80 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



knotty problems, and finally resulted, 

 at the close of the convention, in the 

 spirit of national pride finding a vent 

 in the giving of hearty cheers for Canada 

 and the fruit interests of the Dominion. 



THE DKLEGATES 



While it might have been possible to 

 have had a larger number of delegates 

 in attendance, a gathering more repre- 

 sentative of the fruit industry of the 

 Dominion, and of its various sub- 

 divisions, could not have been convened. 

 Every province was represented by its 

 full number of delegates, there not being 

 an absentee. The delegates in attend- 

 ance were: 



Ontario — Harold Jones, Maitland; W. 

 H. Bunting, St. Catharines; Elmer Lick, 

 Oshawa; F. G. Stewart, Homer; M. 

 Pettit, Winona; A. W. Peart, Buriing- 

 ton; D. Johnson, Forest; A. E. Sher- 

 rington, "Walkerton; W. D. A. Ross, 

 Chatham; P. W. Hodgetts, i:)epartment 

 of Agriculture; Prof. H. L. Hutt, O. A. 

 C, Guelph; Linus Woolverton, Fruit 

 Experiment Stations, Grimsby. 



British Columbia — Jas. A. Grant, Vic- 

 toria; J. C. Metcalfe, Hammond; W. J. 

 Brandrith, Ladner; Martin Burrell, 

 Grand Forks; R. M. Palmer, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Victoria. 



Nova Scotia — Ralph Eaton, Kent- 

 ville; R. W. Starr, Wolfville; G. C. Mil- 

 ler, Middleton; S. C. Parker, Berwick; 

 B. W. Chipman, Department of Agri- 

 culture, Hahfax; Prof. F. C. Sears, -Agri- 

 cultural College, Truro. 



Quebec — G. Renaud, La Trappe; J. 

 M. Fisk, Abbotsford; Robert Brodie, 

 Westmount; R. W. Shepherd, Como 

 (Montreal) ; N. E. Jack, Chateauguay 

 Basin; J. C. Chapais, Department of 

 Agriculture, St. I)enis; Prof. S. Blair, 

 Macdonald College, St. Annede Bellevue. 



New Brunswick — J. C. Gilman, Kings- 

 clear; L W. Stephenson, Sheffield; Thos. 

 Peters, Department of Agriculture, Fred- 

 ericton. 



Prince Edward Island — Reverend A. 

 E. Burke, Alberton ; A. E. Dewar, Char- 

 lottetown; J. C. Ready, Department of 

 Agriculture, Charlottetown. 



Manitoba — David S. Manson, Win- 

 nipeg. 



Saskatchewan — R. T. Goodfellow, 

 Prince Albert. 



Alberta — A. E. Clendennan, R. J. 

 Hamilton. 



In addition to the foregoing, who had 

 been appointed by the various fruit 

 growers' associations, departments of 

 agriculture and agricultural colleges of 

 the different provinces, the various com- 

 mercial interests were well represented 

 by such leading apple buyers and ship- 

 pers as Messrs. E. D. Smith, M.P., of 

 Winona, Ont. ; R. J. Graham, of Belle- 

 ville, Ont., and A. S. Chapin, of Toronto. 

 The commission dealers were represented 

 by Mr. G. W. Hunt, of Ottawa and 

 Winnipeg, and by Mr. D. S. Manson, 



rejjresenling the .McPhersoii Product 

 Co. of Winnipeg. The barrel manu- 

 facturers were represented by Mr. J. 

 Inncs, of Chatham, and the canning in- 

 terests by Mr. Robert Anderson, of 

 Montreal. In addition to these parties, 

 several members of Parliament were in 

 attendance at several of the sessions. 

 The presence of all these gentlemen made 

 it possible for the various subjects to 

 be discussed from all sides, and assisted 

 greatly in the intelligent consideration 

 of the various points raised. 



Those who may have thought that 

 the fruit interests in the different prov- 

 inces are too widely divergent to ever 

 be harmonized, had their fears dis- 

 pelled as a result of the unanimous 

 action taken by the conference on prac- 

 tically every point raised. Not a jar- 

 ring note occurred. The delegates have 

 scattered to their homes to spread the 

 news that the interests of the fruit 

 growers of the Dominion, from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, are identical, 

 and that in future national interests, in 

 every case, must take precedence over 

 those of local importance. The out- 

 come of the future conferences that have 

 been promised will be looked forward to 

 with greater confidence. 



