July, 1909 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



155 



PUBLISHERS' DESK 



Nova Scotia Fruit Meetings 



Eunice Watts, Watcrvillc, N. S. 



As announced in our June issue, a num- 

 er of articles are published this month that 

 are of special interest to horticulturists in 

 Nova Scotia. As is customary at this sea- 

 son of the year, the size of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist is considerably reduced. 

 For this reason, we have deemed it just 

 to leave New Brunswick and Prince Edward 

 Island until next month. This will give 

 the three provinces more news and more ar- 

 ticles than they could be given in one num- 

 ber. Our friends in New Brunswick and 

 Prince Edward Island are requested to send 

 photographs of fruit, garden and lawn 

 scenes and to contribute short letters of 

 articles on anything that has to do with 

 horticulture for publication in our August 

 issue. 



I 



Our cover illustration this month shows 

 the street passing Hillcrest Orchards, Kent- 

 ville, N.S., a small corner of a young 

 01 chard of 20 acres, a corner of a 10-acro 

 block of Gravensteins, the packing house 

 and other orchards of Hillcrest beyond. Tho 

 photograph was taken from the residence 

 of Mr. Ralph S. Eaton, the manager of 

 this large concern, which harvested 3500 

 barrels of apples last season and which ex- 

 pects to produce and harvest three times 

 that number each season from these orch- 

 ards when all the trees come into bearing. 



We are pleased with the interest that 

 is being taken in our question and answer 

 department. Enquiries on any phase of 

 horticulture will be carefully answered by 

 us or by experts to whom the question 

 will be submitted. It must be distinctly un- 

 derstood, however, that anonymous commun- 

 ications and letters must be accompanied by 

 name and address of the senders so that we 

 may know that they are from bona-fide 

 subscribers. Only the initials of enquirers 

 will appear in print. 



Toronto Vegetable Growers 



The regular monthly meeting of the To- 

 ronto branch of the Ontario Vegetable 

 Growers' Association was held on June 5. 

 A large number of members were present 

 and the meeting was a success. 



The exhibit of asparagus was very fine. 

 Each exhibitor was required to show three 

 bunches, with six sticks in each or 18 sticks 

 in all. The first prize wont to Jos. Allen, 

 second to John Brown and third to John 

 Tizzard, all of Humber Bay. The lot that 

 won first prize was very fine, the 18 stalks 

 weighing just one ounce short of three 

 pounds. 



It was decided to hold the annual excur- 

 sion of the association to Niagara Falls, on 

 the first Thursday in August. From pre- 

 sent appearances, this will be tho big thing 

 of the year and a big crowd is looked for. 

 The Ontario Seed Co. sent an invitation for 

 the members of the association to visit their 

 jrial grounds at Waterloo, some time in 

 July. The matter was left over until the 

 July meeting. 



Every fruit grower in the Annanolis Val- 

 ley should take Tni? Canvdian Horticttt,- 

 TTTRiBT. Each issue is worth more than the 

 price of a vear's subscription. — C. A. Mc- 

 Gregor, Hants Co., N.S. 



II 



If you learn from others, they may learn 

 from you. Send an article for publication. 



The Dominion Fruit Division is organiz- 

 ing meetings in the Annapolis Valley to 

 take ui) the subject of co-operation in the 

 selling of fruit. Mr. A. McNeill, Chief of 

 the Fruit Division, addressed the meetings 

 at Berwick, Lawrencetown, Bridgetown and 

 Bear River early last month. 



At the meeting in Berwick, the Rev. G. 

 P. Raymond was elected chairman. In an 

 address on co-operation, Mr. McNeill, re- 

 ferring to our apple industry, said that if 

 Nova Scotians did not Iook \m tneir laurels 

 they would be distanced in the race. Con- 

 tinuing, he said that the elevating tenden- 

 cies of the orchard ought to appeal to us 

 all. A friend once said to the speaker, 

 that he did not believe that cnildren raised 

 in an orchard could go far wrong, and if 

 we studied the prison statistics, they would 

 bear him out, for fruit growers were scarce 

 ill the penitentiaries. (A Voice) — "The 

 fiuit inspectors don't do their duty!" Mr. 

 McNeill again justified the fruit grower by 

 putting the blame on the dealers. 



In a few words of self defence, Mr. 

 McNeill said that the people of Ontacio 

 called him a crank, and the editors said 

 that he appeared to think that his sole mis- 

 sion in life was to recommend early apples 

 for southern Ontario. What he really wish- 

 ed to do was to point out the particular 

 needs of each locality. In southern Onta- 

 rio, some apples were fit to harvest by the 

 the 25th of July, and Red Astrachan and 

 Duchess were ripe by the third week in 

 August. Why should they glut the market 

 with late fruits when other parts of Canada 

 could grow better? 



