OPEN LETTERS. 



20 1 



page 52, Mr. Smith practically states that plums 

 cannot now be shipped to Northwest owing to 

 lack of favorable rates and conditions. Yet, as 

 you will see by the clipping enclosed, the ex- 

 press company can, and have done so in the 

 past, make both favorable rates and conditions 

 for B. C. shippers, from the coast to Winnipeg,- 

 a greater distance than from Ontario fruit 

 points to the prairie capital, and even on such 

 perishable fruits as strawberries. Plums in 

 large quantities are shipped (California style 

 packages), and arrive in splendid condition. 



Last season a friend sent me by express a 

 case (Wilson) of pears from Beamsville, just 

 as a test of keeping qualities of Bartlett. About 

 three-fourths proved to be in perfect condition. 

 The balance were quite soft. The square 

 apartments in the drawers were not suitable 

 for the larger pears. \v rapped in paper, in 

 boxes, pears should carry safely to any North- 

 west point. Yours truly, 



A. W. FINBOW. 



(From Daily News-Advertiser, Vancouver, B.C.) 



If plans now pending between the fruit grow- 

 ers of British Columbia and the officials of the 

 Dominion Express Company are completed, 

 three times as much fruit w^il be shipped this 

 year from Vancouver to Winnipeg as was ever 

 the case in any previous year. 



Inspector Kirby, of the Dominion Express 

 Company, this morning announced that his com- 

 pany is prepared to run a daily car all summer 

 especially for the fruit export of the province. 

 This will be attached to the through express, 

 and will make a three-day trip to Winnipeg. 



Last year cars of the pattern that will be 

 used this season every day were operated many, 

 times during the season. No regular schedule 

 was arranged, but the car was run only when- 

 ever sufficient business offered to make it 

 worth while. The car has special ventilators, 

 and has every convenience for the transporta- 

 tion of fruit in the best and most practicable 

 manner. 



" This car will be run every day after June 

 1," said Mr. Kirby. " The strawberry crop will 

 be the first handled, and then the other fruits 

 as they ripen. We will give the best possible 

 service to Winnipeg, and at rates that should 

 meet all the requirements of the growers. A 

 meeting of the local association will be held in 

 Victoria on March 4, and by that time we will 

 be able to announce a tariff." 



PLUMS ON THE vv^ILD PLUM STOCK. 



Some time ago the question was asked, 

 How will plums grow on the wild or Chicka- 

 saw stock ? 



We have about four hundred grafted or bud- 

 ded on the wild stock. They are quite vigor- 

 ous, and regular annual bearers of heavy crops. 

 In fact, most of our best show plums are gath- 

 ered from these trees. They should, however, 

 be grafted or budded very low down, otherwise 

 the more vigorous groMMng varieties for a time 

 would outgrow the stock. But when they get 

 into bearing the top will not grow so fast and 



the stock seems to catch up. Where only a 

 few trees are wanted a, good way is to take 

 sucker roots about half to three-quarters inch 

 in diameter, plant in nursery row for one year, 

 then cut off low to the ground and graft with 

 the required varieties. They will make trees 

 wonderfully fast, and are as easily grown as 

 potatoes. 



J. G. MITCHELL. 

 Georgian Bay Experimental Station. 

 Clarksburg, Ont. 



MR. T. H. RACE AT KINCARDINE. 



Sir : We had a treat last week, consisting 

 of two addresses on the following subjects (by 

 Mr. T. H. Race, of Mitchell, one of the best 

 amateur. rose culturists of Ontario), viz.. Bulb 

 and Rose Culture, and Their Influence Upon 

 the Home. 



The subject of bulb culture was treated on 

 to the students of the various schools in our 

 town in the Town Hall, beginning at 4.15 p.m.. 

 and was listened to with a great deal of in- 

 terest, and no doubt there was implanted on 

 the minds of many the seeds of knowledge that 

 will lead to the beautifying and adornment of 

 homes in the future. 



In the evening Mr. Race lectured to an ap- 

 preciative audience in a fairly filled hall. It 

 being St. Patrick's day in the evening, the 

 Methodists had a social for the benefit of their 

 church, and so many were prevented from 

 hearing the refining lecture, but when we know 

 that about 150 students in the afternoon and 

 about 300 grown up people in the evening lis- 

 tened with marked attention to such an ex- 

 perienced amateur, the refining influence will 

 be widespread. 



Mr. Race contends that the culture of flowers 

 and plants gives an interest to the young and 

 makes home attractive, and also that " love of 

 country " is only seen in and by a home-loving 

 people. 



The Culture and Care of Roses was very in- 

 teresting, and many took notes. 



The speaker said that rose bushes for out- 

 side planting should be about two years old 

 and be planted in rows 5 feet apart and 3 feet 

 apart in the rows, and when sufficiently grown 

 to bend one cane of each bush and tip it near 

 the root of the next and train this so that t>^p 

 shoots rising therefrom wi.. form the flower- 

 ing stems. 



To destroy the thrip he has found nothing 

 equal to hen manure put beneath the plants, 

 the ammonia from same proving certain death 

 to this pest of the rose bush, and that soap siids 

 sprinkled over and under the leaves also kill 

 the thrip. 



He spoke very highly of the usefulness of the 

 toad in the garden, particularly in destroying 

 ants, which are so troublesome in many gar- 

 dens. He places a toad under a box set close 

 to an ant hill, and so quickly does master to"d 

 catch them that very soon not an ant can He 

 foiiTtfi The prejudice against toads should be. 

 tan^'ht to be wrong and every means taken to 

 preserve them. 



