"WorK Being Planned by tHe Ontario Vegetable Gro'wers 



THE various branch associations' of the On- 

 tario Vegetable Growers' Association have 

 all held their annual meetings, and ap- 

 pointed their representatives on the board of 

 the provincial association, which is now fully 

 organized. A meeting of the executive commit- 

 tee of the Ontario Association was held in the 

 secretary's office, Toronto, Feb. 7. Those pres- 

 ent included Messrs. J. H. Lewis, of the Hamil- 

 ton branch; Geo, Syme, Jr., Jos. Rush, F. F. 

 Reeves, and Thomas Delworth of the Toronto 

 branch; John Atkin of the Sarnia branch, Mr. 

 Ross of the Chatham branch, A. McMeans of the 

 Brantfort Branch, W. C. McCalla of the St. 

 Catharines branch, and the secretary, H. B. 

 Cowan. Mr. Robert Thompson, president of the 

 St. Catharines branch, was also in attendance, 

 although not a duly qualified delegate. 



The secretary reported that lists of paid-up 

 members had been received from the various 

 branches as follows, entitling them to the 

 number of representatives on the provincial 

 board mentioned: Toronto, 152 members, 6 

 directors; Brantford 25 members; St. Cathar- 

 ines, 26; Chatham, 26; Hamilton, 30; Sarnia, 

 25; each entitled to one director. 



The election of officers resulted as follows: 

 President, F. F. Reeves, of Humber Bay; 1st 

 vice-pres., A. McMeans, Brantford; sec.-treas., 

 H. B. Cowan, Toronto. 



Mr. Rush reported on behalf of the committee 

 who had been appointed to interview Mr. Put- 

 nam in regard to a series of meetings for vegetable 

 growers, that he had seen Mr. Puttiam, who was 

 willing to assist this work. 



The secretary read a series of questions that 

 had been sent to the branch associations, and the 

 representatives from the various associations 

 reported the decisions of their members in re- 

 gard to the points raised in the statement. On 

 motion of Mr. Delworth, seconded by Mr. Ross, 

 it was decided to appoint an executive committee 

 which committee should conduct the routine 

 business of the association. On motion of Mr. 

 McCalla, seconded by Mr. Atkin, the president, 

 vice-president, Mr. Lewis and the secretary were 

 appointed a committee. 



The advisability of the association expending 

 money to obtain crop reports was considered. 

 The feeling of the meeting was that crop reports 

 would be a splendid thing for the vegetable grow- 

 ers of the province, and that if they were issued 

 properly they would be of great value. The best 

 method of obtaining these crop reports was con- 

 sidered, and the expression of opinion was that 

 it would be better to have a few men in the leading 

 vegetable sections paid to forward letters at 

 stated intervals covering the conditions in their 

 sections, rather than to obtain a large number of 

 correspondents and expect them to report for 

 nothing. It was pointed out that such men 

 would make it their business to acquaint them- 

 selves with the actual conditions in their districts. 

 The matter was left in the hands of the executive 

 conutiittee with power to act. 



The advisability of petitioning the government 

 to appoint an apjjraiser whose duty it would be to 

 examine consignments of vegetables from the 

 United States imported into Canada and find 

 if they were undervalued by the consignee, and 

 where such was found to be the case to place a 

 proper valuation on same was considered. It was 

 decided that a deputation from the association 

 shfHild wait on the Dominion Government and 

 impress on the government the urgent need for 

 a specific duty on vegetables, but failing this 

 the need for the appointment of a competent 

 appraiser, whose duty it would be to watch the 

 valuation placed on vegetables imported into 

 Canada through the principal jxrints of entry. 

 On motion of Mr. Lewis, Messrs. Delworth, Mc- 

 Means and the secretary were appointed a com- 

 mittee to wait on the govermnent to press this 

 matter. The committee was authorized to ar- 

 range with the growers in the Province of Quebec 

 and with growers in the vicinity of Ottawa, 

 to act with them in pressing this matter on the 

 government. 



The executive committee was instructed to 

 wait on the Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, 

 to request that exjierimental work in the growing 

 of vegetables and combatting insect pests, fungus 

 diseases, etc., be carried on much more extensive- 

 ly than in the past. It was stated that this com- 

 mittee should gain information as to what has 

 been done in this direction not only in Ontario 

 but in the States of the American Union. 



Mr. Syme reported that the committee to wait 

 on the officials of the Toronto Industrial Exhi- 

 bition to see that the association was given proper 

 representation on the board of management of that 

 exhibition had seen Dr. Orr. At first Dr. Orr 

 had not given them as cordial a reception as they 

 felt they were entitled to receive, and it was not 

 until they intimated that the association might 

 be willing to make a grant to the Toronto In- 

 dustrial that Dr. Orr seemed willing to give them 

 the reception they felt they should have been 

 accorded. Dr. Orr finally suggested that a 

 committee from the association should meet 



with him and go over the prize Ust for the To- 

 ronto Industrial. On motion of Mr. Syme, Mr. 

 Reeves and Mr. Rush were appointed to confer 

 with Dr. Orr in regard to this matter. 



