Practical Pointers from Practical Persons 



PicKed up and Penned by A. D. Cutting, B.S.A., Special Correspondent of The Horliculturist, who is vi9itin{{ th« 



homes of fruit gro-wcrs in the Niagara District 



THE work of the Dominion fruit ins|Kcl- 

 ors in conjunction with tlit Fruit 

 Division at ( )ttawa is highly commended 

 by every progressive person connected 

 with the fruit industry. Our country is so 

 large, and the business of fruit growing is 

 so extensive, it is gratifying to contemplate the 

 amount of good work done in the comparatively 

 short time since the Canadian I'ruit Marks Act 

 became law. Although i)ast and present results 

 give us reason to appreciate what has already 

 been done, there is room for more inspectors 

 and for more work in this direction thrt)ughout 

 all parts of the Dominion. Among the districts 

 that feel the need of more rigid inspection, par- 

 ticularly in the matter of tender fruits, is the 

 Niagara peninsula. Among dealers and ship- 

 pers, and all honest growers, there is a general 

 desire for the appointment of a special insix'ctor 

 for that district during the tender fruit season. 

 Such an appointment would not only insure 

 more uniform and honest packing, correct style 

 and size of packages, etc., but it also would lie a 

 material boon to the growers themselves. Such 

 a system of rigid inspection would make it 

 easier for the buyer to pay the producer more 

 money for his fruit; for the buyer could then 

 buy almost on a guarantee basis. 



wanted: an inspector ok tender fruits 



Mr. E. L. Jennett, of Beamsville, expressed 

 himself on this matter somewhat as follows: 

 "The growers in this district who sell to the 

 dealer are not so particular in the matter of 

 packing as they were when selling on commis- 

 sion. From Jordan west, most of the fruit is 

 sold at the point of shipment, and the principal 

 ambition of the grower seems to be to get it 

 on the hands of the dealer. Under this arrange- 

 ment, the grower does not seem to care whether 

 the fruit is honestly put up or not. He knows 

 that the dealer hasn't time to inspect every 

 basket of peaches or grapes that he buys on 

 rush days. Then, when the fruit is shipped 

 and turns out wrong, there is no way to trace 

 the original packer or grower. The growers 

 cannot bring their fruit to the shipping house 

 until the last minute, then it has to be rushed 

 oil. We have fruit inspectors now, but they 

 cannot be everywhere at once. Yet, what is 

 the good of having inspectors at all if the dealer 

 himself has to do the inspecting? We need a 

 permanent inspector for this district, and one 

 man could cover the whole Niagara peninsula. 

 The inspection should be done at the point of 

 shipment, not at the other end. The dealers 

 themselves would gladly put the insi)ector wise 

 to any suspicious cases. And the grower would 

 soon see that dishonest methods in packing and 

 packages do not pay. If the growers knew 

 that at any day or hour the inspector is apt til 

 be on the shipping platform there would soon be 

 a marked improvement in these things. The 

 dealers themselves could afford to increase the 

 buying price if they could buy with a feeling of 

 security." 



"We need a regular inspector for the Niagara 

 district," said Mr. S. M. Gulp, Beamsville, "be- 

 caiise it is impossible for dealers to inspect 

 fruit during the rush season. Last season I 

 bought a carload of strawberries and shipped 

 them to the Maritime provinces. They turned 

 out to be mostly trash. They came in to me 

 in a hurry and I had not time to inspect them. 

 I depended on the honesty of the growers and, 

 of course, got all the blame from the consignees 

 in the east. The appointment of a special in- 

 spector for this district would do away with 

 cases of this kind. Under existing conditions 

 fraudulent packers get as much money for 

 their fruit as honest ones. The lack of a 

 permanent inspector down here puts a premium 



on frsiud. We need an ins|)tctor, and also, I 

 Ix-lieve, we should have legislation to compel 

 growers to use a number, or their name, on all 

 open packages — the number, if such is used, 

 to be designated by the buyer. By the use of 

 such nuinliers dishonestly packed packages 

 could lie traced to the man who originally put 

 them up." 



STRAWBERRIES 



In the Burlington district the strawberry 

 prospects are not very promising. Many i)lan- 

 tations have been more or less injured by the 

 exceptional conditions of the jiast winter. Gen- 

 erally speaking, those patches thai were cov- 

 ered with some protective material, such as 

 straw or coarse manure, have come through in 

 good shape; while CO ]3er cent, of those uncov- 

 ered are injured. Among varieties, the Wil- 

 liams seems to have suffered most, as it is not 

 as hardy as some others. 



Many illustrations of the value of mulching 

 for winter protection are to be found in the 

 locality. "I mulched all my patch but a small 

 corner," said Mr. J. A. Lindley, Burlington, 

 "and the result is that those mulched came 

 through in good condition; the unmulched cor- 

 ner is badly killed and going back every day, 

 and probably will do so until picking time." 



A few general pointers on strawberries were 

 given the writer by Mr. Wm. F. W. Fisher, one 

 of the best informed strawberry men in the 

 district. He emphasizes the importance, when 

 harvesting, of keeping the rows picked clean, 

 and also of keeping the picked fruit in the 

 shade as far as possible. He said also that it 

 is best never to put more than one variety in 

 the same crate. Two or more kinds in a crate 

 hurt the appearance of the package when placed 

 on the market. For the sake of appearance, 

 also, the top layer of berries may be placed 

 with the hulls or calyx end down, but in a rush 

 this cannot always be done; still, when it is done 

 and done honestly — not "topping off" with large 

 berries — the basket will often bring two cents 

 more than those in which the berries are thrown 

 in a haphazard fashion. 



