206 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Fruit Crop Conditions in Quebec 



Augugte Dupuis, Village des Aulnaies 



EAST of the city of Queljec the ai)i>le crop 

 will be much less than last year. Many 

 thousands of bushels were sold last year, by 

 orchardists of the counties of Rouville, Ver- 

 cheres and Chateauguay, at nearly all stations 

 on the I.C.R. from Levis to Canipbellton, X.H. 

 The apples were in bulk, varieties mixed, wind 

 falls and bruised to fair apples. They .sold for 

 50 to 75 els. a busli. Several thousand bbls. R.I. 

 Greening; Baldwin and Spy also were brought 

 from Montreal to all towns and villages; Levis, 

 St. Charles, Montmagny, Kamouraska, Riviere 

 du Loup, Trois Pistoles and Riniouski taking 

 the largest quantity. Most of these apples 

 came from Ont.; none were first grade, all No. 

 2 or below. More will be needed this year, and 

 more of belter quality. Merchants prefer to 

 deal directly with Ont. growers rather than buy 

 through a middleman. 



APPLES 



This year's prospect for apples in Quebec, by 

 varieties, is as follows Red Astrakan, light; 

 Tetofsky, fine; Duclicss, extra good; Wealthy, 

 good on yoimg trees, light on old ones; St. Law- 

 rence, very light; E. Golden Russet, very light; 

 Wolfe River, very Hght; Fameuse, medium, 

 scab in some trees; Roxbury Russet, medium; 

 Alexander, light; Y. liellelleur, medium; Y. 

 Transparent, good; Transjiarent de Croncels, 

 good; and Iowa Beauty, light. 



CHERRIES AND PLUMS 



On both shores of the St. Lawrence, east of 

 Quebec city, the cherry crop is a failure and the 

 plum crop very light. L'Islet, Kamouraska and 

 Montmagny counties have a suflicient crop of 

 Damson, Reine Claude and other European plums 

 to supply the Quebec market and the villages 

 east. Lombard, very light crop, except on 

 young trees; Bradshaw, medium, fruit very 

 large and fine; Grand Duke, good; Pond's 

 Seedling, good; Washington, Hght; Green Gage, 



The Trade in Early Apples 



A. McNeill, Chief, Fruit Division, Ottawa 



The prospects for a fair crop of early apples 

 in Canada are good. This fruit, in years gone 

 by, has never been considered as profitable 

 commercially as the winter fruit. There is an 

 old adage that every dog has its day. To my 

 mind, the day of the early Canadian apple is 

 at hand. Two markets are opening for which 

 large quantities of early apples are required, 

 namely our Canadian western provinces, and 

 the markets of Gt. Britain. As far as the fruit 

 grower is concerned, they may be considered 

 together. Both markets will require a careful 

 cooling of the fruit before the time of shipment 

 in refrigerator cars, and in the case of Gt. Britain 

 cold storage on shipboard. 



The people of the west are buying early ap- 

 ples in increased quantities, and the demand 

 this year will be even greater than usual, owing 

 to the shortage of small fruits, not to speak of 

 the most extraordinary increase of population 

 during the last 2 or 3 years. I predict that 

 the west will soon take all the early apples 

 that we are now growing, and will take them 

 at even a higher price than will be paid for the 

 winter varieties. 



A careful inquiry has shown me that the 

 orchardists of Canada have been planting very 

 few early varieties for the last 15 years. The 

 demand has been increasing very rapidly these 

 last 2 or 3 years, and consequently, higher 

 prices are being paid by the consumer than 

 formerly. 



The English fruit crop for early apples is 

 only middling. Even if it were better, there 

 would still be a demand for Canadian apples. 

 The comparative regularity of our packing 



none; Gueii, light; Favorite hative, medium; 

 Y. Egg, good; Prune d'Agen, extra heavy; Mira- 

 Ijelle, good; Early Red, medium; Moore's 

 Arctic, light, except on young trees; Hudson 

 River Purple, fair; Quackenboss, medium; 

 Coe's Golden Drop, medium. 



Small fruits: Strawberries, garden and wild, 

 good crop; raspberries, good; gooselxjrries, 

 good. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES 



4^Aphids are plentiful. Trees in i,_nurseries, 

 growing luxuriantly, afford abundant food. 

 Aphids are destroyed easily with tobacco solu- 

 tion, sprayed often. Codling moth and cater- 

 pillars are not numerous. Curculios seem to 

 have been destroyed in 1903-4. Rose bugs 

 have given much trouble, on light soil, every- 

 where. I am surprised at their absence on rose 

 bushes, on loamy or clayey soil, separated from 

 the former by only a few acres. Cherries are 

 attacked by a small black insect living on tender 

 twigs; small red ants keep them company. 

 Worms are appearing on pear leaves. No apple 

 worms this year. Blight appeared on dwarf 

 pears; defoliation, burning the leaves and 

 l)runing lightly had a good effect. Scab is 

 afi'ecting Transcendent crabs. 



ANOTHER REPORT 



The following notes were taken from a letter 

 written by Mr. D. L. House, Stanstead Co. : 

 "There is only a fair prospect for apples. In 

 exposed localities, on the hills, the crop is light. 

 The plum crop is a failure, also cherries." 



