14 



Other varieties of a promising character are being tested as to their value 

 from a commercial standpoint, and will be reported on from time to time. 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 



Prince Edward Island, known as 'The Garden of the Gulf,' was reached 

 on the evening of July 26, and we were met on arrival at Charlottetown by Mr. 

 Theodore Ross, Secretary of Agriculture for the Province, and Mr. A. E. Dewar, 

 Secretary of the P.E.I. Fruitgrowers' Association. 



A. E. Dewar's Fruit Farm. 



Mr. Dewar's fruit farm and orchards were first visited, and here we found 

 conclusive proof of the profitable character of fruitgrowing under intelligent 

 methods. Every foot of this ^property was utilized to the fullest extent, and 

 the net returns would no doubt surprise many who look with indifference upon 

 the small farm. Strawberries and gooseberries are the principal small fruits 

 grown and they have proved very profitable. Among apples, Alexander, Ben 

 Davis, Inkerman, Ribston Pippin, Wolf River and Ontario are the favourites 

 and all succeed well in this locality. 



. Available Markets. 



The Island of Cape Breton, containing a large mining and manufacturing 

 population, easily reached from Charlottetown by boat, is the principal market 

 for the fruits and vegetables grown in this vicinity, although there is also a 

 large local demand. There are quite a number of orchards, none of them 

 very large, in the various towns and cities scattered throughout the Province, 

 within a short radius of the Capital, but as the majority of the owners are engaged 

 in mixed farming, these orchards, owing to press of other work, fail to receive 

 ' proper care and treatment and consequently are not doing as well as they might 

 under more favourable conditions. 



Many Good Farms. 



The custom of continuously growing grass and grain in the orchards from 

 the time of planting is much more in evidence in Prince Edward Island than in 

 New Brunswick, and in consequence we found many who counted the orchard 

 as a rather uncertain asset to the farm. There are of course many exceptions 

 to these conditions, and at the farms of Frank Bovyer at Bunbury, John Annear 

 at Montague, Percy Robertson and Messrs. Mclntyre and Son at New Perth, 

 Colin Craig at Middleton, and others who might be mentioned, were found 

 men who were giving the best of attention to their orchards and, like Mr. Dewar, 

 doing well, and quite enthusiastic about the future of fruitgrowing on the Island. 

 Indeed Mr. Theodore Ross is of the opinion that the day is not far distant when 

 Kings County will have become as important a fruit-producing centre as portions 

 of the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. 



Co-operation Necessary. 



The outstanding feature of the situation here at the present time is the 

 need of co-operative effort on the part of the people to produce a larger quantity 

 of superior fruit and thus be enabled to command better transportation facilities 

 and attract the attention of the public to their product. 



The Experimental Farm recently established near Charlottetown, under 

 Federal auspices, in charge of Mr. J. A. Clark, will no doubt prove very useful 



