452 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



FflEE SUGAR. 



THE Sun, in discussing the same ques- 

 tion of reducing our fruits to jams, 

 jellies, etc., points out that Canadians are 

 handicapped in this enterprise by the tariff, 

 as follows: 



The offering of a car load of plums at about one 

 per cent per basket above the cost of the baskets 

 should suggest to the fruit growers of this province 

 the ceed of relief fro.ii oppressive conditions. If 

 it were not for the tariff, that enhances the price of 

 sugar and glassware, Canadian jams, jellies and 

 preserved fruits would find a market wide enough 

 to make a demand for all the products of our 

 orchards and fruit farms. Although at great dis- 

 advantages with regard to the growing fruit, the 

 British canners and jam producers are successfully 

 holding markets in all parts of the world. Cana- 

 dians are handicaped in competing for outside 

 markets by a duty on sugar which -amounts to 

 about one-third of the cost. This makes it im- 

 possible for a fruit canning enterprise to succeed 

 in any market open to competition. If the sugar 

 duty were not enough, a duty of 30 per cent, on 

 glass jars is a certain prohibition on the most at- 

 tractive method of preserving for the market. 



This journal has no leanings to party poli- 

 tics, but, if free sugar would foster the in- 

 terests of fruit growers, we hope the tariff 

 may speedily be readjusted so as to facilitate 

 the development of such an important in- 

 dustry. 



OUR CANNING INDUSTRIES. 



THE canning factories seem to have re- 

 vived in a wonderful manner of late, 

 and are proving a great boon to the fruit 

 growers situated near them. I think, said 

 Mr. E. D. Smith, M. P., of Winona, that 

 factories for putting up our surplus fruit are 

 needed in every fruit district, and fruit 

 growers would find it a good investment to 

 put their money into them. Plums, espec- 

 ially, which this year were a drug in our 

 markets, should be made up into jam. 



At St. Catharines the other day our presi- 

 dent, Mr. W.- H. Bunting, introduced us to 

 several growers who w^ere considering the 

 question of putting up their Kieffer pears 

 for export. "I prefer," said Mr. Griffis, "to 

 sell mine to the factories and save the trou- 

 ble and the risk of exporting them. I re- 

 ceived one cent and a half a pound for all 



my peaches, and I am offered one cent a 

 pound for my KieiTers. Now I don't think 

 that a bad price when you consider that you 

 have no expense for baskets, freight or com- 

 mission." 



THE GRAPE HARVEST. 



ABOUT St. Catharines the grapes are 

 turning out very well, and Mr. Bunt- 

 ing told us that everyone was trying to get 

 through shipping as soon after the middle of 

 October as possible. Messrs. Titterington 

 Bros, and Mr. Mclntee were loading cars 

 for the Northwest, and splendid refrigera- 

 tors they were — cars such as fruit men 

 ought always to have, but alas, seldom get, 

 aside from centres where other railways are 

 in close competition. 



"We will ship out from St. Catharines this 

 season," said Mr. Bunting, "150 carloads of 

 grapes, largely Concords, and of these at 

 least 50 cars go to the Northwest." 



"These six and two-third quart baskets are 

 not the thing," said Mr. Robert Thompson. 

 "They do not pack well together, and if you 

 put peaches in them they go for half baskets, 

 i. e., half of the twelve-quart basket." 



"How many baskets of grapes do you put 

 in a car?" we inquired. 



" Owing to the minimum for car lots of 

 fruit being fixed at 20,000 lbs., we are 

 obliged to put in from 2,300 to 2,400 9-lb. 

 grape baskets to make a full car load. This 

 makes it frequently necessary to pile the 

 baskets from 10 to 12 high in the car, which 

 is considerably higher than is conducive to 

 the best carriage of the fruit. If the mini- 

 mum could be reduced to 16,000 lbs. for 

 fresh fruits, and suitable cars furnished in 

 large enough numbers, it would be a great 

 boon to the fruit industry of this district." 



THE BENEFIT OF SPKAYING APPLE 



ORCHARDS. 



'" f ' HE experimental spraying operations 



I carried on during the spring anj 



summer by the Fruit Division, Ottawa, in . 



