December, 1909 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



271 



time a letter was received from Ottawa 

 which said : "People in this locality complain 

 that your paper is prepared for Nova Scotia, 

 Prince Edward Island and British Columbia 

 and that Ontario is a back number." 



We aim, through The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist to help every fruit and vegetable 

 grower and flower lover too, in every prov- 

 ince across our broad country. If some issues 

 appear to favor one province more than 

 another, circumstances usually will acquit 

 us of any attempt at partiality ; as, for in- 

 stance, this issue which chronicles the most 

 important events in horticulture that oc- 

 curred during the past month and they 

 happen all to have been centred in Ontario. 

 Our January issue will, in addition to mat- 

 ters of general interest, record the proceed- 

 ings of fruit conventions in Quebec and 

 maritime provinces; the February number 

 will give special attention to British Colum- 

 bia on account of its fruit conventions ; and 

 so it goes. 



The Canadian Horticulturist alone gives 

 the horticultural public of Canada particu- 

 lars of Canadian doings, Canadian prac- 

 tices, Canadian news, Canadian markets and 

 so forth along with the most interesting hap- 

 penings everywhere. Its subscribers get 

 value many times the investment. While 

 occasional letters like those quoted are re- 

 ceived, most of our readers know that The 

 Canadian Horticulturist is the only publi- 

 cation of its kind in Canada that can and 

 does furnish reliable and up-to-date news 

 and information for all the provinces. 



The Ontario Horticultural Exhibition 



Frequently we are asked why we do not 

 publish more horticultural society news and 

 reports of local meetings. Briefly the an- 

 swer is that we have not the space. We 

 receive many reports from local horticul- 

 tural societies and copies of local papers 

 containing similar information. These are 

 much appreciated as they keep us informed 

 on the doings of the societies but in a month- 

 ly publication whose scope is national there 

 is not room for the publication of all of 

 them and, as we do not wish to discriminate, 

 we must confine publication only to those 

 features of the work that are new and of 

 general interest. If space were available 

 we would gladlv publish lists of officers and 

 other items of local interest but a little 

 thought on the part of our friends will show 

 that such is impossible. For instance, were 

 we to publish the reports of all annual meet- 

 ings held last month one entire issue of The 

 Canadian Hortioulturist would be required 

 t.o hold them. Furthermore, these reports 

 for the most part, are of only local interest 

 and they are published in the local papers. 

 For these reasons The Canadian Horticui,- 

 TURiST finds it necessary to feature news of 

 greater general interest to all its readers 

 If any of the local organizations foel that 

 they have been slighted through the non- 

 publication of their reports we hope that 

 they will consider our position and accept 

 this explanation. 



During the week of the conventions and 

 exhibition in Toronto, Mr. D. Johnson, 

 president of the Co-operative Fruit Grow- 

 ers of Ontario and manager of the Forest 

 Fruit Growers' and Forwarding Associa- 

 tion, in company with others interested in 

 the development of the fruit industry of 

 Lambton county, asked the Hon. J. S. Duff, 

 Minister of Agriculture to send a demon- 

 strator to that district to give instruction 

 in_ the growing of peaches. Mr. Johnson 

 said that there is a good future for peach 

 culture in that locality. Curl leaf that did 

 so much damage in the past can now be 

 controlled. 



THE Ontario Horticultural Exhibition 

 has shown steady growth each year 

 since its inception. The show held last 

 month in Toronto was no exception. 

 There were 2336 entries in the fruit sec- 

 tions alone. These comprised apples in 

 boxes, 321 ; apples in barrels, 137 ; apples 

 in pyramids, 97; apples in plates, 1288; 

 pears in plates, 146; pears in boxes, 57; 

 grapes in plates, 46; grapes in boxes, 15; 

 grapes in packages, 9; peaches, total num- 

 ber of exhibits, 45 ; fruit in jars, 175. There 

 was a noticeable increase in boxes, barrels 

 and pyramids. 



In box packing of fruits there was a 

 marked advancement shown over last year 

 and all previous years. The character and 

 finish of the boxes indicated that this fact- 

 or is rapidly nearing perfection in this pro- 

 vince. Faulty packing was in the minority. 

