A BRITISH HORTICULTUEIST 



SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS RECENT VISIT, 

 AS GIVEN IN THE GARDENER'S MAGAZINE. 



IT WAS with much pleasure that we re- 

 ceived a call during^ the autumn from 

 Mr. Joseph Cheal, of Crawley, Sussex, 

 England. Though his stay was brief, it 

 was yet long enough for him to make a 

 somewhat careful survey of our methods of 

 fruit culture, and take some photographs as 

 mementos of his visit. Being a member of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, he promised 

 us an introduction to some of its most prom- 

 inent members should we visit London, so 

 so that we might gather some interesting 

 items for our readers. 



In a paper, which he entitles ** Rambles 

 in the States and Canada," we find the fol- 

 lowing references to our country : 



" As I wished to spend as much time as 

 possible in Canada, I took the steamboat up 

 the Hudson River, and travelled as far as 

 Albany, and had a most lovely sail through 

 picturesque and historical country. Passing 

 on by rail from here to the Falls of Niagara, 

 a day was spent there with some English 

 friends whom I accidentally met, and the 

 journey was continued in company with 

 them by steamer across Lake Ontario to 

 Toronto. Here I stayed amongst friends 

 for a week. 



'* Several days were spent in visiting the 

 principal fruit district of Ontario. This is 

 a strip of land about a mile wide, extending 

 for over twenty miles round the shores of 

 the lake, backed up and sheltered by the 

 high cliff behind. I was surprised to see 

 the thousands of acres of flourishing orch- 

 ards and vineyards of this district, peaches 

 growing in the same way as our apples, 

 and grapes trained on wires, and to find 

 that these orchards are most carefully culti- 

 vated, and kept remarkably clear from 



weeds and blights. A Government Inspector 

 of Fruit accompanied me through these 

 farms, and from him I gained much infor- 

 mation, and I had the pleasure of meeting 

 Mr. Orr, then president of the FruitGrowers' 

 Association, and a keen and successful cul- 

 tivator. Another enthusiastic grower and 

 experimenter in the same district is Mr. L. 

 Woolverton, M. A., who is the editor of the 

 " Horticultural Journal " of Canada, and is 

 also preparing what will evidently be a 

 standard work on fruits. 



" An extensive fruit nursery conducted by 

 Mr. E. D. Smith was visited, and also a fruit 

 collecting depot, where large quantities of 

 fruit grown in the district are collected, 

 graded, packed and forwarded to various 

 markets. A large refrigerating chamber is 

 provided for soft, perishable kinds. 



'* I then passed on to Ottawa, a beautiful 

 and flourishing city. An introduction to 

 Professor Robertson, the Commissioner for 

 Agriculture, led to an interesting conversa- 

 tion about their experimental work, and I 

 spent a most profitable day with Dr. Saun- 

 ders, the able director of the experimental 

 farms and gardens of the Dominion. This 

 experimental work is most carefully carried 

 out, and fully reported on, and the reports 

 must be of great value to both old and new 

 settlers. 



'* As I am much interested in the different 

 systems of packing, storing and freightage 

 of fruit, an introduction to one of the direct- 

 ors of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir 

 Sanford Fleming, led to an interesting talk 

 with him in travelling from Ottawa to Mon- 

 treal. I gained from him much about the 

 progress and prospects of the Dominion. He 

 said that immigration had been larger this 