WESTMOUNT, MONTREAL 



Mr. R. Brodie: On the Island of Montreal 

 Fameuse apples will be about half a crop; 

 they are free from spot and large in size. Duchess, 

 Alexander, Montreal Peach, and Montreal Straw- 

 berry promise a full crop; Wealthy and Mcin- 

 tosh Red, one-third of a crop. Montreal melons 

 and tomatoes, a good crop. 



and grading, and the fact that they are handled 

 in large quantities through regular dealers in 

 the large centres, give them a preference over 

 home-grown fruit in the EngUsh markets; 

 which, perhaps, the intrinsic quality of the 

 fruit would not justify. We can hope, there- 

 fore, to do a large business with Gt. Britain, 

 as well as with our western provinces in early 

 apples. This trade in early fruit is essentially 

 a box trade. The sooner our orchardists learn 

 the art of box packing, the better it will be for 

 them. This fruit cannot be handled in bbls. 

 profitably. Baskets may be used for local mar- 

 kets, but are not a proper package for long 

 distance shipment. The co-operative assns., 

 and large dealers who are prepared to handle 

 this fruit through central packing houses, will 

 reap a rich reward as a result of their forethought. 

 Ont. is not taking advantage of her chances 

 with reference to the western trade. There 

 was a splendid opening this year for small 

 fruits, and had the Ont. growers been prepared 

 to ship in carload lots, they could have captured 

 the market, and in all probability would have 

 held it. We have the opportunity now for 

 early apples, but they must be grown clean and 

 be properly packed. 



Nova Scotia Notes 



G. H. Vroom, D.F.I. 



The weather for the past few weeks has been 

 fine and dry. Since June 10, there has been 

 very little rain. The fruit crop has suffered 

 slightly, but not seriously as has been reported. 

 There will be an average crop. The continued 

 fine dry weather has been in favor of clean fruit. 

 Notwithstanding that "spot" is quite prevalent 



in][someJ^sections, the fruit in general is fairly 

 good in quality. Gravensteins are inferior anil 

 old Ben Davis is scabby, Baldwin, Blenheim, 

 King, Nonpareil, Falawater, Stark and Ribston 

 are looking well. Under favorable circunj 

 stances, N. S. should ejcjjort 400,000 bbls. ol 

 good apples this season. In Aug., one can Ixi 

 ter estimate the crop. 



In well-sprayed orchards the fruit is tn 

 quality; yet, I am continually meeting fn 

 growers who do not believe that sjjraying di 

 any good. One of the worst i)ests we havi 

 N. S. is the "green apple worm." This woi:., 

 eats a hole in the side of the young apple, some- 

 times as far in as the core. It ruins a lot of the 

 best fruit. It is a common thing for one worm 

 to siKjil a dozen apples. The pest is light green 

 in color, has five white lines running Icngtiiwise 

 on its body, and, when full grown, is IJ'4 inches 

 long. The tent caterpillar also did considerable 

 damage; fruit growers must reckon on this pest 

 next year. 



Barrel and Box Supply 



To ascertain the opinion of manufacturer^ 

 boxes and bbls. on the relative value of these 

 packages for the shipment of apples. The Hor- 

 TICULTLRIST wrote to several well-known firms. 

 A few replies were received in time for men- 

 tion in this issue. For publication in the Sept. 

 issue. The Horticulturist invites letters on 

 this subject, not only from manufacturers, 

 but also from growers and shipijers. 



In a letter to The Horticulturist, the \\ 

 R. Thompson Co., Teeswater, Ont., wrote: 

 "Bbls. are jireferred to boxes. We anticipate 

 no shortage of either. Ruling prices are about 

 35 cts. for bbls., and proportionate for boxes." 



The Sutherland Innes Co., Ltd., Chatham, 

 Ont.: "The demand this year for apple barrel 

 stock is greater than it has been for 3 years. 

 We have not made a single carload of box 

 shooks for apples this year, and there does not 

 seem to be any inquiry for them in Canada or 

 the eastern states. As far as we can learn 

 from the fruit packers, the box has not been a 

 success for the export trade, not so much on 

 account of the cost, but the apples do not ar- 

 rive at their destination in goml condition. In 

 B.C. and Cal. boxes are used extensively for 

 packing apples, but we do not reach this trade, 

 so we do not know how the ]jercentage of bbls. 

 and boxes will usually run. We understand, 

 however, from a great many of the fruit packers, 

 that the boxes are principally used for both 

 domestic and export trade, but at considerable 

 expense and principally for fancy fruit. 



"All of the eastern shippers have learned by 

 experience that the bbl. is the best package 

 for apples, in fact, some of them have had very 

 costly experience trying to ship apples in boxes. 



"The packers are demanding a very good 

 bbl. this year, some of them even going to the 

 extent of using flour bbls. for apples, which is 

 unnecessary, as a good, first-class package, 

 suitable for carrying fruit, can be made out of 

 selected No. 2 staves or "mill run ' stock, with 

 1st class hoops. The principal thing in making 

 a satisfactory package is to use good, heavy- 

 staves made out of straight grain stock with 

 good sound heading, and the very l^est hoops. 



"The prices for bbls. this year are governed 

 by the locality and quality. A good apjile bbl. 

 can be bought in Toronto and neighborhood 

 at 35c. to 38c., according to whether it is a 6 or 

 8 hoop bbl. This will give an idea of the 

 standard price for .50 miles around Toronto. 

 The bbls. cost more where they are made 

 further away from the source of the supply." 



A letter from Taylor & White, St. John, N.B., 

 said in part: "There is no demand for boxes 

 for packing purposes. The prevailing price 

 for bbls. is 24 cts." 



Enclosed find SI for my subscription to The 

 Canadian Horticulturist Having read a 

 copy of the paper, I consider it most interesting 

 and up-to-date, as w-ell as instructive to gar- 

 deners, amateurs or professionals. — ^John Kirby, 

 Vancouver, B.C. 



