May, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



III 



^ 



NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES 



British Columbia 



J. J. Kirby, Port Kelts 



The fruit industry in this district is as yet 

 in its infancy. We have quite a number of 

 good, sturdy, young orchards started. The 

 King, Wealthy, Wmter Banana, and Gravenstein 

 are the favorites in apples. The Winter Banana 

 is a strong grower and a prolific bearer, giving 

 a fairly good crop at four years. I would ad- 

 vise planters to go heavy on_this kind, as it is 

 a very showy, rich and a ready seller. 



The Bartlett, Beurre Rose, and Keiffer are the 

 favorites in pears. Royal Ann, Early Richmond 

 and olivet are the choice in cherries. In plums, 

 Bradshaw, Peach, Grand Duke and Italian 

 prunes are being planted. 



The largest growers have decided to plant 

 the same varieties, to enable them to have a 

 large bulk of each kind of fruit, and to ship or 

 make it worth a buyer's time to come in and 

 make a bid for the fruit. 



It would be a great help to the growers in 

 British Columbia if all the nurserymen in this 

 province would advertise their trees and plants, 

 and so forth, in The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist, as it would save us time and money 

 in procuring the necessary stock for our planting. 



British Columbia Inspection 



Editor, Thk Canadia.n Hokticulturlst; 1 

 am just starting an orchard and would like to 

 get all my nursery stock from the east, but am 

 handicapped to a large extent by the British 

 Columbia law. All the nursery stock entering 

 the province must be inspected at Vancouver, 

 and this causes extra freight charges. Now, 

 could not the eastern nurserymen try and have 

 it arranged to have the stock inspected at 

 Revelstoke or at Kamloops? I take a great 

 interest in this for I would like to get my stock 

 from the east. I bought some stock from 

 Stone & Wellington, of I'onthill, Ont., last year. 

 They were shipped about April 1, and I 

 got them on June 8. By this time, half of 

 the stock was in leaf and so I lost one-third of 

 ihem. Last fall I got some more. They left 

 the east on Oct. 18, and I received them Nov. 

 26. 



These instances show the time it_ takes to 

 ship trees from the east to this province. The 

 delay in a large part is caused by the inspection 

 at Vancouver and is the cause of a lot of Can- 

 adian money going into the United States. The 

 trees coming from the east cost me about 84 

 cents a tree and I can get them from the United 

 States for about 43 cents a tree, and it only 

 takes two weeks for them to get here. The 

 eastern stock, however, is much better for this 

 north-western country.— John S. Twan, Cariboo 



Quebec 



The County of L'Islet Horticultural 

 Society's program for 1908 includes the fol- 

 lowing features of value 10 its members : 



1. The purchase and distribution of 1000 

 apple and plum trees of hardy productive 

 varieties, bearing- fruit of good quality, size 

 and appearance. The members will have to 

 pay 10 cents for each tree and the society 

 will pay the balance of cost and freight. 

 Not more than 10 trees to be allowed to 

 one member. 



2. The distribution of 100 apple trees, 

 "Transparente de Croncels" and 100 pear 



trees "Beurre Baltet pere" already ordered 

 in France, one tree of each to each sub- 

 scriber paying half cost, 20 cents. 



3. Orchard Contests— The jury who will 

 examine the orchards of the competitors 

 will award the prizes to the owners of the 

 best kept orchards of vigorous trees bearing 



. largest crops of good clean fruit. Orchards 

 where scales and black knot exist will lose 

 half their points on that account. 



4. Prizes will be offered for the best 

 managed wood lots where firewood and 

 timber, needed by the past and present 

 owners, have been cut judiciously for over 

 a century and the richness of the forest 

 maintained by new growth. 



Mr. J. Horace McFarland 



Arrangements were made with Mr. McFarland of 

 KaiTisburj^, Ha., to speak at meetings of five Horti- 

 cultural societies in Ontario. The following are tlie 

 places and dates : St. Catharine-s, April 27 ; Hamilton, 

 April 28; Cobourg. April 29; Toronto, April 30; 

 Perth, May 1. 



• Nova Scotia 



Eunice Watts, Waterville 



When it was reported that a large coJi- 

 signment of Australian apples was on its 

 way to England, Nova Scotians rushed the 

 last of their fruit to the Old Country mar- 

 kets, 80 that now the warehouses are near- 

 ly empty. During the first week in March 

 Berwick exported 1,832 barrels of apples. 

 The winter shipments from Aylesford have 

 ranged from 1,000 to 1,500 barrels weekly, 

 while Auburn, two miles distant, has been 

 loading two cars every week, or about 400 

 to 500 barrels. 



Growers are gradually learning that it 

 does not pay to ship a poor grade of fruit. 

 Good Baldwins have realized $1 to $1.50; 

 Golden Russets, $2.50 to $3 nett; Falla- 

 water, $2; Stark, $1.75 to $2. 



Cranberries have gone long ago. Like 

 the apples they began to sell at big prices, 

 but dropped from $7.00 to $5.00 a barrel as 

 the season advanced. 



The wages of men in warehouses range 



from $1.00 to $1.25 per day. Women sorters 

 earn 75 cents to $1.00. 



A quantity of potatoes has been shipped 

 to Havana and neighboring markets ; latter- 

 ly the price has risen from 40 cents to 42 

 cents a bushel to growers. 



There is a big demand for apple trees, es- 

 pecially those of the Stark and Duchess var- 

 iety. Local nurserymen are selling good 

 No. 1 stock for $20 a hundred. 



Root grafting and pruning have occupied 

 the time during the last month, but there 

 is still much of the latter to be done, es- 

 pecially on stone-fruit trees where black 

 knot is very plentiful. 



During the bright days of March, the 

 bees were enticed from their hives, but 

 Ai^ril came in with snowstorms and sleigh- 

 ing, snow and rain alternating almost 

 every day since; otherwise it would have 

 been possible to plant such hardy seeds as 

 broad beans, peas and sweet peas, the frost 

 being out of the ground, except in shelter- 

 ed places. Tomatoes and other seedlings 

 are doing well in boxes. 



After the rains in the middle of March 

 the tulips made their appearance, and were 

 soon followed by the daffodils, hyacinths 

 and day-lilies. Insects are beginning to 

 fly, and robins have come back. A num- 

 ber of wild ducks and geese have flown 

 over. Mayflowers and pussy-willows are 

 expanding their buds, and the indications 

 are that spring is here. 



Annapolis Valley 



G. H. Vroom, Middleton 



Fruit trees and bushes of all kinds have 

 corhe through the winter in Nova Scotia in 

 good condition, and look healthy and' 

 strong. No signs of winter killing are to 

 be seen, and the trees are well set with 

 blossom buds in orchards that are well cared 

 for, and properly pruned. Strawberry 

 plants have suffered from the many thaws, 

 and only well covered plots are in good 

 condition. Present indications are in favor 

 of a good bloom on all trees and bushes. 



Caterpillar eggs are not as plentiful as 

 last season. The brown-tail moth is still 

 to be found in some sections, but a vigor- 

 ous campaign is now going on in all in- 

 fested districts, and the nests are being 

 gathered and destroyed. The bounty of 10 

 cents a nest which is being paid by the local 

 governmentj will probably wipe out the 

 pest. At any rate nothing, will be left un- 

 done to stamp it out. 



Prince Edward Island 



Rer. Dr. Burke, Alberton 



It is to be hoped that the very mild and 

 changeable winter now, "lingering in the 

 lap of spring," has not in any wise affected 

 adversely the orchard trees, by starting the 

 circulation of sap out of season. So far 

 we have learned of no such mishap, but 

 the day of reckoning is hardly here yet. 

 We have had no snow to break down trees 

 and no opportunity for mice to girdle ; that 

 at least can be put down to profit account. 



Since the winter meetings, there has been 

 considerable activity in the purchase of 

 orchard stock. A movement was inaugur- 

 ated to buy cooperatively, the association 

 here sending out a circular to all the farm- 

 ers, with some show of success. A commit- 

 tee from the association recommended that 

 they could guarantee the growing of such 

 sorts here as Yellow Transparent, Duchess, 

 Red Astrachan, Pewaukee, Baxter, Alexan- 

 der, Wolf River, Wealthy, Inkerman, Stark, 

 Ben Davis. They described the different 

 varieties recommended, told how they had 

 succeeded and unhesitatingly affirmed that 



