568 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



ince, towns and cities are growing very rapidly, and 

 markets are thus being provided for high-class products 

 of all kinds. The Canadian Northwest, also, is rapidly 

 becoming an important market and is attracting every 

 year a large volume of trade that formerly went to 

 Great Britain and western Europe. 



Ontario (Fig. 659) includes a vast extent of country, 

 being over 700 miles from extreme north to extreme 

 south and approximately 1,000 miles from east to west. 

 The outline of the province is very irregular. The most 

 noticeable feature is the vast extent of boundary line 

 which borders on the Great Lakes. The altitude of the 

 lakes varies from 250 to about 600 feet and inland 

 Ontario ranges from lake-level to 1,700 or 1,800 feet. 

 Practically all of the fruit-growing districts lie below 

 1,000 feet and all the important fruit districts border 

 the Great Lakes. 



The early settlers paid less attention to horticulture 

 than to other branches of rural activity, but of late 

 years very rapid development has begun, especially in 

 connection with fruit-growing, although commercial 

 vegetable-growing and commercial floriculture are 

 becoming increasingly important. Landscape art is 

 newer and less developed than are the commercial 

 branches of horticulture, but many of the towns and 

 cities possess active horticultural societies, part of the 

 work of which is a propaganda looking toward the 

 beautifying of home surroundings. Ontario, as a prov- 

 ince, possesses great natural beauty. Few sections are 

 entirely level and the general character is undulating 

 or more or less rolling. There are many beautiful homes 

 in towns and cities and many also throughout the 

 countryside. 



The many local horticultural societies and the provin- 

 cial federation of them are exerting profound influence 



659. Fruit-regions (numbered) in lower Ontario. 



throughout the country on all kinds of amateur horticul- 

 tural work, and floriculture especially is a feature of 

 very many home gardens and of many school and pub- 

 lic grounds as well. In commercial floriculture, the 

 Dale greenhouses in Brampton were until recently said 

 to be the largest range of nouses in America, and there 

 are many other up-to-date glasshouse plants in various 

 parts of the province. 



Old Ontario lies farther south than any other part of 

 Canada, the most southerly part, as a matter of fact, 

 lying in the same latitude as Boston, Mass., and on a 

 level with the northern boundary of the State of Cali- 

 fornia. In this southern district, the production of 

 early vegetables, both under glass and out-of-doors, 

 has become an important industry. In the vicinity of 

 many towns and of the large cities, such as Hamilton, 

 Brantford, London, Toronto and Ottawa, there have 

 also grown up important local industries in the produc- 

 tion of vegetables. The extensive production of such 

 truck-crops as onions, cabbage, and celery is conducted 

 in a few small districts only, but with the rapid 

 opment of markets this phase of vegetable-growing is 

 taking on increased importance. In certain sections, 

 such as Prince Edward County, the vegetable industry 

 takes the form of production for canning factories. In 

 that county, there are some sixteen large commercial 

 canning plants, and many additional factories are 

 located in other sections and devote themselves to 

 the canning of full lines of vegetables and fruits. The 

 industry is growing. 



The apple is by far the most important fruit pro- 

 duced within the province, but certain sections have for 

 years been producing peaches in a large way. The 

 Niagara Peninsula has long been famed as an important 

 fruit center, and many fine commercial plantations of 

 peach and other fruits are found there. Peaches from 

 this locality are being successfully shipped to Winnipeg 

 and northwestern markets, and a few shipments h:ive 

 also been landed in Great Britain in excellent condition. 

 On the accompanying map, the three districts marked 

 No. 1 produce peaches successfully in a commercial way. 

 The peach section bordering on Lake Huron is of com- 

 paratively recent development, but the climate and soil 



are perfectly adapted to 

 this fruit, and a great 

 extension of acreage has 

 taken place in that local- 

 ity within recent years. 

 That part of district, 

 No. 1 which lies to the 

 north of Lake Erie does 

 not produce peaches 

 as extensively as 

 its area would indicate, 

 but there are numerous 

 localities that can and 

 do grow large quanti- 

 ties of this t ender fruit. 

 The section marked 

 No. 1 whicli lies south 

 of the west end of Lake 

 Ontario is the Niagara 

 district of Canada, and 

 is world-famous. 



The sweet cherry as 

 a commercial crop is 

 found only in very few 

 localities, and these are 

 practically all in district 

 No. 1. This district is 

 also the only part of the 

 province that grows 

 grapes extensively, as 

 the more northerly sec- 

 tions have not sufficient 

 length of season to ripen 



the crop. District No. 2 produces most of the plums 

 and pears grown commercially in the province, but the 

 Niagara section of district No. 1 also grows these two 

 fruits extensively. The part of district No. 2 bordering 

 on Georgian Bay was formerly one of the most impor- 

 tant plum districts. The only district in the province 

 that produces pears extensively is the Burlington sec- 

 tion, lying at the west end of Lake Ontario. 



