THE CANADIAN H O 11 Tl C U L T U Rl S T 



285 



was very keen. The cup went to Mr. Thomas 

 Earl, of Lytton. The coloring of the commer- 

 cial exhibits was considerably better than last 

 year, and the packing was a magnificent demon- 

 stration of the art. 



The Government has procured 2 of the largest 

 exhibits, Mr. Earl's, of Lytton, and that of the 

 Coldstream Ranch of Vernon, comprising some 

 120 boxes, to be exhibited at the big exposition 

 to be held shortly at Christchurch, in New- 

 Zealand. Mr. A. McNeil, Chief, Fruit Divisioii, 

 Ottawa, has been paying the Pacific coast a visit 

 and assisted Mr. Burrell in the judging of 

 the fruit at the Westminster Exhibition. While 

 hire he visited various points throughout the 

 province and held informal meetings with the 

 fruit growers. 



Garefvil Fruit PacKing 



A box of Spy apples packed by J. F. Brennan 

 & Son, formerly of Grimsby, Ont., is repre- 

 sented in the illustration. The size of the box 

 shown is 22 x 113^ x lOJ^, and it contains 60 

 apples. Brennan & Son did not favor the 

 change in the dimensions of the Canadian box 

 for two reasons: first, they claim that it caused 

 confusion in the minds of customers as to size 

 and number of apples in a box, and second, 

 they could send the larger box to the United 



Horticulture at the Halifax E-xKibition 



A Box of Spys 



States for the same duty as was demanded for 

 the smaller. 



Each box sent out by Brennan & Son is 

 neatly labelled. No excelsior is used when 

 apples are wrapiied. When packed solidly 

 they ship in good condition. It pays to pack 

 correctly and to pack only the best. 



An excellent fertilizer for the orchard and 

 garden is gypsum or land plaster. While not a 

 direct plant food in itself, it has much value in 

 liberating plant food in the soil, particularly 

 potash and phosphoric acid. It may he used 

 with particular advantage for leguminous crops, 

 such as clover, beans and peas. In orchards 

 where cover crops are grown, land plaster is a 

 useful fertilizer. Its incorporation in the man- 

 ure pile will fix the ammonia and prevent its 

 escape. Gypsum spinkled on the cut surfaces 

 of seed potatoes is beneficial; it incrca.ses the 

 crop; experiments at the O.A.C., Guelph, 

 have shown this. All fruit and vegetable growers 

 should have a .supply of this material on hand. 

 The best grade is put up by the Tobique Gypsum 

 Co., Plaster Rock, N.B. It is finely ground. 

 The F. C. Terry Co., 31-41 George st., Toronto, 

 handle the goods in Ontario. 



THE fruit exhibit at the Dominion Exhibi- 

 tion, HaUfax, was a great success, and 

 reflected much credit on the energetic 

 Supt., Mr. J. W. Bigelow, who has had 

 so much experience with exhibits of this kiiid 

 both in N.S., and at the large exhibitions in 

 other parts of the world. There were 3,(J01 

 plates of fruit shown, and 725 jars and bottles. 

 These made a magnificent display. Interspersed 

 with the fruit were palms and ferns, loaned by 

 the Nova Scotia Nursery Co., and these, with 

 the many flags used by the Supt. to decorate 

 the building, added much to the attractiveness 

 of the hall, and suggested to the writer the 

 advisability of having some similar arrangement 

 at the fall fairs in Ontario where, as a rule, 

 little is done to make the fruit exhibit attractive 

 to the general public. 



While the exhibition at Halifax was a Do- 

 minion one, with the exception of the province 

 of Ont., there was little competition outside 

 N.S. The writer beheves that imder the present 

 arrangement the exhibits from the outside 

 provinces at Dominion exhibitions mislead the 

 general public and even the fruit growers them- 

 selves, and do not fairly represent the kind of 

 fruit the different provinces can produce. I 

 beheve that something should be done in the 

 future by some organization in each province 

 to ensure the exhibition of a first-class collection 

 of fruit, so that the competition for the Canadian 

 or jirovincial prize would be put on a better 

 basis. This year there were only 2 exhibitors 

 competing for the special Canadian prize of 

 SoO 00 for the best collection of fruits and 

 berries from N.S. and from Ont. The first 

 prize was lost by Ont. partly from the fact that 

 no berries were shown in bottles. Even n 

 berries had been shown, Ont. would have lost 

 as, while the exhibit scored higher than that 

 from N.S. in peaches and grapes, the exhibit 

 of apples was behind that from N.S; although 

 the individual specimens were good, and the 

 fall varieties of fair color, the winter sorts 

 were off color, and gave the impression of 

 having been picked a long time. Ont. could 

 have beaten the N.S. exhibit which was shown 

 if a greater effort had been made; as it is, N.S. 

 will get the credit, which really belongs to Mr. 

 A. C. Starr, Starr's Point, whose energy m 

 getting the exhibit together was rewarded. The 

 exhibits from the provinces of Que., N.B., and 

 P.E.I., were not what they might have been, 

 there being only 1 exhibit from each of these 

 provinces. There was no private exhibit from 

 B.C., the only exhibit being from the Expt. 

