April, 1907 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



95 



is hoped that the minister will take immediate 

 action in the matter. Such will not injure 

 nursery firms that are reliable. It may be a 

 means of ridding the country of those that are 

 not. There are sufficient of the former to 

 supply the demand. The latter are not needed. 



This year, as a result of the new act govern- 

 ing horticultural societies, a number of Ontario 

 horticultural societies that, in the past, have 

 been of little value, having been merged with 

 their local agricultural societies, are starting 

 out for themselves. One of these, Goderich, 

 is planning to offer prizes for garden competi- 

 tions, to distribute seeds among the school 

 children, and to conduct an energetic campaign 

 along horticultural lines. May the efforts of 

 these societies meet with the success that they 

 deserve. 



What are you doing to help us increase the 

 circulation of The Canadi.\.n- Horticulturist? 

 If you will merely draw the attention of a few 

 of your friends, who are interested in fruit and 

 flowers, to its merits and low subscription 

 price, it probably will be sufficient to lead them 

 to join the ranks of our regular readers. Any 

 help of this kind that you may give us will be 

 much appreciated. 



Work for tKe Station 



The discussion at one session of the recent 

 convention of the Niag. Pen. Fruit Grs.' Assn. 

 centered in a subject of much importance to 

 the fruit interests of the Niagara district; 

 namely, the work and piu-pose of the new ex- 

 perimental station at Jordan Harbor. S. W. 

 Fletcher, professor of horticulture and land- 

 scape gardening. Agricultural College, Lan- 

 sing, Mich., said that one of the chief problems 

 that will require attention is the improvement 

 of varieties. While many of our varieties 

 have good qualities, they usually are found 

 wanting in one or more respects. A variety, 

 for instance, which is of good color and flavor, 

 might be of little value for shipping purposes. 

 At the new station, varieties and classes of 

 fruit should be bred for keeping qualities, 

 flavor, hardiness, freedom from rot; in fact, 

 they should be bred to eliminate all undesir- 

 able qualifications. 



To be successful in plant breeding, one must 

 first recognize the fact that there is a great 

 variation in plants. The foundation for the 

 work lies in the fact that no two plants are 

 alike, and that even the least deviation in vari- 

 etal type might, by crossing and selection, de- 

 velop into a new variety of superior excellence. 

 The professor described in detail the mode in 

 which a plant breeder performs the operation 

 of crossing and pollenating the blossoms. 



The value of propagating nursery stock from 

 trees of known worth also was mentioned by 

 Prof. Fletcher. In selecting scions for the 

 multiplication of stock in nurseries, the nur- 

 seryman should know the history of the trees 

 from which the scions are taken. It is not 

 always possible to secure large quantities of 

 scions from bearing trees; in such cases, it 

 would be well for nurserymen to propagate 

 primarily from bearing and productive trees 

 and for the next few years renew their stock 

 from scions taken from young trees thus prop- 

 agated. Every 4 years, however, it would 

 be necessary to go back to the bearing trees 

 for a renewal of the stock. 



The professor said that the new experimental 

 station would do well to make out a list of 

 varietal names and synonyms for the use of 

 our fruit growers. This is necessary because 

 there are so many varieties that are nearly 

 alike in character and even in standard sorts 

 there are distinct varieties or strains. 



An interesting feature of Prof. Fletcher's 

 address were some comments on the Spencer 

 Seedless apple. Recently the professor visited 

 the home of this fruit, and foimd it to be noth- 



ing more than a fake. The apple, according 

 to the professor, is below medium, in size, poor 

 in color, and not pleasing in shape, coarse in 

 texture and in quality, below that of Ben 

 Davis; in fact, its only value is its keeping 

 quality. It is not seedless, as at least two- 

 thirds of the apples have seeds of more or less 

 development. The worst feature of this nov- 

 elty, however, is the fact that it has a core, 

 and a tough one. It is the core of the apple, 

 and not the seeds, that bother the housewife 

 and the canner. "The Spencer Seedless ap- 

 ple," said the professor, "is a horticultural 

 gold brick — there is nothing in it." 



Markets of the "West 



During one of the sessions of the convention 

 of the O.F.G.A. held in Nov. last, Robt. Thomp- 

 son, of St. Catharines, discussed the markets 

 of the west. He spoke particularly of the 

 progress that has been made in the trade be- 

 tween the St. Catharines district and the west. 

 Until 3 years ago, shipments to the west were 

 made at only irregular intervals, except in the 

 case, perhaps, of grapes and apples. On the 

 whole they did not turn out satisfactorily. 

 Buyers said that they would pay only the 

 price that the fruit would bring at the point 

 of shipping. Three years ago there was a 

 change. Under the direction of Professor 

 Reynolds of the O.A.C., the government sent 

 some experimental shipments to the west that 

 proved that fruit could be carried through 

 successfully. 



To take full advantage of the western mark- 

 ets, cooperation is necessary. It is not wise 

 to send shipments of less than a carload, and 

 it usually takes a number of growers in com- 

 bination to fill a car each day. It should be 

 packed at the right time, and cooled before 

 shipping. A number of growers working to- 

 gether can get assistance from the departments 

 at Ottawa and Toronto. They can load the 

 cars quickly and have better railway facilities 

 and fewer losses. They are in a position to 

 better know the requirements of the market 

 and distribute their fruit to better advantage. 



