THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUPIIbT. 



55 



anical names are seldom explained. For 

 instance, how could it be expected of 

 us to know the meaning of globular 

 glands, reniform glands, and the like 1 

 And when you talk of using the tap- 

 root, what do you think we know about 

 the tap-root 1 We may guess at it, but 

 that would be all. There is seldom 

 even a hint given why one kind of a 

 tree should be grafted and another 

 budded. It would also be very inter- 

 esting to read a chapter on the art of 

 hybridizing ; but as I have said enough 

 for the present, I will stop by wishing 

 you success in your noble work. 



F. W. P. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE STATISTICS OF FRUIT-GEOWING 

 IN ONTARIO. 



The statistics of fruit-growing is an 

 interesting as well as an important sub- 

 ject, but it is not one to be easily dealt 

 with in so far as relates to the Province 

 of Ontario. The fact is that such re- 

 turns as have been obtained are conflict- 

 ing, and it is yet too early to express a 

 positive opinion as to their accuracy. 

 According to the census, the area in 

 orchard and garden in 1881 was 281,- 

 541 acres in the rural municipalities, 

 and 23,264 acres in the urban — making 

 a total of 304,805 acres for the Pro- 

 vince. According to the municipal re- 

 turns, which were collected by assessors 

 for the first time in 1883, the area in 

 rural municipalities ^vas 197,450 acres, 

 and in 1884 it was 192,837 acres. The 

 discrepancy between the census and the 

 municipal enumerations is nearly 90,- 

 000 acres, and is too large to be readily 

 accounted for. The source of informa- 

 tion is the same in both, for the census 

 collectors and the township assessor.s I 

 make a house-to-house canvass alike. 

 Why should there be so great a dis- 

 parity in the results^ Why should the 



census for 1871 give as large an acreage 

 as the assessment for 1883 ? I cannot 

 answer, but upon comparing the asses- 

 soi's' returns for the two successive 

 years, 1883 and 1884, I am disposed to 

 think that they are more reliable than 

 those of the census. Between these 

 years the difference is only 4,600 acres, 

 and when one considers that there are 

 about 200,000 farmers in the Province, 

 it is obvious that a very slight change 

 in the returns of one-tenth of their 

 number might account for the aggregate. 

 There are not many farmers, even in 

 tlie oldest settlements, who know the 

 exact area they have in orchard and 

 garden ; but it is a reasonable supposi- 

 tion that when they find the question 

 asked by the assessor year after year, 

 as it now is, they will, in a growing 

 number of instances, endeavor to answer 

 it by actual measurement. Four or five 

 years hence we shall doubtless knoM^ 

 the area of orchard and garden in the 

 Province with almost as near approach 

 to accuracy as we now know the area 

 of cleared land. 



Assuming that there is uniformity in 

 the system of taking each decennial 

 census, the returns have at least the 

 value of enabling us to show the rate of 

 progress made. Thus we know that in 

 1851 there was in Ontai-io, on every 

 hundred acres of cleared land, an aver- 

 age of one and a half acres in oi-chard 

 and garden ; that in 1861 the average 

 was about the same ; that 1871 it was 

 two and a thii'd acres ; and that in 1881 

 it was two and three quarters. The last, 

 it must be allowed, is a very good aver- 

 age for the whole Province, and even 

 according to the assessoi's' returns of 

 areas, it is an average of nearly two 

 acres for every hundi'ed cleared. 



Tn the following table the acreage at 

 four decennial pei'iods is given by 

 county groups, arranged as nearly as 

 mav be according to their climatic con- 