In the Annapolis Valley growers need a 

 better system of marketing tboir apples. No 

 [art of the Dominion, except British Col- 

 umbia, is so forward with its culture, and 

 in no part of Canada are there so many 

 apples grown in small areas. Last 

 year the output from Nova Scotia 

 was 710,000 barrels. Considering that 

 Nova Scotia has so many advantages, 

 such as proximity to the sea, with railroads, 

 and a province situated nearer to the Bri- 

 tish markets, the orchardists are not as for- 

 ward as they should be. They get too 

 small returns and pay too much for appli- 

 ances used in the apple culture. If these 

 growers could be organized into associa- 

 tions, the next step would be the co-opera- 

 tion of sub-ordinate societies into one solid 

 community which would speak as one 

 voice. 



usssons from oalipornia. 



As an object lesson, the chief gave a 

 sketch of the co-operation of the orange 

 and lemon growers of California. From time 

 to time the growers of citrous fruits had 

 formed local societies which did good work 

 by encouraging growers, but they met with 

 big obstacles which they could not tackle, 

 as when the fruit went through private 

 concerns, such as transports, commission 

 men and tho like, who took toll and profit. 

 At times these local societies would get 

 discouraged and drop out. Then they tried 

 putting all their produce into the hands 

 of one firm which proved disastrous. 



Four years ago the orange growers com- 

 bined so that sixty to seventy-five per cent, 

 of their fruit is handled by co-operative as- 

 sociations who send delegates that take 

 over tho whole fruit and sell it. Thair 

 great success is due to the public spirit of 

 the manager. When he became interested 

 in the organization he owned large orange 

 groves, but when he accepted the manage- 

 ment he sold his property, disposing of his 



own interests in order to be above suspi- 

 cion and to become a servant of the orange 

 growers. The result is that citrous fruits 

 are being sold in every possible place at a 

 market price. 



Omaha and Chicago are the two orange 

 centres from whence the standard cars are 

 sent. There is a good system of inspection 

 and, like in the apple districts of Hood Riv- 

 er, Oregon, no grower is allowed to pack 

 his own fruit; this gives rise to a uniform 

 grade of produce. 



Before sending a car of oranges to a city 

 like Ottawa, enquiries would be made. If 

 the price is below others quoted, Ottawa 

 would have to come up, or receive no more 

 oranges. This trust in fruit is for good; 

 it makes the largest consumption of orang- 

 es possible. If oranges are scarce, the price 

 is higher, but the orange combines make 

 no effort to play tricks like those who try 

 to corner the wheat. 



nova scotians should organizb. 



The apple growers should look upon the 

 orange associations as an object lesson. Ev- 

 ery box of oranges consumed means one less 

 of apples which have keen competitors in 

 oranges and bananas, but peaches and 

 small fruits do not interfere. We are not 

 increasing the apple business as the banana 

 growers are increasing theirs. The dealers 

 in England are not anxious to help the ap- 

 ple grower and there are difficulties over 

 there with which the individual cannot 

 cope. If we wish to get proper value for 

 oui apples we must co-operate and organize 

 inio local associations, and then get others 

 to co-operate also. 



Ii London No. 1 apples are sold for four- 

 pence and sixpence a pound, good and bad 

 years the price is the same, out the middle- 

 man absorbs the difference. To benefit 

 oursehes we must unite and thus save on 

 If hate, freight and insurance — a gain of 

 about 40 cents on the barrel. We ought 

 to be missionaries in this propaganda and 

 put by half a cent from every barrel in 

 Older til start new societies. Through this 

 co-operation, men will strive to grow bet- 

 ter frui', and save 25 per cent, on spray 

 pumps and fertilizers. Ontario associations 

 have saved on their baskets and what On- 

 tario growers c.in do with their baskets, 

 Nov.i Scotians ought to do with their bar- 

 roh. As an instance of the advantages of 

 buying through the co-operation, Mr. Mc- 

 Neill said that he had paid one cent and a 

 third for a pound of sulphur for which the 

 druggist asked him five. 



The associations need honest and loyal 

 leaders, unselfish m en of put lie spirit. 

 There are various kinds of patriotism and 

 the easiest kind of a hero is he who goes 

 to battle and bloodshed. A much different 

 and honorable way of being a hero is "o 

 do the daily duty at home by being hard- 

 working and honest. A man who does the 

 common things of life well, with no brass 

 bands to herald him is a true hero and 

 patriot. Such are the leaders of several 

 associations who have sacrificed their own 

 interests and bettered tho general public. 



At St. Catharines, Ont., the association 

 has doubled the price of land in five years 

 and men who work in factories have bought 

 their little fruit farms, and by following 

 the others' examples, have developed them- 

 selves from mechanics to good fruit grow- 

 ers. 



Mr. Vroom, when called upon to speak 

 said that tho co-operation has his heartiest 

 svmpathy and that he had been assisting 

 the farmers of Prince Edward Island to 