Tomatoes for the west must not be sent 

 green. The best stage is learned by experi- 

 ence. They should be firm and nearly all 

 red. A lot depends on the package. Put part 

 of a shipment in the 4-tray boxes. In a car, 

 place, say, 100 trays, and 300 bskts. An as- 

 sortment of sizes gives best returns. Peaches 

 should be packed in boxes, and a large part of 

 the shipment should be wrapped. It only 

 costs from 5 to 8 cts. a box to wrap them. There 

 is a good market in the west for pears, not in 

 carloads, but in reasonable lots. Ont. pears 

 are of better flavor than those imported from 

 the western states. There is a market also 

 for early apples if handled properly and packed 

 right. The grape outlook is good; there is no 

 competition, as B.C. cannot grow grapes. In 

 other respects, competition with B.C. is not 

 to be feared for 20 years to come; then the 

 most serious competition will be in apples. 

 Apples for the west should be packed in boxes, 



Boxes vs. Barrels in England 



The Extension of Markets Division, Ottawa, 

 has received a letter from the department's 

 cargo inspector at Glasgow, dated Dec. 14, 1906. 

 of which the following is a copy: "Enclose, 

 please find catalog of Messrs. Simons, Jacob 

 & Co.'s apple sales. You will observe that some 

 very high prices were paid for boxed apples from 

 British Columbia, and also a note at the foot re 

 sales of boxed apples from Oregon. These boxes 

 are about the same size as Ont. boxes, and the 

 fruit in each case was papered. There is an in- 

 creasing quantity of apples in boxes being im- 

 ported to Glasgow from B.C., all of excellent 

 quality. Apples in boxes are becoming more 

 popular, I believe, in Glasgow and district, and 

 I think there is a market for a larger quantity 

 of 'fancy grade' Ontario apples than are at pres- 



ent shipped. In the recent arrivals of boxed 

 fruit there has been so much No. 2 grade, some 

 of indiff'erent quality, that it compares very 

 unfavorably with boxes from Ore. and B.C., 

 whose imports are rapidly establishing a reputa- 

 tion for excellence. !H '^ 

 "I had a conversation with an importer of 

 Ont. apples in boxes, who is also a retailer of Ore. 

 and B.C., and he is of the opinion that it would 

 be well for Ont. shippers to utilize this style of 

 package for fancier quality of fruit than they 

 are packing. The prices realized at the sale in 

 question were: 



British Columbia Apples — Prize Medal Fruit. 



Boxes. Price 



Canyon Brand, Spitz 14/ 



Cold Stream Brand, Spys 5 14/ 



Jas. Gattreal, Kings 10 17/3 



Nonsuch 5 12/6 



Summerland Brand, Nonsuch. 5 16/6 



Salome 10 16/6 



Spitz 5 16/6 



Stirling &Pitcairn, Newton.. . 5 18/3 



"At the same time Oregon Newton Pippins in 

 boxes were selling for 14 shillings a box, and the 

 same variety in barrels was realizing on an 

 average 16 shillings a bbl., thus showing that the 

 package had a great deal to do with the enhanced 

 price received for the boxed fruit " 



'^1 



San Jose Scale in Cities 



Ed. Canaw'\n Horticulturist, — The San 

 Jose Scale is spreading to an alarming extent. 

 During the season of 1906, it spread faster than 

 in previous years, partly owing to the continued 

 hot, dry weather, and partly on accotmt of the 

 apathy or indifference of people who fail to Hve 

 up to the law, and neglect to spray or cut out 

 infested freer 



We have, in St. Catharines, a number of vacant 

 lots, the owners of which live out of the prov- 

 ince. These lots contain many seedling fruit 

 trees, covered with scale and black knot. As 

 there is no provision in the act to meet such 

 cases, these places become uncontrollable breed- 

 ing places for all kinds of insects as well as black 

 knot. I do not suppose that St. Catharines is 

 any worse in this respect than other municipal- 

 ities, but I thought that by calling attention to 

 this matter, you might be in a position to help 

 us to find the remedy. 



The season has arrived when all persons own- 

 ing or occupying properties on which trees or 

 shrubs are growing that are susceptible to scale 

 or black knot, must be up and doing. They 

 must get to work with a will and severely prune 

 their trees and, where they find a tree that is 

 badly affected, cut them ont. Pruning makes 

 spraying less costly and more effective. 



There are several spraying formulas on the 

 market, but only two have proved effective. 

 One of them, the lime and sulphur formula, 

 owing to the difficulty of preparation and hand- 

 ling in the small places of the city, as well as 

 the trouble of getting men to apply it, is un- j 

 satisfactory. We are obliged, therefore, to use 

 the Carlson formula. We have used this with I 

 good results for the past two years. It is easy 

 of application and one barrel will cover about 3{ 

 times the number of trees that sulphur and limel 

 will cover. 1 have had it used with good results j 

 in the latter part of the month of Jime, without ' 

 seriously injuring the foliage or fruit. 



The following is a list of trees, bushes and 

 shrubs that are susceptible to scale: Apple trees 

 of all varieties, Greening most susceptible; crab 

 apples, badly; fieaches of all varieties; plums 

 of all varieties. Japans badly; pears of all 

 varieties, Kieffer seldom attacked; apricots, not 

 badly; sweet cherries; currants; quince; also 

 rose bushes, Ulacs, privet hedges, Japan quince, 

 all kinds of thorn, willow, mountain ash and 

 poplar. — Thomas Beattie, San Jose Scale In- 

 spector for St. Catharines. 



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