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I' ME CANADIAN II O R T 1 C I' L T U R T S T 



October, 1907 



Wf have all kinds ul iiiinenils: asbestos 

 can only be found in Quebec. Our 

 forests and streams are the sportsman's 

 paradise. We have the leading city in 

 Canada, Montreal, with a ])opulation of 

 nearly 500,000. It is a great consumer 

 of fruit: two hundred carloads of Cali 



fornia frim is an average per year, the 

 freight and duty being about $1,200 a 

 car. About 150,000 bunches of bananas 

 per year are used in Montreal. If tropi- 

 cal fruits can be shipped at such a cost 

 to Montreal, why shouldn't the fruit 

 grown at L'lslet find a readv market for 



an increased production of their valu- 

 able plums and cherries? Instead of 

 being a frozen waste, with ice palaces 

 for our amusement, as some of our Am- 

 erican friends to the south believe, we 

 have a land of great possibilities and 

 resources. 



A. New Fruit MarKet Wanted in Toronto 



THK .Scott St. Fruit Market in To- 

 ronto is a market only in name. 

 It is nothing more than a freight 

 shed that has been turned over for the 

 handling of fruits and vegetables. It 

 is not a fit place in which to have fruit, 

 as it is not large enough nor light 

 enough. From all sources — from deal- 

 ers, buyers and growers — complaints 

 are heard. There is not enough room 

 to handle fruit on ordinary days, and 

 the congestion is unitnaginable, unless 

 seen, on rush days. It is not fair to 

 the fruit grower nor to the man who 

 buys his fruit. The loss to the fruit 

 grower lies in the fact that the buyer 

 has no chance to examine his fruit. To 

 learn something about the state of affairs 

 at the markets and to secure the opinions 

 of some leading commission men. a re- 



' There is scarcely need for asking 

 questions on the subject. You have 

 simply to look and you will see at once 

 that the building is overcrowded. Most 

 of the time during the fruit season we 

 cannot move, the baskets are piled so 

 high. Baskets of fruit should not be 

 piled more than five high (that is ten 

 baskets in the pile) . ' ' 



Belknap & vSon said that their busi- 

 ness demands at least three times as 

 much room as they have at the present. 

 "We should have a proper market. 

 This building is nothing more than a 

 shed. There is not enough room, and 

 the light is bad. The large firms are 

 obliged to fill the passageways and the 

 smaller ones are shut off from buyers." 

 Mr. Jas. Bamford said that there 

 should be twice as mtich floor space. 



A Scene at the Toronto Fniit Market on an Ordinary Day. 



On rush days the congestion is even more pronounced. There is not room to handle 

 fruit properly for sale or display. 



presentative of The Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist recently secured the 

 following information : 



WhenjMr. Stronach, Sr., of Stronach 

 & Sons, was approached, he said: 



He suggested that a few electric lights 

 should be placed in the building to 

 improve matters until a new building 

 is secured. 



"We have not half enough room," 



said White & Co. "We cannot handle 

 stuff properly, as there is no place td 

 display it. To properly display the 

 fruit handled by our firm, we could 

 usejspace equal to half the space of this 

 building. From early morning till 

 night we have fruit coming in, w-ith 

 no space to put it in. We are com 

 pelled to sell the stuff already insidt 

 before any more can be brought in 

 Sometimes we have to carry fruit back 

 to the cars or put it outside on the 

 platform so that we may have room 

 enough to do business, and the fruit 

 in the hot sun | is injured. Much of 

 ourj fruit cannot be seen unless the 

 piles in front of it are climbed ovjr." 

 ^,jThe situation was referred to by 

 Mr. D. Spence somewhat as follows: 

 "This building is certainly not a proper 

 place in which to handle fruit. Many 

 mornings we have not enough room ta 

 walk around. The building is not 

 large enough nor properly laid out. 

 The city of Toronto | should build a 

 proper market, and it would give a 

 revenue. The fruit men would be 

 glad to pay to the city the same as 

 they are- now paying the Grand Trunk 

 Railway for space in the market. They 

 are paying half a cent for each eleven- 

 quart basket, one-quarter of a cent for 

 each six-quart basket, one cent for 

 each twenty-four quart crate, and two 

 cents each for barrels and sacks. If 

 the city got this money, it could pay 

 for a market in a short time. Every 

 day between 30,000 and 40.000 pack- 

 ages pass through the market. The 

 fruit trade is increasing rapidly, but 

 the market space is not keeping pace 

 in proportion. Sometimes stuff that 

 comes in during the night will not be 

 sold until two o'clock the next after- 

 noon because of lack of space for dis- 

 playing it. Occasionally we have to 

 give stuff away to make room for later 

 arrivals. I do not think that the 

 wholesalers should go to the St. Law- 

 rence Market. We should have a 

 wholesale market away from the re- 

 tail, and in connection with it there 

 should be cold storage ^apartments." 

 In speaking of transportaiton facili- 

 ties, Mr. Spence said that the Dominion 

 Express Company was the only com- 

 pany that was trying to do the right 

 thins. Thev endeavor to handle fruit 