OPENING SESSION 



The conference was opened Tuesday 

 morning by Mr. J. A. Ruddick, Dominion 

 Dairy Commissioner, who is in charge 

 also of the fruit division. After a few- 

 words of welcome, Mr. Ruddick intro- 

 duced Hon. Sydney Fisher and asked 

 him to preside. In accepting the chair, 

 Mr. Fisher explained that while it might 

 be unusual for the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture to preside at such gatherings, he 

 felt that the conference was going to be 

 one of national importance, and that 

 the best way he could take of gaining 

 the views of the delegates was to preside 

 at their meetings that he might the 

 more closely follow the various dis- 

 cussions. 



The first business taken up was the 

 appointment of committees, which re- 

 sulted as follows: 



Resolutions, Messrs. Martin Burrell, 

 M. Pettit, J. M. Fisk, G. C. Miller, A. 

 E. Dewar. 



Program, Messrs. W. H. Bunting, D. 

 S. Manson, R. W. Starr, Rev. Father 

 A. E. Burke, J. C. Metcalfe, and J. C. 

 Gilman. 



Credentials, Ralph S. Eaton, Robert 

 Brodie, Harold Jones, W. J. Brandrith, 

 and A. E. Dewar. 



FRUIT STATISTICS 



The first subject considered was sta- 

 tistics, which was handled most ably 

 by Mr. A. W. Peart, of Burlington, who 

 submitted an exhaustive report con- 

 taining statistical information relating 

 to almost all branches of the fruit in- 

 dustry in Canada. This report helped 



to show the delegates the relative ini 

 portance of the fruit interests in tin 

 different provinces. In submitting 

 these figures, only a brief outline of 

 which can be given in this report, Mr 

 Peart said: 



"In these statistics an attempt is 

 made to give some idea of the extent of 

 the fruit industry in Canada and in the 

 various provinces as well. The figures 

 given are derived partly from the Do- 

 minion census of 1901, from the Domin- 

 ion trade returns for 1904-1905, partly 

 from the opinions of practical and well- 

 informed fruit growers in Ontario, and 

 partly from calculations made by my 

 self from the census figures and other 

 data. The need of some such statistics, , 

 both from a commercial and an academic ' 

 standpoint, is apparent. No attempt ! 

 has been made in these tables to boom 

 the fruit industry. A just and season- 

 able presentation of the case, based on • 

 all the facts available, has been the con- , 

 stant aim. The inherent difficulties of 

 such a task are obvious and while then- 

 are undoubtedly errors still, I belli 

 that the figures here submitted are i 

 the main reliable." 



The report then went on to show that 

 the year 1901 was a very short apple 

 year, the bearing trees yielding scarcely 

 two bushels each. Last year, 1905, was 

 nearly the same. During the inter- 

 vening years the crop w-as heavy, so 

 that it is estimated that the annual 

 average value of the apple crop in 

 Canada during the five years, 1901 

 1905 inclusive, was $6,984,819, on the 

 basis of 25 cents per bushel, as the 

 apples were picked from the trees. 



Total fruit trees of all kinds in Can- 

 ada, 1901=21,201,239. Adding 10 per 

 cent, for increase since then on the 

 basis of an increase of two per cent, per 

 year (the estimated increase in Ontario), 

 the number for 1905 would be 23,321, 

 362. Total fruit trees in Ontario in 

 1901, 14,087,936. Add 10 per cent, 

 equals 15,496,729 for 1905. 



Total fruit trees in 1901 : Quebec, 

 3,055,805; Nova Scotia, 2,294,780; New 

 Brunswick, 761,834; Prince Edward 1 

 land, 360,060; British Columbia, 56, 

 782; Manitoba, 63,637; North-West 

 Territories, 9,405. Average annual 

 value of apple crop these last five years 

 estimated at $6,984,819 (1901 to 1905 

 inclusive) on the basis of 25 cents ptr 

 bushel as picked from the trees. 



The total apple trees in Ontario in 

 1901 were placed at 9,541,619 and 

 bushels at 13,631,264; Quebec, 2,256,- 

 752 trees and 2,025.113 bushels; Nova 

 Scotia, 1,975,575 trees and 2,065,104 

 bushels; New Brunswick, 675,364 trees 

 and 503,214 bushels; Prince Edward 

 Island, 202,100 trees and 159,421 bush- 

 els; British Columbia, 391,644 trees and 

 240,012 bushels; Manitoba, 8,332 trees 

 and 571 bushels: North-West Territor- 

 ies, 2.488 trees and 1.487 bushels. 



