I'HE CANADIAN HORTICULTUKIST. 



57 



sent, it may be possible to arouse an in- 

 terest in the subject that will soon 

 terminate the doubt. 



Concerning the quantities of fruit 

 grown in the Province, we are practi- 

 cally limited to two soui'ces of informa- 

 tion, neither of which are wholly satis- 

 factory. We have in the census returns 

 for 1871 and 1881 statistics of fruit 

 under three heads, viz., apples, grapes, 

 and other fruit. We have also in the 

 trade tables of the Dominion the quan- 

 tity and value of exports of green fruit 

 from year to year ; but in consequence 

 of the practice of crediting a Province 

 with all exports made from any port in 

 its territory, i-egardless of the place of 

 production, it is not possible to ascer- 

 tain definitely how much of the total 

 exports of fruit are the growth or pro- 

 duct of Ontario. The nearest approach 

 to definite figures is to be obtained by 

 comparison of the census and the trade 

 tables. Having ascertained Ontario's 

 proportion of the total fruit crop of the 

 Dominion, we can form an idea of lier 

 share of the exports. The census re- 

 turns gave the crops of 1870 and 1880 

 as follows, for Ontario and the whole 

 Dominion : — 



, 1880— Outario —1870 ^ 



Apples, bush .... 11,400,517 5,486,504 



Grapes, lbs 3,697,555 1,028,4.31 



Other Fruits, bush 644,707 242,878 



,, — 1880— Dominion— 1870-^ 



Apples, bush .... 13,377,655 6,,%5,315 



Grapes, lbs .3,896,-508 1,126,402 



Other Fruits, bush 841,219 358,963 



N"ow, for both of these years Onta- 

 rio's produce was about 86 per cent, of 

 that of the whole Dominion, and if it 

 be assumed that her proportion of the 

 exports is about the same, we can esti- 

 mate with some degree of accui-acy the 

 progress made by our Province in fruit- 

 growing from year to year. The fol- 

 lowing table gives the quantity and 

 value of Canada's exports of gi'een 



fruit for the sixteen years 1868-83, 

 grouped in periods of four years each, 

 and the annual average for each pe- 

 riod : — 



FIRST PERIOD. 

 Year. Barrels. Value. 



1868 34,405 .$87,333 



1869 11,310 30,150 



1870 20,810 58,811 



1871 45,920 98,857 



Averages 28, 1 1 1 S68, 788 



SECOND PERIOD. 

 Year. Barrels. Value. 



1872 106,568 .$264,015 



1873 61,243 18.3,348 



1874 51,084 128,915 



1875 6.3,.397 176,295 



Averages . 70,573 .f 188, 143 



THIRD PERIOD. 

 Year. Barrels. Value. 



1876 84, 107 $170,005 



1877 77,888 194,942 



1878 53,213 149,333 



1879 87,101 157,618 



Averages 75,577 .$167,974 



FOURTH PERIOD. 

 Year. ' Barrels. Value. 



1880 146,548 $347, 166 



1881 334,538 (>45,658 



1882 212,526 540,464 



1883 158,018 499,185 



Averages 212,907 $508,118 



The progress of our fruit-growing in- 

 dustry which these figures clearly indi- 

 cate is very gratifying, and there can 

 be no doubt that the fruit-growers of 

 Ontario deserve in large measure the 

 credit for it. The climate of the Pro- 

 vince — more especially that portion of 

 it encircled by the three great lakes — 

 is admirably adapted for the maturing 

 of the finest qualities of fruits ; and 

 possessing the natural' conditions for 

 the production of fruit that has an 

 established reputation in foreign mar- 

 kets, the energy and intelligence of our 

 people may be depended on to make the 



