1897] Fruit Growing in Canada. 85 



Coming up the St. Lawrence we might profitably look 

 through the old gardens in the suburbs of Quebec. We 

 might not find apples of gold, and melting pears such as 

 are described in poetic sentence by the author of Le cMen d'Or, 

 but we shall find that even on the heavy clay loams of this 

 region, apples and plums are produced of good quality and in 

 fair quantity. The Island of Montreal is undoubtedly the cradle 

 of tha fruit industry of the province. The ground, now covered 

 by many of those majestic achitectural structures so beautifully 

 situated around the base of old Mount Royal, was once occupied 

 by monuments in the form of fruitful apple and pear trees reared 

 by the efforts of man and nature, not so imposing in appearance, 

 though hardly less beautiful, but perhaps more useful in effect 

 and beneficial in influence than piles of granite, sandstone, or 

 marble. On the Island of Montreal we find a truly intensive 

 style of fruit growing ; apples and pears are staples. Straw- 

 berries, gooseberries and other small fruits are extensively culti- 

 vated. Convenient market facilities, both at home and abroad, 

 assist the fruit grower. About the foot-hills of those curious 

 out-croppings of the Vermont mountains that we find in the 

 Richlieu Valley and in the Eastern Townships — localities 

 peopled by U. E. Loyalists — fruit growing is a leading branch 

 of rural labour. The number of varieties peculiar to a locality is 

 an indication in fruit growing of the relative antiquity of the 

 industry. Here we find our native Canada Baldwin and our 

 Winter St. Lawrence. Beloeil. Rougemont and Abbotsford, are 

 well known to Quebec fruit growers as the homes of progressive 

 horticulturalists, and the name of the late Charles Gibb of 

 Abbotsford is well known throughout the continent as a fruit- 

 grower and a philanthropist. The fruit area along the New 

 York boundary line is rapidly extending, Apples, plums, pears 

 and grapes here reward the efforts of the fruit grower with 

 abundant crops. The scene in Montreal along the docks last 

 autumn when apples by the thousands ot barrels were going out 

 by steamer was indicative of the extent of the indnstry. 



