March, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



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Montreal 



E. H. Wartman, Dominion Fruit Inspector 

 For some time I have been visiting packing 

 houses in and around Colborne. In all, about 

 100 packers are employed, which means that 

 a lot of apples are re-packed daily for export. 

 The quantity on hand for re-packing on 

 I-eb. 19, numbered about 35,000 bbls. One 

 thmg that puzzles me, and that is why No. 3 

 apples are shipped. I have just figured up 

 the net returns on 1,210 bbls., various kinds 

 and can only credit the shippers with getting 

 back nine cents a barrel for the apples. If 

 one Liverpool firm sells this amount in 12 

 days, can we imagine the aggregate of 15 firms 

 domg the same business and what the loss is 

 to our country? The nine cents per barrel 

 would not pay for re-packing them. 



I find that apples are keeping remarkably 

 well, bven when an occasional barrel of 

 Snows are opened up, they are found to b^ in 

 good condition. The varieties most in evidence 

 are Ben Davis, Golden Russet and Spy. It is 

 not likely that packing operations will end 

 before April 1st in this locality. 



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Ne-w Brunswick 

 G. Bidlake, Fredericton 



The annual meeting of the New Brunswick 

 hruit Growers' Association was held at Frederic- 

 on on January 24. In connection with the 

 meetmg was an exhibition of fruit grown by 

 the members. Some fine specimens were 

 shown, which were favorably commented on 

 ^^r""' "■ Vroom, who acted as judge 



The presid.-nt, Mr. J. C. Gilman, of Kings- 

 clear, m his opening address, referred to the 

 fruit crop of the past year, and said that in 

 spite of adverse weather conditions that had 

 to be encountered, the crop gave ample evidence 

 of being reliable and profitable in many sec- 

 tions of the province. The outlook has never 

 been more encouraging for increasing their 

 acreage of fruit than it is at the present time 



Mr W. Mcintosh, the curator of the Nat- 

 ural History Museum at St. John, gave an 

 interesting address on "Insect Pests in Or- 

 chard and Farm." which was illustrated with 

 large colored drawings of the various insects 

 described. The bud moth, the codling moth 

 the aphis or green fly, the oyster-shell bark- 

 louse, the borers and the tent moth were fully 

 dealt with and the several remedies for com- 

 batting them described. The brown-tail moth 

 and the gypsy moth also came in for some at- 

 tention on the part of the lecturer, who ex- 

 pressed his gratification that these two latter 

 had not as yet arrived in New Brunswick, 

 with the exception of one or two stray speci- 



?„!,ff ""^u^ i^"" l"^'^" f°""'' =>"d summarily 

 deal with. He advi.sed his hearers to be on 

 the lookout for any nests; those of the brown- 

 teil moth were easily seen, being always at the 

 end of a branch. The ne,sts of the gypsy moth 

 were not quite so conspicuous, as the female 

 not being able to fly, had to deposit her eggs in 

 the most convenient place she could find 



Mr. S. B. Hatheway, Kingsclear, gave a 

 short account of his experience as an amateur 

 orchardist. Beginning some few years ago 

 he laid out an orchard of six acres, plantine 

 trees of the Mcintosh Red, Gano and Dud ef 

 ™ ■■ 7f '^"^^ "^ save an interesting ac 

 wort "f/^^jyf'^'" ""d^^r which he went to 

 work, but .saul he found the continuous culti- 

 Cl, "u"'' the young trees required rather 

 S^. !« "■''^' ."'^'-^^f"'-''. on the lookout for 

 some less expensive method of keeping down 



examnfe ,'> m'' '"^ '^.""'^''^ ^"^ would follow the 

 roundthl / '"■^?|^F"t ^""^ '»y » 'hick mulch 

 trouble .ni'^*"" ^'"' '"•^"^"^ ^'^^ '""^h less 

 trouble and expense. He made a practice of 

 |go.ng round the orchard frequently with his 

 dippers and taking off the .ihoots^ here and 

 there, which made the training of the young 



trees a much simpler matter. He would like 

 to see more farmers taking an interest in orchard 

 work, as It was certainly sufficiently profitable 

 t''"P^'''^''^'f"'^^'^t°' t° ™^ke it worth while! 

