166 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



markets of the world is not sufficiently developed. Tlie growers 

 are meantime, while not neglecting other fruits, devoting most 

 attention to the production of apples, apples for the British and 

 apples for the Australian markets. It would be difficult to find 

 larger apples, if size were wanted, than those grown in the Kootenay. 

 It would be difficult to find better coloured apples or better keeping 

 apples, though it is generally considered that the apples of Eastern 

 Canada have more juice and a higher flavour than the apples of British 

 Columbia. In consigning their fruit to Britain they start with the 

 disadvantage of much longer transit than the fruit-growers of Nova 

 Scotia and Ontario. Disregarding this, however, they are catering 

 with much energy and enterprise for the British market, asserting 

 that the apples produced in the Kootenay are superior to anything 

 produced anywhere else and that they will always demand a first 

 place in a first-class market. A new trade has just been opened up 

 with Australia and the Kootenay growers are assuredly well suited 

 for supplying that market. The Australian demands a much 

 smaller apple than is common on the British market, and with 

 the view of meeting this demand, the Kootenay fruit-growers, when 

 growing for the Australian market, do no thinning. They thus get 

 larger crops of smaller apples. We have seen trees utilised for 

 supplying the Australian market splitting by the weight of the crop. 

 Undoubtedly, however, the great market of the future for the 

 Kootenay district and for all British Columbia will be the western 

 prairie. In the years that are to come, Ontario and British 

 Columbia will divide that market between them. 



The Okanagan Valley is a very different place from the Kootenay. 

 The mountains are not so high. There is no timber on hill or valley, 

 which is a decided advantage to the settler. The climate is delightful 

 save that there is not sufficient moisture. The rainfall does not 

 exceed eleven inches in the year, and that makes irrigation indis- 

 pensable. We struck Vernon at the head of the valley on the day 

 when the fruit-growers were holding their annual exhibition, and if 

 we were not able to see all the district we were at least able to see all 

 the products of the district, and we felt that it would have been 

 difficult to improve upon the samples of friiit sent for exhibition. 

 The chief varieties of apples grown, apparently, are the Spitzenberg, 

 Jonathan, Wagner, Wealthy, Northern Spy, M'Intosh Red, and Cox's 

 Orange Pippin. After inspecting the exhibits we visited Lord 

 Aberdeen's ranch at Coldstream, about five miles from Vernon. 

 It comprises about 13,000 acres of land. Since Lord Aberdeen 

 bought it in 1891, it has been transformed from an indifferent cattle 

 ranch to one of the finest fruit farms in British Columbia. Before, 

 however, that was possible, an extensive irrigation scheme had to 

 be developed which is fully described in the section on Irrigation. 

 In 1906, the Coldstream ranch was turned into a limited liability 

 company. The orchard land of the company extends to 350 acres, 

 of which about 160 acres are in full bearing. It would be difficult 

 in all Canada to find a better cultivated orchard. The fruit is mostly 

 confined to apples, pears, plums, cherries, and hops, with small 

 fruit or vegetables between the rows in the earlier years of cultivation, 



