THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



117 



The Rink that is the Headquarters of The Forest Fruit Growers' Association 



The officers of the Forest Fruit Growers' Association have not incurred the expense of putting up a special building for the handling of 

 their fruit, but use the Forest curling rink, which has answered their purposes. The building is 150 x 40 feet. Among the people shown 

 in the photograph is Mr. D. Johnson, the president of the Association, and Mr. Idiens, the English buyer, who last year purchased 

 all the fruit packed by the Association, paying cash. This shows that buyers will visit the growers direct when they know that they can 

 obtain sufficiently large quantities of fruit properly packed. 



cents a barrel on seconds. We bought 

 about 100 barrels of fruit in this way, 

 the profit on which was turned over to 

 the members of the association.' 



When asked how the association 

 obtains its supplies, Mr. Johnson re- 



?lied: "We make our own barrels, 

 his year 1,500 to 2,000 were made in 

 our orchard for our own apples, the rest 

 being made by a Forest cooper. The 

 supplies are bought from the manufac- 

 turers, and barrels having eight hoops 

 cost us 27J^ cents each. The ruling 

 price in our section was 32 cents. We 

 have two coopers who are employed 

 during the apple season." 



The following letter from Mr. Idiens 

 of the firm that handled the fruit shows 

 how it arrived and how well satisfied 

 the firm was and promises well for 

 further orders. 



'"I was at Evesham, our head office, 

 recently and found that the firm are 

 very well pleased with the pack as well 

 as with the fruit. They are more than 

 satisfied and say that every credit 

 possible is due to the association for 

 such good, honest packing. As you 

 know, it is hard to work up a brand 

 here, as it takes time for people to catch 

 on. Now when your fruit is nearly all 

 sold people are wiring and telephoning 



from all parts for 

 it. It will be easy 

 for us to sell it another 

 year.' 



INDIVIDUAL SHIPPING. 



' ' While the great 

 bulk of the fruit 

 grown in the vicinity 

 of Forest is handled 

 by our association, 

 yet it would be wrong 

 to ignore the good 

 work done by Mr. H. 

 A. Hodgson, a pro- 

 gressive and energetic 

 fruit grower, who , with 

 about half a dozen 

 growers,, has been 

 shipping the fruit 

 grown by them for 

 several years to Dun- 

 dee and Glasgow. Mr. 

 Hodgson, who is a 

 good packer, oversees 

 the work of making 

 up car lots, and con- 

 signs the fruit through 

 in his own name, al- 

 though each grower 

 packs his own fruit, 

 putting his own 

 name on the barrel. The commission 

 merchant sells each brand according to 

 its merit and remits to the grower ac- 

 cordingly. 



This company, although known to the 

 trade by no particular name, has done 

 good work, and as they have shipped 

 several cars for years to their own brokers, 

 their fruit has become known and they 

 have realized high prices. Mr. Hodgson 

 has but little faith in anyone making 

 a success of fruit growing unless he 

 sprays thoroughly, and he has done 

 much to encourage his neighbors to 

 grow a better class of fruit as well as to 

 pack and ship their own produce." 



Fire BligKt on Pear Trees 



What causes fire blight in pears? I lost 

 three trees last year, and three the year before. 

 Last year half of each tree dried up. — F. F. 

 Reeves, Humber Bay, Ont. 



PROF. F. C. SEARS, Truro, N.S. : 

 This is one of the few diseases of 

 plants that is definitely known to be 

 caused by bacteria. Experiments show 

 Ihere is little, if any, benefit from spray- 

 ing. The bacteria winter in old dis- 

 eased portions of the tree, mostly about 

 the tips of twigs and branches, but to a 

 con.siderable extent in patches of dis- 

 eased tissue on the limbs and even on the 

 trunk. When growth of the tree starts 

 in the spring the bacteria renew their 

 active growth and extend the boundar- 

 ies of the diseased parts, being carried 

 by insects and birds to new places. The 



new points of attack are especially about 

 the flowers and the tips of growing 

 shoots. To these points they are car- 

 ried by honey-eating insects, especially 

 bees, and from them spread rapidly 

 down the branch, killing the leaves and 

 causing the familiar brown, burned ap- 

 pearance that gives the disease its name. 

 Towards autumn the rapidity of the 

 spread of the disease gradually decreases 

 till the bacteria enter their quiescent 

 state for the winter. The only remedy 

 that has been found at all satisfactory 

 is the knife, and it must be used freely 

 but carefully. The trees should be gone 

 over very carefully in the autumn and 

 again in early spring and every vestige 

 of diseased tissue cut out, along with a 

 great deal of wood that appears per- 



fectly healthy. It is a good rule in re- 

 moving a diseased branch to cut a foot 

 below where the disease shows in order 

 to be perfectly sure that all germs are 

 cut away. All the diseased trimmings 

 should be promptly burned. 



It is also necessary to frequently ster- 

 ilize the knife and saw with which the 

 operator is working. Otherwise, in- 

 stead of checking the disease, it may 

 actually spread it, as the tools will carry 

 the germs and each cut will act as an 

 inoculation. 



For the purpose of sterilizing tools, 

 Waite recommends the following : ' ' First, 

 mercuric chloride, or corrosive sublim- 

 ate, one part to 1,000 parts water; 

 second, five per cent, carbolic acid solu- 

 tion; third, a solution of chloride of 



