20 FRUIT RANCHING. 



the surface of the grotind. These are of all sizes, 

 from the bigness of a teacup to that of a boulder as 

 bulky as a barn. It is, however, the most effective 

 way, and in the long run the most economical, to 

 eradicate every rout and remove every stone that can 

 be removed, at the time of clearing, before any attempt 

 is made to cultivate the land or plant an orchard. 

 Many of the early settlers did not act in that spirit, 

 and the consequence is that, in some of the older 

 orchards, the fruit-trees are to be seen growing— and 

 growing splendidly notwithstanding — among the 

 blackened stumps or amid the boulders which the 

 destructive agents of Nature — denudation, aerial 

 disintegration, and gravitation — have strewn over the 

 lower slopes of the mountain. 



The subjoined description is typical of the accounts 

 which are circulated with regard to the district I am 

 writing about, the Kootenays. It was penned by one 

 of the pioneer fruit-growers of the Nelson country, 

 an enthusiastic and public-spirited man, possessed of 

 considerable experience as a grower of fruit : — 



" I consider the conditions here (Kootenay Lake 

 District) the most perfect for fruit-culture. I have 

 been interested in fruit-growing in various parts of 

 Canada and of the United States during the last 

 twenty years, and until coming to Nelson, in 1901, 1 

 had found the climate of the Alleghany Mountains of 

 West Virginia the most suitable for the production of 

 small fruit. The shores of Lakes Eric and Ontario 

 to Montreal I considered the best for the production of 

 apples. The shores of Lake Ontario, from Niagara 

 to Toronto, I believe to be the finest peach section 

 in America. \Mthin the past two years, however, we 