 A few boxes were slack, some contained fruit 

 not properly graded, a few contained too 

 much tissue-paper, but on the wliole they 

 showed the greatest advancement in pack- 

 ing methods that has yet been seen at an 



went to the East Simcoe Agricultural So- 

 ciety. 



The St. Lawrence Experiment Station 

 at Maitland, of which Mr. Harold Jones is 

 director, made an excellent display of the 

 varieties grown there. A striking feature 

 of this display were the large, perfect, high- 

 ly-colored specimens of Fameuse which Mr. 

 Jones is developing through propagating 

 from a bearing tree in his orchard that pro- 

 duces a superior strain of that variety. 

 Lake Huron Experiment Station, at Walk- 

 erton, through its director, Mr. A. E. Sher. 

 rington, put up a large and attractive 

 exhibit of fruits in the fresh state and in 

 bottles. 



The county exhibits were very attractive. 

 Leeds and Grenville had an exceptionially 

 fine display of large, clean, highly colored 

 fruit. It was staged by Mr. Harold Jones, 

 who also won a number of prizes. Halton 

 and Huron counties had some high-class 

 fruit on display. Among the prize winners 

 were noticed the names of A. W. Peart, C. 

 A. Bennett, A. Riach, in Halton and J. W. 



Some n( the Bett Applet at the Ootario Horticnltaral Exhibition were teen in this Display 



Display of St. Lawrence Experimental Fruit Station in foreground and of Leeds-Grenville 

 connties in background on same table. Both these exhibits were collected and arranged by 

 Mr. Harold Jones, Maitland. ' 



exhibition in Ontario. It was noticed that 

 those boxes that contained what is known 

 as a "solid pack" contained also the most 

 bruised fruit. In some cases apples had 

 their sides torn off by the edges of the 

 box when they would have been uninjured 

 had a diagonal or some other kind of pack 

 been used. The barrel exhibits were fine. 

 Prominent among the winners in boxes and 

 barrels were the Norfolk^ Chatham, Oshawa, 

 Newcastle, Burlington and St. Catharines 

 associations. Many individuals had ex- 

 hibits equally as good but space will not 

 permit mention of their names. 



The first prize for best display of fruits 

 in commercial packages was won by the 

 St. Catharines Cold Storage & Forwarding 

 Company for a well packed lot of well ' 

 grown apples, pears, peaches and grapes. 

 Second prize in this section went to the 

 Grantham Fruit Growers' Association and 

 third to the Norfolk Fruit Growers' As- 

 sociation. The St. Catharines Cold Stor- 

 age Company also won first for best dis- 

 play of fruits not in commercial packages ; 

 2nd, Norfolk; 3rd, Grantham. The first 

 award for display of apples not in commer- 

 cial packages and exhibited by a society 

 or an association in semi-northern counties 



Edgar, K. Cameron, Geo. Fothergill & Son 

 and others in Huron. There was some equal- 

 ly good stuff shown in the exhibits from 

 Brant and York counties. 



The Norfolk Fruit Growers' Association 

 had a large number of entries in the com- 

 petitive classes and also put up the most 

 striking exhibit of the exhibition. This 

 grand display of Norfolk fruit attracted 

 much attention and will prove an excellent 

 advertisement for that district. Northum- 

 berland and Durham also had a fine display 

 of about 40 or 50 varieties of apples. Ex- 

 hibits of this nature, with the names of the 

 districts standing out prominently amply 

 repay the trouble and expense connected 

 wth them. 



The large increase in number of pyramids 

 was most commendable. This aided in mak- 

 ing the whole exhibition more attractive. 

 The quality of fruit in most of the pyramids 

 this year was high class. Something should 

 be said in the prize list, however, to dis- 

 tinguish between quality of fruit and at- 

 tractiveness for guidance in judging. Some 

 pyramids contained fruit of the best quality 

 but were not constructed properly, while 

 others that were very attractive contained 

 fruit of poor quality. Cases of this kind 

 were difficult to judge. A word in particu- 

 lar should bo said respecting the superior 



