THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



43 



once the oldest and the youngest man 

 in the State. This had been attributed 

 to his love for rural pursuits ; but the 

 speaker thought it due rather to his 

 kind and loving heart, continually over- 

 flowing with regard to every one, so 

 that they who had known him but a 

 short time felt that in his death they 

 had lost a dear friend. This thought, 

 the speaker said, had been better ex- 

 pressed in Whittier's lines, with which 

 he closed . 



" To homely joys and loves and friendships 

 Thy genial nature fondly clung ; 

 And so the shadow on the dial 



Ran back and always left thee young." 



May the spirit which chai'acterized 

 this gifted and noble-minded man be 

 caught by many Canadian horticul- 

 tux'ists, who will pursue their favorite 

 avocation not merely from sordid mo- 

 tives and selfish purposes, but in the 

 interests of science and in the progress 

 of the nation in one of her most im- 

 portant branches of industry. 



OPEN LETTERS. 



From British Columbia. — Mr. G. W. 

 Henry, of Port Hammond, B.C., writes: 

 " We ai'e going into the small fruit- 

 growing and nursery business here, and 

 we want The Horticulturist. Before 

 long we will be able to tell you some- 

 thing about this the finest fruit-growing 

 district in America, and send you some 

 samples that will make eastern people 

 open their eyes ; for I have such large 

 and fine specimens of apples, pears, 

 plums, yes, and cherries, too, as cannot 

 be touched by anything in Ontario. 

 lliey have the flavor, too, of our On- 

 tario fruit." 



Commission Agents. — Joseph Bourne, 

 Niagara Falls South, writes : " 1 think 

 there ought to be some way of letting 

 the members of our association know, 

 through the Horticulturist, of any firms 

 that do not deal fairly with their 

 patrons. 



" I think they should be warned to be- 

 ware of Jackman & Lindsay, Toronto. 

 When we sent them anything, they 

 made us no report of sale, until they 

 sent their bill of all the sales. For 

 instance, with grapes, they never let 

 us know at what prices they were sel- 

 ling them until the season was all 

 over ; and the same with our neigh- 

 bors." 



We can sympathize with Mr. Bourne 

 in his experience, having shipped ex- 

 tensively on commission every fruit 

 season for the last fifteen years. One 

 does not like shipping fruit in the 

 dark, and placing his whole crop at 

 the mercy of middlemen ; and no com- 

 mission house can expect to succeed 

 that does not adopt a system of giving 

 shippers constant information concei'n- 

 ing receipt and sales of their goods, 

 and reliable quotations of prices cur- 

 rent. 



Indeed, of late years, the margin of 

 profit has been too small on most fruits 

 to bear dividing up with commission 

 men, and those growers are fortunate 

 who are able to make their own sales. 



However, we have received prompt 

 remittances and daily market reports 

 from the agents of the Niagara District 

 Fruit Growers' Stock Co. at Toronto, 

 London, Ottawa, and Montreal ; and 

 also from the fii-ms of Messrs. Mc- 

 William & Everist and Mrs. W. Bil- 

 ton, Toronto ; and Messrs. Vipond & 

 McBride and Clogg & Co., Montreal, 

 all of whom we believe to be perfectly 

 reliable. 



THE FRUIT KING OF CANADA. 



The Pall Mall Gazette of December 

 15 th gives a very interesting account of 

 an interview with the Presidf-nt of our 

 Association, and in the introduction 

 speaks of him in the following tributary 

 language : — 



" No visitor that the Colonial Exhi- 

 bition has brought fi-om the England 



