The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



1. XXXII 



JULY, 1909 



No. 7 



A Decade of Nova Scotia Horticulture 



THE last ten years covers almost all 

 the history of advanced horticul- 

 ture in the province, mainly com- 

 mercial apple growing and marketing. 

 All over the Annapolis Valley are trees 

 that must be able to tell tales of two or 

 three centuries. These are called 

 "French" trees by the farmers now, and 

 how much of truth attaches to the term 

 it is impossible to say. Many of these 

 tiees still bear small, bitter-sweet or very 

 id fruit, that is made into cider, and 

 iiany have been and are still being graft- 

 ed to commercial varieties. Up to 

 thirty years ago, very little fruit found 

 its way out of the province. The opening 

 of the English market gave the great in- 

 centive to commercial fruit growing, and 

 the Annapolis Valley has always kept 

 the lead of the maritime provinces 

 in this industry. A great many or- 

 chards were giving a good yield of ap- 

 ples of good varieties. As a proof of 

 the good judgment of these old orchard- 

 ists, it may be said that a list of about a 

 dozen of the most popular commercial 

 varieties of twenty-five years ago, is al- 

 most identical with a list decided upon at 

 a meeting of the Fruit Growers' Associa- 

 tion of Nova Scotia only three years ago. 



THE PIONEEKS 



Among the pioneers of successful or- 

 charding may be mentioned the names of 

 Starr, Archibald, DeWitt and others, in 

 King's county. To such men as these 

 we owe the opening of trade across the 

 water. But while these old orchards gave 

 crops of good apples that were barrelled 

 and exported to a small extent, the real 

 awakening of thoughtful care and prac- 

 tice of intelligent methods has its history 

 in the last ten or fifteen years. Before 

 that, the great majority of orchards were 

 expected to raise a crop of apples as well 

 as an inter-tilled crop of potatoes or 

 turnips and it is a fact worthy of note 

 that a measure of success attended this 

 practice which is still kept up in many 

 orchards, especially those of young bear- 

 "\!:^ age. Now, however, the best or- 

 irdists practice only clean thorough 



, cultivation with cover crops of nitrogen- 



I gathering plants. 



PRUNING 



, The pruning of years ago left long 

 ;! bare limbs with a limited bearing area 

 ;; at the top. Now, the younger men are 

 i producing a tree capable of bearing fruit 





R. J. Messenger, Bridgetown 



uniformly throughout its whole volume 

 of top. 



PEOGEBSS IN SPKATING 



Spraying came next, and it is safe to 

 say that ninety per cent, of the spraying 

 done to-day has been begun in the last 

 decade. The spraying of a dozen years 

 ago was almost too crude to be called by 

 the name in comparison with that of to- 

 day. You could wash wagons and win- 

 dows with the nozzles of that time, while 

 now we get a mist almost like fog. 



The varieties of fungicides and insec- 

 ticides are becoming legion, and farmers 

 are found willing to try every new one 

 that comes along. Bordeaux mixture is 

 becoming old-fashioned but is still hold- 



Is Deserving 



I am glad to learn that it is the 

 intention of the management of 

 The Canadian Horticulturist to 

 make the magazine of even more 

 value and interest to its readers in 

 the Maritime Provinces than it 

 has been in the past. The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist deserves 

 the best praise that has been be- 

 stowed upon it. — Prof. Percy J. 

 Shaw, Agricultural College, Truro, 

 N. S. 



ing its own. An advance in the last few 

 years is the application of winter sprays, 

 of which the lime-sulphur wash promises 

 to be a favorite. The prepared lime- 

 sulphur is in use in some parts of the 

 Valley. 



PACKING AND MAEKETTINQ 



The packing and marketting of fruit is 

 making great advances. The Fruit 

 Marks Act has had the indirect effect of 

 improving the quality by inciting the 

 farmers to better methods, and the direct 

 effect of making them pack better fruit. 

 Box packing is a part of this decade's 

 progress, is increasing every year, and 

 bids fair in the next ten years to become 

 an important factor in packing. 



Under marketting, we have in com- 

 mon with other parts of the Dominion 

 made progress in transportation facili- 

 ties. The method of having fruit sold 

 by commission merchants is much the 

 same as at first but the organization of 

 co-operative companies will, we hope, 

 give direct buyers confidence to purchase 



145 



from these associations outright. This 

 has been done already. 



Educational advancement has also been 

 rapid. The Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' 

 Association is a live body conducted and 

 attended by the most intelligent men 

 in the business. Year after year experts 

 from all over the continent are giving us 

 the benefit of the latest discoveries and 

 successful practice, while the Institute 

 speakers carry up-to-date knowledge to 

 those not reached by the associations. 

 The introduction and supervision of 

 "model orchards" by the government 

 is doing a great work in teaching meth- 

 ods, while horticulture is given a prom- 

 inent place in the teaching of the Agricul- 

 ture College at Truro. 



While space will only allow of this 

 brief sketch, it is enough to show that 

 the last decade has accomplished more 

 for this branch of country work than the 

 hundred years before, and we are just 

 beginning. 



Arsenate of Lead 



"Arsenate of lead is a much better poi- 

 son for spraying on fruit trees than Paris 

 green," said Mr. W. H. French, of 

 Oshawa, to a representative of The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist, who visited that 

 district last month. "It gives much bet- 

 ter results as it remains in suspension 

 longer and will not injure the foliage in 

 any way. 



"I find that it will kill 95% of codling 

 moth while Paris green at its best, will 

 not kill more than 75%. Arsenate of 

 lead will remain on the foliage much 

 longer than Paris green and, therefore, 

 is effective for a longer time. It is a 

 little more expensive but the difference 

 in results easily makes up for that. I use 

 five pounds to 100 gallons of water. To 

 spray 300 trees costs me about $1.75 

 more than it would for Paris green." 



As this issue is pressed for space by 

 articles from horticulturists in the mari- 

 time provinces, it has been found neces- 

 sary to leave until next time the continu- 

 ation of Professor Lochhead's excellent 

 article on "The Principles of Plant 

 Breeding." 



Dwarf apple trees are produced by 

 working upon slow-growing stock and 

 by subsequent heading-in. 



