140 



Mr. Wool VERTON — ^No. If you allow them to get wide, those in the centre obtain 

 no benefit of cultivation, [t is best to keep cutting the runners off after you have 

 as many plants as you wish. 



Judge MosGKovE. — In regard to the cultivation of the strawberry, I have been 

 adopting a different course at my place. Lately I have been planting the rows four 

 feet ajDart and then rolling the rows over, not ploughing up. On one side of the 

 row I have dug a trench and put manure in, letting the runners go over it. so that 

 they take root there next year and then I cut out the old one. The great difficulty 

 I find in carrying out that system is, that my men will not cut out the old, worn-out 

 plants. This year I have adopted rather a different course. I have put pins down 

 where they have cut them out, so that 1 can trace in the future by means of these 

 pins, what has been done, and can compel the men to cut out the old ones. I was 

 happy to hear Mr. Peters speak about the fences which they use in New Brunswick. 

 Among my own crops I have 2,400 yards of fences running all through the eight 

 acres. 



Mr. Wool VERTON. — I see that Mr. Smith has just entered the room. He left in 

 my hand a resolution which grows out of the paper which has just been read, and 

 perhaps it would be wise to introduce it at this point. 



The President. — The following motion has been presented for consideration. 

 Moved by A. M. Smith, seconded by L. Woolverton : — 



" That whereas there has been and is a great loss to the Canadian farmers and 

 fi-uit-growers in the introduction of new fruits by parties interested in the sale of 

 trees and plants, which, upon being tested, have been found to be worthless, and thus 

 a great amount of time and money have been wasted ; be it therefore resolved, 

 that while we believe the Government, through their Experimental FarmSj are doing 

 all they can in the way of testing fruits for their adaptation to this and similar 

 climates, still we realize that the tests made here, owing to the severity of the climate, 

 do not meet the wants of the great fruit-producing portions of our country. We 

 therefore regard it as very essential to the welfare of this industry and the country 

 at large that a branch experimental station should be established somewhere in 

 southern Ontario, where not only tender varieties of fruits could be tested, but also 

 grains and vegetables which cannot be produced in more rigorous climates." 



Mr. A. M. Smith. — I do not know that it is necessary to take up much time in 

 explaining that motion. I think you can all understand for yourselves that Ottawa, 

 where the Experimental Earm is located, is not the situation where they can grow 

 many of our choice varieties of fruits. We deem it very necessary that those 

 varieties which are constantly coming before the public should be tested in some 

 way before they are sent out, before parties invest their money in them. A great 

 many of us know to our sorrow that varieties which have been offered to us, and 

 recommended very highly by men in high positions in the horticultural world, when 

 we come to grow them in our locality they have turned out to be worthless; the 

 large price we paid for them and the time we have expended is all lost. We all 

 know the pains that is being taken at the Experimental Station, at the expense of the 

 Government, to test the different varieties of fruit and, in fact, everything in the 

 agricultural line, and we can all see that this climate here is not adapted and 

 never can be adapted for testing a great many varieties, not only of fruit but of 

 grain and vegetables. Hence the necessity for establishing a branch Experimental 

 Farm. This thing is being done in the States of the neighbouring Union to a large 

 extent. I would like to hear an expression of opinion on this point. 



Judge MosoROVE. — Would not the Guelph Experimental Farm station do the 

 experimenting that you require ? 



Mr. Sjiith. — T am sorry to say that the Guelph Farm is very little, if any, better 

 situated for testing the varieties of fruit to which I refer than the farm h^re at 

 Ottawa. A few varieties of apples may stand the climate of Guelph, but peaches 

 arc altogether out of the question. Many varieties ot apples, pears, plums, gi apes, 

 cherries, and other small fruits will not succeed there at all. 



