NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



55 



AN UNyAiR DIVISION 



"Are the rates charged for carriage fair 

 rates ? Growers say, taking the season 

 through, and lumping express and freight 

 rates together, that the carrying companies 

 receive for carrying fruit to Montreal one- 

 third of the return which the goods sell for 

 on arrival. 



" In other words, the fruit-grower, who 

 takes all the chances of the season, who 

 produces crops on ground valued at town 

 lot prices, who pays a wage bill equal to 

 that of a fair-sized factory, receives $2 as 

 against $1 received by the carrying com- 

 pany (which takes no chances) out of every 

 $3 worth of fruit produced. Surely that is 

 not a fair division. 



" Ten or twelve cars of fruit are picked 

 up in the district daily ; when carriage is by 

 freight the average rate is about $60 per 

 car ; the cars, as part of a mixed train, are 

 taken to Montreal in 36 hours. Surely $600 

 or $700 is altogether too much to charge for 

 hauling ten or twelve cars of fruit some 400 

 miles in a day and a half, particularly since 

 these cars form part of a general freight 

 train. 



COMPARISON WITH RATES ON OTHER 

 PRODUCTS. 



" The rates charged on fruit are excessive 

 as compared with rates on other forms of 

 produce. A rate of 34 cents a barrel on 

 flour was quoted last week from Listowel, 

 Ont., to Bristol in England. At the same 

 time the rate on apples was nearly 90 cents 

 — almost three times as much as the flour 

 rate. Apples receive no better care in tran- 

 sit than flour receives. Last fall Mr. Mc- 

 Neill saw stacks of apples in barrels, while 

 awaiting shipment, standing in the open, 

 exposed to a downpour of rain, at stations 

 in Western Ontario. Is the lower rate on 

 flour due to the fact that millers have a 

 strong, aggressive organization, which can 

 force concessions from railways, while fruit- 

 growers have not ? 



" Fruit-growers are not only discrimin- 

 ated against as such, but they are discrim- 

 inated against as Canadians. Mr. Boulter, 

 the Prince Edward County canner, has been 

 able to secure a rate on peaches from Michi- 

 gan to his factory in Prince Edward so much 

 lower than the rates from Ontario points, 

 that he found it cheaper to buy peaches in 

 Michigan and pay the duty in crossing the 

 border than to buy in Essex, where no duty 

 had to be paid, and at points a good deal 

 nearer his factory than Michigan is. And 

 still the peaches in both instances were car- 

 ried over our own lines — lines which have 

 been built largely out of bonuses paid by our 

 own people." 



PLANS FOR SPRING PLANTING. 



DURING the months of February and 

 March the fruit grower should care- 

 fully consider the number and the kinds of 

 fruit trees and plants required to make his 

 business give him the best returns. He will 

 find the most up-to-date notes on desirable 

 varieties in the report of the fruit stations 

 of Ontario, which may be had for the asking 

 from the Department of Agriculture, Toron- 

 to, and with these and his own experience 

 no mistakes ought to be made. If a larger 

 order of trees is wanted it will pay to visit 

 the nearest nursery, select the stock of the 

 age and size desired, and secure it at first 

 hand, thus saving the expense of an agent 

 coming about to seek the order, and again 

 to collect the money. If a farmer can plan 

 a year ahead on the varieties required in his 

 orchard, it might pay him to buy young 

 trees, perhaps one year old, and grow them 

 on his own grounds until ready for them, 

 and thus not only buy at a low price, but 

 improve the root system of the trees by the 

 more frequent transplanting, so that there 

 would be no stunting of vigor in the final 

 planting. 



The following table, showing the number 

 of trees needed to plant an acre of ground, 



