November, 1915. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



263 



Niagara ^District Notes 



F. G. H. Pattison, Winona 



FOR the past week the Niagara District 

 has been enjoying a spell of delight- 

 ful weather, warm and sunny in the 

 day and not too cool at night. This has 

 come as a great boon to the grape-growers, 

 who were beginniag to fear that a large pro- 

 portion of their grapes would not ripen. The 

 former long continued cool weather, toge- 

 ther with the very heavy growth of foliage 

 seriously retarded the ripening of grapes, 

 which had the bad effect of causing an un- 

 usual quantity of unripe, or only partially 

 ripened grapes to be shipped, especially to 

 distaat markets. 



Were the Niagara District thoroughly or- 

 ganized, as it should be, with a central sell- 

 ing organization controlling 65 to 75 per 

 cent, of the grape crop, it would be possible 

 to prevent the sale of unripe grapes entirely. 

 It would also be feasible to standardize 

 grape prices, at all events for Niagaras and 

 Concords, the two great commercial varie- 

 tieis. A standard price, not varying more 

 than oc'e or two cents a pound throughout 

 the season, would do away with the induce- 

 ment to ship unripe grapes, and would thus 

 abolish the present absurd anomaly of deal- 

 ers and others being ready to pay a much 

 higher price for grapes unfit for consump- 

 tion than they are for grapes when sweet 

 and wholesome. 



The slow ripenin.g of grapes had the effect 

 of raising the price and for some time whites 

 and blues were selling out at from 16c to 18c 

 a pound in car lots, and in some markets 

 were netting those who shipped on commis- 

 sion from 22c to i25c. Reds Isold out at 22c 

 to 2oc, and still higher on commission.. The 

 Hamilton and St. Catharines open market 

 price was 20c to ■25c per small basket. 



iNow buyers are paying 12c to 13c for blues 

 and whites, and 16c to 18c for reds. The lat- 

 ter are only fair in quality, having suffered 

 much from mildew, thousands of baskets 

 not being fit to pick due to this cause. 



Grape juice men have been offering as 

 high as 38 to $40 per ton for Concord grapes 

 nicely picked, and wine men $34. 



In the Erie and Chautauqua belt In New- 

 York state, the grape crop this season is 

 away below the average, being estimated at 

 only 50 per cent, of that of 1914. 



Work at the Welch Grape Juice factory in 

 St. Catharines is at its height now, and will 

 remain so for about four weeks. This com- 

 pany is very particular as to the quality of 

 its grapes, they must be "sweet ar,d ripe," 

 nothing else will pass. In order to induce 

 growers to bring their best, the company 

 pay more than the ordinary market price, 

 they have been paying from/?38 to $40 a ton 

 and they expect to use 600 tons. Manager 

 Childs believos they turn out a better qual- 

 .Ity of grape juice here than they do In the 

 states. Recently he bought 100 tons of 

 grapes in. the Beamsville and Grimsby neigh- 

 borhood, as to which he says: "I consider the 

 grapes there are of a finer quality than we 

 get In the great grane growing district of 

 Chautauqua County, N.Y." 



The Process. 



After the grapes have been inspected they 

 are nut through large modern pasteurizers. 

 By the means of an electric conveyor they 

 are thoroughly washed in transit and put 

 into large kettles, where they are cleaned 

 and stemmed. Then they are formed into 

 large cheeses and these are placed In hy- 

 draulic presses from which the juice runs 

 into the process kettle which cooks it. 



After being strained several times the 

 juice is run into glass carboys and stocked 

 away. After the grapes are received at the 

 landing platform they never again touch the 

 hands of an attendant. Everyching is done 

 by machicery, which is thoroughly sterilized 

 before and after it is used. This company 

 has an extremely moQern wa;shing, steriliz- 

 ing, and drying ajjparatus. 



About fifty men are at present employed 

 by the company, but they expect to greatly 

 extend their plant in a few years, and will 

 both employ more men and purchase far 

 more grapes. It is hardly necessary to 

 point out what a beaefit this company is 

 likely to prove to the grape-growers of the 

 district. Already they have had an appre- 

 ciable effect on the steadying of grape 

 prices. 



The frosts that occurred during the nights 

 of October 23rd and 24th, did a considerable 

 amount of harm to vineyards that had pre- 

 viously been defoliated, but the great bulk of 

 the vineyards below the mountain suffered 

 little or no damage. Grapes have been free- 

 ly rushed to market of late, and a large pro- 

 portion of the crop is beyond the reach of 

 frost. 



West of St. Catharines the apple crop of 

 the district and surrounding country is 

 pretty fair, but east of St. Catharine's .it is 

 very light. Greenings, snows and russets 

 are the best. iBaldwins and s,pys are light 

 in most orchards and there is a good deal 

 of scab and some ink-spot. The latter is pre- 

 valent on pears this season. 



Practically all the pears are gone aow, ex- 

 cept Keifers, which are a fair crop and are 

 selling well. Canning factories are paying 

 three-quarters of a cent per pound for them, 

 but the shipping market has been giving bet- 

 ter net returns than that- 



The spread of rust in black currants is 

 likely to be a serious matter for the fruit- 

 growers. It appears that this rust dies out 

 in the black currant during the winter, but 

 is carried over in the white pine which acta 

 as a host for the disease. In the spring the 

 currants get re-infected and the disease 



Notice to Beekeepers. 



Customers will please note that our spe- 

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 especially. We are anticipating a busy 

 season and desire to give our beekeeping 

 friends the best possible service. 



THE HAM & NOTT CO., Ltd. 



Mfgs. Beekeepers' Supplies 



Brantford, Ontario. 



CHAS. E. HOPPER & CO. 



BEEWARE 



126 Simcoe St., Toronto, Ont. 



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