Fruit Growing in Eastern Nova Scotia 



EVERYONE who is interested in 

 fruit growing has heard of and 

 many have seen the Annapolis and 

 Cornwallis Valleys in Nova Scotia and, 

 when apples are mentioned in connection 

 with the province, those districts are sup- 

 posed to contain all that is worth men- 

 tioning- in the shape of fruit and when 

 the various institute speakers from this 

 so-called "fruit belt" go ahead, they can- 

 not disguise a sort of sympathetic pity 

 for those that are trying to grow fruit 

 under conditions more adverse than is to 

 be met with in their own beloved valleys. 

 Up to a few years ago, no one ven- 

 tured to dispute the theory that the Val- 

 leys were "it," as far as fruit and all that 

 belongeth thereto was concerned, but 

 when the late B. W. Chipman was ap- 

 pointed Secretary for Agriculture he con- 

 ceived the idea of establishing model or 

 experimental orchards in each county of 

 the province outside of the fruit belt. 

 Prof. F. C. Sears, who was then direc- 

 tor of horticulture, and Mr. Chipman 

 travelled over the province and observed 

 that in many other localities fruit of 

 equally high quality was grown. This 

 was noticeable particularly in Pictou and 

 Antigonish counties, which are in the 

 eastern part of the province. Professor 

 Sears told the writer that he never saw a 

 better display of fruit, chiefly apples, 

 than was to be seen at Pictou County 

 Exhibition of 1905. But what contrib- 

 uted more than anything else to the idea 

 of experimetnal orchards was the fact 



Andreiv MacPherson, Rocklin 



that varieties that succeeded best in one cut down the few trees that had not died 



district did not succeed so well in an- 

 other, and instead of selecting and hold- 

 ing to the variety'that does the best, too 

 often the farmer allowed the tree agent 



already, saying that they were in the way 

 of the mowing machine. To select the 

 varieties that are likely to do best in a 

 district under a ten year exepriment, is 



A Government Spraying Demonstration in a Nova Scotia Orchard 



Photograph kindly furnished by Mr. G. H. Vroom, Dominion Fruit Inspector. 



the idea of the model orchard 



to select for him, and this was done with- 

 out any regard for environment, and the 

 result was confusion. 



A farmer who had perhaps a half acre 

 or, say, one acre in orchard had perhaps 

 a dozen different varieties growing there. 

 Great care would be taken of this or- 

 chard for a few years and when the time 

 for fruit arrived and no fruit appeared 

 or, if fruit, not .the kind that was ex- 

 pected, the owner of the orchard got 

 careless and allowed the grass to grow, 

 with the result in a short time the owner 



One of the Model Orchards in Nova Scotia that are 



Orchard of Mr. H. M. Rice, 



Destiocd to Stimulate Finit Growing in that ProTince 



Hear River. IHgby County 



W 



The ex- 

 periment is carried on under Government 

 supervision about as follows : 



THE MODEL ORCHARD METHOD. 



A plot of land of about two acres is 

 selected. The trees are set out thirty- 

 three feet apart each way and fillers in 

 between, thus the trees are sixteen and 

 a half feet by thirty-three feet apart. The 

 fillers consist of plum, pear and cherry 

 trees. A strip of land eight feet wide 

 is left at every row of trees. This is cul- 

 tivated until the middle of July when 

 each strip is then seeded to a cover crop 

 of clover, rape or vetches, to be plowed 

 under the following spring and the same 

 plan followed. 



Now as to results. First. — Varieties 

 that are succeeding best in the model or- 

 chard are the ones generally selected in 

 that neighborhood with equally good re- 

 sults. 



Second. — The idea is losing ground, 

 that an apple orchard in order to be pro- 

 fitable must necessarily raise a crop of 

 hay or grain. In the model orchard no 

 such crop is permissable, but a cultivated 

 crop, such as corn, potatoes, turnips or 

 something similar, is allowed. 



Third. — The value of a clean cultivated 

 orchard is observed, if best results are to 

 be obtained. 



One of the maxims laid down by Pro- 

 fessor Sears when setting out these or- 

 chards was, "Make haste slowly," and 

 in some cases the advice was needed as 

 the desire to have the best orchard led 

 to an undue forcing, by heavy manuring, 

 causing intense wood growth with the 

 usual result of winter-killing during 

 severe winters. 



Judging from the experience of the 



