THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



now only 50 cents a hundredweight, 

 and for grapes 81^ cents a hundred 

 (as third-class freight). 



The re-icing of cars en route to Win- 

 nipeg had, in some instances, not been 

 done frequently enough, but arrange- 

 ments have now been made to have 

 this carefully remedied, and such cars 

 will be re-iced as often as is necessary. 



The agent of the Niagara Central said 

 that if shippers had any farther griev- 

 ances they should appeal to the Freight 

 Agents' Association, which meets at 

 Toronto every month, representing all 

 the railways of Canada, and the secre- 

 tary is Mr. John Earls, Union Station, 

 Toronto. 



The Packers' Association had recent- 

 ly met with this body and received 

 some important concessions, and the 

 Fruit Growers might do the same. 



The agent of the Intercolonial said 

 that his road was now in a position to 

 forward fruit in the best condition to 

 the maritime provinces. 



Excellent addresses were delivered by 

 the Hon. Wm. Gibson, and the Hon. 

 Thos. Bain, in which they congratulated 

 the growers on the grand progress which 

 had been made in their business during 

 the past few years, and referred to the 

 need of better service for distribution of 

 fruit from such centres as Montreal and 

 Toronto. Public opinion was turning 

 rapidly in the direction of the appoint- 

 ment of an independent Railway Com- 



mission, to which could be referred all 

 matters of dispute between the Railway 

 Companies and the shippers — a com- 

 mittee which would be entirely outside 

 of political influences, and the sooner 

 this is appointed the better in the in- 

 terests of the public. 



The Secretary of the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' Association said a committee 

 had been appointed by that body which 

 would take up the matter of Railway 

 Transportation in earnest, as soon as it 

 was possible to put down in black and 

 white exactly what the growers want. 

 For this purpose he was present at this 

 meeting, and was prepared to receive 

 complaints from all parts of Ontario. 

 These would be looked into by the 

 committee and put in shape to be laid 

 before the Railway Commission should 

 such a body be appointed. 



The following resolution was moved 



by Mr. D. J. McKinnon, seconded by 



E. J. Woolverton, and unanimously 



carried : — 



" That in the opinion of this Association 

 the service rendered the public of this coun- 

 try by the railway and express companies 

 in the matter of transportation of fruit, is not 

 wholly satisfactory in respect to ventilation 

 of cars, to despatch, and to rates ; that the 

 fruit growers have long striven to secure bet- 

 ter service, but with little result ; that to 

 remedy the evils complained of this Associa- 

 tion deems it absolutely necessary that a Gov- 

 ernment commissioner be appointed with the 

 fullest discretionary powers to investigate the 

 whole question of service rendered by public 

 carriers both as to its efficiency and reason- 

 ableness of charge, and to remedy all evils 

 that may have arisen under the monopolistic 

 system heretofore in force." 



FROZEN PLANTS. 



Many people are at loss what to do 

 when plants have been frozen. While 

 on a visit to Lansing, Mich., Prof. Craig 

 visited the greenhouse of Prof. Taft. It 

 so happened that the previous day had 

 been Thanksgiving, and the man in 

 charge had remained away all night, the 

 result being that every plant was found 

 to be badly frozen. Prof. Taft at once 

 procured a quantity of tobacco and filled 



the whole place full of smoke in order 

 to lessen the strength of the sun's rays. 

 He then turned on the water in different 

 parts of the greenhouse in the form of 

 fine sprays. He heard later from the 

 professor that the plan had succeeded 

 admirably, very few plants being killed. 

 It is rapid thawing that hurts the plants. 

 Prof. Craig. 



