38 



the farms in these counties, who were extremely anxious to secure for themselves 

 first hand information as to the best methods to be adopted in order to secure 

 from their orchards maximum returns. 



There are several sections where plums and small fruits are being largely 

 and successfully grown. 



The opportunities for the extension and production of winter apples through- 

 out this territory, are excellent, and will no doubt be made use of as the people 

 become more fully seized with the profitable nature of this industry. 



District Representatives. 



A movement of recent years throughout the Province, in connection with 

 its agricultural development, has been the appointment of young men, college 

 graduates, to the position of District Representatives in very many counties 

 where their services have been requested. These men in many cases are spe- 

 cialists in horticulture, and are well qualified to give practical advice, and take 

 the lead in any advanced movement which may be inaugurated, having for its 

 object the production of more and better fruit. 



The idea which formerly prevailed to a great extent, that if a man was 

 unable to make a success of any other business, he was quite capable of getting a 

 living at farming or fruitgrowing, has been pretty well exploded. It is now 

 clearly understood that there is no occupation which requires in its successful 

 prosecution, greater capacity and more general knowledge and closer application, 

 than that, of producing high class fruit; the rewards that follow are commen- 

 surate with the qualifications demanded. 



The Province of Ontario offers to the prospective fruitgrower in almost 

 every section which has been thus briefly described, unlimited opportunities to 

 engage in a business which is at once attractive and desirable, and which will 

 furnish adequate and satisfactory returns for the effort expended. 



Newcomers Welcomed. 



It has also within its borders a class of men who have succeeded in demon- 

 strating the possibilities of the province from a horticultural standpoint, who have 

 solved many of the problems and overcome many of the difficulties natural to 

 a business of such varied character, and who will welcome to their ranks men of 

 ability and perseverance who may be inclined to join them in securing from 

 nature's storehouse, bountiful crops of the delicious fruits for which this Pro- 

 vince is noted. 



There is little to be found of the narrow-mindeil jealousy of a neighbour's 

 success which is characteristic of some lines of human endeavour. They realize 

 that the prospective markets are wide, and rapidly increasing, and that every 

 addition to their number of the right stamp of men adds to the prestige of the 

 industry as a whole. 



Letter of Inquiry. 



In the course of this inquiry, a circular letter was sent out containing a list 

 of questions designed to secure from widely different sections, the judgment of 

 practical men engaged in the production of fruit, and their candid opinion upon 

 the several questions presented. A very large number of replies were received 

 and although these fruitgrowers were working under vastly different conditions 

 and carrying on their occupation in different ways, there was, greatly to the sur- 

 prise of the writrr, a remarkable similarity in the replies in regard to the more 

 important phases of the interrogations put before them. 



