1897] Fruit Growing in Canada. 89 



being cultivated and appreciated, among these are gooseberries, 

 currants and juneberries. Wheat is king here — long may he 

 reign — surrounded by lesser lights in the factors that compose a 

 successful and profitable mixed husbandry. 



British Columbia. — I approach a description of the fruit re- 

 sources of this province with a diffidence born of lack of personal 

 knowledge,{ncreased by a feeling of the extraordinary possibilities 

 of its deltas, its coast line, its valleys, its benches, its^irrigated lands. 

 Great climatic variation means a corresponding widening of the 

 possibilities of fruit culture, and there is here undoubtedly a more 

 extended range of thermometric variation and atmospheric 

 moisture, than is found in any other province of the Dominion. 

 That fruit of fine quality can be grown and is being increasingly 

 cultivated is evidenced by the magnificent plums, pears and 

 apples shown by the Superintendent, Mr. Thos. A. Sharpe, Of 

 the British Columbia Experimental Farm at the leading exhibi- 

 tions of Ontario last autumn. That apples of surpassing size 

 and of great beauty are grown is attested by the fact that British 

 Columbia won and held the distinction for some time at the 

 World's Fair of having the largest apple on exhibition, and may 

 I venture to add that she can also claim the proud distinction of 

 numbering among her landed proprietors the Earl of Aberdeen 

 His Excellency the Governor General of Canada, and the largest 

 orchardist in the Dominion. The value of His Excellency's 

 extensive orchard situated at Vernon in the Okanagan district, 

 to the province from the standpoint of a stupendous object lesson, 

 comprising as it does some 200 acres of fruits, together with its 

 colonizing influence, may not be over estimated. Pears, plums 

 and apples are grown with great success in the Okanagan valley. 

 Speaking of the best fruit lands of the province, a pioneer 

 fruit grower, Mr. E. Hutcherson. of Ladners, says : " Some of 

 the best fruit lands are to be found along the monntains and foot- 

 hills on either side of the numerous valleys of the province." 



