CHAPTER XXXII. 

 A HISTORY OF FRUIT GROWING IN CANADA.* 



Fruit growing in Canada started with 

 the first settlers. Champlain landed in 

 Quebec Province on May 28, 1608, and we 

 find reports of his having planted two 

 gardens, one in the woods and the other in 

 the meadows, early in that year. 



He must have introduced fruit trees very 

 soon after founding his infant colony, as 

 Pierre Boucher, who wrote in 1663, says : — 

 " In the woods there are wild plums, which 

 are good, but not equal to those of France, 

 and there are two kinds of wild goose- 

 berries, prickly and smooth, besides black 

 and red currants, also small red cherries, 

 not bad, and another kind that is not so 

 good. The quantity of raspberries and 

 strawberries is incredible; they are larger 

 and better flavoured than those in the gar- 

 dens of France. There are also black- 

 berries and blue berries, besides many 

 others whose names I do not know. There 

 is abundance of wild grapes, very sour, but 

 they would doubtless improve under cul- 

 tivation. Some people have introduced 

 grapes from France into their gardens, 

 which bear large and beautiful fruit. Not 

 many trees have yet been introduced, 

 except some apple trees, which bear very 

 fine fruit in large quantities." 



Besides this we have the historical sketch 

 of the " Fameuse " apple, showing that 

 apple-growing had a very early origin in 

 Quebec. The Fameuse originated in the 

 French settlement on the St. Lawrence 

 from seed brought from France between 

 1608-1650. It is generally believed that 

 this was done by the Sulpician Fathers, 

 the earliest missionaries to establish them- 

 selves on Mount Royal, bringing with them 

 from France seeds of the best French 

 apples to plant i,n the virgin soil of the 

 Island of Montreal. The Fameuse of to- 

 day is the result of the early selection of 



*Abstracted by Cecil H. Hooper from an 

 afticle by Geo. Dickson in Maodonald College 

 Magazine, 1916-17. 



seedlings by these monks. Montreal was 

 founded in 1642, and by 1700 this variety 

 had been distributed quite freely through 

 Quebec and Vermont. 



Outside the Island of Montreal the chief 

 fruit-growing sections in Quebec have been 

 in the Abbotsford district. In 1812 the 

 fruit-bearing orchard (seedlings) began 

 fruiting. Some grafted trees had been 

 brought to Abbotsford in 1810, but no 

 grafting was done in that district until 

 1823, when it was introduced by Samuel 

 Jackson. The first budding was done in 

 1846. In 1827 several plantings of Fameuse, 

 Pomme Grise and Bourassa were made in 

 that district. The first commercial nursery 

 was established in 1857 by N, C. Fisk. 

 Others followed, and in this way thousands 

 of trees were distributed through the 

 Province. 



In December, 1874, the Fruit Growers' 

 Association of Abbotsford was organised, 

 the pioneer society of the Province. It 

 issued letters of inquiry and gathered in- 

 formation from the experience of over one 

 hundred growers in the Province outside 

 Abbotsford, and in 1875 published a "Fruit 

 List for the Province of Quebec." In 

 1876 it held its first exhibition of fruits, 

 vegetables and flowers. In 1879 the society 

 received its first Government grant. 

 Spraying was introduced in 1890, when 

 Bordeaux mixture with Paris green was 

 applied by hand pumps. In 1894 the 

 Pomological and Fruit Growers' Associa- 

 tion of the Province of Quebec was 

 organised at Abbotsford; the province was 

 divided into nine districts, each one having 

 a director as exists to-day. People grew 

 hay in their orchards, leaving the after- 

 math to lie as a mulch ; others grazed 

 sheep in their orchards. To-day the 

 general practice is clean cultivation, for 

 the first ten years crops, such as, beans, 

 pumpkins, cabbage, root crops and pota- 

 toes are grown in the orchard. When 

 the trees come into bearing these crops 



