September, 1908 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



195 



He will visit the various agricultural 

 colleges and experimental farms throughout 

 Canada and will look into fruit conditions 

 in British Columbia. From there he will 

 ,yisit the western states and will return 

 across the continent to New York. From 

 ^ew York he will go to Nova Scotia. There 

 fcie will make a study of the growing of 

 branberries. Mr. Heikel informed us that 

 Finland there are considerable areas 

 _ (lat the government believes might be 

 Btilized advantageously for the growing 

 ^f cranberries. 

 Mr. Heikel expects to spend six months 

 America. He informed us that he sub- 

 scribed for The Canadian Horticulturist 

 vhen he could not read a word of English. 

 le studied the paper for a year and stated 

 |th&t it helped him to master the English 

 language. He thinks so much of the paper 

 llhat he gives his copies around to friends in 

 Tinland who are interested in horticulture 

 and who can read English. A represen- 

 tative of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 visited a num ber of the leading horticultural 

 establishments around Toronto in company 

 with Mr. Heikel. 



Iced Cars for Fruit 



Editor, The Canadian Horticulturist. — 

 I am authorized to announce that arrange- 

 ments have again been made with thp rail- 

 way companies to supply iced car.s for the 

 carriage of fruit in carloads, intended for 

 export via Montreal or Quebec. 



Cars will be supplied on request of ship- 

 pers to railway agents, and the Department 

 of Agriculture will pay icing charges to the 

 extent of $5 a car. This arrangement will 

 be effective from August 3rd to October 3rd. 

 — J. A. Ruddick, Commissioner of Dairying 

 and Cold Storage, Ottawa. 



NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES 



Niagara Exhibition 



The Niagara District Horticultural Ex- 

 .hibition will be held on Thursday and Fri- 

 "ay, Sept. 17th and 18th, at the Armouries, 

 t. Catharines. The prize list which has 

 een prepared shows that there is no de- 

 fease in the enterprise and courage of 

 ose who manage this important event. 

 he awards offered total about $1400, an 

 advance over last year. There is every 

 reason to believe that the coming exhibition 

 will surpass in extent and quality 

 the exhibitions of 1906 and 1907, both of 

 which were eminently successful from the 

 broad horticultural standpoint. 



Readers of The Canadian Horticultur- 



'ist who are interested in learning how a live 



horticultural society can do things — how a 



society from small beginnings has grown 



fto be one of the largest in the province, 



arrying on a business which last year 



quailed nearly one-sixth of the total 



expenditure of all the. horticultural 



ocieties of the province — and woul do 



ell to visit this district exhibition, and at 



he same time see the best exhibition of 



Iresh fruits grow in this famous "Garden 



of Ca7iada" and the best products of the 



amateur as well as professional flower 



Towers of St. Catharines. It is hoped to 



ecure reduced railway rates from Toronto 



nd intermediate stations. 



Seeing is Believing. — During tliis season 

 .'many prominent fruit growers, and others 

 finterested in fruit and ornamental trees 

 hand shrubs, have visited the Brown's 

 ^Nurseries and have expressed great admira- 

 tion and surpri.se upon seeing the hundreds 

 land thousands of ornamental deciduous 

 [trees and shrubs, and evergreens, as well 

 fas the hundreds of acres of fruit stock. This 

 nursery stands in the front rank, if not the 

 largest, of the Canadian firms. 



Similkameeiv Valley, B.C. 



J. D. Harkneis 



A series of demonstrations in fruit grow- 

 ing, including one at Keremeos on Aug. 12, 

 under the auspices of the British Columbia 

 Fruit Growers' Association was cancelled, 

 owing to a death in the family of one of 

 the speakers. 



Only one thing can be said of the fruit 

 crop here, gathered and yet to ripen — that it 

 goes 100 per cent, in quantity and quality. 



A fruit growers' institute and picnic held 

 at the house and grounds of Mr. R. Elm- 

 hirst, Keremeos, on July 16, was largely 

 attended by the orchardists of this district. 

 It was one of a series of "fruit demonstra- 

 tions" arranged by the provincial govern- 

 ment, others in the series being held at 

 various points in the Similkameen and 

 Okanagan. The usual procedure is to hold 

 an outdoor meeting in the ^aytime and an 

 indoor meeting in the evening, but in this 

 case the latter was dispensed with. 



The speakers were Professor Thornber of 

 the Washington Agricultural College and 

 Mr. N. H. Dobie of Victoria, the former deal- 

 ing with such subjects as selection of fruit 

 trees, planting, pruning, spraying, irrigat- 

 ing, pests, packing, etc.; while the latter 

 presented in a most convincing manner the 

 extreme importance of fertilization. 



