16 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



The Canadian norliculturisl 



Published by The Horticultural 

 PublishinE Company", Limited 



The Only Horticultural Magazine 

 in the Dominion 



Official Orean of British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec 



and Prince Edward Island Fruit Growers' 



Associations and of the Ontario Vee- 



etable Growers* Association 



H. Bronson Cowan, Editor and Business Manaeer 



A. B. CCTTiNO. B.S.A., Associate Editor 



W. O. Rook. Advertising Manager 



Garrett Wall, Circulation Manager 



GREAT BRITAIN 

 Prank ■Fletcher, 135 Henrietta Street, Old Tratford 

 Manchester, Eng., Advertising and Circulation Manager 



1. The Canadian Horticulturist is published on the 

 25th day of the month preceding date of issue. 



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4. Discontinuances— Responsible subscribers will con- 

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We want the readers of The Canadian Horticul- 

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 cause to be dissatisfied with the treatment he receives 

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 immediately the publication of their advertisements in 

 The Horticulturist. Should the circumstances war- 

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 our reputable advertisers as well. All that is necessary 

 to entitle you to the benefits of this Protective Policy is 

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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



506-7-8 Manning Chambers. 



TORONTO, CANADA 



A MUCH NEEDED MOVE 



The success of the proposal of Hon. Sydney 

 Fisher, Dominion Minister of Agriculture, to 

 set aside $100,000 to encourage the erection and 

 operation of cold storage warehouses for the 

 protection of perishable products, including fruit, 

 will depend upon the manner in which the money 

 is distributed. Properly managed this appro- 

 priation should accomplish a vast amount of 

 good for the fruit industry of the Dominion. The 

 feeling among growers that cooperation presents 

 a solution of the many serious defects under 

 which they have labored has been growing during 

 the past few years. The financial assistance 

 now suggested by Hon. Mr. Fisher may prove 

 the only incentive that has been lacking to lead 

 to a great expansion of this movement. 



What is wanted, so far as the fruit growers 

 are concerned, is not so much assistance for the 

 erection of plants with mechanical cold storage, 

 as it is assistance that will enable them to erect 

 simple but commodious buildings such as those 

 being used by the Walkerton, Thornbury, Oak- 

 ville and one or two other cooperative fruit 

 growers' associations of Ontario In most of 

 these warehouses there are no facilities for cold 

 storage, even with ice. They would be improved 

 however, were ice cold storage added. 



The cost of installing mechanical refrigeration 

 is so great and the period during which it would 

 be required by the great majority of our fruit 

 growers — excepting only those in such sections 



as the Niagara district, and the southern por- 

 tions of British Columbia, where the tender fruits 

 are handled extensively — is so limited that at- 

 tempts to encourage such refrigeration would be 

 likely to prove more disastrous than beneficial. 



It has been suggested that the assistance to V)e 

 granted by the Dominion Government should be 

 extended over a period of four years. The 

 object to this extension of the time of payment 

 is to insure the operation of the buildings, once 

 they have been erected. We do not consider 

 this drawing out of the period of payment would 

 be advisable. The proportion to be paid by the 

 Dominion Government is so small, that were it 

 to give only one-tenth, as is now proposed, on 

 the completion of the buildings, it would not be 

 suflficient to lead the average "farmer-fruit 

 grower " — and it is this class that is likely to 

 receive the greatest benefit from this movement — 

 to put up the remaining nine-tenths, that it would 

 be required even with the assurance that a por- 

 tion of that amount would be rebated within 

 the next two years. Once a building has been 

 completed, the mere fact that it has been erected, 

 should be all the guarantee that the Govern- 

 ment will require that the building will be used 

 later. If the Government, therefore, will agree 

 to give 25% of the cost of the building ui^on its 

 completion in a manner satisfactory to the 

 department, and say, 5% at the cud of the first 

 year, its offer, in all probabililty, will be accepted 

 by a considerable number of associations and 

 individuals throughout the country. 



If it is the Government's intention to grant 

 this money to encourage the erection of ordinary 

 warehouses, suitable for the storing of winter 

 apples, whether or not they have ice storage, and 

 if the period of payment is not extended unduly, 

 we believe that the proposal of Hon Mr. Fisher 

 will prove one of the greatest boons the fruit 

 industry has ever received, and that the results 

 will be a lasting memorial to his work. 



scheme, it would not be possible to accuse them 

 of lacking a desire to bring the child in closer 

 touch with nature. 



BEAUTIFYING SCHOOL GROUNDS 



While travelling throughout the Niagara dis- 

 trict last summer, we had occasion to observe 

 the various degrees of ornamentation to be seen 

 around and about schoolhouses in villages and 

 country districts. Far too many of them show- 

 little or no attempt to beautify the school sur- 

 roundings, and thus they present dejjlorable 

 pictures of barren aims and crude ideals. On 

 the other hand, there are many school grounds 

 that are beautifully laid out and planted with 

 taste and care. 



