138 



are being made. Some of our skilled hybridists such as the late Charles Arnold, 

 P. C. Dempsey, Prof. Saunders, and others, have demonstrated what can be done in 

 hybridizing and producing new and valuable fruits, and I believe that within ten 

 years we shall see greater results in this direction than we have in the past, and I 

 believe we have a great help in the testing and introducing of new fruits in your 

 Experimental Farm. Heretofore this business has all been in the hands of inter- 

 ested parties who had the plants to dispose of, and in many cases they have cared 

 more for filling their own pockets than for the success and and value of the fruit, or 

 the interest of the purchaser, and the consequence has been that much time and 

 money has been expended in growing what has proved to be worthless. But now 

 we can be assured that the tests made under the supervision of Prof. Saunders and 

 the values placed upon them for this and similar climates can be relied upon, and I 

 only regret that we have not a branch or a similar station in Western Ontario, where 

 we could have tender varieties of fruit, such as peaches, pears, plums, grapes, as 

 well as small fruits that cannot he grown here on account of the severity of the 

 climate, tested and disseminated, and I sincerely hope and trust that our rulers will 

 soon see the importance and necessity of this work, and grant us this boon. 



In regard to the growing of small fruits for market, many of us know the time 

 when our towns and cities were chiefly supplied from the States, and farmers thought 

 that growing small fi'uits for market was small business. I well remember that when 

 I planted my first acre of strawberries at Grimsby less than thirty years ago that 

 my neighbours thought that 1 was crazy or a fool. But when they saw I real- 

 ized more from that one acre than they did from ten acres of wheat they thought I 

 was not so foolish after all, and to-day there are scores of them in just such foolish 

 business, and now our markets are well supplied with all kinds of small fruits of our 

 own growing, and during the past year we have exported over $75,000 worth to our 

 neighbours ; and fi'om what information I have been able to gather I am sure that the 

 value of the amount consumed in the country would not be much less than $1,000,- 

 000 annually. But this amoaftt ought to be double what it is, and I am satisfied it 

 will be in a short time. Settlers in Manitoba and the North-West are beginning to 

 find that these are nearly the only fruits they can grow successfully, and they are 

 planting largely, and the Ontario Government has been sending out missionaries 

 among the farmers at their various institute meetings in different parts of the 

 Province, and many of them have been converted, and are actually going to plant out 

 berries enough for their ownuse, andperhaps some to sell, and there are indications of a 

 general revival in this branch of horticulture ; and it becomes those who are leaders 

 in fruit growing to render all the assistance they can, to give information in regard 

 to best varietias to plant, to encourage the growing and testing of new varieties and 

 their dissemination, to give instructions in regard to cultivation, &c. I have said 

 nothing about varieties or the profits of growing small fi'uits, taking it for granted 

 that those assembled here know as much as I do about these things. My object is 

 to stir up more interest in them and show their value and importance to the country 

 at large, and teach the people not to "despise the day of small things," particularly of 

 small fruits, and if I can do this, even in a small way, my object has been accom- 

 plished. 



Mr. Peters. — Will you give us some idea of the yield of strawberries per acre; 

 What is a fair yield ? 



Mr. WooLvERTON. — The average yield in southern Ontario would be, perhaps, 

 2,000 quarts per acre, although in special instances, with careful cultui'e, we have 

 as high as 4,000 and 5,000 quarts, and I have known even as high as 8,000 

 quarts obtained. But that is only under special circumstances, on soil specially 

 adapted and after excellent care and cultivation. It is only in rare instances that 

 they can succeed in getting such results. 



Mr. Peters. — Then, as to your mode of cultivation ? 



Mr. Woolverton. — The mode of cultivation with us is general Ij- in matted rows, 

 which we keep rather narrow. We give them as much manure as we can possibly 

 afford. That is about the rule. Of course, the ground should be well worked up a 

 year previous to the strawberries being put in. 



