244 ^"^ Canadian Horticulturist. 



The Meeting at the Park. — The great farmers' pic-nic, which was so 

 widely advertised through all our papers to be held at Grimsby Park on the 7th 

 and Sth of July, was not so fully attended as was expected. The entertainment 

 was certainly very creditable to the Directors of the Central Farmer's Institute 

 and the Fruit Growers' Association, who combined in bringing special talent for 

 the occasion. The Heintzman's Band, of Toronto, contributed most delightful 

 music, and the addresses were all first class. The speakers were the Hon. John 

 Dryden, Minister of Agriculture, Professor Mills, of the Ontario Agricultural 

 College, Mr. J. S. Woodward, of New York State, and Prof. Dean, of the Agri- 

 cultural College, Guelph. 



The address by Mr. Woodward was of special interest to fruit growers. 

 The subject was " Sheep as Assistants to the Fruit Grower." He spoke from 

 experience, and showed that by keeping one hundred sheep in every ten acres 

 of orchard, and feeding them about fifty quarts of meal per day, the sheep would 

 consume every fallen apple, would keep the grass closely shaven and keep down 

 all the sprouts around the tree, and, in a word, keep the orchard in excellent 

 condition. Not a worm would escape from a fallen apple before the sheep 

 would devour it. He condemned very decidedly the common method of con- 

 verting the orchard into a moving lot. He considered it slovenly and lazy. 

 The cost of supplying the mixture of bran and linseed meal for the hundred 

 sheep, at the rate indicated, was $2.63 a week. It would cost $3 a week to hire 

 pasture for the one hundred sheep, and, therefore, there would be an actual 

 saving of 37 cents a week over hiring pasture, and the orchardist would thus 

 reap a double profit from the industry. A fuller report of this paper will be 

 given our readers in the next Annual Report. 



The Directors of our Association were called to meet at the Park during 

 the pic-nic, on account of the low rates of return passage at this time. A visit 

 was made to the office of the President in order to see the work which is now in 

 progress, of putting up the various fruits of the season in beautiful glass jars, for 

 the Ontario fruit exhibit at the World's Fair. Our President and his assistant, 

 Mr. James Brodie, are working with untiring zeal in order to make the display a 

 success. The strawberries are very difficult to preserve, but kerosene seems to 

 be the most satisfactory fluid for them. Cherries are being put up in boric acid 

 and in salicylic acid, and in other fluids, and most of them, thus far, appear 

 unchanged. 



The Directors expressed their willingness to co-operate with Mr. Pettit in 

 his arduous undertaking, by contributing from their various districts such fruits 

 in their season as seem of particular merit. It is satisfactory to Mr. Pettit, the 

 Superintendent of this exhibit, that parties all over the country have sufficient 

 patriotism to contribute samples of fruit, in a liberal spirit, without asking any 

 compensation. Every Canadian must feel that it is to his interest to uphold the 

 credit of his country among the nations, anil thus draw the attention of the 

 world to Canada as a fruit producing country. 



