The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



[Vol. XXXII 



AUGUST, 1909 



No. 8 



Apple Growing on Prince Edward Island 



b 



THE ;ipple industry in Prince Edward 

 Island is yet in its infancy, if in- 

 deed it can be said to exist at all. 

 For a great many years apples have 

 been grown, but little progress was made 

 until the introduction of the improved 

 varieties about twenty years ago. Up to 

 that time the agriculture of the province 

 consisted altogether in the raising and 

 marketing of hay, oats and potatoes, and 

 among the more progressive, of heavy 

 horses. Then the apple-tree agent made 

 his appearance, and aided by catalogues, 

 with highly colored illustrations of fruit, 

 sold a few trees to almost every farmer 

 on whom he called. Full instructions 

 were generally given for the planting of 

 the trees, and in most ca.ses followed, but 

 after that the trees were expected to take 

 care of themselves, particularly if a fence 

 were put around the plot to protect them 

 from the stock. As they were generally 

 planted in a potato patch, they did all 

 right for the first two years, but could 

 not make much growth in competition 

 with the grass crops and were injured, 

 if not completely destroyed, by insects. 

 The rapid growing varieties were fre- 

 quently early bearing and occasionally 

 fruited the second year out, which led to 

 their being better attended to and as a 

 consequence to their giving better satis- 

 faction. The agent is not altogether to 

 blame for recommending early varieties. 



There were exceptions, however, to this 

 general condition. In some cases a whole 

 acre, or perhaps two acres or even five 

 were set out, and given as good attention 

 as the owner knew how to give them, 

 and as they were nearly all early varie- 

 ties, more than fulfilled expectations, as 

 long as there was a ready market for the 

 fruit. These successes led to the general 

 giving of larger orders and at the pre- 

 sent time there are whole townships with 

 almost every farmer the proud possessor 

 of from half an acre to five acres of 

 young trees. Most of these were bought 

 on the recommendation of the tree-agent, 

 who generally sold trees that made good 

 growth and fruited early, and then sup- 

 plied whatever the nurserymen chose to 

 send. The more thoughtful attended the 

 mcelings of the Fruit (irowers' Associa- 

 tion and orchard meetings that were held 

 throughout the province, and which 

 were addressed frequently by experienced 

 fruit growers from Ontario and Nova 



Theodore Ross, Charlottetown 



Scotia. These men advised the planting 

 of the winter varieties, particularly those 

 that succeeded best in their own prov- 

 inces, such as the Baldwin, Spy, Ontario, 

 King, Wealthy, Ben Davis, Gravenstein, 

 etc. It did not take many years to find 

 out that some of these varieties were not 

 adapted to this province and, as experi- 

 ments of this kind are expensive for the 

 individual, the provincial department of 

 agriculture set out eight orchards in dif- 

 ferent localities for the purpo.se of ascer- 

 taining the best varieties of commercial 

 apples for our people to grow. This 

 question comes up annually at the Fruit 



For Maritime Readers 



At one time, maritime province 

 horticulturists felt that The Cana- 

 dian HoK iicui/n RiST was con- 

 lined in subject matter to Ontario 

 alone. During the past year or 

 so, this feeling has changed, as 

 now we know that it is published 

 in the interests of all the prov- 

 inces. The Canadian Horticil- 

 11 RisT should be in the hands of 

 all persons who grow fruit, flowers 

 and vegetables in New Brunswick, 

 Nova .Scotia or Prince Edward Is- 

 land. — W. W. Hubbard, Secretary 

 of Agriculture for New Brunswick. 



Growers' Association. At the last meet- 

 ing those present were ready to agree on 

 only the Duchess, Wealthy, Wolf River, 

 Ben Davis, -Star and Alexander. Every- 

 one, however, seemed ready to agree that 

 the Ontario, Baldwin, Spy, King, Fani- 

 euse and Gravenstein cannot be grown 

 with profit in this country. 



A large number of trees have lately 

 been planted, and more apples, particu- 

 larly of the early varieties, have been 

 grown than could be marketed in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the producers, so that 

 for the last two years, quite a lot of good 

 fruit has been left on the trees for want 

 of a market, and this notwithstanding 

 the fact that from 3,000 to 3,500 barrels 

 are imported every year. 



This led at the meeting of the Fruit 

 Growers' Association in igo8 to the ap- 

 pointment of a committee to devise some 

 means of disposing profitably of the rap- 

 idly increasing quantities of fruit. The 

 result is, that the Co-operative Fruit 



1G5 



Company, Limited, has been incor])oratcd 

 for the purpose of packing and marketing 

 fruit, with a capital stock of $io,oco di- 

 vided into 2,000 shares of $5.00 each. 

 Already about 150 shares have been sub- 

 scribed. Stock for 1 ,000 barrels has been 

 ordered and it is expected that packing 

 will be begun this autumn. The inten- 

 tion of the company is to try to get pos- 

 session of the home market, and to fur- 

 ther extend operations as the business 

 seems to warrant. 



This is, as it appears to me, the status 

 of fruit growing in Prince Edward Is- 

 land. It is as yet subsidiary to the grow- 

 ing of oats and potatoes. Those who 

 have given the most time to it' arc most 

 enthusiastic over the prospects and be- 

 lieve that Prince Edward Island will yet 

 rival in its fruit industry the far-famed 

 Annapolis Valley. 



Blackberry Culture 



John FergDson, Mnrchei', N, B. 



With the exception of a few late rasp- 

 berries, the berry crop will be out of the 

 way by the time that blackberries ripen. 

 These should be harvested with great 

 care when intended for market and, if 

 possible, when dry. 



As soon as the picking is finished, be- 

 gin at once the removal of old canes. 

 Cut these off close to the ground with a 

 corn knife, or better yet a short blade 

 fastened into a two-foot handle. Then, 

 the principal canes should be shortened 

 to four or five feet and the laterals to, 

 about twenty inches ; when pruned in this 

 way, the fruit will be larger, and it will 

 prevent the setting of more fruit than 

 the plant can mature, as is often the case 

 when left unpruned. 



When done pruning, gather up the 

 old canes with a fork and burn immedi- 

 ately. Then lift the new canes and 

 crowd them between two wires stretched 

 from post to post along the rows. All 

 suckers which come up between the rows 

 should be treated as weeds. 



Blackberry plants increase by means of 

 suckers ; that is, plants that start from 

 buds formed underground on the roots. 

 These sucker plants are best taken up 

 and planted in the fall, but they are not 

 so good as those grown from root cut- 

 tings, which anyone can make readily ; 

 from a few hills one may obtain hundreds 

 of plants by the next fall. 



