September, 1907 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



233 



Fruit Growing in Prince Edward Island 



A. McNeill, Chief, Fruit Division. Ottawa 



T 



^HE Department of Agriculture for the 

 Province of Prince Edward Island, with 

 the cooperation of the Provincial Fruit 

 Growers' Association, arranged a series of 

 orchard meetings which were duly held during 

 the month of July. The Dominion Department 

 of Agriculture responded to an invitation from 

 Mr. Keid, Commissioner of Agriculture, and I 

 was deputed to attend these meetings. 



The climatic conditions of the Island are such 

 as to render it somewhat hazardous to attempt 

 to grow the popular winter varieties such as the 

 Spy, Baldwin and Greening. These varieties 

 are indeed grown in certain protected districts, 

 but cannot be recommended for general culture. 

 The high winds prevailing there are another 

 factor which demands special attention. The 

 excessive snowfall has to be reckoned with, as 

 also has the very low temperatures which might 

 be expected from its northerly situation. Not- 

 withstanding all these circumstances, the Island 

 produces most excellent fruit of at least a few 

 varieties. I have seen their exhibit of fruit on 

 three or four occasions, and can say without 

 reservation that the finest box of apples I ever 

 saw grown and packed in the Dominion of Can- 

 ada, was a box of Baxters grown on Prince 

 Edward Island and exhibited at the annual 

 meeting of the provincial association in 1905. 

 The Gravensteins exhibited at the same time and 

 upon other occasions, show that this variety 

 reaches perfection here. Unfortunately the 

 tree is no healthier on the Island than it is in 

 Nova Scotia, and consequently cannot be rec- 

 ommended for general planting unless it is care- 

 fully top-grafted upon hardy stock. The 

 Duchess, Wealthy, Alexander, Wolf River, Mc- 

 intosh Red, Pewaukee, Baxter, Stark and Ben 



Davis are the varieties that can be confidently 

 recommended at the present time. These are 

 quite sufficient to form the basis of a splendid 

 apple trade, and if the Island can grow no others 

 —which is by no means the case — it might yet 

 become famous as an apple-growing district. 



The Islanders are making a few mistakes in 

 cultural methods. They allow grass to grow in 

 the orchard and they start the heads of the 

 trees too high. [Note. — These points are dealt 

 with more at length in the editorial columns of 

 this issue. — Editor.] 



Varieties, of course, are a serious matter. 

 The people naturally like varieties that havo 

 been successful in other provinces, and will net 

 be satisfied unless they can grow everything that 



has been'"grownTeverywhere else. It will take 

 more education to persuade them that it would 

 be a good thing if the commercial orchards of 

 the whole Island were confined to three or fotir 

 varieties. |^ -j.* 



Of course they have been experimenting with 

 "fillers." To accentuate the evil, the standard 

 trees are planted, much too close. I have added 

 my testimony to the evils of close planting, as 

 well as to the very grave mistake of using "fill- 

 ers" at all where land is cheap. 



Closely connected with this subject of the use 

 of ground comes the question of fertilizing. 

 The prevailing opinion on the Island is that a 

 tree cannot be grown without the use of a large 

 quantity of either commercial or barnyard 

 manure. Here again the popular notion is a 

 mistake. I would undertake to plant an or- 

 chard on good Prince Edward Island soil, and 

 grow the orchard, at least till it begins to bear, 

 say to the age of five or six years, with the use 



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