FOUBTEENTH EXHIBITION OF COLONIAL-GROWN FRUITS. CCXXxix 



Coast of America. Being called " North-West, " ifc was thought to be 

 far North, and to have a terrible climate. Some of the questions asked 

 were : '* What sort of fur clothing must I buy? " and such-like. Can 

 you advise me the best place to buy a fur overcoat, or should I buy 

 one after crossing?" Others seemed to have the idea that British 

 Columbia was connected with the State of Colombia far down South, 

 and they wanted to know how long the intense heat lasted. So I 

 thought if we could get here some fruit from British Columbia it would 

 tell them a great deal more than I could by letter. They look at the 

 fruit, and they appreciate that, on the one hand, it cannot be grown 

 in a torrid climate, but, on the other, that it cannot be grown without 

 a lot of sunshine. That was the origin of British Columbia sending 

 over fruit, and it has answered most thoroughly. I find, generally 

 speaking, that my letters speak of fruit shows going on in various 

 parts of the Colony during the last month, and they speak of the 

 clim^ate as good and of the country as a place in which they can work. 

 What I want to see is the other Provinces coming to the front; 

 they do not realize that these shows are the best possible form of 

 advertising the actual conditions as to climate and fertility of the land 

 in the different Provinces. There are plenty of Provinces in Canada 

 besides British Columbia, though, as a British Columbian, I say we 

 can ' * knock spots off ' ' all the others ; but I expect some gentlemen pre- 

 sent will not agree with that, but British Columbia has had advantages 

 which other Provinces have not had. We began with the experience of 

 others. And what was the effect of beginning late? W^e saw that 

 both in Great Britain and in all the other Provinces and Colonies 

 sufficient attention had not been paid to keeping the orchards thoroughly 

 clean and free from insects and pests of all kinds. With the co- 

 operation of the Dominion Government, we have been able at our 

 Customs and ports of entry to have all fruit-trees and all fruit examined, 

 so that none can enter into British Columbia unless it is thoroughly 

 free from dangerous pests. My friend. Sir Albert Eollit, perhaps 

 thinks that I am approaching dangerously near to a topic on which 

 we differ, because if I mention the word " Protection " I should not 

 be keeping to the rules of the Society. But the only protection I want 

 is that of our gardeners and our orchardists from the trouble of these 

 fruit pests. The early orchards in British Columbia — we knew nothing 

 about them at that time — resembled deformed or crooked trees, such 

 as one sometimes sees on the journey to Kew Gardens. None of these 

 exist in British Columbia to-day » It was not an agreeable thing to 

 mform a fruit-grower at that time, but the Agricultural Department of 

 the Province did take it up, and wherever they found that a man did 

 not improve his orchard they cut his trees down. I believe that Mr. 

 Price Ellison will agree with me that that policy was a good policy, 

 and the result is that we have practically splendid fruit. I see in 

 many shops in London plenty of fruit that would not be allowed into 

 British Columbia. A large number of oranges which I see here could 

 not go into British Columbia, because they are very often affected with 



