42 Commercial Gardening 



are estimated to yield 4,500,000 bushels of apples for export, chiefly to 

 the United Kingdom; and that in British Columbia alone 20,000 ac. 

 of fruit have been planted within the last twenty years. 



"Should these facts really be deterrents to intending planters? They 

 simply prove how great is the market for good fruit and what an opening 

 there is for first-class fruit. Many of these 4,500,000 bushels could be 

 kept out of the United Kingdom, not by protective tariffs, but by supply- 

 ing our own market with sound home-grown first- quality apples and 

 fruit. A mere surmise! says the sceptic. By no means. Ireland, Eng- 

 land, and Scotland are producing double the quantity of good fruit which 

 they produced twenty years ago, and the market price for such good 

 outdoor fruit has steadily gone up, whereas the price of American apples 

 has fallen. 



" On the other hand, there is practically no sale for poor or bad 

 fruit, for indifferently packed, or for badly graded fruit, and the con- 

 sumer and producer are alike benefiting by the change. A few facts to 

 substantiate this. A mixed basket of, say, Ecklinville, Early Victoria, 

 Lord Grosvenor, all good varieties, would if sold as picked from trees, 

 unsorted, and ungraded, scarcely fetch 4>d. to Qd. per dozen. The first 

 week in September first-quality Ecklinvilles sold in the Dublin market 

 at 2s. per dozen, second quality sold at Qd., of course all good fruit; a mixed 

 lot of Ecklinvilles, two dozen, containing some apples as good as the first 

 quality, fetched Id. per dozen. These prices are instructive. They cer- 

 tainly are encouraging. Nor is the encouragement confined to cooking 

 apples. Good early apples sell freely and well, and command an excellent 

 and remunerative price. Without leaving the Dublin market numerous 

 instances can be given. Beauty of Bath is a healthy, free-fruiting variety, 

 not given to canker, and succeeding in almost all Apple-growing districts. 

 The fruit is of good quality, attractive in appearance, quite large enough 

 for a dessert apple, firm, and a good traveller. Nicely packed boxes of 

 two dozen brought from 2s. to Is. per dozen, according to quality and 

 packing, during the last half of August. In early September boxes of 

 medium Irish Peach, not by any means first quality, brought Is. per 

 dozen, and more were wanted at the price. Many other instances could 

 be given, but those cited will suffice. 



"The question so constantly asked, which immediately concerns all 

 interested in progressive horticulture, is: Does fruit growing pay? My 

 answer is: Yes, when properly and well done. Those who do not intend 

 to go thoroughly into it, and to work hard at it, had better leave it alone. 

 Much injury has been done by enthusiastic advocates who have painted 

 in too roseate colours the probabilities and possibilities of fruit growing. 

 100 per acre is with these gentlemen an ordinary estimate of the profits 

 after a few years, the more moderate putting it at 70. These estimates, 

 for they are only estimates, are illusory and absurd. No doubt under 

 exceptional circumstances 70 per acre on a small plot has been made in 

 one year, but the average profit on an established well-worked fruit farm 



