12 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, 1915 



The Canadian Horticulturist 



fOMUINKD WITH 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 

 AND BEEKEEPER 



Witli which ha» been incorporated 



The Canadian Bee Journal. 



Published by The Horticultural 



"Publishing Company, Limited, 



PKTKRBORO, ONTARIO 



H. Bbonson Cowan Managing Director 



The Only Magazines in Their Field in the 

 Dominion 



Official Organs of thk Ontario and Quebec 



Frcit Growers' Associations 



AND of The Ontario and New Brunswick 



Beekeepers' Associations. 



REPRESENTATIVES 



UNITED STATES 

 BTOOKWELL'S SPECIAL AGENCY. 

 Chicago Office— People's Ga« Buildine. 

 New York OflSce— Tribune Buildine 



GREAT BEITAIN 

 W. A. Mountstephen. 3 Regent St., London, S.W. 



1. The Canadian Horticulturist is published in 

 three editione on the 25th day of the month pre- 

 ceding date of issue. • The first edition is known 

 as the fruit edition, aaid is devoted chiefly to 

 the commercial fruit interests: The second 

 edition is known as the floral edition, and is 

 devoted chiefly to the interests of amateur 

 flower, fruit and vegretablo growera. The third 

 edition La known as The Canadian Horticulturist 

 and Beekeeper. In this edition several pages of 

 matter appearing in the first and. second issues 

 are replaced- by an equal number of pages of 

 matter relating to the beekeeping interests of 

 Canada 



2. Subscription price of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist in Canada and Great Britain, $1.00 a 

 year; three years lor $2.00, and of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist and Beekeeper, $1.00 a year. For 

 United States and local subscriptions in Peter- 

 boro (not called for at the Post Office). 25 cent* 

 extra a year, including postaee. 



3. Eemittances should be made by Post Office 

 or Express Money Order, or Eeeistered Letter. 



4. The Law is that subscribers to newspapers 

 are held responsible until all arxearaees are 

 paid and their paper ordered to be discontinued. 



5. Change of Address— When a change of ad- 

 dreee is ordered, both the old and the new ad- 

 dressee must be given. 



6. Advertising rates, $1.40 an inch. Copy re- 

 ceived up to the 20th. Address all advertising 

 correspondence' and copy to our Advertising 

 Manager, Peterboro, Ont. 



CIRCULATION STATEMENT 

 The following is a sworn statement of the net 

 paid circulation of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 for the year ending with December 1913. The 

 figures given are exclusive of samples and spoiled 

 copies. Most months. Including the sample cop- 

 ies, from 13,000 to 15.000 copies of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist are mailed to people known to bo 

 interested in the growing of fruits, flowers or 

 vegetables. 



January. 1913 ....11.570 August. 1913 12,675 



February. 1913 ...11,550 September. 1913 ..13.729 



March. 1913 11.209 October. 1913 13.778 



April. 1913 U,970 November 1913 ...12.%7 



May. 1913 12.368 Deoemher. 1913 ...13.233 



June, 1913 12.618 



July. 1913 12.626 Total 150.295 



Average each issue In 1907, 6.627 

 " •• " " 1913, 12,524 



Sworn detailed statements will be mailed 

 upon application. 



OUR GUARANTEE 



We guarantee that every advertiser in this issue 

 is reliable. We are able to do this because the 

 advertising columns of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist are as carefully edited as the reading 

 columns, and because to protect our readers we 

 turn away all unscrupulous advertisers. Should 

 any advertiser herein deal dishonestly with any 

 subscriber, we will make good the amount of 

 his loes, provided such transaction occurs within 

 one month from date of this issue, that it is 

 reported to us within a week of its occurrence, 

 and that we find the facts to be as stated. It 

 is a condition of this contract that in writing to 

 advertisers you state: "I saw your advertisement 

 in The Canadian Horticulturist." 



Eogues shall not ply their trade at the expense 

 of our subscribers, who are our friends, through 

 the medium of these columns: but we shall not 

 attempt to ad.1ust trifling dieputee between sub- 

 scribers and honournble business men who ad- 

 vertise, nor pay the debts of honest bankrupts. 



OommTinications should be addressed 

 THE CANADIAN HORTTrTTT.TTTRTfiT 



PETEEBOEO. ONT. 



EDITORIAL 



A MANY SIDED PROBLEM 



HiKh land values hit the fruit grower 

 both RoinR- and coming-. Good fniit land 

 is capitalized at high values. The pro- 

 ducer who has purchased land during re- 

 cent years is forced in consequence to al- 

 low so much for interest on his invest- 

 ment that only too often he has but little 

 left from the sale of his fruit with which 

 to defray his other necessary expenditures, 

 and still allow himself a fair return for his . 

 labor and management. 



In all new fruit districts, growers, while 

 land values remain low, generally realize 

 satisfactory returns on their investment as 

 well as for their labor. This leads the 

 speculator to become busy. Land is bought 

 up, the section is boomed, land values are 

 advanced and new comers are forced to pay 

 high prices for their holdings. Such men, 

 from the outset, have a burden to bear that 

 only too often spells the difference between 

 success and failure. A grower who obtain- 

 ed his land for fifty to one hundred dollars 

 an acre, with money at six per cent., has 

 to meet an interest charge of only three 

 to six dollars an acre a year. When, how- 

 ever, land has been bought for five hun- 

 dred dollars to one thousand dollars an 

 acre, as has been the case with quite a lit- 

 tle of the land in the Niagara District, this 

 interest charge is increased to thirty and 

 sixty dollars an acre. This is a perman- 

 ent charge. It may not be seriously felt 

 when crops are good, but when crops are 

 poor, as in the case of peaches this year, it 

 becomes a serious burden. 



