164 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



are dry regions on the east side of the coast mountains — dry because 

 the clouds have broken and the rain has fallen before it reached them. 

 Such regions without irrigation — and sometimes irrigation is im- 

 possible — are equally unsuitable for fruit culture. Outside these 

 districts, however, the climate is admittedly the best in the whole 

 Dominion. They have also the experience of all the other fruit- 

 growers of Canada at their back and they have not been slow to 

 learn. According to Mr M'Neill, Chief of the Fruit Division — and 

 he should know — the fruit-growers of British Columbia grade, pack, 

 and market their fruit better than any of the other fruit-growers of 

 Canada. It is this which in large part is giving the province a hold 

 on the markets of the world. 



The fruit districts are scattered pretty well over the province. 

 We had an opportunity of examining the gardens in Vancouver 

 Island. The soil is light but not unsuitable for certain classes of 

 fruit and vegetables. Besides, the climate is as good as it can well 

 be. The rainfall, while sufficient is not excessive, and the tempera- 

 ture, both in summer and winter, is moderate. Undoubtedly, it 

 will become a great centre of fruit-growing and market-gardejiing, 

 supplying many towns on the Pacific coast. We also had an 

 opportunity of examining orchards at Agassiz, where one of the 

 Dominion experimental farms is established. Agassiz, however, 

 has a rainfall of 67 inches per year, too much for the perfect pro- 

 duction of fruit. Fungus growths, due no doubt to the wet climate, 

 were much in evidence throughout the district. Most of our time, 

 however, was devoted to what may be described as the two great 

 fruit districts of British Columbia, the Kootenay district and the 

 Okanagan Valley. The Kootenays — east and west — are situated 

 in the south-eastern portion of British Columbia, west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. They are composed for the most part of moun- 

 tain and forest land, with beautiful sheets of water in place of 

 fertile valleys. Sailing up the Kootenay or the Arrow Lakes, it 

 needs a good deal of imagination to believe that there is any culti- 

 vatable land in the district at all. The arable land, however, is 

 more extensive than at first sight appears, and hundreds of acres 

 covered with timber lie along the banks of the lakes, and hundreds 

 of acres more pierce the mountains in different directions. But the 

 timber must be cut and the ground cleared of stumps before fruit 

 cultivation is possible, and that may cost from 100 to 150 dollars 

 per acre, according to the size of the timber. In some cases the 

 timber may pay for the clearing. In other cases it may not pay even 

 the cost of marketing. It was entirely in accordance with common- 

 sense that the capabilities of the district as a fruit-growing centre 

 should be discovered more by accident than intention. Mr James 

 Johnstone, Nelson, a Scotsman from Aberdeenshire, who had carried 

 on mining operations in different parts of the United States and 

 Canada, settled down in Nelson some years ago. He found in the 

 forest behind his house a number of fruit trees. Investigation 

 revealed the fact that a Frenchman had once settled there and had 

 actually planted an orchard, and the trees, notwithstanding that 

 the luxuriant vegetation had done what it could to crush them out 



