July, 1908 



THE CANADIAN H O R T I C L T U E I S T 



153 



Co-operative Fruit Growers Meet 



THE annual meeting of the Cooperative 

 Fruit Growers of Ontario, was held in 

 Toronto, on June 9th. Among those 

 present were President A. E. Sherring-ton, 

 Ualkcrton ; 3rd Vice-President Robert 

 I'hompson, St. Catharines ; Messrs. Elmer 

 Lick and W. H. Stainton, Oshawa ; Jas. E. 

 Johnson, Simcoe ; J. A. Webster, Sparta; 

 C. W. Gurney, Paris; Adam Hrown, Owen 

 Sound; H. Wilson, Oakville ; K. L. Steph- 

 ens, Orillia ; P. W'. Hodgetts, Toronto, and 

 the secretary, A. B. Cutting, Peterboro. 



The reports of the secretary and treas- 

 urer were read and adopted. They in- 

 dicated progress ; 24 associations were af- 

 iliated last year as compared with 13 the 

 revious year. All the delegates at the 

 ecting stated that their associations in- 

 I iided to continue in affiliation with the 

 I ntral organization. 

 Officers for the ensuing year were elect- 

 1 as follows: Hon. president, A. E. 

 Sherr.n<ton, Walkerton ; president, D. 

 jiihnson, Forest; ist vice-president, Robt. 

 Thompson, St. Catharines ; 2nd vice-presi- 

 dent, Jas. E. Johnson, Simcoe ; 3rd vice- 

 resident, Elmer Lick, Oshawa; acting- 

 ■cretary and treasurer, P. W. Hodgetts, 

 i'arliament Buildings, Toronto; auditor, C. 

 W .(Jurncy, Paris. 



The experience of the associations during 



ihe past two years has shown the value 



<<{ such a central organization for the 



ical associations. This was pointed out 



rcibly in a letter from Mr. D. John- 



>n, who, through illness, was not able to 



I tend the meeting. 



MK. Johnson's letter 



To the Co-operative Fruit Growers of 

 Ontario, — It is just possible that some of 

 the representative fruit growers assembled 

 may have met with unforeseen difficulties 

 last season which may have caused them to 

 "'ow somewhat discouraged in the co- 

 irative marketing of fruit. The unfore- 

 ien financial crisis of last fall, has had 

 ch to do with the circumstances so dis- 

 trous to some, but the chief difficulty 

 sts in the fact that two-thirds of the ap- 

 ies packed last season should never have 

 t the orchards. I do not mean to insin- 

 te that our co-operative associations have 

 en much to blame in this way, but the 

 it packed for general trade last season 

 dealers was astounding 

 During the past winter, I visited many 

 of the leading markets of the north west 

 provinces, calling on most of the grocers 

 in the towns visited, where I saw thousands 

 of barrels of apples packed by Ontario 

 shippers, branded No. i, not one single 

 barrel of which, to my recollection, would 

 anything like reach that grade. The con- 

 'litions were such that unless I saw it 

 myself, I could not believe it possible that 

 men of ordinary common sense would pack 

 such fruit. 1 tjelieve that most of our as- 

 sociations would refuse to brand most of it 

 No. 3. The result is that the Ontario 

 fruit has come into disgrace by reason of 

 its i)acking. 



The (|uality of our fruit is admitted by 

 .dl dealers to be far ahead of that from the 

 Pacific Coast. Even the rubbish shipjied 

 there, they prefer, on account of its flavor, 

 to the products of the western orchards. 

 Yet the westerners are going to capture 

 the markets through their packing, if 

 something is not done. 



In British Columbia, Oreiron and Wash- 

 ing:ton, I saw large ((uantities of fruit, which, 

 while, perhaps, a little larger than our own, 

 was not a bit more carefully selected than 

 that packed by many of our own associa- 



tions, which I have visited. The result is 

 that the honest packers of fruit in Ontario 

 are brought into discredit to the extent, I 

 believe, of one-half the value of their ap- 

 ples, by the dishonest ones. 



Such being the evil and disastrous in- 

 fluences exercised against us, I would 

 earnestly impress on the Co-operative Fruit 

 Growers of Ontario assembled, to formulate 

 some drastic method by which these dis- 

 honest dealers shall either be brought to 

 justice or forced from business. It ap- 

 pears to me that the co-operative associa- 

 tions and the few individual packers, are 

 the only ones who have the interests of the 

 fruit industry at heart. In them alone, by 

 constant perseverance, and steadfast de- 

 termination to overcome these obstacles, 

 can we expect to finally overcome these dis- 

 honest methods of packing, which have .so 

 seriously affected our prices. 



While in the west I saw the pack of firms 

 who in buying understood the quality of 

 No. 1 and No. 2 apples as well as the best 

 informed among us, whose personal pack 

 was simply rubbish. The large dealers, 

 however, are not the only ones to blame, as 

 almost every small town in the west is 

 flooded by the shipment of small dealers 

 in Ontario, who ship a car or two to some 

 friend or merchant known to them. The 

 (luality of most of these packs is so bad 

 that most of us would not believe it unless 

 we saw it. 



