THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
H3 
cultivation, the results of which will, in due time, be re¬ 
ported for the public good. The Minister of Agriculture 
has placed this whole work under the joint control of the 
Ontario Fruit Growers’ Association and the Agricultural 
College at Guelph. 
Li nus Woolverton, secretary of the Ontario Fruit 
Growers’ Association, who has recently visited that district, 
reports the whole country along the southern shore of the 
Georgian Bay as abounding in beautiful scenery and in 
suitable soil for the growing of fruit, particularly the plum 
and apple. The Beaver Valley, especially, is most delight¬ 
ful. From Thornbury, near Meaford, this valley winds 
among the heights of the “ Blue Ridge,” or “ Mountain,” 
for twenty miles back to Eugenia Falls, affording some of 
the most picturesque scenery in Canada. The finest plums 
in Ontario are grown in this section, both in quality and 
beauty of appearance, and the yield of fruit is most re¬ 
markable in quantity. 
The people of the Beaver Valley are alive to their own 
interests, and have vigorously enforced the black knot by¬ 
law during the last seven years, and this forethought has 
been worth thousands of dollars in this valley. 
NO OVER-PRODUCTION OF FRUIT. 
F. G. VVithoft, vice-president of the Albaugh Nursery 
and Orchards Co., Tadmor, O., and treasurer of the 
Albaugh Georgia Fruit Co., who is interested in a peach 
orchard of 550,000 trees, believes that there is no over¬ 
production of fruit. In an article in Farm and Home he 
says: A great change has come over the fruit business 
of the United States within the past twenty years. Then, 
railroad facilities were meager both in good connections 
and fast time and markets were circumscribed. Within 
the last decade the local and shorter railroad lines have 
consolidated into trunk lines with lower freight rates and 
quicker transit and have practically revolutionized the 
fruit trade. 
Fine fruit sells, especially as cities increase in popula¬ 
tion and wealth, and prices are not deemed of essential 
moment among the wealthy who want the very finest and 
best. With cheaper freight rates the finest fruits are now 
sold in the cities at reasonable rates, all expenses deducted, 
and still leave large profits to the grower. 
In the large fruits the regions of successful orcharding 
are not extensive—elevation of land, a suitable climate, 
and a suitable soil are essentials to success. Something 
of love for horticultural pursuits and an adaptation to the 
business must be found in the grower. It is wonderful 
the amount of fruit that can find a market in a large city, 
for from the city commission houses are sent out daily 
laro-e consignments to the smaller towns and villages 
within a radius of fifty miles and more. Thus in almost 
every small town or village of the North will be found ber¬ 
ries, fruits, melons, etc., on sale, all through the season. 
In 1893, from one shipping point in the southern peach 
region were shipped on one day and in one train 10,000 
bushels of fine peaches, which arrived in New York within 
forty-eight hours and were only as “ a drop in the bucket ” 
upon that market. Within the large cities of the North¬ 
west, out of the fruit regions themselves, and consuming 
thousands of tons of fine fresh fruit annually, the markets 
are almost boundless. 
Ten bushels of fresh fruits are consumed now in our 
country against one bushel twenty years ago, and the 
comparison will continue to increase from year to year. 
Large commercial orchards are being planted in favor¬ 
able localities, but even these are not keeping pace with 
the ever-increasing population of fruit-consuming mouths. 
As meats and other substantial become higher in price, 
more and more healthy fruit will be consumed. Look in 
the markets of Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, 
and other cities of the northwest and see the tons and 
tons of insipid, half-ripened California fruit, brought over 
2,000 miles to market, and then ask yourself whether 
fresh, delicious, well-ripened fruit from nearer home, with 
less than half the freight rates, will not find a paying 
market there for years to come. No, the fruit business is 
not yet overdone east ot the Rockies ; nor will it be for a 
century to come. Ever-increasing population and increas¬ 
ing railroad facilities will keep it on a paying basis. Ten 
years ago a Georgia watermelon was only seen in the few 
fancy green-grocers’ stores of the cities ; now piles of them 
adorn the side-walk in every rural village and over 10,000 
carloads were shipped from the South last year and sold 
at remunerative prices. 
Thousands upon thousands of bushels of peaches are 
put up in cans for family use in the years when they can 
be had. Also, when there is an extra crop of peaches in 
any section, under the present complete system of canning 
and evaporation, a crop can be handled and saved and 
when a year comes that no fruit is raised, this can be sold 
at good big prices. This is especially the case with such 
fine varieties as Elberta, Globe, Diamond, Dean’s Red, 
St. Clair, Crawford, Orange and Lemon Cling. In the 
opinion of the writer, the fruit business is not going to be 
overdone while people have ability to pay reasonable 
prices for fruit, can get the fruit fresh and luscious and 
have the palate to enjoy and the stomach to receive the 
juicy and refreshing morsels. 
The grape industry has been self-sustaining during a 
period of the greatest business depression known in the 
history of the country says the Grape Belt. What busi¬ 
ness has fared better or promises better for the future? 
The experience of the past two years has largely checked 
planting and has led farmers to think twice before putting 
out to grapes land which, in the nature of the case, could 
not compete with more favorable ground. Considering 
that good, well managed vineyards do not lose money 
even at the present unprecedentedly low prices for grapes, 
and considering that the low tide of business now passing 
away has given a wholesome check to planting, is there 
not every reason to hope for a season of steady, well 
founded prosperity in the grape business? 
