December, 1908 



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



273 



Vegetable Growers Convention 



THAT seedsmen should be held liable 

 for the vitality and the naming of 

 vegetable seeds that they sell was 

 the opinion of the members of the 

 Ontario Vegetable Growers' Association, 

 who assembled in convention at Toronto 

 last month. Mr. J. Lockie Wilson, the sec- 

 retary, in his report, referred to the efforts 

 that had been made by the executive com- 

 mittee to have some recourse at law against 

 seedsmen who sell seeds untrue to name 

 and of poor germinating qualities. The 

 question was discussed, also, by Mr. Thos. 

 Del worth, of Weston, who referred to the 

 Dominion Pure Seed Act, which covers 

 clover seed, and contended that purity and 

 vitality in vegetable seeds was even more 

 important than similar qualifications in 

 clover. He pointed out that the Act should 

 be amended to cover vegetable seeds. As 

 is well known, on every package of seeds 

 sent out by all seedsmen of the continent, 

 there is printed a disclaimer as to liability. 

 Vegetable growers, therefore, are at the 

 seedsman's mercy. Mr. Delworth suggested 

 that seedsmen should print on each pack- 

 age the percentage of seeds contained there- 

 in that will germinate. 



A report on the onion industry in Canada 

 and the United States was made by Mr. A. 

 McMeans, O. A. C, Guelph. The leading 

 states of the Union that ship onions in car- 

 load lots are, in order of importance, Ohio, 

 New York, Indiana, Massachusetts, Connec- 

 ticut, Wisconsin and Michigan. The total 

 onion area of the United States is 17,818 

 acres and the yield, 5,571,450 bushels. The 

 greatest onion district on the continent is 

 the Harden district of Ohio. Referring to 

 the industry in Canada, Mr. McMeans said 



that 65 cars of onions were shipped from 

 Scotland, Ont., last year and 35 from Leam- 

 ington. Mr. McMeans expressed the opin- 

 ion that onion seed could be grown suc- 

 cessfully in Essex county. 



A discussion then took place on the' kinds 

 of vegetable seeds that could be raised suc- 

 cessfully in Ontario. It was the general 

 opinion that while most vegetable plants 

 will produce seed of some sort, experiments 

 would be necessary to determine whether 

 or not local and climatic conditions would 

 favor the production of the best strains of 

 seeds true to variety type. It was moved 

 that in the opinion of the association, the 

 Dominion Government should institute a 

 series of experiments to determine what 

 varieties of vegetable seeds can be grown 

 successfully in Canada. A motion was 

 passed, also, requesting the Ontario Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to conduct experiments 

 in the growing of vegetable seeds on the 

 experimental farms at Guelph, Jordan Har- 

 bor, Driftwood and at all' other points that 

 may be deemed advisable. 



lEEIGATION 



A valuable paper on "Irrigation and Its 

 Effects on the Growth of Vegetables and 

 Small Fruits," was presented by Mr. W. T. 

 Macoun, of Ottawa. The various methods 

 of irrigating were mentioned as follows : 

 1. By means of the furrow system. This is 

 of much benefit to potatoes. The garden 

 hose may be used. Movable sprinklers are 

 used in Nova Scotia for lettuee. 2. By the 

 use of engine power. Experiments in irri- 

 gating vegetables have been conducted by 

 the New Jersey Experiment Station and the 

 results were beneficial. The benefits are 

 more marked in certain years. Mr. Row- 



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