218 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



might have two each. The wife took 

 out one, it was green ; another and it 

 was green, and in a minute or two they 

 knew they had been gulled. 



"That kind of thing hurts trade and 

 until a more systematic basis is estab- 

 lished for the fruit trade of Ontario, 

 there will continue a good deal of dis- 

 satisfaction and ill-will. There is no 

 reason why dealers should not buy On- 

 tario peaches with the same sense of 

 security they buy oranges or any other 

 kind of California fruit. They ask for 

 a certain size at a certain price and get 

 it. What a boon it would be to the 

 gfrocery trade if peaches were packed of 

 a uniform size throughout the package 

 and they could be ordered according to 

 size! The consumer would gain, too, 

 and first-class peaches would be less 

 expensive because they would not then, 

 as now, have to make up the losses 

 caused by poor and unsystematic 

 methods. Of course, the remedy is in 

 the grocer's hands, but if the grocers 

 had a strong provincial organization 

 they could do much to accelerate the 

 movement." 



COOL PE.\CHES BEFORE SHIPPING 



To place peaches on distant markets 

 in good condition, it is necessary that they 

 be placed in refrigerator cars and cooled 

 quickly. Quick refrigeration is essen- 

 tial to prevent the spread of Monilia 

 (brown rot) in the car, which can do so 

 much damage in 24 hours. No refriger- 

 ator car yet constructed can give quick 

 refrigeration. For this reason, it is 

 advisable, when possible, to have the 

 fruit cooled before it enters the car. 

 The following letter on this point was 



received recently from Mr. Alex. Mc 

 Neill, Chief, Fruit Division, Ottawa: 



"Canadian shippers of fruit are not 

 the only ones who are experiencing the 

 evil effects of loading on cars without 

 first cooling the fruit. This season, ac- 

 cording to The Packer, of New York, 

 very serious complaints were made con- 



Caught in the Act 



Mr. W. M. Orr, one of Ontario's successful fruit growers,L 

 picking peaches in his orchard at Fruilland ,,^.«; 



ceming the condition of the Georgia 

 peach crop, which condition would have 

 been in all respects satisfactory had the 

 fruit been cooled before being shipped in. 

 the cars. The Packer writes as follows: 

 '"If the Georgia shipping points could 

 have a storage to cool off the peaches 

 before loading them into the cars, it 

 would mean a great deal more to the 



shippers in advanced prices than the 

 e.xpenditure.'" 



J. H. HALE ON PEACH TOPICS 



The Horticulturist has received 

 the following letter from Mr. J. H. 

 Hale, of Connecticut and Georgia. It 

 expresses expert opinion on various 

 topics of interest to peach growers: 

 "The article on peach packing in the 

 August issue of The Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist covers the situation in 

 an admirable way. There is no ques- 

 tion that, if fruit can be handled in 

 refrigerator cars or through cold stor- 

 age, it will keep longer after it is allowed 

 to come up to full maturity on the 

 trees, rather than picked in a half 

 green state, and also be much better 

 for consumption. The packing of 

 peaches on end is all wrong, both for 

 best display of the fruit and for safety 

 in transportation. 



"There is probably no package yet 

 invented that is proving so universally 1 

 satisfactory as the six-basket Georgia ^ 

 carrier. Next to that, the 20-pound 

 California boxes. Both are somewhat 

 costly, however. People who are look- 

 ing for cheap packages, and have only 

 a low grade market to supply, can do 

 as well perhaps by using the inferior 

 Climax basket, or other packages of 

 similar construction. 



"Rainy weather in har\'est season 

 hurt the Georgia peach business this 

 year. We have a fine crop in Connect- 

 icut, but cloudy, damp weather all 

 through July put them on the ragged 

 edge. The sun is out now, and if we 

 have favorable weather through August 

 and September, we ought to have the 

 finest crop on record." 



Fire BligKt and Hoav to Uno^v It 



MANY fruit growers are of the opin- 

 ion that blight on the apple and 

 blight on the pear are two differ- 

 ent diseases. This idea is erroneous. They 

 are identical in character. Mr. Barlow, 

 Demonstrator in Bacteriology, O.A.C., 

 writes: " Bacterium amylovorium is a spe- 

 cies of bacteria which causes a disease of 

 the pear, quince, apple, mountain ash, 

 and sometimes the plum. The disease is 

 called by several popular names, as fire 

 blight, pear blight, and twig bUght, but 

 the germ which causes it is the same 

 and the disease spreads from any one of 

 these trees to any other. It is very 

 destructive to the pear and quince, often 

 kilhng the whole plant. It diminishes 

 the apple crop by infecting the blossoms 

 and killing the fruit spurs, and it some- 

 times kills branches, or even whole trees 

 of the apple." 



For the benefit of the readers of The 

 Horticulturist, Mr. Barlow also out- 



B. Barlow, O. A. C, Guelph 



lined a simple method of determining 

 whether or not fruit trees are affected 

 by the disease : ' ' Any fruit grower can 

 readily determine whether or not his 

 trees are affected with pear bhght. Fix 

 a needle firmly in a wooden handle such 

 as a penholder, burn the needle clean in 

 the flame of a candle and use it to tear 

 out a fibre of the inner bark from a 

 newly blighted twig, or thrust the needle 

 into a recently blighted young fruit of 

 apple or pear. Now thrust the disease- 

 bearing needle into a sound, health v 

 green fruit growing on the tree. Then 

 burn the needle clean again in the candle 

 flame. In two to four days the blight 

 appears and spreads steadily from the 

 needle puncture, at length killing all tis- 

 sue of the green fruit. A bacterial 

 growth pours out from the puncture as 

 a pearly, viscid, bead-like drop. This 

 may be so copious as to flow down the 

 side of the pear. Other similar bead 



like drops often exude through the skin 

 of the pear at a distance from the punc- 

 ture. The twig bearing the inoculated 

 fruit should be broken off after three or 

 four days and placed in water, so that 

 the further progress of the disease can 

 be obser\^ed without danger of infecting 

 the tree. It is but the work of a few 

 hours to test many trees from the same, 

 or from different orchards, whether ap 

 pies, pears, or quinces. It is, of course, 

 necessary to burn the needle clean eac' 

 time before beginning a new test, an 

 it is well to make controls by thnistin: 

 the clean needle into green pear fruit 

 \o disease will develop in this case. Ai 

 the end of the test the diseased pea: 

 should be burned. We do not kno 

 any cure for pear blight, but disea: 

 branches mav be cut out and burned 



Remove the crop remnants as soon 

 the crop is done. 



