August, igcg 



THE CANADIAN H OETI C U L TURIST 



167 



land, have them packed in bulk, brought 

 out here to Canada, freight paid, and a 

 duty of one and one-half cents a pound 



irhich is levied not only on the pulp but 

 bn the whole weight of the package, and 

 fetill get them laid down here at Winona 

 cheaper by at least one-half cent a pound 

 than I can buy raspberries in Canada to- 

 lay, or have been able to buy them for 



be last three years. If the British grow- 

 can make any money at the price that 

 Be gets for his raspberries, surely the 



iJanadian grower, with all these advan- 

 tages of freights and duties in his favor, 



lust be making money, if he is following 

 jroper methods of growing the fruit. 



GEOWERS NEGLECT SOIL FERTILIZATION 



One thing that the growers in the 

 Niagara district lack more than another, 

 is proper fertilizing of the soil. Taken 

 as a whole, the cultivation of the fruit 

 farms in the Niagara district is excellent 

 but, generally speaking, the fertilization 

 is wretched. Thousands of acres are be- 

 ing planted out in fruits annually and 

 ' these fruit orchards are drawing heavily 

 from the soil, whether small or large 

 fruits, and little is returned to the soil 

 to compensate for the drainage. Of 

 course, there are scores and scores of ex- 

 ceptions. I am speaking of the general 

 average. If the high standard of quality 

 of fruits for which this peninsula is fam- 

 ous is to be preserved or improved, much 

 heavier expenditure must be incurred by 

 the growers for fertilizing material. 



LARGE FIRM BERRIES WANTED 



As to varieties of strawberries and 

 raspberries for the factories, we want 

 firm sorts of strawberries such as the 

 Williams and the larger the berries the 

 better. One of our chief difficulties in 

 connection with strawberries is the get- 

 ting of help. I have never had enough 

 strawberries put up yet ; not that I could 

 not get the berries, but that I could not 

 get the help. In view of this it is a great 

 hardship when the Ontario government 

 makes severe restrictions as to the age 

 of children who can work at hulling 

 strawberries ; whereas a child of any age 

 can pick strawberries in the field with the 

 boiling sun on its back, but they are not 

 allowed to sit in a cool shed and pull the 

 stems off the same strawberries ; and the 

 Dominion government throws impedi- 

 ments in our way to prevent us from get- 

 ting help across the river, which is the 

 only available source of supply. Now, a 

 person can pull the hulls off three crates 

 of large berries while pulling them off 

 one crate of small berries. Therefore, it 

 is extremely important to the jam factor- 

 ies or canning factories to have large ber- 

 ries and, to have large berries, the meth- 

 od adopted by Mr. Johnson of Simcoe, 

 along with plenty of manure, is assured. 

 In raspberries, the chief thing is to have 

 a bright berry. The Cuthbert is the best 

 raspberry that I know. 



Apple Production in New Brunswick 



H. B. Stccves, Shcdiac 



IT has been said that the province of 

 New Brunswick is behind her sister 

 provinces of Ontario and Nova 

 Scotia in agricultural productions and 

 methods. If it is true in any one crop 

 more than another, it is in the production 

 of apples ; and yet the difference should 

 not be as great as it is. "Tickle the soil, 

 and it will laugh," is not applicable to 

 New Brunswick where fruit is concerned 

 except under certain conditions. The two 

 main conditions that have heretofore been 

 overlooked are proper varieties and 

 proper cultivation. 



Time was when the farmer made his 

 selections of varieties with no further in- 

 formation than that given by the nursery 

 agent and by the beautiful illustrations 

 shown. In the spring, the trees were 

 planted and cared for with about the same 

 thought and information. We know the 

 results. Others, with more prudence, 

 planted varieties that were popular and 

 productive in the Annapolis Valley and 

 southern Ontario. The results were not 

 satisfactory. Hence, the idea prevailed 

 among farmers that New Brunswick was 

 not adapted to the production of apples. 



EXPERT 0PINI0N8_ 



The impressions are changing, indeed, 

 have changed. Education and experi- 

 ment have shown that large areas of the 

 province are well adapted to the profitable 

 growing of certain varieties. Such com- 

 petent judges as Mr. R. W. Starr and 

 Prof. F. C. Sears, reporting upon the ex- 

 hibit of apples at the Maritime Winter 

 Fair of 1906, had this to say of New 



Brunswick apples: "York county had a 

 very fine collection in the one which took 

 first prize. . . The Mcintosh, Ontario 

 and Fameuse were particularly fine, and 

 the Emperor Alexander, Fallawater, Bish- 

 op Pippin and Spy were good." King's, 

 Charlotte, Carleton and Albert counties 

 showed certain varieties "good." Queen's 

 and Westmoreland counties sent no ex- 

 hibit but could probably grow just as 

 good apples as any of the counties repre- 

 sented. 



Mr. George H. Vroom, Dominion 

 Fruit Inspector, speaking before the New 

 Brunswick Fruit Growers' Association, 

 recently, said: "There are here some 

 of the finest apples I have ever seen. 

 Take, for instance, the Alexanders, Wolf 

 Rivers and Dudley Winters. No better 

 can be grown anywhere in Canada." 

 .'Vgain, "No place I know of can grow 

 Bishop Pippins equal to New Bruns- 

 wick." Some of our Nova Scotia friends 

 may scoff at the Alexander. They have 

 not taken into consideration the fact that 

 the New Brunswick Alexander is of a 

 better flavor and is certainly a better 

 keeper than that grown in the Annapolis 

 Valley. 



The growing^ of apples in New Bruns- 

 wick is beyond the experimental stage, 

 but our farmers are slow to grasp the fact 

 that apples could easily be made one of 

 their most profitable crops. The St. John 

 River valley, with the possible exception 

 of its two northern counties, gives great 

 promise in the production of fruit. King's, 

 Albert, Westmoreland, and Kent counties 



Not Only Applet Grow Succetifully in New Brantwick- Petri Do Eqnalljr Well in Some Diilricts 

 Tliu Pear Tree Illustrated was I'liototiraplicd on Kami of Mr. \Vm. Caincroii, near FrediTicton 