 Farm, Agassi z. 



In the class for the best 20 varieties of apples, 

 where there was keen competition, the first 

 prize went to Mrs. Sangster, Falmouth, Hants 

 Co N S This was quite a triumph, as Kings 

 or Annapolis usually takes the first prize in 

 this class. It was generally acknowledged that 

 the best colored fruit came from Hants Co. 

 this vear. Some of the varieties of apples 

 which looked particularlv well at Hahfax were : 

 Alexander, Ribston, King, Baldwin, Stark, 

 Fallawater and Golden Russet. There was a 

 good display of pears and plums, and while a 

 fair proportion of the prizes went to Ont in 

 these classes, many of them remained in N.b. 

 The Ont men brought down a good exhibit of 

 grapes and peaches which, with those grown in 

 N S , made a creditable show of these fruits. 

 The exhibit of apples in barrels and boxes, 

 while not large, was good. Two special exhibits 

 were made, 1 by the Dom. Expt. Farms and 1 by 

 the NS Fruit Grs. Assn., which added much 

 to the interest and attractiveness of the show 

 In the Expt. Farm exhibit there were SOy 

 varieties of fruits shown, consisting of apples, 

 crab apples, pears, plums and grajjes grown on 

 the expt. farms at Nappan, KS.; Ottawa^ Ont, 

 and Aga.ssiz, B.C. The exhibit of the N.S. F. 



G. A. was a good one. It was prepared by Mr. 

 C. A. Patriquin, Wolfville, and consisted of 

 fruit of many kinds on plates and in bottles. 

 Here were shown also the 18 medals which have 

 been won by this assn. in the past. 



Nova Scotians may well feel proud of the 

 fruit that is grown in their province, and while 

 the people of each province and district natur- 

 ally maintain that the best fruit is grown in 

 their particular province or district, Nova 

 Scotians have good grounds for maintaining 

 that they can grow fruit which will compare 

 very favorably with the best. Prof. John Craig, 

 Cornell University, judged the fruit exhibit. 



The flower show was held during the 1st 

 week of the exbibition, but was not large. In 

 cut flowers, dahlias were particularly good, and 

 in plants, rex begonias and fuchsias.^ — W. T. M. 



Fruit at B.C. Fair 



Jas. A. Grant, Victoria 



The Provincial Fair passed into history as,a 

 success in all but one department, viz., horti- 

 culture. 



The failure in the fruit exhibits was not due to 

 failure in crop, but can be attributed to the in- 

 rush of Manitoba farmers who have made their 

 pile and are seeking a fairer clime and a pleasant 

 occupation. These did not enter exhibits as did 

 the previous owners of the fruit farms. All 

 those who sold out to them have commenced 

 afresh, with more money and experience than 

 before, the net result being better for all. 



The commercial exhibits of packed fruits, 

 although not so large as formerly, were up to 

 anything previously shown in point of skill in 

 packing and quality of product. Plate ex- 

 hibits, collections of fruit and district exhibits 

 were weak in quantity and quality. 



The Chilliwack exhibit was an exceptionally 

 good one. It was made up of all the agricul- 

 tural products that district could produce, and 

 was the object of admiration and praise from 

 Earl Grey. It merited it. See illustration. 



Mr. Martin Burrell, of Grand Forks, was judge, 

 and gave general satisfaction in his awards. 

 This gentleman, it will be remembered, was the 

 popular and energetic chairman of committee 

 of resolutions at the conference of fruit growers 

 held last March in Ottawa. 



Letter From a Life Member 



Ed., Canadian Horticulturist,— I take 

 great pleasure in the thought that I became a 

 life member of the Ontario Fruit Growers' 

 Association when written to by Dr. Beadle, 

 whom 1 knew from 1855 until his decease. 

 Sixty years ago I tied buds for John J. Thomas, 

 then editor of The Country Gentleman. I knew 

 Barry, Wilder, Hovey, A. J. Downing, Chas. 

 Downing, Berckmans, Cabot, Dr. Grant, Mee- 

 han, Vick, Henderson, Parsons, Moore, Powell, 

 Smith, Maxwell, and Dr. Warder— all great 

 horticulturists as well as good and true men. 



It may interest the readers of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist to note some of the fruits and 

 fruit prices in this city. On Oct. 11,1 saw an 

 orange quince from California that weighed 

 nearly 2 lbs. The best Fameuse apples by the 

 barrel that I ever saw came this year from the 

 Ottawa valley. My grocer paid $6 a bbl. for 

 them and sold them in one day for 3 cts. each. 

 Comice pears are very fine this year from Cali- 

 fornia. I paid 25 cts. for 2 in Oct. Anjous 

 also are fine— 15 cts. each or 2 for 25 cts. — 

 Frances Wayland Glen, Brooklyn, N.Y. 



Fruit that is loosely packed is injured in transit. 

 Apples should be packed by experts. For best 

 returns the pack should be guaranteed. — Frank 

 Hamilton, Liverpool, England. 



