Fruit Gro^ng in Manitoba 



D. W. BucKanan, Director, BucKanan Nursery Co., St. CHarles, Manitoba 



NOTWITHSTANDING the many 

 failures that resulted from the 

 early attempts to grow fruit in 

 Manitoba, and the general belief 

 which at one time prevailed that 

 fruit growing would never be suc- 

 cessful here, it can now be positively 

 stated that considerable progress has 

 been made in the direction of suc- 

 cessful fruit culture in the province. 

 Manitoba has been passing through very 

 much the same experience as the border 

 state of Minnesota in the matter of 

 growing fruit. Indeed, the early ex- 

 periences in Minnesota were perhaps 

 quite as unfavorable as here. The early 

 settlers in that state, who came mainly 

 from the eastern states, brought with 

 them the same varieties of fruits that 

 they had been used to cultivating in 

 their eastern home. Failure resulted 

 from the fact that these fruits were not 

 adapted to the northwestern state in 

 which they had located. Manitoba's 

 early settlers came also from the east, 

 and they made the same mistake of 

 trying to grow the same varieties, with 

 the same treatment and cultivation as 

 they had followed in the east. Minne- 

 sota now produces large quantities of 

 fruits, including apples and plums, as 

 well as small fruits, but in tree fruits at 

 least, the varieties now largely grown 

 have been originated in that state. 

 They are home bom and bred varieties. 

 The same course will have to be worked 

 out in Manitoba before the best results 

 are attained. 



In small fruits, a large measure of 

 success has been already attained in 

 Manitoba. In fact, we may safely say 

 that we have passed the experimental 

 stage in growing many varieties and 

 species of small fruits. It has now been 

 clearly demonstrated that there is noth- 

 ing to hinder any person from growing 

 all the fruit in currants, gooseberries, 

 raspberries, strawberries, and so on, that 

 will be required for home use. A few 

 large commercial fruit farms, also, have 

 been successfully carried on, but the 

 great scarcity of help and high wages 

 makes it a difficult matter to conduct a 

 small fruit farm on a commercial scale. 

 Help such as is required for this class of 

 work is practically unobtainable. Only 

 adult male help can be had and that in 

 limited supply. Indeed this scarcity of 

 help curtails the growing of fruit even 

 for home use on the farm, as the over- 

 worked farmer will not undertake any- 

 thing that is likely to add to his burden, 

 if it can be avoided. 



In currants, gooseberries, raspberries 

 and strawberries, success may be read- 

 ily attained. All that is necessary is to 

 find out what are the varieties best 

 adapted to the country, and the mode of 



cultivation best suited to the require- 

 ments. It will not do now, any more 

 than it would have worked in the early 

 years, to select at random the varieties 

 grown in the east. Neither will it do to 

 follow the same mode of cultivation as 

 is practised in the east. The necessary 

 knowledge, as to varieties and cultiva- 

 tion, however, is now within the reach 

 of any one who wishes to learn. This 

 knowledge has been acquired and worked 

 out by the untiring efforts of our fore- 

 most horticulturists, and has been dis- 

 seminated by our horticultural societies 

 and in other ways, so that it is not now 

 necessaryjto start bHndly when begin- 

 ning the work. The knowledge which 

 has been gained as to varieties and best 

 mode of cultivation, constitutes perhaps 

 the bulk of the progress that has been 

 made in fruit growing in Manitoba. 



to this region, also is a useful fruit, 

 though not as valuable as the true cran- 

 berry. It does well under cultivation, 

 and we have occasionally seen these 

 bushes growing in the settler's garden. 

 The bush cherry is also very productive 

 under cultivation, and is promising. 



In tree fruits, the work is still in a 

 more or less experimental state. Ex- 

 perimental work has been confined 

 mostly to apples and plums. A few 

 cherries have been produced and one 

 pear tree reached the fruiting stage, but 

 these have only been as novelties and 

 not with really any hope of making 

 them a profitable feature. The only 

 plums that are of any value are a few of 

 the very earliest ripening Americanas. 

 Some success has been' had with 

 plums of this class. The future of plum 

 growing lies in the direction of improv- 



Young Stock on Grounds of Buchanan Nursery Co. 



When the country becomes more thickly 

 settled, the supply of help will increase, 

 and the farmers will be in a position to 

 give more attention to matters of this 

 nature. Then fruit growing will be 

 more largely indulged in. 



There are many varieties of wild 

 fruits, native to various sections of 

 Manitoba, that produce large crops. 

 These include the plum, raspberry, 

 strawberry, red and black currants. Vi- 

 burnum or high bush cranberry, June- 

 berry, cranberries (different forms of the 

 low or vine species), cherries, and so 

 forth. Several of these are undoubted- 

 ly useful for cultivation, and being na- 

 tive to the country are, of course, per- 

 fectly hardy. Some of the wild plums 

 are of good quality, and no doubt in 

 time this native fruit will be greatly 

 improved. The presence of cranberry 

 marshes of wild fruit would also indicate 

 that the growing of this fruit may be- 

 come an important industry in time. 

 Some of these wild cranberries are of 

 extremely fine quality. So far, we know 

 of no attempt to cviltivate the cran- 

 berry. The Viburnum, or so-called 

 "bush cranberry," which is indigenous 



ing our native stock, which combines 

 hardiness with the early ripening habit. 

 Most of the named varieties of the Am- 

 ericana class of plum do not ripen early 

 enough to make them safe here, even if 

 they possessed the necessary hardiness. 

 Apples have been experimented with 

 largely and, considering the class of 

 stock with which it has been necessary 

 to carry on the work, we have no reason 

 to feel disappointed with the measure 

 of success attained. In fact, when an 

 occasional tree proved fairly hardy 

 from among the large number of trees 

 brought in from the east or the United 

 States, it made the outlook hopeful for 

 a time when home-grown trees, propa- 

 gated from these few hardy specimens, 

 could be obtained. Plants and trees, 

 like persons or animals, certainly show 

 special characteristics. It is true that 

 an occasional tree will show a hardiness 

 and vigor of constitution quite in ad- 

 vance of others of the same variety. 

 The hope of the future, therefore, lies in 

 propagating from these exceptionally 

 hardy specimens. We will undoubtedly 

 produce new varieties of apples and 

 hybrids, just as they have in Minnesota, 



