12fi 



THE CANADIAN HORTICTTT.T FRIST 



The Canadian Horlicullurisi 



Published by The Horticultural 

 Publiihini CompanK", Limited 



The Only* Horticultural Magazine 

 in the Dominion 



Official Organ of British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec 

 and Prince Edward Island Fruit Growers' 

 Associations and of the Ontario Veg- 

 etable Growers' Association 



H. Bronson Cowan, Editor and Business Manager 



J. Albgkt Hand, B.S.A., Associate Editor 



W. G. Rook, Advertising Manager 



A. B. COTTINO. B.S.A., Special Correspondent 



1. The Canadian Horticulturist is published the first 

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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



507 and 508 Manning Chambers 



TORONTO, CANADA 



THE FRUIT DIVISION 



In view of the action Hon. Sydney Fisher 

 considered it expedient to take at the recent 

 Dominion Fruit Conference, to avoid giving 

 an explanation of his reasons for placing the 

 Dominion Fruit Division under the control of 

 the Dairy Commissioner, it is well that the 

 views of the fruit growers in regard to this mat- 

 ter shall be made known more fully than has 

 yet been done. At the outset it may be well 

 to repeat that the discussion of this matter does 

 not bear on the capabilities of the present dairy 

 commissioner nor of the chief of the fruit divi- 

 sion, but only on the principle that is involved. 



Tlie main reasons that have been advanced 

 by Hon, Mr. Fisher for the present arrange- 

 ment are that the problems relating to the fruit 

 industry that can be handled by the Dominion 

 Department of Agriculture, bear practically en- 

 tirely on the marketing and transportation of 

 fruit, and as the markets and cold storage di- 

 visions of the department have always been 

 under Mr. Ruddick, it is, therefore, a matter of 

 convenience in the department that the fruit 

 division, also, shall be under his charge. It has 

 been claimed, also, that as the fruit division 

 had previously been under Prof. Jas. W. Rob- 

 ertson, practically no change was made in its 

 status by leaving it under the dairy commis- 

 sioner. Dealing with this last contention first, 

 it can be stated positively that the cases are 

 not analogous. Prof. Robertson was not known 

 as the dairy commissioner, but as the "Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture," in which capacity 

 he was in charge of not only the dairy and fruit 

 divisions, but of the live stock, seed and mar- 

 keting divisions as well. To all intents and 

 purposes he acted in the capacity of the Deputv 

 Minister of Agriculture. When he retired the 

 live stock division was continued under an in- 

 dependent commissioner. An independent com- 

 missioner was appointed for the seed division. 

 This was the case, although the complexity of 

 the questions relatinrr to that division are not 

 to be compared \rith |):ose connected with the 



fruit industry. The fruit division, however, 

 was placed under the dairy commis.sioner, a 

 man who knows practically nothing about the 

 growing and handling of fruits. 



By this arrangement the chief of the fruit 

 division, no matter how capable he may be, is 

 forced to submit everything of importance re- 

 lating to his work to a man who (being a dairy- 

 man by inclination and training) is naturally 

 more interested in dairying than in fruit grow- 

 ing and who, as already .stated, knows practi- 

 cally nothing al)out fruit growing. Should the 

 dairy commissioner not give his approval to 

 the prosecution of any certain line of work that 

 settles it, as the chief of the fruit division has no 

 right to confer direct with the Minister of Agri- 

 culture. In other words, the fruit growers, 

 through their recognized representative in the 

 department, are cut off from conferring direct 

 with the minister. By this arrangement the 

 minister gives reason for the belief that he 

 considers the fruit division of very minor im- 

 ]X5rtance 



That this is his opinion is further indicated 

 by his claim that the only questions relating to 

 the fruit industry that his department can 

 handle properly are those concerning the mar- 

 keting and transportation of fruit. This con- 

 tention on his part shows how little he appre- 

 ciates the importance of the fruit industry. The 

 result of the recent fruit conference should have 

 enlightened him somewhat on this point. There 

 is no reason why the work of the fruit division 

 should not develop until it becomes one of the 

 most important branches of the department 

 of agriculture. 



In the first place the staff of fruit inspectors 

 needs to be considerably enlarged and the Fruit 

 Marks Act enforced more stringently than it 

 has been. A monthly and, during the sum- 

 mer and fall months, a semi-monthly crop re- 

 port should be issued that would deal with crop 

 conditions not only in Canada, but in the Unit- 

 ed vStates and Europe as well. If necessary, 

 a special clerk should be placed in charge of 

 this work. The cooperative growing and mar- 

 keting of fruit is only in its infancy, and is a 

 matter that properly falls under the control of 

 the Dominion Department of Agriculture. To 

 en.sure our fruit being marketed in better con- 

 dition more of these associations should be 

 formed and they should be assisted, in various 

 wavs, in finding a market for their fruit both 

 at home and abroad. In Nova Scotia, Ontario 

 and British Columbia efforts in this direction 

 have been more or less successful. Each prov- 

 ince could learn by the experience of the others, 

 but almost nothing has been done bv the fruit 

 division to nromote this work. No better men 

 to undertake it could be found than the 

 fruit inspectors who might be utilized during 

 the seasons when their work is slack. 



