BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 563 



Under this system, it is possible with very little delay 

 to pack and place on cars a steamer-load of apples. 

 A railway haul of four or five hours brings the cars to 

 the side of the steamer so that the danger from frost, 

 even in zero weather, is largely avoided. 



A further advance was made in the business of pack- 

 ing and marketing apples when cooperative fruit com- 

 panies were formed. The first company of this kind 

 was organized in Berwick in 1907. During the next five 

 years, more than thirty similiar companies were formed. 

 Under provincial legislation enacted in 1912, these were 

 organized into a central association known as the 

 United Fruit Companies of Nova Scotia, Limited. All 

 the apples of the companies affiliated in this central 

 association are sold through its agency. It controls the 

 Bale of fully one-half of the apple crop of the province. 

 A uniform standard of grading is maintained, an official 

 of the central association inspecting the packing in all 

 the warehouses of the affiliated companies. Coopera- 

 tion in the marketing of apples was quickly followed 

 by the cooperative manufacture of barrels and pur- 

 chase of fertilizers, feeds and seeds, greatly to the con- 

 venience and financial advantage of the members 

 of the companies. In the near future, all farmers' 

 supplies will probably be purchased cooperatively. 



The establishment of evaporators, canneries and 

 vinegar factories throughout the fruit district, some 

 of them owned by cooperative companies, furnishes 

 a market for defective fruit and has also the effect 

 of improving the grade of apples packed. There 

 are now eight evaporators, two canneries and four 

 vinegar factories in operation. 



Local nurseries, chiefly for the propagation of 

 apple trees, are to be found at Annapolis, Berwick, 

 \Vutorville and \Volfville. While these have re- 

 ceived good patronage in the past, the larger quan- 

 tity of nursery stock in recent years has been 

 imported, chiefly from Ontario. With a view to 

 avoiding the danger of introducing noxious insects 

 and plant diseases, the provincial department of 

 agriculture has lately passed strict regulations 

 governing the importation of nursery stock. The 

 effect of this has been to stimulate the home 

 nursery industry. 



Pears, plums and cherries are grown for home use 

 and the local markets. Bartlett and Clapp Favorite 

 are the varieties of pears most largely grown. 

 Moore Arctic, Iximbard, Yellow Egg, the Gages, 

 Damsons and Burbank are the chief plums. The 

 cherries are the Morello and other varieties of the sour 

 type. Peaches are grown to some extent in the western 

 part of the province, Alexander, Early Canada and 

 Fitzgerald proving hardy. 



Cranberries constitute an important part of the fruit 

 crop ot Nova Scotia. They are grown on reclaimed bog 

 lands that would be unsuitable for any other farm crop. 

 There is much land of this kind in the province still 

 unused. In 1908, the cranberry crop in the vicinity of 

 one railway station, Auburn, amounted to nearly 5,000 

 barrels and netted the growers $25,000. A good market 

 for Nova Scotia berries is found in Montreal and the 

 Canadian West. 



Truck-gardening is conducted to some extent on the 

 light sandy soil of the central part of the Annapolis 

 Valley. In the vicinity of Berwick, Aylesford, and 

 Kingston, such crops as strawberries, raspberries, 

 tomatoes, green beans, asparagus and rhubarb, are 

 grown for the local markets. Some of the tomatoes go 

 to the cannery. 



Only one important variety of apple originated in 

 Nova Scotia, the Banks Red, a bud-sport of the Graven- 

 stein. John Burbidge, who settled in the Cornwal- 

 lis Valley in 1764 introduced the Nonpareil (Roxbury 

 Russet). Charles Inglis, first Bishop of Nova Scotia, 

 who received a grant of land in Aylesford Town- 

 ship, in 1790, introduced the Yellow Bellfiower, which 



thence came to be known here as Bishop Pippin. Charles 

 R. Prescott introduced Ribston in 1814, Blenheim in 

 1829, Grayenstein and Alexander in 1835, Baldwin and 

 Greening in 1820 and Northern Spy shortly after 1852. 



The Nova Scotia Fruit-Growers Association, founded 

 in 1863, is the oldest in the Dominion, and receives an 

 annual grant from the provincial government. For 

 several years it assisted in maintaining a school of 

 horticulture at Wolfville. In 1905, this school was 

 merged into the College of Agriculture at Truro. 



In 1911, a fruit experiment station was established 

 at Kentville. This is maintained by the federal govern- 

 ment at Ottawa. The provincial government has 

 established thirty-five demonstration orchards in parts 

 of the province outside the fruit district proper. The 

 purpose of these orchards is to discover the fruit-growing 

 possibilities of the different sections of the province, 

 to find out the varieties best suited to these sections, and 

 to give a demonstration of what orchard practice is 

 considered most effective in such localities. Horticul- 

 ture is taught at the Agricultural College which was 

 established at Truro in 1905. PERCY J. SHAW. 



655. Nova Scotia, showing the present fruit district and two centers 

 (Bridgewater and Brookfield), where tne industry is beginning to 

 develop. 



Prince Edward Island. 



In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and separated from the 

 continent by the Northumberland Strait, lies the prov- 

 ince of Prince Edward Island (Fig. 656), the "low and 

 beautiful land" that Cartier saw on the afternoon of 

 June 30, 1534. It is situated between 46 and 47 7' 

 north latitude and east of 64 27' west longitude, and is 

 distant from New Brunswick 9 miles, from Nova Scotia 

 15 miles and from Cape Breton 30 miles. In form, it is 

 an irregular crescent, concaved toward the north with 

 such an exceedingly indented coastline that no part of 

 the country is far distant from the sea. Sand-dums 

 extend along the north shore for a distance of 50 miles. 

 The surface is gently undulating. Ranges of low hills 

 traverse the island from New London to Hampton, 

 from Brooklyn to Wood Islands ; and from Red Point 

 to Rollo Bay. The highest elevation is less than 300 feet. 

 Small flat areas occur in the western part of Prince Co. 



The climate is temperate and not subject to rapid 

 changes. For the past five years, the average tempera- 

 ture during the winter months was 36.6, the lowest 

 registered being 19.5, and during the summer months 



with 86.5 the highest. The yearly precipitation 



70 



varies from 38 to 42 inches, a little less than half falling 

 during the months May to October in light showers at 

 more or less regular intervals. 



