198 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1909 



The Canadian Horticulturist i 



Publuhad by The HorticultwaJ 

 Publiahinff Company, Limited 



l^KXKHIiORO, ONTARIO 



The Only Horticultural Magazine 



in the Dominion 



Official Okgan of British Columbia, Ontario 



QaKBEC, New Brunswick and Prince Edward 



Island Fruit Growers' Associations 



H. Bronson Cowan, Managing Director 

 A. B. Cutting, B.S.A., Editor 



1. The Canadian HorticulturiBt Is published on 

 the 2Sth day of the month preceding date of 

 issue. 



2. Subscription price in Canada and Great Bri- 

 tain, 60 cents a year ; two years, Sl.OO. For United 

 States and local subscriptions in Peterbcro, (net 

 called for at the Post Offlce> 25 cents extra a 

 year, including postage. 



3. Remittances should be made by Poet OiBce 

 or Eipress Money Order, or Registered Letter. 

 Postage Stamps accepted for amounts less than 

 $1.00. 



4. Change of Address— When a change of ad- 

 dress is ordered, both the old and the new ad- 

 dresses must be given. 



5. Advertising Rates quoted on application. 

 Copy received up to the 18th. Address all ad- 

 vertising correspondence and copy to our Ad- 

 vertising Manager, Peterboro, Ont. 



6. Articles and Illustrations for publication 

 will be thankfully received by the editor. 



CIRCULATION STATEMENT. 



Since the subscription price of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist was reduced from $1.00 to 60 cents 

 a year, the circulation has grown rapidly. The 

 following is a sworn statement of tho net paid 

 circulation of The Canadian Horticulturist for 

 the year ending with Dec, 1908. The figures giv- 

 en are exclusive of samples and spoiled copies, 

 and of papers sent to advertisers. Some months, 

 including the sample copies, from 10.000 to 12,000 

 copies of The Canadian Horticulturist are mailed 

 to people known to be interested In the grow- 

 ing of fruit, flowers or vegetables. 



January, 1909 9,436 



February, 1909 9,310 



March, 1909 9,405 



April, 1909 9.482 



May, 1909 9,172 



June, 1909 8,891 



July, 1909 8,447 



Augu.st,1909 8.570 



January, 1908 7,650 



February, 1908 7.824 



March. 1908 8,036 



April, 1908 8,250 



May, 1908 8,573 



June, 1908 8.840 



July, 1908 9,015 



August, 1908 9,070 



September, 1908 9,121 



October, 1908 9,215 



November, 1908 9,323 



December. 1908 9,400 



Total for the year. .104,337 



Average each issue in 1907, 6,627 



Average each issue in 1908, 8,695 



{Increased circulation in one year 2.068) 



Sworn detailed statements will be mailed upon 

 application. 



Our ProtectiTe Policy 



We want the readers of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist to feel that they can deal with our 

 advertisers with our assurauc- oi the advertisers' 

 reliability. We try to admit to ou.' columns 

 only the most reliable advertisers. Should any 

 subscriber, therefore, have good cause to be 

 dissatisfied with the treatment he receives from 

 any of our advertisers, we will Icok into the 

 matter and investigate the circumstances fully. 

 Should we find reason, even in the slightest 

 degree, we will discontiue immediately the pub 

 lication of their advertisements in The Horti- 

 culturist. Should the circumstances warrant, 

 we will expose them through the columns of 

 the paper. Thus, we will not only protect our 

 readers, but our reputable advertisers as well. 

 All that ia necessary to entitle you to the bene 

 fits of this Protective Policy is that you include 

 in all your letters to advertisers the words, 

 "I saw your ad. in The Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist." Complaints should be made to us as soon 

 as possible alter reason for dissatisfaction has 

 been found. 



Communications should be addressed : 



THE CANADIAN HORTTCtTT/TURIST. 



PKTERBORO, ONTARIO. 



EDITORIAL 



QUEEN VICTORIA PARK 



Queen Victoria Park at Niagara Falls 

 is visited annually by thousands and 

 thousands of people and should present 

 an example of the very best taste in the 

 treatment of a great natural piece of scen- 

 ery. The treatment that it is receiving is 

 open to considerable objection as has been 

 pointed out in these columns many times. 

 A representative of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist visited the park recently to ob- 

 serve at first hand present conditions and 

 to take some photographs. Some of the lat- 

 ter are published on pages 194 and 19.5. 



The park contains about 175 acres lying 

 along the shore of the Niagara River and 

 extending from near the upper steel arch 

 bridge to a considerable distance above the 

 Falls. It may be roughly divided into two 

 parts, namely, a steep wooded portion and a 

 fairly leved plateau extending from the 

 bluff to the river's edge. The bluff is now 

 nearly all clothed with a natural growth, 

 but the treatment of the more level portion 

 is wholly artificial, excepting around the 

 Dufferin Islands which are rather rugged 

 and unkempt. 



In the older portion of the park much of 

 the planting has outlived its usefulness, at 

 least in its present location. It should be, 

 especially in the case of tho older and larger 

 shrubs which are already growing bare and 

 unsightly at the base, gathered into larger 

 clumps and faced down with finer stuff. 

