THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
828 
EDITORIAL WANDERINGS 
Conditions in Western Quebec 
A favorite saying of a venerable friend of mine is that 
“If our foresight were as good as our backsight, we would 
achieve greater success in life.” Certain it is that we would 
avoid many perplexing problems and serious mistakes; 
but after all, the speculative factor which adds zest to life 
would be so completely eliminated that the ordinary indi¬ 
vidual would travel on a monotonous level of positivism. 
Reflections of this type came to my mind recently in 
revisiting the scenes of earlier days, situated at the foot of 
the west slope of Yamaska Mountain in the Great Valley of 
the St. Lawrence River, some thirty miles southeast of 
Montreal. In this old-fashioned, yet, in many respects, 
up-to-date English-speaking community, composed of 
descendants of U. E. loyalists, we have a district unique in 
many respects. It was years after the fertile levels (bot¬ 
tom lands, they would be called in the West) of the St. 
Lawrence Valley were settled by French pioneers, that the 
migrating United Empire Loyalists drifted into Quebec 
and took up the remaining and rougher lands lying along 
the timbered and gravelly slopes of these hilly or mountain¬ 
ous outcroppings in the great plain of the St. Lawrence. 
It is a common observation that wherever New England¬ 
ers travelled, wheresoever they went, they brought with 
them their native gardening proclivities. They came by 
these instincts very naturally, for in no nation in the 
civilized world is the love of gardening so deeply entrenched 
as in the English-speaking people. So we find the Puritan 
bringing with him to the new England his love for fruits and 
flowers, and his desire to embellish his home with these 
tokens of culture. Thus, it came about that in the region 
of Yamaska, as well as Rougemont and Beloeil Mountains, 
partly in response to soil and climatic adaptations, and 
partly in response to the personal equation, orchards and 
gardens were planted, and these regions became noted as 
fruit-growing sections at a comparatively early period. 
Apples were an important product of the farmers of 
Abbotsford half a century ago, and "the output steadily 
increased during the seventies and eighties under the 
enthusiastic guidance and stimulating example of the late 
Charles Gibb and his associates of the Abbotsford Fruit 
Growers’ Association. It is proper to record that this small 
local association contributed an important quota to the 
collection of fruits sent for the Province of Quebec by the 
Montreal Horticultural Society to the Centennial Exposi¬ 
tion in Philadelphia in 1876. I am reminded that my 
earliest lessons in the field of systematic pomology were 
taken in assembling and packing for shipment this im¬ 
portant collection of apples, which were later exhibited at 
Philadelphia by Charles Gibb and associates of the Montreal 
Horticultural Society. This local association has been the 
agent for the dissemination of accurate information on 
practical questions related to orcharding and the selection 
of varieties. It has also been the means of holding the 
annual fruit show at Abbotsford, which for many years 
was an autumn event of more than ordinary economic and 
social importance. It was the event of the season, and 
one looked forward to with a great deal of pleasant antici¬ 
pation by the young people, for it combined features which 
appealed to the young as well as the old. The lengthy 
tables in the hall, well laden with fruits, were not more 
attractive to the elders than the field athletic events oc¬ 
curring in the afternoon to the juniors. The competition 
in the various classes was usually keen. Considerable 
stress was laid upon variety collections. In this way, the 
amateur interests were stimulated, possibly to an exag¬ 
gerated extent; but the purely commercial interests were 
not overlooked, and special prizes were offered for collec¬ 
tions having commercial merit, as well as those exhibited for 
educational purposes. To indicate the range of variety 
exhibition, it is worth while stating that single exhibits 
sometimes contained as many as a hundred plates of 
distinct kinds. The fruit show was not confined exclusively 
to fresh fruits, but included jellies, canned goods, and 
conserves of various kinds. 
THE OLD AND THE NEW. 
The social problem in Abbotsford has not differed in 
kind from that which prevails in many regions. Possibly 
it has its own peculiarities and characteristics. The main 
difficulty, as the visitor, like myself, notes, who goes back 
after a series of years, is that men are wanted. There has 
been the usual drift from the farm, from the small com¬ 
munity, to the city, or at any rate to some distant point; 
and the demand at the present time is for men with means 
to develop the opportunities lying more or less dormant 
at present. It is cheering to note some progress in this 
line. Here and there, where a family has, in the passage of 
time, disappeared, new blood has taken its place, and under 
the later regime with the introduction of modem methods, 
progress belonging strictly to the present era is being made. 
Where a farm once prosperous and productive has lapsed 
into a state of quietude by the advanced years of the owner, 
by the removal by death, or the call of the industries, the 
condition approaches the pathetic; but where such a 
place has fallen into the hands of a young, energetic indi¬ 
vidual, possessing a knowledge of modem methods and 
imbued with the possibilities of modern agriculture, a 
picture of an entirely different type is set before the vision. 
INFLUENCE OF SPECIALIZATION. 
Localities, as well as individuals, drop into ruts and 
routine. What has been, is likely to prevail for a good 
while, if no infusion of new blood and new ideas from the 
outside takes place, so that it frequently happens that little 
change in the program of a place occurs until new methods 
are introduced by incoming settlers. Orcharding, mainly 