After the meeting the party visited the 

 famous orchard and gardens of Mr. Frank 

 Richter at Keremeos, which must have 

 been a revelation, even to such experienced 

 men, of what can be accomplished in horti- 

 culture in the Similkameen. Mr. Richter's 

 place is rather like an agricultural college 

 farm than a private ranch, both in extent 

 and in the variety and excellence of its 

 products, and as such is one of the valuable 

 assets of the Valley. As one of the few- 

 places where fruit growing has been carried 

 on on a considerable scale for decades, it 

 is especially useful in showing to newcomers 

 the Valley's capabilities. The thousands of 

 acres of pasture land and irrigated alfalfa 

 land, supporting a multitude of cattle and 

 horses, afford an equally striking example 

 of the Similkameen's resources as a pastoral 

 country. 



Manitoba 



James Mun-ay, Supt. Expt'l Farm, Brandon 



The season throughout has been most 

 favorable one, and there are bright pros- 

 pects for a good crop of all small fruits and 

 the larger wild fruits. 



In our orchards we have a splendid show 

 of bloom and a great deal of fruit set. Since 

 blossoming time, our apph; and crab trees 

 have been severly attacked with blight, 

 and to all appearances many trees will 

 succumb. On the plums, there is an un- 

 usually large amount of plum pocket which 

 will greatly reduce tlie eiop. 



This year we have nearly all our best 

 varieties of apples producing fruit, such as 

 Hibernal, Wealthy. Repka Kishiga, Tran- 

 scendent, Hyslop and a number of good 

 cross-breds. All of these are grafted on 

 Pyrus haccala, and came through the winter 

 with very little winter killing, although as 

 usual a number have been killed back at 

 the tips. 



The development of suitable apple trees 

 for this climate is proceeding slowly but 

 surely. For several years after this farm 



was established, no); a single apple tree 

 survived the winter, and now we have 

 several hundred hardy trees and a consider- 

 able quantity of good fruit each year. The 

 progress made is largely due to the use 

 of the Pyrus baccata as a stock. Many 

 disappointments' in planting fruit trees is 

 attributable to growing trees on tender 

 stocks, and the importation of trees that 

 are not acclimatized. With the develop- 

 ment of our own nurseries, and as people 

 appreciate that special precautions are 

 necessary, our progress in fruit growing 

 will doubtless be more rapid. 



Montreal 



E. H. Wartman, Dominion Fruit Inspector 



Large quantities of California fruits are 

 being sold by auction three times a week. 

 On July 28, the first arrival of California 

 Early Crawford peaches appeared and were 

 sold by auction at $1.90 per 2 layer crate. 

 On the same day, Astrachan apples from 

 California sold for $1.70 per 10-11-20 inch 

 crate, beating the California delicious Bart- 

 lett pears by 20 cents on a box— rather re- 

 markable, but apples were scarcer than 

 pears. 



Large quantities of melons have been 

 arriving from Ontario in crates and are 

 selling very well ; but, after all, Montreal 

 leads the world in its own Island-grown 

 melons, some tipping the scales at 42 

 pounds. Pricing a nice one on Bonsecoun 

 market a few days ago, I learned that $1.25 

 was the cash price. These melons are sold 

 with a guarantee attached from the grower 

 that they are ripe. 



Duchess apples in vicinity of Montreal are 

 selling from 75 cents to $1 a barrel, tree 

 run. Crab apples are a good crop in all 

 directions. I look for low prices in early 

 apples as there are such large quantities 

 of other fruits coming in. Bartlett pears of 

 superior quality have arrived from New 

 York state. The owner said that the duty 

 killed the trade. 



Quebec 



August Dupuis 



The apple crop is a failure from Quebec 

 to Rimouski. The Duchess of Oldenburg, 

 Wealthy, Yellow Transparent and Tetofsky 

 are the only .varieties bearing a medium 

 crop. Thousands of bushels of fall apples 

 will be needed and winter apples No. 1 and 

 No. 2, will have to be brought from Hunting- 

 don county and from Ontario to satisfy 

 the demand of the prosperous people all 

 along the Intercolonial Railway. It has 

 been the custom of orchardists and traders 

 to bring down here carloads of fall apples 

 in bulk, and winter apples both in bulk and 

 bags, winch sell quickly. 



The plum crop also has failed. The fruit 

 wliich seemed to have set well, dropped 

 after a few days of very hot weather. The 

 curculio has caused some damage. The 

 only varieties bearing medium crops are 

 the Green Gage. Coe's Golden, Moore's 

 Arctic, Gueii and Washington. 



The small fruit crop is abundant, especi- 

 "ally the raspberries. Insects have not 

 caused much damage. 



Apple trees in most localities have dead 

 branches, even large trees wliicli seemed 

 perfectly healthy last year. In young or- 

 chards, the rows of trees far from fences 



