Fruits of Ontario. 



INTRODUCTION. 



When the first fruit trees were planted in Ontario, probably about 150 

 years ago, the settlers had no reliable information to guide them in selecting 

 varieties or in caring for the trees after they were planted. But the experience 

 of these early settlers was taken advantage of by their descendants who, with 

 the additional knowledge possessed, were able to make some progress, al- 

 though scattered as they were in those early times without good means of inter- 

 course. The dissemination of information from one to another and to the new 

 settlers who were coming in was slow until the railways were built. Then fruit- 

 growing became much more general, as trees could be easily transported from 

 one part of the Province to another. In 1859 a few enthusiastic horticulturists 

 organized the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association. Meetings were held in dif- 

 ferent parts of the Province, and the people were urged to plant more fruit. 

 This organization has for the past 47 years by its meetings, annual reports, the 

 Canadian Horticulturist, and in many other ways, done very much to bring about 

 the present marvellous development in the fruit industry of Ontario. Realizing 

 that more definite information was needed to guide fruit-growers in the planting 

 of varieties and the culture of fruits, the Association in 1893 urged upon the 

 Government the importance of establishing Fruit Experiment Stations through- 

 out the Province. The idea received the approval of the Government, and in 1894 

 four stations were established, this number being increased to thirteen in the 

 course of a few years. To these were sent many varieties of fruits, which were 

 tested and reported upon each year by those in charge of the stations. As these 

 experimenters were all practical fruit growers, and in most cases had made a 

 specialty of some kind of fruit, much valuable information regarding varieties and 

 their culture was accumulated by the Department of Agriculture. After the sta- 

 tions were established, it was felt that in due time a hand-book should be pub- 

 lished that fruit growers generally might get the full benefit of the information 

 so obtained, and the secretary of the Board of Control, Mr. Linus Woolverton, 

 Grimsby, Ont. , was entrusted with the preparation of descriptions and illustra- 

 tions of the fruits which had been tested. Mr. Woolverton was for ten vears 

 engaged in this work, and the results of his labors will be found in the excellent 

 illustrations and full descriptions which appear in this book. 



Mr. Woolverton states that, "with a few exceptions, the descriptions have 

 been prepared directly from the fruits themselves, from samples grown in the 

 Province, and the notes of the tree, bush, and vine have been largely made from 

 records taken by the writer during these past ten years of experimental work. 



"These descriptions have been verified by comparison with those given in the 

 works of the world's greatest pomologists, such as the 'Dictionnaire de Pom- 

 ologie,' by Andre Leroy of France; 'The Fruit Manual,' by Thomas Hogg of 

 England; 'The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America,' by Charles Downing, of 

 Newburgh-on-the-Hudson ; 'The American Fruit Culturist,' by J. J. Thomas, of 

 New York State; 'Apples of New York,' by S. A. Beach, of Geneva, N.Y. ; 'The 

 .American Horticultural Manual,' by Prof. J. L. Budd, late of the Iowa State 

 College of Agriculture; 'Plum Culture,' by Prof. F. A. Waugh, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College; 'Apple Culture' and 'Plum Culture,' by W. T. Ma- 

 coun, of the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa; 'The Grape Manual,' by Bush, 

 Son & Misener, of Missouri ; the Reports of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 of the American Pomological Society, of the Ontario Fruit Growers' .Association, 

 etc., and many other works. 



[7] 