The Rittenhouse school, with the surrounding 

 grounds, Jordan Harbor, Ontario, as illustrated 

 in this issue, is one of the finest, if not the one 

 par excellence, in Canada. It is a model for 

 others to copy. But as it is privately endow^ed, 

 and not at the mercy of a limited allowance, it 

 is not surprising to see it in the lead. There are 

 many schools, however, with only ordinary 

 resources that have been made beautiful. The 

 school grounds at Grimsby, Ontario, though com- 

 paratively new, are being improved each year 

 by means of tastefully planted trees, clumps of 

 shrubbery and beds of flowers. Many schools 

 in other parts of the province, less favored than 

 the one at Grimsby, are also improving the ap- 

 pearance of their surroundings. Last summer 

 we visited the school at Vineland, Ontario, and 

 enjoyed the privilege of a little talk on nature 

 study with the children. The school is well 

 equipped with material for practical instruction 

 in nature study. Mr. J. E. Painter, the teacher, 

 is to be congratulated on his eftorts in this direc- 

 tion, and particularly for his many original 

 schemes and ideas for making the children in- 

 terested in the work. The school grounds are 

 nicely planned. Trees and shrubs and flower 

 beds, some formal and some natural, present a 

 very pleasing effect. As yet, there is no land 

 for school gardens. To offset this, Mr. Painter 

 requires his pupils to set apart a small plot for 

 the purpose at their homes, and, at regular in- 

 tervals, to report progress. Were teachers, sim- 

 ilarly situated in other districts, to adopt this 



SCIENCE IN FRUIT GROWING 



Many fruit growers oljject to the use of the 

 word "science" when ajjplied to fruit growing, 

 or, in fact, to any phase of agricultural work. 

 When the word "science" is brought into con- 

 versation on fruit matters, nine men out of ten 

 will resent its use, because they imagine that 

 science is beyond the scope of commonplace 

 things. When a man talks of science in fruit 

 growing he is considered unpractical — a dreamer 

 of things in the clouds, away above earthly 

 possibilities and ordinary practices. This idea 

 of the meaning and value of the word "science" 

 is far from the correct one. Science is nothing 

 more than knowledge, and knowledge system- 

 atically arranged. 



When the knowledge gained by practical ex- 

 perience in fruit growing is arranged into a 

 system, it becomes a science. Fruit growers 

 should not, therefore, be too hasty in c riticiz- 

 ing the value of science in fruit growing' 'Tis 

 true that the scientific man often formulates 

 theories and advances ideas that are, at first 

 thought, somewhat far-fetched and impractic- 

 able — some of them may be far from correct. 

 Nevertheless, such theories and such ideas, al- 

 though apparently of no immediate value, go 

 to show that these men of science are striving 

 for more knowledge, which may be systematically 

 arranged for the benefit and use of those who 

 devote their attention to the practical side of 

 the business. The practical man is the most 

 important factor in our fruit industry, but he 

 should bear in mind that the scientific man 

 also has his place — a place more important 

 than many fruit growers will admit. 



The suggestions of the deputation of vegetable 

 growers, appointed by the Ontario Vegetable 

 Growers' Association to visit Guelph and confer 

 with the executive of the Ontario Agricultural 

 and Experimental Union, were practically ig- 

 nored by the director of cooperative experiments 

 in horticulture. In an address on the subject. 

 Professor Hutt said that such work could not be 

 attempted inside of three or four years, as he 

 considered it necessary for the Union to have a 

 basis upon which to select and disseminate 

 varieties, and to outline ex]x;rimental work of 

 other kinds. This conception of what is neces- 

 sary is rather far-fetched. It does not carry 

 weight with the vegetable growers, who point 

 out that the Horticultural Department at 

 Guelph has been testing varieties of vegetables 

 that were discarded by them years ago after 

 practical tests. A basis for experimental work 

 in vegetables can be furnished by hundreds of 

 practical vegetable growers throughout the prov- 

 ince, men who have spent a lifetime in experi- 

 rnenting in a practical way with all the leading 

 varieties offered for sale by seedsmen. Such 

 growers could furnish information now without 

 it being necessary for trials to be made at Guelph. 

 Cooperative experiments in vegetables should 

 be made a feature of the Experimental Union 

 work for this year. There is no excuse for wait- 

 ing three or four years. 



The new tariff does not materially affect the 

 fruit situation. The duties, with one or two ex- 

 ceptions, are practically the same as before. 

 Pears, instead of an ad valorem duty of 20 per 

 cent., are now covered by a specific duty of half 

 cent a pound; pfums, formerly under an ad 

 valorem duty of 25 per cent., are now changed to 

 30 cents a bushel. The placing of oranges and 

 lemons on the free list will create a greater de- 

 mand for foreign fruits, and possibly some de- 

 crease in the desire for home-grown fruits. 

 This feature of the new tariff, together with the 

 utter disregard of the Tariff Commission for the 

 request of fruit growers for more protection. 