The package question is a serious one. Each 

 province has certain packages, and the lack of 

 uniformity is injurious to the trade. The bar- 

 rel question has been settled in part, but it is 

 only one branch of the subject. There should 

 be more harmony in this matter, and the fruit 

 division should set to work to bring it about. 



The development of interprovindal trade, 

 the inspection of conditions relating to the sale 

 of fruit on commission, the insfiection of nurs- 

 ery stock and numerous other matters require 

 to be undertaken by the Dominion Fruit Di- 

 vision. They wil! not be pushed with the 

 necessarv' vi^or until the fruit division has at 

 its head a fruit commissioner responsible to 

 the Minister of Agriculture only. As it is now, 

 no matter how excellent the work done by the 

 chief of the fruit division may be, the credit 

 for such ?oes to the chief of the dairy division, 

 who is the recosmized head of both divisions. 

 This, in itself, is certain to hamper and dis- 

 couraee the extension of this wort. 



The HorTiculTitrisT is not making a threat 

 when it states that as far as the fruit growers 

 are concerned this is a matter that will not 

 down. The present agitation will continue 

 until the desires of the growers are met. Hon. 

 Sydney Fisher at the recent conference showed 



himself to be anxious to do what he could to 

 promote the fruit industry. It is hoped that he 

 will recognize the strength of the feeling that 

 exists in regard to this matter, and that he will 

 make the desired change at the enrlirst op- 

 portunity 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES' ACT 



The new act governing horticultural socie- 

 ties, recently passed by the Ontario Legisla- 

 ture, places the horticultural s<xrieties of the 

 Province on an entirely new basis, and should 

 lead to a great extension of their work. The 

 old Agricultural and Arts Act, under which the 

 societies have received their grants in the past, 

 has been very unsatisfactory. Horticultural 

 societies had to share the government grant for 

 the district in which they were organized with the 

 agricultural societies in the same district. The 

 number of agricultural societies in the section 

 determined the size of the grant the horticultural 

 societies received. The value of the work the> 

 were doing was not taken into consideration. 



The effect of this, in many cases, was t • 

 create enmity between the officers of the a;.'i ; 

 cuhural and horticultural sodeties. In manv 

 counties the influence of the officers of the 

 agricultural societies was sufficient to block 

 the formation of horticultural societies in cen- 

 tres where they were greatly needed. In other 

 cases, where the oflRcers of an agricultural so- 

 ciety were afraid, a horticultural society might 

 be established, and the government grant • 

 the agricultural society thereby reduced, 

 few of them formed themselves into a dummy 

 horticultural society, drew the grant to the 

 horticultural society, and turned it into the 

 funds of the agricultural society. 



Under the new act, which Will come into 

 force tbe first of next year, this is all changed. 

 Horticultural societies have been placed on a 

 ba,sis of their own and, anticipating that there 

 will be an increase in their number, the govern- 

 ment grant has been increased from about 

 S6,400 to $8,000. In future societies will re- 

 ceive their grants in proportion to the amounts 

 they expend for horticultural purposes. This 

 will lead to a reduction in the grants of a few 

 sodeties that have been receiving grants that 

 were above the average, while sodeties like the 

 one at St. Catharines, which last year expended 

 ten dollars for every dollar it received from the 

 government, will be assisted. 



The formation of dummy scxieties to help 

 agricultural sodeties will not be possible. A 

 dtv society will not receive a grant exceeding 

 $500, a town sodety one exceeding $200, and 

 an incorporated village sodety a grant exceed- 

 ing $],')0. Diversity of work by the sodeties 

 is assured by a regulation which prevcnt<: n 

 society from expending more than one-third 

 of its total receipts for any one line of work 

 A special grant of $800 is made to as.sist the 

 societies in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and 

 London. The Toronto and London sodeties 

 will benefit most bv this arrangement as their 

 grants under the old act were small. The main 

 features of the act were endorsed by the mem- 

 bers of the Ontario Horticultural Association 

 nt thdr convention in Toronto last November. 

 The act should greatly benefit our horticul 

 tural~sodeties. 



Have any of the readers of The Horticul- 

 turist any back copies to sell' Since the pur- 

 chase of The HoRTicn,TtTKisT from the On- 

 tario Fruit Growers' Assodation. we have been 

 endeavoring to secure a complete file of The 

 HoRTicuLTT'RisT since its establishment in 1,878, 

 to date. We have nearly succeeded, but not 

 quite. The following issues are still lacking: 

 September, 1878; January, February and Sep- 

 tember, 1880: May 1882: March, '1886; No- 

 vember, 1891; and February, 1900. Should 

 any of our readers have these numbers, we will 

 be willing to purchase them. Should they not 

 have these copies unbound, but have them in 

 a bound volume, we would gladly btiv these 



