FRUIT-GROWING 



The fruit and vegetable trade of Canada is yet in its infancy. 

 In 1901, there were only in round numbers, 476,000 acres under 

 these crops. The following are the exact figures : — 



Orchards ...... 354,545 acres 



Vegetables and small fruit . . . 116,517 „ 



Vineyards ...... 5,600 ,, 



While fruit can be grown to a greater or less extent in all the 

 provinces of Canada, it is confined for the most part to Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. We had 

 little opportunity of examining the gardens and the orchard-land of 

 either New Brunswick or Quebec, and in this section we are to confine 

 ourselves to a description of fruit-growing as we saw it in the 

 Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia ; in the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario ; 

 and in different parts of British Columbia. 



Annapolis Valley 



This valley, called by different names as it passes through 

 different districts, and varying in breadth from six to ten miles, 

 extends along the Bay of Fundy from Windsor to Digby, separated 

 however, from the Bay by the North Mountain and protected from 

 the east wind by the South Mountain. It is thus sheltered on both 

 sides by parallel mountain ranges, and it is more suitable for the 

 production of fruit than any of the other large stretches of country 

 in Nova Scotia. The soil is as suitable as the situation. The 

 quantity and quality vary at different parts, but it is all more or 

 less suitable for the production of the crops grown. The farms 

 which, as a rule, are long narrow strips owned by the occupiers, 

 extend from 20 to 120 acres, and are composed of hay land in the 

 bottom of the valley, orchard land round and behind the steadings, 

 and grazing and woodland farther up the hill. They lend them- 

 selves to a system of mixed agriculture, particularly dairying and 

 fruit-growing, but there seems to be a disinclination on the part of 

 many farmers to carry on the joint occupation of dairying and fruit- 

 growing, possibly because it is difficult adequately to attend to both, 

 and possibly because the fruit trade is easier and has been a more 

 profitable trade than the dairy trade. In any case the tendency 

 has been to specialise in fruit, and there are .50,000 acres of orchards 

 in the vallev. Different varieties of fruit are grown — raspberries, 

 blackberries, currants, gooseberries, strawberries, pears, plums, 

 cherries, apples, but the apple predominates. The people believe 

 that the valley is specially suited for the production of apples* 



