126 



T^HE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 1907 



fNOTBS FROM THE PROVINCES 

 Sy our Regular Correspondenta and Others 



British Columbia 



C. p. iiet£a\i, Hamn^ondj 



Spri'^^has come again, and^withj_it^spring 

 work. Grafting, fertilizing, spraying, cultivat- 

 ing, and other details of orcharding, so likely 

 to be neglected in the rush to get the^crops in, 

 should not be forgotten. Too often this is the 

 one season of the year when the orchard suffers 

 from lack of attention. 



Spraying is being more extensively carried on 

 this spring than has heretofore been the case, 

 due, no doubt, to the stricter enforcement of 

 the provincial laws respecting the spraying and 

 pruning of orchards. It is to be hoped that the 

 year will be a favorable one, so that fruit growers 

 may be encouraged to do it more thoroughly, 

 not merely to comply with the law, but for the 

 benefits to be derived. 



^ Canes and bushes have come through the 

 winter fairly well. Trees, particularly apples 

 and cherries, suffered some from splitting of the 

 bark of the trimks caused by the thawing and 

 freezing of the sap content. 



The B.C. Fruit Growers' Association has been 

 holding a series of meetings throughout the 

 interior and lower mainland, with a view to 

 encourage local associations and individual 

 growers to cooperate in the maintenance of 

 prices, and in a more even distribution of the 

 output in the markets of the west. 



The local association at Revelstoke resolved 

 to endorse the resolution of the Kamloops Frint 

 Growers' Association asking the Provincial 

 Government to establish a fumigation station 

 at Revelstoke for the fumigation of all imported 

 trees for distribution in the interior. At present 

 the only one is at Vancouver, an imf ortunate 

 arrangement, as nearly all the nursery stock 

 coming from the east and south-east has to be 

 taken through Revelstoke to Vancouver, and 

 then back again to its destination, frequently 

 involving a delay of a fortnight. All the interior 

 fruit growers are agreed that such a station 

 should be established at some interior point. 



TKe l^abor Question in B.C. 



H. L. Gordon, Vernon 



The severe winter in British Columbia has 

 been followed by a burst of beautiful spring 

 weather, causing the fruit farmer to look 

 aroimd for necessary labor. The farmer, who 

 must Umit the amount of wages he offers, is 

 at a disadvantage in the search for labor in 

 competition with lumbermen and those able 

 to make tempting offers and recoup themselves 

 by adding to the prices of their commodities. 



There is a serious lack of immigrant laborers 

 at present. It is said that many who start 

 from Europe with British Columbia as their 

 destination, are captured en route chiefly at 

 Winnipeg. However this may be, the fruit 

 farmers whose trees are as yet improductive, 

 and their name is legion, are unable to find the 

 labor for their orchards, whilst the intention 

 of the provincial government to inspect orchards 

 rigidly for the presence of pests, threatens to 

 place the farmer between the devil and the deep 

 sea; he cannot keep his orchard as it should be 

 without hired labor. It is to the provincial 

 government that the farmer looks for the solu- 

 tion of the labor problem. There has been 

 much talk and many newspaper interviews with 

 officials, but no practical result. 



The farmer has imtil recently depended 

 largely upon the Chinaman; but there is a con- 

 census of opinion among those who consider 

 I he question dispassionately, that the Oriental 

 aborer cannot meet the requirements of the 



situation, and^^the agitation of a year ago in 

 favor of the removal of the import tax upon 

 Chinamen has subsided. The permanent good 

 of the country demands white labor, but until 

 the fruit farmer finds work for his laborer 

 throughout the winter as well as in the other 

 seasons, or until industrial expansion in other 

 directions provides winter opportimities for 

 the laborer, it is hard to see .how the farmer's 

 difficulty and the solid welfare of the province 

 are to be met simultaneously A suggestion 

 has been made that 5 acre lots might be sold 

 or rented moderately in the frviit districts to 

 men who would act as farm laborers in the 

 season; but it has not taken root, although it 

 is held that a desirable class of immigrant 

 would be attracted. 



After all, British Columbia is but going 

 through a difficulty that is successfully, if 

 gradually, met in older districts less favorably 

 situated, and with much less important finan- 

 cial interests behind them; but the farmer is 

 growing somewhat aweary of the prolonged 

 talk on the subject and the lack of action in 

 high places. The prospects of the fruit indus- 

 try in British Columbia are probably imrival- 

 led. It falls to those in authority to see to it 

 that these prospects are not blighted by lack 

 of suitable labor. 



Nova Scotia 

 ^G. H. Vroom, Dominion Fnut Inspector 



Another Nova Scotia winter is a thing of the 

 past, for which we are truly grateful. The 

 apple crop has nearly all been marketed at only 

 medium prices. The total export from Nova 

 Scotia for the year 1906-7 will amount to some- 

 thing near 325,000 barrels. 



I have been looking quite carefully over 

 the orchards in several localities in the Annap- 

 olis Valley during the last week or two, and 

 I find the trees well stocked with fruit buds, 

 which ensures a big bloom, without which we 

 cannot get fruit. I find very little winter 

 killing, and the trees look well. The buds have 

 not yet begun to swell as the weather has been 

 cold and backward. The fact that the buds 

 are kept back by the cold weather is a good 

 thing for the fruit, as the bloom will escape 

 the spring frosts. Caterpillars will very likely 

 be troublesome this season, as the nests are 

 plentiful on the apple trees. Present indica- 

 tions argue in favor of a good apple crop in 

 Nova Scotia this present year. 



