The Canadian Horticulturist. 223 



Some have come, and some have gone, Fair Sunnyside ! Loved Sunnyside ! 



Their forms no more we greet ; [won, God bless its honored host ! 



Some have run the race, the crown they've May peace within thy walls abide, 



God grant they all may meet. Fair virtue be thy boast. 



Long may our genial friend enjoy 



The home his hands have reared ; 

 May heaven's sweet peace without alloy 



By ties and time be shared. 



THE SUMMER MEETING. 



THE old town of Niagara, once of considerable importance, both from 

 a civil and a military point of view, but latterly of little importance 

 owing to the removal of the county offices to St. Catharines, is now 

 once more coming to the front as a fruit district. Having received from 

 here the first president, it was only fair that the Ontario Fruit Growers' 

 Association should hold one of its meetings in this old historic town. 



To a stranger the approach is full of interest, whether you come by boat 

 from Toronto past those two forts which, like sentinels, stand at either side 

 of the river, to the old pier ; or by the " Observation train," down the 

 American side, by a cut along the rocky bank of the river ; or on the Can- 

 adian side, down the mountain near Queenston, where you have one of the 

 loveliest views imaginable of this whole fruit section, with the town in the 

 distance at the angle where the lake and the river meet, and, near at hand, 

 the monument to the bravery of Sir Isaac Brock, who so heroically fell in 

 the defence of his country. 



The officers of the Association were received most kindly by the officials 

 of the local Fruit Growers' Association ; and the president of that society, 

 Major Courneen, made us an address of welcome in the most suitable 

 terms. Nor were they satisfied with mere words of expression of 

 welcome, but they furnished enough carriages to give us all a two hours' 

 drive among the peach orchards of that section, which are far more exten- 

 sive than our preconceived notions had led us to expect. It appears that in 

 the township of Niagara alone there are at least four thousand acres of land 

 devoted to peach culture, or about one-fifth of the whole amount of arable 

 land in the township. So well adapted indeed is this land to peach culture 

 and so little have the trees suffered with either blight or yellows, that it is no 

 wonder that little else in the fruit line is planted, and that almost every farm 

 is being devoted to the peach as the most profitable industry. Among others 

 we were shown the fruit farm of the late R. N. Ball, once an enthusiastic 

 member of our Association. He had planted over sixty acres to peaches, 

 and this is now being managed by Mr. Leslie Nelles, of Grimsby. The 

 crop all through will be very light this year, but should a year of full bearing 