The secretary reported that he had written 

 to the members of parliament in the various 

 districts of the province where it was stated that 

 there were vegetable growers and had asked 

 them for the names of prominent growers who 

 might be interested in forming branches of the 

 association. He had received a large number of 

 replies from the members, and thought it would 

 be advisable for a committee to be appointed to 

 go into this matter thoroughly. One reply from 

 the Napanee section stated that there should be 

 no difficulty in organizing a branch at that point 

 with 170 members. The executive committee 

 was authorized to act as an organization committee 



Messrs. Reeves, Delworth, McCalla and Lewis 

 were appointed to represent the association on 

 the executive of the Ontario Horticultural Ex- 

 hibition. 



Our Prince Edward Island Letter 



Rev. FatKer BurKe, Alberton, P.E.I. 



AS the session of Federal Parliament is to be 

 called March 8, the Horticultural Council 

 so anxiously awaited by the fruit growers 

 will not assemble until about the middle of that 

 month. Meantime the schedule of questions is 

 before those concerned, and it is the duty of the 

 delegates to properly qualify themselves to 

 intelligently discuss the subjects, and give a vote 

 calculated to advance the general interests in- 

 volved. Concerted action is earnestly required 

 to remove from the region of controversy many 

 of the burning ciuestions that have beset the in- 

 struction propaganda of the country, and con- 

 fused the public mind at home and abroad. Dif- 

 ferent sections may hold widely different views, 

 but a policy of give and take must be adopted 

 in many things, so that something definite 

 may be snatched from the assembly, and the 

 fruit interest advanced a long pace towards 

 complete organization. 



In Prince Edward Island we are deeply inter- 

 ested in all the phases of horticulture, from the 

 educational to the commercial. We had a sort 

 of paternal attention from the Federal Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture under Prof. Robertson. 

 Since his withdrawal from the general commission- 

 ership of agriculture for Canada, however, this 

 department has failed us, and failed us at a most 

 untoward time. The fruit inspectors under 

 the Marks Act were here as instructors in the 

 interim between crops and they did much to 

 advance horticulture generally. They visited 

 the neglected orchards and inspired the dejected 

 with new cotirage; they brought fresh methods 



and ncwideas to those who were busyat the work; 

 they held meetings and aroused the whole com- 

 munity — and thus thoroughly awakened the 

 province to its possibilities in fruit production. 



The fruit division at reconstruction went as an 

 appendage to the dairy division, and with this 

 much of its usefulness, so far as we were concern- 

 ed, departed. The instructors were withdrawn 

 at the moment the province was suffering from a 

 great loss in its orchards because of severe snow 

 banks which resulted in the breaking down of 

 innumerable plantations. Then spraying was 

 withheld and instruction done away with as a 

 specialty of our horticulture, with the result that 

 the forward pace of other years has not been 

 maintained. 



We hope for a better adjustment of repre- 

 sentative interests at Ottawa, and a return to the 

 policy that helps the country forward most 

 Here, handicapped by our insularity, we cannot 

 be too generously treated in the encouragement of 

 the few punsuits that can be followed with some 

 show of success. BUi 



Our winter is not such so far — and the worst 

 is probably past — as to cause us any concern 

 about our apple plantations. The weather is 

 very mild and there is enough snow to cover the 

 ground perfectly, but not enough to make 

 dangerous banks such as break down trees, or 

 afford a shelter for the mischievous mouse. 

 The glass has seldom registered zero, and the 

 killing back of severe seasons need not be feared. 

 There is no ice in the straits. The conditions are 

 unusuallv mild. 



"WorKmeni Fined Too 



Further penalties have been meted out to 

 those who persist in violating the Fruit Marks 

 Act. Some time ago Mr. Jas. Coyle, of Colborne, 

 was fined $50 and costs for improper marking. 

 This was not sufficient to put a stop to the 

 fraudulent practice in that section. Since the 

 first conviction John Coyle, a member of the 

 firm of J. and R. Coyle, apple operators, Col- 

 borne, Ont., has been fined S30 and costs as 

 owner at the time of packing of very poor apples 

 marked No. 1 in violation of section 6 of the 

 act. He also was fined So and costs under 

 section 4 of the order-in-coimcil, as foreman of 

 the men who packed this fruit . 



Geo. Bachelor, boss packer for J. and R. 

 Coyle, and A. Turney, boss packer for F. C. 

 Morrow, were fined $5 and costs under section 

 4 of the order-in-council. Other convictions 

 under section 6 of the Fruit Marks Act were: 

 C. A. Nugent, fined $5: F, F. Snelgrove, $12.75; 



R. D. Snelgrove, $6.50; and J. D. Osborne, $6, 

 with costs in each case. 



In the case of the workmen, Messrs. Bachelor 

 and Turney, there was no desire to be particular- 

 ly severe. It was only where there was the 

 clearest evidence of the workmen knowingly 

 assisting in perpetrating a fraud that the fruit 

 inspectors felt justified in pro.secuting the 

 laborers in the packing houses. 



Seed Potatoes. — Smith Bros., of Beachville, 

 have worked up a large business in seed growing. 

 Last year ever 1,000 bushels of potatoes alone 

 were grown for seed. This firm is carrying on 

 a very important work in selecting from the 

 finest of the finest each year. The Eldorado 

 potato, mentioned in their advertisement in 

 this issue, is highly spoken of as a heavy cropper 

 and good quality. Smith Bros, are members of 

 The Canadian Seed Growers' Association, and 

 sell seed stock with registered pedigrees. ^ 