Prince Ed-wrard Island 



Rev. Father Burke, Alberton 



The spring is late in Prince Edward Island. It 

 has seldom been later; but, no doubt, the Giver 

 of all Good will not, on this account withhold, 

 any more than other years, the miracle of the 

 multipUcation of seeds, by which the world Uves. 



In badly broken orchards our experience 

 teaches us that usually it is useless to go to much 

 trouble with repairs. Every broken limb of any 

 size is better off, if not needed for the moment, 

 for purposes of respiration, imtil new sprouts 

 come, etc. All this bolting and wiring ultimately 

 goes to pieces, in most cases. Set out some 

 good new trees, is oiu" advice. And do not be 

 discoiuraged; you are learning all the time and 

 this is all the pleasure of life. 



What will you put out this spring? This cor- 

 respondence with Chief McNeill will answer as 

 well as anything else: 



"Rbv. Father Burke: It is difficult, indeed, 

 to say what is the best variety, in fact there is 

 no best variety. A variety is a thing not only 



of .climate and soil, but of individuals, and con- 

 sequently we need never hope to get at abso- 

 lutely the best variety. Nevertheless, there is 

 x working hst of six that it is undoubtedly ex- 

 pedient to recommend. You give your own 

 personal hst as: 'Duchess, Alexander or Wolt 

 River, Fameuse or Mcintosh Red, Gravenstein 

 (top-grafted). Spy (top-grafted), Stark.' 



"This is a most excellent hst if you happen 

 to be a Duchess man. Like you, I have the 

 conceit to think that I am a Duchess man, and 

 am putting in 500 trees more of them next 

 spring. Your problem with the Duchess is com- 

 paratively easy because, as grown in Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, they may with a reasonable hope 

 of success be packed in barrels, and will carry to 

 an extent that we in the southern part of Ontario 

 could not think of coimting upon. I expect to 

 have to harvest mine all in boxes and with the 

 assistance of cold storage. Indeed, I should 

 never think for a moment of planting the Duchess 

 if I did not intend to box every Duchess that 1 

 sold, and ship it with the help of cold storage 

 from the orchard to the market. 



"Of your second choice, Alexander or Wolf 

 River, I think I would prefer the Wolf River, 

 all things considered, but you would make no 

 mistake in the Alexander. It is a paying apple. 

 So, also, in your third choice, I would prefer the 

 Mcintosh Red to the Fameuse. It is hardier, I 

 think, of better quality, but certainly either of 

 them is good enough in quaUty, but it is a some- 

 what better keeper and shipper. 



"I must confess that I have always had great 

 hopes of the Gravenstein in Prince Edward 

 Island. Top-grafted on hardy stock such as the 

 Tolman Sweet, McMahon White, Hibernal or 

 Gideon or Haas, it would be hardy almost any- 

 where that other apples grow, and could be har- 

 vested just with the last of the Nova Scotian 

 fruit and for some weeks after. The better 

 keeping quahty of the Prince Edward Island 

 Gravensteins would, I beUeve, so soon give them 

 a place in the market that they would occupy 

 practically the same position as the Georgian 

 Bay Spys do in Ontario fruit, and would call 

 for a top price. I must confess that I never 

 thought highly of the Spy for Prince Edward 

 Island; and nothing but the success of Senator 

 F'erguson keeps me from severely criticizing the 

 Ben Davis and the Stark. — A. McNeill, Chief, 

 Fruit Division, Ottawa." 



Implements that Save Labor 



The scarcity of good farm help is a serious 

 problem that confronts fruit growers and gar- 

 deners. The result is that many of them are 

 compelled to allow a large part of their land 

 to lie idle and allow it to run to grass and 

 weeds. The fruit grower 

 \ \. or gardener who depends 



\ V Sv upon Iron Age garden 



f^^jSjg^^^ tools, has the best help 

 f^\vf!f^^SBfl i'l tl^e world. These 

 l^oAEjI^^jy j / tools do the work easier, 

 mjLmJaJBtOlr^^X quicker, and better than 

 \ ^fflL/V WJw/^^ it can be done by any 

 -A,XAr»^^K^ other methods. Some 



of them combine several 

 tools in one implement. 

 The illustration shows the No. 60 Iron Age 

 riding cultivator. It is a great time and labor 

 saver. It is quickly adjusted to cultivate any 

 crop in rows from 28 to 48 inches in width. It 

 is successfully operated on both level and hilly 

 land, and on all kinds of soil. It is easy to 

 guide and easy to turn in the smallest space. 

 A little booklet tells about this and many other 

 implements. Write for it to the Bateman 

 Manfg. Co., Box 516, Grenloch, N.J. Men- 

 tion The Canadian HoRTictn,TURisT 



British Columbia apple growers should make 

 a strenuous effort to command the apple mar- 

 ket of Australasia. Reports from the Cana- 

 dian Commercial Agent at Sydnej;, N.S.W., 

 indicate that a larger trade in this product 

 should be carried on between Canada, particu- 

 larly B.C., and that coimtry. 



