14^ 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ment and indifference, but gradually it won 

 the approval even of stubborn opponents 

 who looked with political frowns upon such 

 an innovation. The simple way was suc- 

 cessful, and we are apt to overlook the fact 

 that the minister's sprayers had so much to 

 do with teaching our people how to do it. 



Then came something more mysterious 

 still, and not half the mystery has yet been 

 solved — the mystery of the San Jose scale. 

 The story of its coming was an Arabian 

 Nights Tale; its presence here the mere 

 dream of some entomological enthusiast. 

 Surely no hard headed farmer would listen 

 to such a tale! But Hon. John Dryden is 

 ready to listen and to investigate, and before 

 the fruit men of the Niagara peninsula were 

 awake to the situation the axeman was 

 abroad cutting down and burning trees by 

 the power of an Ontario statute. We all 

 know how opposition and questioning arose 

 here and there, fruitmen would not be con- 

 vinced of the need of such heroic measures. 

 Public opinion, of course, rules in the mak- 

 ing and unmaking of laws, so the strong 

 arm of the law was relaxed, and while the 

 fruit growers were disputing among them- 

 selves as to the nature of the new insect :1 

 was spreading quietly and insidiously, and 

 soon cast its withering blight over a large 

 area. Many who had doubted and protested 

 now had proof of the wisdom of the minis- 

 ter's activity, and felt that had the vigorous 

 treatment been pushed early the dreaded 

 scale would have been stamped out, or .»t 

 least confined to a small area. We all know 

 how the minister has for the past three years 

 been assisting the fruit growers in the pur- 

 chase of material for spraying, and how un- 

 der his direction the superintendent, Mr. 

 Geo. E. Fisher, has carried out the most ex- 

 tensive and most successful series of experi- 

 ments in the eastern half of the continent. 

 To this must of course be added the pro- 

 vision for protecting the tree planter by the 

 compulsory fumigation of all nursery stock. 



These four items are enough to show how 

 interested Hon. John Dryden has been in 

 horticultural work. Other items might be 

 given. Some of them are just being started, 

 such as Fruit Institutes and expert fruit 

 judges for our fall fairs. 



More than once the writer of this paper 

 has heard this statement from a man of 

 scientific training : "The remarkable thing 

 about Mr. Dryden is that a man who re- 

 ceived no special training should appreciate 

 so fully the scientific situation and be seized 

 of the importance of somewhat obtruse lines 

 of investigation." Mr. Dryden combines a 

 thorough practical knowledge of Canadian 

 agriculture, a keen appreciation of the value 

 of scientific discoveries, good administrative 

 abilities, a desire to employ only first-class 

 men, and a broad dignified hopeful outlook 

 of the farmers calling. 



A word or two now as to the man and his 

 life. His father, James Dryden, came from 

 Sunderland, England, in 1820, being at the 

 time a mere boy in his mother's charge. 

 When coming of age he bought a farm 01 

 200 acres in Ontario county. On this farm 

 John Dryden was born in 1840, and here he 

 has won his reputation as a lover and 

 breeder of fine stock, cattle, horses and 

 sheep. The son added to the farm so that 

 it grew to 420 acres, and the vigorous trees 

 soon suggested the appropriate name, 

 " Maple Shade." Here he has lived his 

 married life, a life of ideal home happiness, 

 and here he and Mrs. Dryden have seen 

 grow up their family of five daughters 

 and one son. The name Dryden will be 

 continued, for, though there is only one son, 

 he has inherited his father's love for live 

 stock, and after a short course at the Agri- 

 cultural College is managing the farm under 

 his father's direction. 



Who could estimate the wealth added to 

 Canada by the importations such as those 

 made by Mr. Dryden. Again and again he 

 has gone to England and to Scotland and 



