446. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig 2671. E. Mokris, Fonthill, Ont. 



of eight hundred acres of land, he was early 

 trained in the details of agriculture, but 

 after landing in Canada, when still a boy, 

 he was persuaded by his father to enter into 

 the mercantile business, which is carried on 

 with success for some years in the town of 

 Oshawa. This experience gave him excel- 

 lent business training. Having spent his 

 boyhood days on the farm, he longed for 

 outdoor business, and decided in 1866 to go 

 into fruit growing, and bought a farm in 

 Niagara District for that purpose — being 

 perhaps the first man in Ontario to grow 

 small fruits as a business. His success in 

 this brought him many customers for plants, 

 and he then resolved to go into a general 

 nursery business, and bought a small estab- 

 lished nursery of fruit trees, and soon after- 

 wards purchased the Fonthill Nursery. 

 Two years later, finding the business, in all 

 its departments, n:ore than he could pro- 



perly look after, formed a partnership with 

 Stone & Wellington, under the firm name of 

 Morris, Stone & Wellington, lately changed 

 to Morris & Wellington. With Mr, Mor- 

 ris' natural talent, and love for the business, 

 he soon mastered the practical part of it, 

 and is now acknowledged to be one of the 

 best nurserymen on the continent. 



During our visit at Fonthill Mr. Morris 

 gave us a carriage ride through a huge 

 block of about 400,000 apple trees, ready for 

 sale this fall and next spring. "We plant," 

 said he " about 400,000 per annum, and sell 

 about 300,000. That is, we classify the 

 stock when selling size, into first class and 

 culls. The latter we pull and burn, and 

 only good stock goes out to fill the orders. 

 We have to increase our planting each year, 

 to trv and keep up with the increased de- 

 mand ; even then, like other nurseries, we 

 often fall short on varieties that suddenly 

 spring into dem.and." 



One feature of the business that is pleas- 

 ing and shows prosperity of the country, is 

 the greatly increased demand for all kinds 

 of ornamental trees and shrubs. This 

 branch of the business is increasing faster 

 than any other, although it is very evident 

 that apple growing is still at the front in 

 Canada, and in our opinion it justly holds 

 the first place for profit, taking one year 

 with another, notwithstanding the low 

 prices that sometimes prevail. 



FRUIT PACKING DEMOKSTRATIONS AT THE 

 FAIES. 



SENIOR Fruit Inspector Alex. McNeill 

 is still attending the fall fairs giving 

 his interesting and instructive demonstra- 

 tions of the proper packing and marking of 

 apples and pears for the export trade. He 

 was at Brantford on October 2, at Burford 

 on October 7, and on the 15th at the Simcoc 

 Model Fair. 



