THE NEW FRUIT CULTURE 



DT has been so fashionable of late 

 years to talk about "The New 

 Onion Culture," "The New 

 Strawberry Culture," etc., that it 

 seems quite in place to make a few re- 

 marks about the " New Fruit Cul- 

 ture." Certainly, if we may judge by the 

 experience of the past three years, the 

 old fruit culture is no longer profitable* 

 and some new methods must be adopted 

 or else the business will be declared a 

 failure. One-half the varieties of apples 

 are worthless for scab, one-third the 

 whole crop of tree fruits for worms and 

 curculios ; grapes, raspberries and cur- 

 rants have glutted our markets, and 

 what are we to do ? 



Right here comes in the value of im 

 proved methods such as the O. A. C 

 can point out, the faithful observance 

 of which will make fruit culture as good 

 a line of agricultural life as it ever was. 



Let us very briefly refer to some of 

 the apparent difficulties and see if we 

 can find a solution. 



(i)- The Glutted Markets. — This is 

 only an imaginary difficulty, a mote that 

 obscures the visions of larger things. 

 Our little Ontario has filled its own 

 • markets with home-grown fruits, and 

 fancies it has filled the whole world, 

 and individual growers are giving up in 

 discouragement. How foolish, when 

 the big markets have hungry mouths 

 wide open for our luscious fruit products; 

 when Covent Garden, England, will 

 take all the apples we can send, and 

 when Antwerp in Belgium and Hamburg 

 in Germany are both clamoring for a 

 share of our dessert apples. 



I have just received returns from 

 Hamburg for some prime apples sent to 

 that market in cases ; they were fancy 

 apples of course. What do you think 

 were the net returns ? Fifty cents for 



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a one third bushel, or $1.50 per bushel. 

 Similar prices prevailed in other Euro- 

 pean marke^. Is that a failure or a 

 success ? 



Does that look as if there was no 

 market for Ontario apples ? 



Then our magnificent Canadian pears. 

 We have shipped several car loads to 

 Bristol this year, and the net returns 

 have varied at from 50 cents to $1.25 

 per 3rd bushel case. Is there then no 

 encouragement for growing pears in 

 Ontario? I might go on and enumerate 

 other fruits in the same manner, but 

 time forbids. 



I have shown, I think, that there is 

 plenty of market for tip-top stock that 

 is worth conveying to a distant market. 



The next difficulty is " How to sell 

 the fruit which won't pay to export?" 



Why, you must stop growing such 

 stock entirely. It will pay to export 

 Duchess, Alexander, Gravenstein and 

 Wealthy apples ; it won't pay to export 

 Fall Pippins, Rambos, or any soft, poor 

 looking'apple that is given to spot. It' 

 will pay to export Bartlett, Bosc, Anjou, 

 Clairgeau, Boussock, and such pears, 

 but not Buffum, Tyson, Rostiezer, 

 Vicar, or other such inferior varieties. 

 It will pay to export a firm peach like 

 Elberta and Smock, but not a tender 

 variety like Early Crawford. What 

 must be done ? Why you must plant, 

 with a purpose, . the varieties that will 

 export and then you can capture the 

 best markets in the world. 



But the worms, the scab, etc, what 

 about them? Why, kill- them. You 

 must, or they will kill your trade. Fight 

 them with the spray pump. Not with a 

 little shower from nozzles held by men 

 riding lazily about in the wagon, but by 

 wide-awake chaps who will get under 

 and into the tree and cover every inch 