The writer has observed, and Mr. Fisher 

 agrees with him, that those varieties of straw- 

 berries that are the most acid or tart in flavor 

 are usually the best shippers and longest keep- 

 ers. For example, Williams, Lovett, and 

 Leader possess a degree of acidity beyond 

 most others, and it is well known that they are 

 among the best, if not the best, for shipping 

 purposes. Others again, particularly early 

 varieties, like Michel's, that are sweet, but not 

 acid, seldom are good keepers and shippers. 

 We call attention to this point as it mav be of 

 value, one way or another, in the selection of 

 shipping varieties and in the manner of market- 

 ing varieties already on hand. 



CULTIVATING LOW-HEADED TREES 



The advantages of maintaining low-headed 

 trees in a peach orchard have already been 

 mentioned many times in the columns of The 

 Horticulturist, yet there are many grow&rs 

 who object to this practice on the ground of 

 extra labor at the time of cultivating. Mr. 

 Willis T. Mann, Barker, N.Y., in the course of 

 an address in the Niagara district this spring, 

 pointed out a simple method of overcoming 

 this difficulty. His plan in low-headed orchards 

 is to plow in spring as close to the trees as 

 possible, and then use an ordinary low spring 

 tooth harrow to level this down and to loosen 

 up the soil near the trees that cannot be reached 

 with the plow. A harrow must be used that 

 has two sections, and these sections should be 

 extended or separated by means of a wide 

 "evener" or "spreader" fastened between them. 



iss 



The width of the spreader will dciwnd upon tl 

 distance f>etween the plowed area and tl 

 trunks of the trees. On very light soils a smool I 

 ing harrow may be used instead, if adjusted m 

 a similar manner. 



QUINCE TREES REQUIRE ATTENTION 



Success with quinces is not so general as with j 

 most other fruits. Some of the Ijcst to be 

 found in our markets are grown by Mr. C. ^ 

 Pettit, Fruitland. These are from trees planti 

 on a black clay loam incumbent upon a heav 

 clay subsoil. The trees are well cultivatci 

 sprayed and pruned. The pruning consists • 

 regularly thinning out the branches with si> 

 ficient heading back to correct growth. Tl 

 two leading varieties are grown, viz., Oran, 

 and Champion. The former is the larger, bi. 

 it is more apt to crack and break open than 

 Champion. 



THE PEAR PSYLLA. 



"The pear psylla is as bad a pest on [lear 

 particularly on Barllett's, as the San Jose Sea; 

 is on peaches. It is very difficult to comba 

 Growers should be on the watch for it as it ; 

 becoming mpre prevalent every year," said W 

 Jos. Tweddle, of Fruitland. He recomraem: 

 for treatment the lime and sulphur wash, applii 

 thoroughly in early spring. For best resuli> 

 the trees should be sprayed four times, going 

 east and west and spraying both sides; then 

 north and south both sides. 



GOVERNMENT INSPECTION 



Mr. W. E. Biggar, San Jose Scale inspector for 

 township of Saltfleet, Ontario, told the writer 

 that he finds his territory almost free from scale 

 as compared with the situation three or four 

 years ago. The growers have learned that the 

 scale can be controlled by the lime and sulphur 

 wash, and are taking advantage of that fact 

 Orchards known to be infected are watched and 

 neighboring orchards are protected. "I knr •■ 

 of a particular orchard," said Mr. Biggar, ":: 

 orchard of 100 acres that three years ago w, 

 badly infected in parts with scale. The owni 

 being determined to stamp it out, used the Ume 

 and sulphur wash with persistence and thorough- 

 ness, and now you would need more than an 

 ordinary microscope to find a live scale in the 

 orchard." Mr. Biggar said also that black knot 

 was practically wiped out of the township, bi 

 fears the spread of "little peach," a new diseaM 

 in this country, which has recently made its 

 appearance, and which is akin in character to 

 peach rosette. 



SPRAYING MIXTURE 



Mr. Thos Beattie, San Jose Scale inspector for 

 city of St. Catharines, has used all mixtures yet 

 recommended and finds Carlson's mixture to be 

 more practical and more satisfactory than any 

 other. "It is the only treatment for scale that 

 I can honestly recommend. It is the easiest and 

 cleanest to apply, the easiest on harness and 

 machine, and it is the cheapest in the long run. 

 I can cover as many trees with one barrel of 

 Carlson's as with three barrels of lime and sul- 

 phur It is the best for city lots as it does not 

 destroy paint nor discolor buildings like lime and 

 sulphur." In St. Catharines the scale is very 

 prevalent in all grounds where no treatment has 

 been applied. I have found it on all kinds of 

 fruit trees except apricot and sour cherries. Also 

 on mountain ash, on Japan quince, on thorns 

 of all kinds, on privet and ver)' bad on Ulacs." 



SPRAY AT THE RIGHT TIME. 



"Spraying pays," said Mr. Gabriel Overholt, 

 of Jordan, "but one spraying at the right time 

 is worth half a dozen at the wrong time." This 