 Mr. G. H. \room. Dominion Fruit Inspector 

 gave a practical demonstration on box packing' 

 In an address on "Orchard Practice," he said 

 that It was no use for a man to start orcharding 

 unless he bought good trees, locally grown if 

 hey could be got, and of a variety suited to 

 the district Plant them 30 feet apart and 

 head them low, as low-headed trees were more 

 convenient for pruning, gathering and spray- 

 ing. Pruning should be done in May or lune 

 and at least half the growth should be cut off 

 every year. Frequent cultivation was neces- 

 sary, and It must be thorough, though it was 

 not necessary to go very close to the roots, as 

 they would find the requisite nourishment for 

 themselves. Grass should not be allowed to 

 grow too near the trees, as it harbored mice 

 n!!i? J^'','; Spraying must be done thor- 

 ough y. Mr. Vroom advised those who con- 

 templated going into apple growing, to give 

 heir wholg attention to it, or keep out. He 

 thought the box business was the most remun- 

 erative; a good variety of apple nicely packed 

 and the quality always to be depended on 

 woud soon get a man a reputation, which 

 would find him all the customers that he could 

 supply. 



Mr. Isaac Stephenson, of Sheffield, was elect- 

 ed president , Mr. W. B. Gilman, 'vice-pres; 

 Mr. Henry Wilmot, treas.; and Mr. S. B Hathe- 

 rnl^H^'f^' ^T the ensuing year. It was re- 



Tnp,.T fu''^' The C.AN..DIAN HORTICUL- 



the''Dom?nion'' --ciation's official organ for 



British Columbia 



rhe annual meeting of the British Columbia 

 i^ruit Growers' Association was held at Vic- 

 toria in January. The election of officers re- 

 su ted as follows: Pres., Jas. Johnston, Nelson; 

 1st vice-pres., S. Bartholomew, Sumraerland- 

 2nd vice-pres., A. E. Gale, Keating; 3rd vice- 

 pres., S^ McClenaghan, Golden; 4th vice-pres. 

 Ihos. Wilson, Vancouver; sec.-treas. W T 

 Brandnth, Ladner. Thos. Cunningham, ' W.' 

 J. Brandnth and Thos. Wilson were made hon- 

 orary life members with all the privileges of 

 membership. A resolution endorsing the ac- 

 tion of the chief fruit pest inspector in connec- 

 tion with orchard cleansing, was unanimously 

 passed. A resolution was passed asking the 

 Government to make an exhibit of butter and 

 fresh fruit at Calgary. 



The reports of the president and secretary 

 were filled with interesting information. They 

 relerred encouragingly to the progress of fruit 

 growing in the province and the possibilities. 

 1 he treasurer s report showed the association 

 to be in a good financial position. It was de- 

 cided to hold the next annual meeting also in 

 Victoria. Agas,siz was decided upon for the 

 holding of the next quarterly meeting, Cran- 

 brook for the second, and New Westminster 

 for the third. 



Nova Scotia 



R. J. Messenger, Bridgetown 



annlv'^f "■?!!' " '" '^''"hably the best term to 

 apply to the season's operations in export 

 fruit so far. The trouble seems to have be- 

 gun by one or more Americans who, hearing 

 that we had an exceptionally good crop of clean 

 r^ on Zr T' Tu'y '" "<^t°her and paid 

 reunJZ ^'^^n ^^'^' ""'^ 'he Government 

 reports of a small crop, .set our speculators wild. 

 They lost all control of themselves, and acted 

 i'= «9 n' °\ ^'^hoolboys after a coon. As high 

 as $2..,0 a barrel was paid for apples as they 

 came from the trees, and $3.00 to |;3.25 for 

 n^n , ''''i^^^' '^"'"^thing that no cool business 

 man should do in this 20th century of great 



out of the English markets, and it will prob- 

 ably not get back into place again this year. 