 There are several fine vistas of the Falls 

 which are clogged with these over-grown 

 shrubs and with poor trees, and there are 

 many fine trees which will eventually lose 

 their lower limbs and much of their beauty 

 unless the interfering shrubbery and poor 

 trees are removed from their vicinity. 

 Shrubs when properly trimmed do not 

 become overgrown, but the thinning 

 should not be neglected. There are 

 even dead trees standing as a monument 

 to someone's lack of neatness. The judicious 

 use of an axe would help out here consider- 

 ably. 



It is in the upper portion of the park that 

 the greatest chance for improvement exists 

 since this part is hardly at all developed. 

 Here there is plenty of playground room 

 and here it is that provision should be made 

 for the playing of tennis, cricket and espec- 

 ially baseball, instead of allowing these 

 sports to occupy the fine lawns in the older 

 portion of the park. 



Here also lies one of the greatest oppor- 

 tunities for the exercise of the art of land- 

 scape gardening that exists on the Ameri- 

 can continent to-day and yet here we find 

 such examples of gardening as, for instance, 

 three golden syringas (Philadelphus corov- 

 nrius aurea) growing in a heart-shaped bed. 

 And such examples of taste (?) are dotted 

 indiscriminately here and there over the 

 lawns. It would be as interesting to know 

 how many people carry home ideas from 

 these wretched beds as it is dreadful to 

 contemplate the result of their trying to re- 

 produce them at home. 



Another practice which is open to objec- 

 tion is the use of gaudy annuals and dwarf 

 evergreens in the same beds. The evergreen 

 material used as bedding is in itself beautiful 

 and the idea is one of the happiest thoughts 

 in the whole nark, but annual .stuff should 

 not be used alongside of it because annuals 

 are nearly always exotics and entirely for- 

 eign to our native flora while evergreens 

 are not only native but characteristic. If 



something bright must be used along with 

 the evergreens then let it be perennial nat- 

 ive stuff which will not only look better and 

 last longer but will al.so piovide an excel- 

 lent example for visitors to the park. 



This park has been in existence for over 

 twenty years but it has none ot the finished 

 appearance which such an old i)ark should 

 have. The construction of the power plants 

 is responsible for some of this, but does 

 not furnish a sufficient excuse. It 

 looks rather as if the park were periodical- 

 ly overturned by changing superintend- 

 ents and as if their views of what such a 

 park should be were colored by their politic- 

 al faith. There evidently has been a vast 

 sum of money expended in providing "jobs," 

 but job holders are notoriously poor park 

 builders. 



The salvation of this or any other park 

 under public ownership lies in an adminis- 

 tration entirely removed from politics. At 

 the present time, when there are scores of 

 trained men available who not only have a 

 thorough botanical and horticultural edu- 

 cation but also have the principles of good 

 design inculcated inthem, as well as a know- 

 ledge of practical and economical landscape 

 construction and maintenance, there is no 

 longer any excuse for placing such a treas- 

 ure as Queen Victoria Park into the hands 

 of an engineer, a postmaster or a politician. 

 Until this idea dawns upon those in author- 

 ity a good share of the annual appropriation 

 might as well be thrown over the Falls with 

 an equal expectation of attaining the end 

 for which it was appropriated and for which 

 the people have a right to look 



MORE EDUCATION NEEDED 



We are informed by the railway station 

 agent at the town of Simcoe, Ontario, that 

 20,000 apple trees passed through his hands 

 for the farmers of the county of Norfolk in 

 the spring of 1909. This is but one evidence 

 of the many rapid strides that are being 

 made in the development of the fruit in- 

 dustry in Ontario. Along the north shore 

 of Lake Ontario, in the Georgian Bay dis- 

 trict, in the Lake Huron section, along 

 Lake Erie, and in the middle counties, as 

 well as in the Niagara peninsula, more 

 spraying is being done every year, more 

 orchards are being cultivated, more trees 

 are being pruned, and more inquiries are 

 being made by growers in these districts 

 for help in the destruction of insects and 

 fungous diseases in the orchard. The rapid 

 development of the industry and the great 

 desire for knowledge that is being express- 

 ed, shows the need for more education. 



The practice and the theory of horticul- 

 ture in all its branches is demonstrated and 

 taught at the Ontario Agricultural College, 

 Guelph. This is a provincial institution, 

 and the government, by generous appropri- 

 ations, makes it possible for a farmer's boy 

 to receive a splendid education at little ex- 

 pense. The professor of horticulture at the 

 present time is making a business trip 

 through California, Oregon, Washington, 

 British Columbia, and our own Northwest 

 Territories, looking for information along 

 fruit lines that will be useful to the stud- 

 ents in horticulture at the college. 



The college is receiving more and more 

 inquiries each year in regard to spraying, 

 tho life history of insects and the remedies 

 for their destruction, and the best methods 

 to destroy fungous diseases, and more and 

 more each year fruit growers are sending 

 their sons to the college to spend at least 

 two winters, studying those subjects that 

 will be useful to the boy on the fruit farm. 

 The wonder is that the college is not crowd- 

 ed with students who are interested in 

 (Hchard management. The orchard has be- 

 come, more and more, an important ad- 



