396 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



buying a fruit farm, or to the farmer who 

 wishes to plant an orchard, of knowing what 

 varieties are really desirable ; for it is evi- 

 dent that there are very many kinds which 

 are only an encumbrance, and should be 

 rooted out and burned. 



It is with this end in view, to know de- 

 sirable varieties and encourage the planting 

 of them, that our fruit stations have been 

 established ; and if our readers will be ad- 

 vised by the reports of their work, as pub- 

 lished by the Department of Agriculture, it 

 will save many costly mistakes, and they 

 will not be misled by the gaudy colored 

 plates and glib tongue of the peripatetic 

 tree agent. 



GREAT MARKETS OPENING. 



THERE is no doubt whatever that the 

 world is big enough to eat up all our 

 fruit products, and rich enough to pay us 

 good fair prices for them. Not only is 

 Great Britain a grand distributing market 

 for our products, but we have enquiries 

 more or less direct from Germany, and 

 South Africa for our fancy apples. It is re- 

 ported that good apples are just now worth 

 I2C. each in Capetown, and that a line of 

 steamers, furnished with cold storage, will 

 soon begin to run between Canada and 

 South Africa. Why then should not we take 

 advantage of such fine opportunities? Even 

 Japan, China and Australia are opening up 

 for us, and, with so many millions of mouths 

 to satisfy, surely the time will never come 

 when our good apples will go begging for 

 buyers. 



FANCY PRICES FOR FRUIT. 



WHAT is a fruit tree worth any way ? 

 This question puzzles our great 

 corporations when they come to buy land 

 planted with an orchard, for there are as many 

 different values set as there are men to make 

 them. Some say an apple orchard is only 

 an encumbrance, for it does not pay, and 



must need be pulled out to make way for 

 something more valuable. Others want 

 fancy prices for each tree. " How many 

 baskets of Flemish Beauty pears do you 

 think I took off that tree this year?" said 

 Mr. W. M. Orr, of Fruitland. Well, it 

 was a stout stocky tree, not so very large, 

 and we guessed about ten. " No," he said, 

 "Twenty, and last year it gave me more 

 than that. " What then is that pear tree 

 worth, would you take $40 for it? " Per- 

 haps I would, but I should hesitate."' Well 

 that would count up pretty fast per acre ; 

 for you would have perhaps 100 trees on it, 

 and that would make the trees alone worth 

 $4000, aside from the land value ! 



" How many barrels of apples would you 

 estimate in this apple orchard which I have 

 recently purchased," said Mr. Orr. We 

 walked through it ; the ground was a stiff 

 clay, the trees, though thirty years planted, 

 were low headed, and very stocky, and every 

 tree loaded with clean beautiful apples. We 

 guessed an average of about two barrels per 

 tree, or about 200 barrels from the 100 trees, 

 as a very modest estimate. Now apples 

 this year are valued at $1.00 per barrel as 

 they hang upon the tree, and the apple crop 

 on this farm we estimated as being worth 

 this year at least $100 per acre. What then 

 is such an orchard itself worth ? Surely 

 $500 per acre is a very moderate estimate. 

 But why should a man like Mr. Orr, who 

 already has a large fruit farm, wish to add 

 another ninety acres? "It was too good 

 an offer to pass by," said Mr. Orr," "ninety 

 acres, with fine buildings, for less than 

 $4000 ! How could I resist the temptation, 

 if only for speculation ? " 



THE VALUE OF OLD TREES. 



^'^HE above purchase was as signally low 

 X as another, along the same electric 

 road, was high. Twelve acres about seven 

 miles distant was sold in August last 

 for $10,000! The value was not in the 



