204 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1909 



NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES 



The Gulf Islands of B.C. 



W. J. L. Hamilton. 



Great crops of all kinds are raised on the 

 islands, that stretch from the shores of 

 Saanich peninsula up to Nanaimo, on th© 

 east coast of Vancouver. Wheat yields as 

 much as 50 bushels to the acre ; potatoes, up 

 to 16 tons ; cereals and all kinds of roots and 

 other crops, in like abundance ; and fruits 

 succeed to perfection. Heavy crops of ber- 

 ries of the best quality and bountiful crops 

 of apples, pears and other tree fruits are 

 produced where attempted. 



Salt Spring Island is the largest of the 

 group, being about 20 miles long by six 

 to eight wide. Salt Spring Island butter 

 from our Creamery, and Salt Spring mut- 

 ton from our hillsides, are held at a pre- 

 mium in our markets, but Salt Spring 

 Island fruit, which should be our staple pro- 

 duct, is of minor importance. Why is this? 



The answer at first seems strange. It is 

 due to the fact that Victoria's surroundings 

 of which this is a part, form the earliest 

 settlement in the province; hence, at first, 

 Hudson's Bay Go's employees — miners, 

 sailors, fishermen and all trades except fruit 

 growers — settled on the land, and because, 

 before fruit tree diseases were known, the 

 finest orchard produce could be raised. Anti- 

 quated methods are still followed in some in- 

 stances, Spraying is contemned. Scale, 

 scab and aphis are, in consequence, in evi- 

 dence, and naturally much second rate fruit 

 is produced. 



But this is not the fault of the locality. 

 At Granges Harbor, where many follow 

 modern methods, and at the South End, 

 where some do the same, fruit of all kinds, 

 second to none, is raised and marketed. 

 Unfortunately, many do not yet realize that 

 the troubles of years' accumulation cannot 

 be cured in a day, that one spraying will 

 not turn an old orchard into a new one, 

 and so, many a wail on the hardship of com- 

 pulsory spraying is heard. "Fruit grow- 

 ing doesn't pay as it is," say they. "So, 

 how can it pay if we have to go to the cost 

 of spraying several times a year?" Let 

 this be an object lesson to others. 



price. I then plowed up all my strawber- 

 ries except those on 56 square rods of 

 ground. 



"From this small patch I sold 87 crates 

 of berries, which netted me, clear 

 of express charges, $215.30. This amount 

 would have been considerably larger if the 

 plants had been younger and in their first 

 year of bearing instead of the fifth. The 

 picking was all done by myself and my 

 family. In addition to this we harvested 

 eleven loads of hay and looked after other 

 crops on the ranch. This seems to me to 

 prove conclusively that large profits can be 

 realized from Kootenay fruit lands when 

 farming is carried on in a business like 

 way." 



Kootenay Valley, B.C. 



E. W. Dynes 



The following letter from Mr. W. A. Bir- 

 man. Thrums, B.C., which appeared in the 

 Nelson Daily News, shows what can be done 

 with strawberries even on a very small 

 patch of ground : 



"I would like to say a few words on the 

 much talked of strawberry question. I 

 came to this country about 19 months ago 

 and bought a partly improved ranch on 

 which were two acres of strawberries. Part 

 of these had already borne their third crop. 

 Last year, I picked the fourth crop but was 

 one of the shippers through the old asso- 

 ciation and obtained very small returns 

 for the fruit. A part, however, I shipped 

 directly and obtained for them a fair 



Saskatchewan 



Anfot MacKay 



Small fruits were never so abundant and 

 fine as they have been this y3ar. No late 

 spring frost injured the blossoms, and rain 

 fell during the fruiting seaauu in sufficient 

 quantities to give the very best fruit of all 

 sorts. Strawberries and raspberries have 

 been especially good. In a few cases cur- 

 rants and gooseberries were more or less 

 injured by the currant maggot (Epochra 

 Canadensis), but on the whole the yield 

 and qaulity have been exceedingly fine. Wild 

 fiuits — strawberries, raspberries, gooseber- 

 ries and Saskatoon berries — have been, like 

 the cultivated varieties, extremely abund- 

 ant over the entire province. 



In larger fruits, crab apples and wild and 

 cross-bred plum trees are well loaded and 

 very promising. Large apples, cultivated 

 plums and cherries have not yet succeeded 

 in any district, although reports claim a 

 few apple trees in bearing in some favored 

 localities. 



In the vegetable and root line, no year 



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