Numberless reasons for this unforeseen state 

 of affairs have been given; such as an over- 

 run of poor ap,,les, larger shipments than ever 

 before ,n spite of the early report.s, fraudulent 

 combines of dealers, and so forth. The fact 

 remains however, that apples, for which $3 00 

 was paid, are netting T.-k to SI. 00 a barrel ' 



the speculators are now acting character- 

 istically in that since fate has allowed the 

 farmer for once to get a seeming advantage 

 of them, they are trying to combine to compel 



,rL n'^'' i" '^^""^ ^""^^ "f the purchase 

 price One heavy speculator has gone crazy 

 for the second time in the past decade, and 

 some are un.sympathctic enough to say that it 

 IS his way of paying his debts. A meeting of 



these worthies was held at Middleton last week 

 for purposes of self protection, " so it was given 



out, but more probably it was to get the foot 



more firmly planted on the neck of the "poor 



stupid, unenterprising farmer " 



w,!.!l!f ?Pec"lator .said to me: "No more apples 



nVTr «-^ nn "V^*"' .'7, *•''" ^■''"^y ^"'- anything 

 near «3.00 a barrel." He also said that $1.00 

 a barrel w-as enough for apples, and "we" 

 would see that the price was kept down to that 

 SCO?;?"" li ^^""''er if the farmers of Nova 

 Scotia will submit to this when the remedy 

 cooperation " is in their own hands. 



A Horticultural Club 



"The students of the Ontario Agricultural 

 College, Guelph, who are most interested in 

 horticulture, have organized a club through 

 the efforts of Mr. A. McMeans, the Ontario 

 Vegetable Growers' Association representa- 

 tive and Mr. J. W. Crow, lecturer in the hor- 

 ticultural department. The aim of the club 

 will be to encourage the study and the love of 

 horticulture among the students, and to ad- 

 vance horticultural interests at the college A 

 reading room, to be accessible at all times has 

 been fitted up in the horticultural building, 

 and in it, all the leading fruit, vegetable and 

 flower papers will be kept on file. New bulle- 

 tins will be on hand, and a bulletin board will 

 be used to announce new books, valuable arti- 

 cles in the -papers, good bulletins, and so forth 

 A very large majority of the horticultural 

 publications have very kindly agreed to list 

 the club free, and to them, the thanks of the 

 members are heartily given. 



Meetings will be held every alternate Mon- 

 day for the discussion of all matters relating 

 to horticulture. The first regular one was held 

 Feb. 10, and to judge by the enthusiasm 

 and optimism manifested, the club affords an 

 opportunity for good work, and will be a valu- 

 able stimulus to the study of horticulture. Its 

 possibilities for the encouragement of the pur- 

 suit of horticulture are great, and Mr. McMeans 

 was accorded liberal applause on a live address 

 outlining the place the club should, and could 

 occupy in the affairs of the college. ' 



The officers elected were: Pres., A. McMeans- 

 vice-pres., R. M. Winslow; sec.-treas., J. W.' 

 Crow, B.S.A. A committee of students of the 

 first, second and third years was elected to 

 give adequate representation. The paid-up 

 membership totals twenty-seven, and this will 

 be increased considerably in a short time. 



HtKh Class Spra.vers. — Elsewhere will be 

 found the advertisements of the Spramotor Co. 

 Particular attention is asked from our readers 

 to the sectional views of the Hand Spramotors 

 on page 70. This machine in its several 

 sizes has had such a vogue in Canada since the 

 famous Spray Pump Contest held at Grimsby 

 where it was awarded the first place, that we 

 believe we are safe in saying that there are 

 more of this class of machines in use in Canada 

 than all other kinds combined. Its use is so 

 varied, being well adapted for all the uses in 

 spraying, there being no operations in spray- 

 ing to which a hand machine may be put thet 