In the United States the very same con- 

 dition prevails, and the markets which 1 

 visited there during the past winter have 

 convinced me that they have much yet to 

 learn. If they had left two-thirds of their 

 apples in the orchard, or sold to the can- 

 ners, the result financially would have been 

 different. 



Our worthy chief of the fruit division and 

 his staff are doing their best to try and 

 stem this current of dishonesty. But the 

 inspectors are so few that it is absolutely 

 impossible for them to do so. Three or 

 four times as many inspectors at least 

 should be appointed during the fruit sea- 

 son, which would mete out justice to those 

 who have ruined our reputation and prices. 

 I am convinced that there is no finer fruit 

 producing country in America than On- 

 tario, if we would only grasp our op- 

 portunities. 



1 have only recently returned from Cali- 

 fornia and other States in the west, where 

 I spent considerable time in studying their 

 methods of growing and marketing their 

 fruit. I find that co-operation has proved the 

 very salvation of their fruit industry. Prev- 

 ious to the initiation of this method, the 

 fruit growers were struggling individually, 

 one competing against the other, with 

 most disastrous results. All were preyed 

 upon by organized dealers, who walked off 

 with the proceeds. Any attempt at co- 

 operation, when first tried, was met with 

 indifferent success, but finally triumphed, 

 and attained for the growers the reputa- 

 t on and profits which they are drawing 

 by an honest co-operativj system. It is 

 not to be supposed, however, that 

 the co-operative system there met 

 with immediate success, but far 

 from it, the chief difficulty bting of the 

 inability of the fruit growers working to- 

 gether. Many local associations had been 

 shattered and torn in its earlier days by 

 suspicion and doubt. In fact, even at the 

 present time, many of the local exchanges 

 are troubled by dealers trying to buy off 

 their members, and by baiting them away 

 from the association. 



Our method here in Ontario, is almost 

 exactly the same as their most successful 

 organization. First of all, local associa- 

 tions for the packing of fruit are estab- 

 lished. These are affiliated into exchanges, 

 and exchanges united into the Californian 

 Fruit (Irowers Exchange, which is a huge 

 commission house, controlled by the fruit 

 growers for their own interests. 



In conclusion, I would say to the fruit 

 growers of Ontario : "Stand by co-opera- 

 tion as your only refuge." We have already 

 attained a reputation which will stand us 

 good service in the future. The situation is 

 entirely in our own hands. — D. Johnson, 

 Forest. 



Some Spraying Mixtures 



R. J. Messenger, Bridgetown, N.S. 



The gullibility of farmers has been cat- 

 ered to during the past year or two by 

 several spraying mixtures. I will not say 

 that they are frauds; that would be unfair 

 until we have tried them, but from past ex- 

 periments and from present knowledge -of 

 necessary conditions, we are led to ques- 

 tion the efficiency of some of them even 

 without trial. Again, almost all of them 

 are more expensive than the old reliable 

 preparations and their chief aim or bene- 

 fit seems to be to save the lazy farmer the 

 trouble of making the old ones. 



Nico-Soap professes to kill all insects and 

 their eggs by contact, insects, both leaf- 

 eating and suctional. How a preparation 

 could be strong enough to destroy the, in 

 many cases, well-protected eggs of insects 

 and be not only inexpensive but also non- 

 injurious to the host plant, is more than 

 my reasoning power can conceive. One 

 worthy farmer said, in his testimonial, that 

 he sprayed a bunch of large caterpillars 

 with the preparation and in three minutes 

 they were all dead. 



Prepared Bordeaux, when the lime and 

 bluestone are ground and mixed dry, is 

 another wonder working and labor saving 

 mixture. Anyone who .understands the 

 principles of mixing Bordeaux will ques- 

 tion the wisdom of mixing the ingredients 

 thus. 



Assenate of Lead, while effective, is 

 more expensive than Paris Green. 



Vi and V2 Fluids are the latest and most 

 secret. Mystery, though, is what the far- 

 mer wants. 



Now, I am not condemning these pre- 

 parations, but I want to urge the farmer 

 readers who have their legs pulled often 

 enough, to wait until our experiment sta- 

 tions have thoroughly tried these new 

 hings beiore they spend money on them. 

 Bordeaux Mixture and Paris Green are good 

 old fr ends. Let us - stick to them until 

 we are sure of something better. 



A cojjy of the first annual report of the 

 Missouri State Board of Horticulture, in- 

 cluding the 50th annual report of the Mis- 

 souri State Horticultural Society for 11)07, 

 has been received. It contains much valu- 

 able information on fruit and flower 

 growing. 



Copies of the February and March, 

 1008, issues of The Canadian Horticul- 

 TURI.ST, have been requested by General- 

 Lielutenant Schmit, St. Petersburg, Russia; 

 Messrs. Eggers & Co., St. Petersburg, 

 Russia; and Librairie Spineux & Co., 

 Brussels, Belgium. We have no back num 

 bers of these issues. Can any of our 

 readers send cither of these copies to us ? 

 Send to ,our address, Peterboro, Ont. 



