring and cultivation of 

 the orchard will pay a profit the same as for 

 other crops. In short, farmers all over the 

 province are becoming alive to the possi- 

 bilities of apple growing. 



In nearly every district local Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Associations are being formed. At 

 Camborne Mr. Lick was able to assist in 

 the organization of a branch known as the 

 Hamilton Township Association. The of- 

 ficers are, Thos. Davidson, president ; Ste- 

 phen Kerr, vice-president, and R. Cullis, 

 secretary-treasurer. This is likely to be a 

 live organization, and to be useful in ad- 

 vancing the fruit interests of this part of the 

 country. 



At Belleville, Mr. Lick reports an especi- 

 ally good meeting. It was held in the or- 

 chard of Mr. J. K. McCarger. A very lively 

 interest was evinced, and many questions 

 were asked and answered. Here, too, a 

 branch organization was formed, with J. 

 K. McCarger as president, J. R. Anderson, 

 vice-president, and Francis S. Wallbridge, 

 secretary-treasurer. 



At Maitland the meeting was very en- 

 couraging, "due largely," Mr. Lick re- 

 marked, '* to the earnest and able assist- 

 ance of Mr. Harold Jones. Mr. Jones has 



a large and constantly increasing apple or- 

 chard, which is an object lesson that makes 

 the best educator along the lines of apple 

 growing that can be given in any neighbor- 

 hood." 



Word comes from Mr. A. E. Sherrington, 

 of the Walkerton Fruit Experiment Station, 

 of good meetings in the Georgian Bay Dis- 

 trict. At Port Elgin and Teeswater there 

 was great interest shown in the work. At 

 the latter place a branch association was 

 formed, with a paid membership of twenty- 

 four. Mr. Sherrington writes: "These 

 object lessons in the orchard are just what 

 the people want. As the counties of Bruce 

 and Huron are large, in order to reach all 

 our people, we are going to organize branch 

 associations in every locality, I am calling 

 a meeting in Lucknow on June nth, and 

 am asking each branch association to send 

 two delegates in order that we may organ- 

 ize the District Association, and arrange 

 our work for the future. I am advising 

 every grower to grade and pack his own 

 fruit, and that we may have a uniform brand 

 on our fruit I am suggesting that we adopt 

 the following : 



Lake Huron Fruit Growers' Association. 



Grown and Packed by 



Variety 



" At the present time we nearly all have 

 no system of grading and packing, and this 

 does not inspire confidence among the grow- 

 ers, packers, shippers and consumers." 



We also have the following letter from 

 Mr. Sherrington — " I attended a meeting of 

 the Teeswater branch of the Fruit Growers' 

 Association yesterday, and we had a grand 

 meeting, nearly all the members being pres- 

 ent. Some that were not members became 

 so before leaving, and every one was much 

 interested in the work. After organizing 

 them I addressed the meeting on ' Orchard 

 Cultivation.' There is a marked improve- 

 ment in the orchards throughout the coun- 



