TILLAGE FOR THE ORCHARD, 



planted in that part of Canada, though 

 there were small nurseries at Hamilton and 

 St. Catharines. Some of the old farmers 

 of the neighborhood, among them Mr. 

 Dennis Woolverton, the grandfather of the 

 editor of this journal, and Mr. Andrew Pettit, 

 the father of Mr. A. H. Pettit, tried to dis- 

 courage us and wondered what we would 

 do with all our peaches when they came in 

 bearing. They also said that we never could 

 dispose of eight or ten thousand fruit trees 

 in Canada. But when our trees did bear, and 

 we had an express service established from 

 Grimsby to transport our fruit to northern 

 towns and cities, they soon found we were 

 making more off 8 to lo acres of peaches 

 and strawberries than they were from their 

 200 acre farms, to say nothing of our nurs- 

 ery business. After that so many of them 

 went into peach growing, that Grimsby soon 

 became known as the " Peach Garden of 

 Canada." About this time I called atten- 

 tion of Curtis & Co., large fruit dealers in 

 Boston, Mass., and some others, to our 

 Canadian apples, and they sent buyers here 

 who pronounced them the finest on the con- 

 tinent, and our apple trade began to boom, 



which was no detriment to the nursery 

 business. As you know, a few of us started 

 the Fruit Growers' Association in 1859, of 

 which I have been a member ever since its 

 beginning and attended most of its meet- 

 ings, and I hope I have' been instrumental 

 in advancing its interests, I continued 

 in the nursery business up to the year 

 1900 at Grimsby, Niagara Falls and St. 

 Catharines — over 40 years- — when I sold 

 out, thinking the care of my small fruit farm 

 at Port Dalhousie would be work enough 

 for a man of "three score years and ten." 

 I have never been able to lay up much of 

 this world's goods, though 1 have a com- 

 fortable home. I have raised and helped to 

 educate quite a large family, among them 

 two graduates in medicine, who are now 

 medical missionaries, and three trained 

 nurses, and one who has been a successful 

 school teacher, besides three who have not 

 chosen their profession yet. I have raised 

 and distributed a great many thousand trees 

 through the country, but have never boomed 

 or sold a variety which I did not think was 

 of real value. My motto has been : " Give 

 every man full value for his money." 



VALUE OF AN APPLE TREE 



I BELIEVE that it will not be generally 

 disputed that a healthy bearing apple 

 at ten yearsof age would be worth $25, that 

 the value of the fruit from this tree will in 

 that time have equalled $15, says Western 

 Experiment Report. This certainly would be 

 a very liberal return from the one-hundredth 

 part of an acre, especially when we consider 

 that under ordinary circumstances this tree 

 will increase in value and productiveness for 

 ten years longer, at least. In planting an 



orchard, the location and site need to be well 

 considered. In regard to location ; it is yet a 

 matter of doubt if many varieties of tree 

 fruits, except native plums, will succeed in the 

 extreme north. In all other localities there 

 need be no hesitation for planting. In se- 

 lecting a site an elevated spot should pro- 

 bably be given preference, as the flower buds 

 are less apt to be destroyed by late spring 

 frosts than on lower land. 



