18 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, 1908 



NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES | 



By Regular Correspondents and Others y 



Nova Scotia 



G. H. Vroom, Dominion Fruit Inspector 



After a long, hard struggle, the apple crop in 

 Nova Scotia has been gathered and safely stored 

 in the fruit liouses along the line of the Dominion 

 Atlantic and Halifax and South-Western Rail- 

 ways. The weather conditions have been un- 

 favorable and help very scarce. On Oct. 21, 

 the whole country was white with snow and 

 thousands of barrels of apples on the trees. In 

 some instances the snow, in addition to the 

 weight of the fruit, broke the trees down. In a 

 few localities slight damage was done by frost 

 on the same night, but nothing serious. 



Prices for Gravensteins have been disappoint- 

 ing, owing to the fruit being very green and, in 

 some instances, spotted.- Other varieties are 

 clean, or nearly so, and prices are good. No. 1 

 King, Ribston and Blenheim net from $2.75 to 

 $3.50 a barrel; No. 2, about $1 less; No. 3 

 have not paid for shipping. Most of this grade, 

 however, have found their way to the evaporat- 

 ors, the proper place for them. 



Up to date, Jan. 1, about 250,000 barrels 

 have been exported. This does not include what 

 has been purchased by Americans and shipped to 

 Boston and New York. Several thousand bar- 

 rels have been shipped to South Africa, and have 

 arrived at Cape Town in good condition. The 

 crop in Nova Scotia this season will run up to 

 nearly 600,000 barrels. 



Prince Ed-ward Island 



Rev. Father Burke, Alberton 



The fruit situation this year is dispiriting. 

 There was a short crop of apples again, when we 

 expected a large one — one of the shortest in our 

 history; still, across the straits, in Annapolis 

 Valley, the Bluenoses harvested a bumper crop. 

 They are the envy of all Qanada this year. 



But we must not lose enthusiasm, even if there 

 be not much to rejoice over; our day will come. 

 The officials are appreciative of our position and 

 are endeavoring to console us somewhat. A little 

 success usually produces more exhilaration than 

 any amount of good advice, although both are 

 useful in their place. We are advised to go right 

 ahead and plant out extensively. If the present 

 orchards were in plentiful bearing, the natural 

 impetus of profit would accomplish this. 



We have received the enclosed letter from the 

 Chief, urging larger plantings and appreciative 

 of Nova Scotia's profits: 



"Dear Father Burke, — You will no doubt 

 be preparing your program for your annual 

 meeting. I feel certain that some inducement 

 for larger plantings could be offered if you could 

 arrange to organize the buying of the stock. If 

 you were to formulate some plan, such as ap- 

 pointing a committee to look after this matter, 

 at your annual meeting,, and were to notify the 

 general public through the papers that this 

 matter would come up, I have no doubt you 

 would prepare the public mind in such a way 

 that when the actual work was begun, planters 

 would be prepared at once to cooperate with 

 you. How does the matter present itself to you? 

 Is there anything practical in it? 



"Many of the fruit growers of Nova Scotia are 

 this year netting from .$100 to $300 per acre off 

 their orchards. This will pay them if they do 

 not have another crop for five years; but the 

 chances are that they will make from $50 to 

 $150 regularly every year. 



"In October I took a trip through the An- 

 napolis Valley, and did not visit a single 



well-kept orchard where the profits were not 

 extraordinarily large. Prince Edward Island 

 people can do just as well and there is no reason 

 why they should not share in this industry. — 

 A. McNeill, Chief, Fruit Division, Ottawa." 



It will now be in order to jjrepare for winter 

 meetings, wherein all our difficulties and ex- 

 •periences may be fully discussed and new year's 

 work cut out with care and hopefulness. ^) ; . 



Quebec 



Auguste Dupuis, Village des Aulnaies 



We had a cool and very rainy spring, 

 summer and fall. The trees in the orchard and 

 the nursery made a strong growth. Fruits 

 matured late and none except the apples had 

 the sweetness and flavor of other years. 



The apple crop in general was below the aver- 

 age. F'ameuse, Colvert and Duchess had a very 

 poor crop. Alexander, Red Astrachan, St. 

 Lawrence, Wealthy, Golden and Roxburj' Rus- 

 sets, Tolman Sweet and Yellow Transparent 

 produced a fair crop in L'Islet county. The 

 prices realized were $3 for No. 1, and $1.50 a 

 barrel for seconds and thirds. 



The plum crop was extra good in L'Islet and 

 Montmagny counties. Over 8,000 barrels and 

 a great number of boxes of plums were shipped 

 from five railroad stations. Unfortunately buy- 

 ers came down from Montreal too early; the 

 plums were too green ; they paid $2 a bushel for 

 the first carload. Growers in every part of the 

 county thought that the fruit suited the Mon- 

 treal market and made their harvest, but the 

 price went down to $3.50 a barrel. These un- 

 matured plums did not please the retailers nor 

 the consumers. Those who sold later realized 

 $9 a barrel in Montreal. All my crop was put 

 up in four and eight gallon boxes, which sold 

 easily at 35 cents a gallon for the finest and 30 

 cents for common. The varieties considered the 

 most profitable are Early Red, Moore's Arctic, 

 Lombard, Jones' Seedling, Hudson River Pur- 

 ple Gueii, Quackenboss, Coe's Golden Drop, 

 Reine Claude de Montmorency, Yellow Meldow- 

 ka. Blue Damson, Grand Duke. These sold 

 better in eight-gallon boxes. Bradshaw, Greeg 

 Gages, Reine Claude d'OuUins, and Washington 

 were packed in baskets, or in four-gallon flat 

 boxes, as they cannot be shipped safely in large 

 packages. 



To show what small plum orchards can pro- 

 duce, I will cite that of a neighbor, Mrs. L. M. 

 D^ch^ne, who gathered and sold to the Quebec 

 Fruit Exchange, 1,300 gallons at 25 cents, or 

 $325. We measured the ground of the orchard; 

 it is only 290 x 90 feet. In the vicinity a Reine 

 Claude de Montmorency tree produced four 

 bushels and a half, measured in presence of 

 witnesses. The tree was not over 12 feet high. 

 Mr. George Boulet, of Cap St. Ignace, gathered 

 80 barrels (2,000 gallons) in a small orchard of 

 250 trees, planted 12 x 12 feet in 1896, and 1,800 

 gallons of Downing gooseberries, planted be- 

 tween the plum trees, which are mostly Brad- 

 shaw, Moore's Arctic, Lombard, Gueii, Imperial 

 Gage, Quackenboss, Coe's Golden, and Reine 

 Claude de Montmorency. No crop here gives 

 such good returns with so little work and ex- 

 pense as a plum orchard on good, sandy .soil, 

 protected by windbreaks, with currant, goose- 

 berry or raspberry bushes between the rows to 

 keep the snow and dead leaves on the ground 

 for the protection of the roots in winter. 



Such crops as this year's create enthusiasm 

 and induce land owners to plant new orchards. 



Montreal 



E. H. Wartman, Dominion Fruit Inspector 



Canadian varieties are turning out very satis- 

 factory in the Old Country, both as regards 

 quality and condition, particularly our little 

 Snow apples, which have brought $5 to $5.50 a 

 bbl. This season has been a remarkable one for 

 shipping apples. Iced cars have landed apples 

 in fine shipping condition. Even to-day, Nov. 

 19, apples are arriving free from frost. 



Once within the last 30 years I have had ap- 

 ples in a storehouse frozen so hard as to rattle in 

 the barrels on Nov. 5. One thing that may 

 have induced shippers of apples to load cars 

 improperly was scarcity of cars. I inspected 

 three cars containing, respectively, 300, 304 and 

 309 barrels. This means 25 tons per car, and 

 necessitates piling five deep, or four barrels on 

 bottom barrels — 675 pounds. This weight 

 causes great damage to bottom row, even 

 squeezes them so flat that heads have been 

 pressed out and new barrels had to be secured 

 to replace the damaged ones. Again, in un- 

 loading a five-layer car of apples by incompe- 

 tent men, there is breakage and more loss to be 

 added. The man who loads a car three tiers 

 will succeed in getting his fruit to market in 

 much better condition than the other case. 

 Apples of Xo. 1 quality are retailing here from 

 S4 to $5 a barrel. 



BritisK Columbia 



C. p. Metcalfe, Hammond 



Trees went into winter quarters in fairly 

 good condition. The exceptionally dry season 

 caused the leaves to drop earlier than usual. 



Fungous diseases and insect pests were not 

 very troublesome last season; the fruit, in 

 consequence, was above the average in qual- 

 ity. The returns also have been very good. 

 The demand for plums and prunes in the mar- 

 kets of the Northwest and Manitoba having far 

 exceeded the supply, higher prices have been 

 secured for .\o. 1 apples than has been the case 

 for many years, and prices are still going up. 



The provincial government undertook to 

 make an exhibition of British Columbia fruits at 

 different points throughout Great Britain and 

 Ireland, for the purpose of demonstrating the 

 possibilities of fruit growing in British Columbia. 

 The parties in charge also did a little im- 

 migration work by giving lectures, illustrated 

 by stereopticon views, and distributing of 

 literature bearing on fruit growing. The British 

 Columbia exhibit has for two consecutive years 

 carried off the gold medal at the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society's Exhibition in London, be- 

 sides many other medals won by the different 

 exhibitors. 



Alberta 



E. B. Edwards, K.C., Edmonton, Alta. 



Raspberries, strawberries, currants and goose- 

 berries grow freely in this district, but as yet 

 few people cultivate them. Apples are being 

 tried, and some have been grown. In Novem- 

 ber I bought some Lindley grapes that came from 

 Ontario, and paid 55 cents a basket for them. 



There are not any handsome ornamental 

 vines here. People content themselves with 

 using the homely hop vine around their houses. 

 I am trying the Dutchman's pipe. I intend, 

 also, to try the \'irginia creeper, which grows 

 well in Winnipeg. 



Flowers grow luxuriantly. Such roses, car- 

 nations and chrysanthemums as Ramsay grows 

 in his greenhouses would be hard to equal any- 

 where. He has a floor space of 150 x 200 feet. 

 The long period of sunlight is very favorable 

 to growers. 



In ornamental and street trees, elm, ash, 

 mountain ash and spruce grow well. We have 

 a Civic Improvement Society in Edmonton. 

 It was founded to encourage the growth and 

 care of trees, gardens, lawns and to improve 

 the appearance of the city in any way possible. 



