56 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ditions — the figures being for rural 

 districts only : 



These statistics furnish us with a 

 succint history of fiiiit-growing in the 

 Province, and they are of still greater 

 value in this I'espect if studied by coun- 

 ties. In the County of Middlesex, for 

 instance, the ai-ea in 1851 was 2,388 

 acres; in 1861 it was 5,030 acres ; in 

 1871 it was 11,908 acres ; and in 1881 

 it was 15,576 acres. In the County of 

 Bnice the area increased from 38 acres 



in 1851 to 8,401 acres in 1881, and in 

 Gi'ey it increased in the same period 

 from 56 acres to 10.408. As evidence 

 of progress, these figures are very valu- 

 able, assuming even that they are cor- 

 rect in a relative sense, and if the same 

 rate of progress be maintained in the 

 next thirty years, Ontario's position 

 will be a proud one among the fruit- 

 growing countries of the world. 



The statistics of acreages, as collected 

 by township assessors in 1883 and 1884, 

 are given by county groups as follows : 



1884. 



6 Lake Erie Counties., 

 .3 Lake Huron " 



2 rieorgian Bay " . . 



7 West Midland " . . 

 9 Lake Ontario " . . 



1 1 St. Lawrence and Ot- 

 tawa Counties . . . . 

 4 E. Midland Counties. - 



3 Northern Districts . , 



Totals 192,837 



1883. 



197,450 



The greatest discrepancy in the areas 

 of these two years occurs in the Lake 

 Ontario counties, and is largely owing 

 to the recent extension of the limits of 

 Toronto ; the annexed lands being 

 chiefly occupied as nurseries and market 

 gardens. In the West Midland coun- 

 ties the returns of decreased acreages 

 are confined almost wholly to the coun- 

 ties of Brant and Perth. With refer- 

 ence to the Northern Districts, it should 

 be remarked that no returns have been 

 received from settlers in the unorgan- 

 ized municipalities, but their total is 

 pi'obably less than 1,000 acres. 



As I have already intimated, it is yet 

 too soon to say definitely which statis- 

 tics are the most reliable — those of the 

 census enumerators or those of the as- 

 sessors ; but in calling attention to the 

 wide difierence which the returns pro- 