The difficulty of the situation is increas- 

 ed by the fact that every successful effort 

 that is made to increase the returns per 

 acre is quickly capitalized once more in the 

 form of still another advance in land vai- 

 ues. Take the situation as it has develop- 

 ed in British Columbia: At first fruit grow- 

 ers in British Columbia did well. Then 

 land values were advanced. The labor re- 

 turn per acre was reduced in proportion. In 

 time it was found that many growers were 

 not obtaining satisfactory returns. Some- 

 thing had to be done. The government 

 aided the growers by advising them as to 

 the best varieties of fruit to plant, how to 

 cultivate and fertilize their land, prune and 

 spray their trees and pick and market 

 their fruit. In consequence the production 

 of fruit per acre was increased and finan- 

 cial returns were enhanced in proportion. 

 .'Vgain the land speculator got busy and 

 land values recorded another increase. Soon 

 complaints began to be heard once more of 

 the difficulty growers were experiencing 

 in obtaining satisfactory returns. 



To improve the situatioD cooperative 

 methods of marketing crops were introduced 

 in many sections to great advantage. No 

 sooner, however, did the land speculator 

 hear of it than land values were again ad- 

 vanced wherever successful cooperative as- 

 sociations had been established, and grow- 

 ers were soon confronted with the same old 

 diflSculty that had burdened them before. 

 Now fruit growers in British Columbia are 

 clamoring for an increase in the tariff on 

 United States fruit in order that they may 

 be en.^bled to once more earn interest on 

 their investment and satisfactory returns 

 for their labor. Without desiring to say 

 anything against the justness of their 

 claim we would like to predict that should 

 the government grant the desired increase 



in the tariff the land speculator once more 

 would seize the opportunity to boom Brit- 

 ish Columbia fruit lands and again ad- 

 vance their values with the result that in a 

 few years conditions on the average would 

 be no better than at present. 



What has been said applies only to the 

 production of the fruit. The grower is hit 

 also, and heavily hit, by the high land val- 

 ues in our towns and cities. Tens of thou- 

 sands of working people in our cities pay 

 out twenty to thirty per cent, of ajl they 

 earn in the form of rent. This so reduces 

 their purchasing ability that in many cases 

 they are unable to buy fruit at any price, 

 even during periods when markets are glut- 

 ted. Thus the outlet for the fruit market 

 is greatly curtailed. Furthermore, the high 

 rentals charged wholesalers and retailers 

 who handle the crop impose an additional 

 and heavy charge on the middleman that 

 generally is completely overlooked by the 

 grower. 



This question of increasing land values 

 in both city and country has not received 

 the attention hitherto that its importance 

 has deserved. Removing the taxes on im- 

 provements and increasing them on land 

 values would help to solve the problem. 



PROGRESSIVE SOCIETIES 



More and more the horticultural socie- 

 ties of Ontario are becoming interested in 

 civic improvement. Many societies are do- 

 ing exceptionally valuable work along this 

 line. It is a work which tends to bring 

 the societies prominently before the pub- 

 lic and thus to advertise what they are do- 

 ing, and to increase their membership and 

 favor with the public. 



Elsewhere in this issue appears a num- 

 ber of reports from societies showing work 

 which they have accomplished during the 

 past year. Some societies have made a 

 success of certain kinds of work while oth- 

 ers have achieved equal success through 

 putting forth their efforts in other direc- 

 tions. Every little while the time comes in 

 the work of societies when new lines of 

 work should be undertaken in order that 

 the interest of their members and of the 

 public may be maintained or increased. 

 Those interested in the work societies are 

 doing will do well to read these reports as 

 well as other reports which we expect to 

 publish in succeeding issues. For the sake 

 of "Business as usual," as well as for the 

 usual reasons let us all do what we can to 

 make 1915 a banner year among the horti- 

 cultural societies of Ontario. 



SIGNS OP PROGRESS 



For over a quarter of a century the 

 growth of The Canadian Horticulturist has 

 been so closely identified with the develop- 

 ment of the horticultural interests of Can- 

 ada, we feel we are well within bounds 

 when we state that this issue of The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist is not without its sig- 

 nificance. As the horticulttiral interests of 

 Canada have increased in importance The 

 Canadian Horticulturist has been enlarged 

 and improved. The fact that bne of the 

 most forward steps we have taken in The 

 Canadian Horticulturist is made with this 

 issue is an indication that the horticultural 

 interests of the Dominion have advanced 

 sufficiently to make this improvement pos- 

 sible. . 



The leading horticultural districts of 

 Canada are separated by great distances. 

 The leading fruit districts of Canada, for 

 instance, are in the .\nn,ipolis Valley of 

 Nova Scotia, bordering Lakes Ontario, Erie 

 and Huron, and the Georgian Bay. in On- 

 tario, and in British Columbia. They 



