ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 103 



grown is both suitable for eating and for making wine It has not, 

 however, the flavour of the continental grape to which we are accus- 

 tomed in this country. The taste for it must be acquired. The 

 sandy loam in the Niagara Peninsula is devoted almost exclusively 

 to the production of peaches. Peach trees are planted from 15 to 

 20 feet apart. It takes from thirty to forty dollars per acre to 

 plant an orchard. The annual outlay for cultivation till the end 

 of the fifth or sixth year when the orchard is in full bearing is 

 $30 per acre. Once, however, an orchard is established, it will 

 last for fifteen years and will bear good crops varying according 

 to the seasons. It is difficult to estimate what the return from 

 such an orchard during the years of full bearing will be. We have 

 been informed that the gross return per acre would not exceed 

 200 dollars in a favourable season, one half of which would be 

 spent on cultivation. 



It is not easy to get an entrance into this most favoured spot 

 of the garden of Ontario. You must be, whatever else you are, 

 a man of means. Unplanted land costs as high as from 200 to 300 

 dollars per acre. Land, on the other hand, planted with peach trees 

 costs 500 dollars per acre. In choice spots it may reach the enormous 

 sum of 1200 dollars per acre. A corner lot, extending to 10 acres, 

 near Grimsby Park, a mile from Lake Ontario, with trees in full 

 bearing, and a house on the ground worth from 3000 to 4000 dollars, 

 was sold five years ago for 7000 dollars. Recently the same property 

 was sold for 12,000 dollars. The parts of the belt, however, where 

 such prices are obtained, are the best parts and are well served by 

 an electric railway which runs from Beamsville to Hamilton. The 

 houses are large and commodious, with beautiful lawns extending 

 to the public road. There is no isolation and no loneliness. Social 

 life is as characteristic of the people as it is of the people resident 

 in any of the suburbs of our great cities. 



British Columbia 



It is only twenty-one years since the first car-load of fruit was 

 shipped from British Columbia. Much progress, however, has been 

 made since then. The development of the trade is shown by the 

 following figures : — 



Year. Acreage under Fruit. 



1891 6,437 



1901 7.430 



1905 22.000 



1907 100,000 



But the fruit-growers of British Columbia are as much concerned 

 about the quality as the quantity of their fruit, and in this con- 

 nection they possess certain undoubted advantages. They have an 

 admirable climate. There are of course wet regions, where the 

 clouds drifting from the Pacific break on the coast mountains and 

 fall in rain. Such regions are unsuitable for fruit culture. There 



