THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



article gives a view of an effort made a 

 short time ago on the part of a number 

 of large shippers at St. Catharines to 

 avail themselves of the facilities which 

 presented themselves, whereby shippers 

 might co-operate together and take ad- 

 vantage of the freight service, shipping 

 their fruits in car lots under one 

 management, and thus secure better 

 and more careful handling and satis- 

 factory despatch. Up to the season of 

 1895 a ^ fruit na( * been transported 

 either by express or boat, or else by the 

 ordinary local freight in small lots ; the 

 objections to these methods seemed to 

 be high rates in the one case, infre- 

 quency of boats in another, and slow 

 service and poor handling in the third 

 instance. It was thought by a number 

 of shippers that by loading a full car 

 load from time to time when the cir- 

 cumstances of the case would admit of 

 of it, that it would be an object for the 

 railroads to give rapid transit, and being 

 loaded by the shippers themselves, the 

 fruit would have careful handling, and 

 should arrive at destination in good order; 

 and with carload rates the cost would be 

 somewhat reduced. The frontispiece 

 shows a scene at the N. C. R. Depot, 

 St. Catharines, which was of almost 

 daily occurrence during the early fall of 

 1895, some thirty-five or forty cars being 

 thus loaded during that year with very 

 satisfactory results. 



Since that time the carload shipments 

 have increased very rapidly, until in 



1897 some 350 or more cars were ship- 

 ped via G. T. R., N. C. R. and C. P. R., 

 to the various large centres of Canada 

 and the United States. During 1898 

 owing to the failure in some lines of 

 fruit the business was not so extensive. 



The result of these efforts has been 

 to ghow the shippers the necessity of 

 some organization among themselves, 

 whereby this work can be carried on in 

 a systematic, business-like manner. 



Consequently, a Stock Company was 

 formed in the spring of 1888, for this 

 particular object, called "The St Catha 

 rines Cold Storage and Forwarding Co., 

 Ltd.," with a capital stock of $10,000, 

 in shares of ten dollars each. This 

 company has been in existence but 

 little over a year and bids fair to be a 

 very great success. The company con- 

 templates erecting in time for this 

 season's business a modern cold storage 

 warehouse, operated by mechanical re- 

 frigeration, they have also a large ice 

 house of their own from which to ice 

 refrigerator cars during the hot weather, 

 and will be prepared to receive, store, 

 and forward all kinds of fruits to any 

 point according to the wish of the 

 shipper. 



We congratulate our St. Catharines 

 friends on the efforts that they are put- 

 ting forth to solve the problem of 

 cheaper and more satisfactory trans- 

 portation. 



W. H. Bunting. 



St Catharines. 



One of the neatest shrubs for forming 

 a hedge is the California privet ; it 

 makes a very neat, dense-foliage plant, 

 and bears any amount of clipping into 

 shape. Another beautiful shrub for the 

 same purpose is the Japanese barberry, 

 Berberis Thunbergii. This is handsome 



at all seasons, bearing a number of 

 coral red berries, which hang on well 

 into the winter, if the birds do not 

 devour them all. In the autumn the 

 foliage turns a bright, deep red. It is 

 broad and compact in its growth. 



