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OOPFHrO (Britidi JowuliBt) Inuad by direction of Hon. ROBERT ROGERS. IVIinltter of the Interior. Ottawa. Canada 1912 S198I-1 ^^'^ui.m CAN.\U:aN (i..t:a.Kl. IT'BUCATiONS NATIONAL UERAIfi il^t.fr.ClQJil TiS^TlS CANAUA Pag* A Broad turvty ■ • '','Lll Tha axUnt ol Canada— lU dual charaoUr— Pionaar aatUar*- OnUrio fanna and Una buildlnia-Unlamlliar alghta-Tha othar England— Canada'i ExparimenUl Fann Syatam. CHAPTER II. Paaeh Ofcharda and Vlnayarda ■■■\\:".^' 'V Tha Niagara Peninsula- What the dUtrlct look* llk»-Paaoh** in th* oi)*n— Vari*tle*. CHAPTER III. Valu** In th* Niagara B«lt ,1,.".",^ i" 11 BaBpb*rrl**-What individuals have aeeomplished-£6a from an acre-Cherries and their popularity— Peaches the beat paying crop-Other small fruita-Markets and transporta- tion facilities. CHAPTER IV. The Lake Erie Country ' ", " i'," Is th* Peach Belt confined to the Niagara Penlnsula?- Norfolk County-Kent and Essex— P*rsonal Ulks with fruit 11 IS 25 growsrs. CHAPTER V. Tobacco and Early Vagetab la* •• •• Government ExperlmenUl SUtior.s— Tomatoes grown without glass— Early maturity— 'Prices and markets— Cheap land— The present opportunity. 32 CHAPTER VI. Huron's Southern Shore. 47 Mixed farming— Growing vegetables for the canneries— Th* sugar beet— A Scotch jailwayman's experience— Int*n*iv* farming— Celery soil. CHAPTER VII. Mixed Farming .'.■ ,." Average returns— Improved methods— Apples as a side lm»— Possibilities beginning to be known— The problem of help— The opportunity for settlers— What some have done. CHAPTER VIII. Apples and Cheese '" Ontario standards— A revolution In fruit growing— Spraying- Varieties— Returns reported— The butter and cheese fao- torlea— Co-operative dairying— Ontario's offer to the British farmer. IMPROVED ONTARIO FARMS OLD COUNTRY FAHMERS CHAPTER 1. A BROAD SURVEY. Osnada— tht Urgn half of North Amarlc*— U on* Dominion; bat it is two eountriM. Thar* ia th« davaloping NorthwMt, which it ■ naw eountry; and thara ia tha davalopad Southaast, which ia an old country. No ona can think accurately about tha Dominion who doaa not raaliia ita dual character. Whan ona raada or haars atatamanta con- earning Canada, it ia aaaantial to know which Canada ia referred to— the vaat country with a hiatory running into centuriea. or tha yaatar country that waa opened up within the memory of middle-aged men. They repreaent two diatinct atagea of national development. In. aapact and opportunitiea the one diKera from the other very much aa Oreat Britain ditlers from Rhodeaia. The two Canadaa have been unequally aarved by the printing preaa. Tha Southeaat. it ia true, fllla moet apace in the hiatory hooka; but the Northweat haa for long monopoliied attention in pamphlets and periodicala. The birth of a new country Involved the deairability of proclaiming ita poaaibilitiea to the world, that population might be attracted. Moreover, the birth of a new country, with ita romantie atory of pioneera on the prairie, haa provided writera with mora int«^ acting material than a long-eatabliahad country eojld be expected to afford. In a word, the praiaea of the Northweat have been trumpeted acroaa tha Atlantic, until to-day the average man in the Britiah lalaa, and elaewhere in Europe, tbinka of Canada mainly aa a great grain- growing region where aettlers arrive to till the virgin aoil. He knows little or nothing of the other Canada, old-eatabliahed, hiatorio. and dotted with numeroua towna and villagea having their aurronnding auburba of smiling homea— of the Canada fumiahed with a denaa net- work of roads and railnaya— of the Canada mapped throughout. Ilka England and Scotland, into email fenced fielda, arable or pasture. So far from ol** attractions to new social attractions "' . Dominion. Southern Ontoi east. Its settlement ^, offering no special opportunities and >ffers agricultural opportunities and at not to be found elsewhere in tha .om being the oldest part of the South- .1 back only about a century and a quarter. The " Upper Canada " of the history books, it waa founded by many thousands of the British loyalists who withdrew from the United States when the United States were established. That sturdy race of pioneer settlers prospered and multiplied, and to-day their descend- ants of the third generation are still occupying farms in the province. But— and this is a fact of supreme importance to British agricul- turists who may think of removing to Canada^the fourth generation, almost to a boy, has refused to carry on the family farms and tradi- tions. A restless spirit has descended upon the lads of Ontario, and while many have already flown to the cities or to the Northwest. others are preparing their wings for that flight. Nor is the conduet of these young people difficult to understand. 21MS-U ' Thalr gtandi«ih«n w«w nu^ In pw^nl«dOT»tioii d«yt, ud «M« Um iMa Umpltd to •tr«r ouUld* th« bord«w «' " " W" Ouiftds" bMtoM U»«lr inUrafU u k colony woro oonflnwl wiUiln IhoM bordwt, and th« •tUaotloni oImwImn th»t now tempt th« prMtnt ftnoratlon w«m th«n non-««i»Unt. Tho ••m* wmark also •ppllM, In •««ct. to tli«lr tethtM. who »fTl»«d at working yaara bafora tha aBaoU of Conladaration wara vUlbla. For tha riaing ganaratlon, howavar. tha caaa haa baan difTarant. Ihay wara born aa citixani ol a graatar Canaca. and of a Canada uUr and athrill with tha raallxatlon of ita own poUntialltiai. Tha boya haard of tha rich prairia landa, and of tha forasta and arising citJaa and Incalculabla minaral waalth. out In tha Waat; and ia it any wondar that tha homely farm Ufa aaau-nad for tham a humdrum Mpact. and that thay yearnad to adventura forth into tha unknown raglona of thair national hariUgar An Onurio farm when, mixed farming i» followed. Thara hava bean, as laUr chapters will show, contributory cauaaa for tha axodua of young OnUrians from OnUrio; but it U anough that tha boya hava left the farms, and that, in consequence, the farma ara on tha markets-cheap. , . . i And what fine farms they are! I wonder, how do they figure in tha mind'a^ye of tha reader? Has ha a mental picture of a mak^ shift wooden home, with here a golden stretch of growing grain, and there a brown expanse of new-ploughed earth-the whr'.a but a civil- iMd foreground in a surrounding landscape of scrub and woodland and wild nature? Sir. that is all wrong. , -, , j Rural OnUrio follows the gen.-ral pattern of rural England. Campbell's farm of about a hundred acres adjoins Walker;s farm of similar axUnt. and then comes Grah.im's. Smith s and Wicksteed a: Md across the road is Cartwrighfs farm and old Bob Purdy s. with »ther farms to right and left of them, stretching half a mile m one direction to a village, and two milea in the other to a town. And behind all those farms are still more farms, bordered by another road and that road leads also to a cluster of churches and chapala and pretty homes, with streets of shops and a town hall, a post ofBoa. a fire station and a market square. 4 In Ontario, m In our natlv* country, th« toanory it vwM by hiU •nd which che»p power m»y ewily Im applied. The ailo in neen in tne furefrrutind. ^'aply hi« aatonlihed gaze would alight upon another bird, busy on sword in search ol worms— as big as a sterling, only lankier, and with a bright crimson breast; this being the Canadian "robin," though known to science aj a thrush Further surprise might ba occasioned, rs the stranger approachc cedar tree, by the sight ol two ruddy squirrels playing hide-and- around the trunk; lor tha .\merican squirrel, instead of scampering to upper branches on tha first note of danger, takes pride in exhibiting his tail and his agility before a human audience. Another pleasant and perplexing experi- ence would bs to see (as on a summer's day me scarce can fail to sea in Southern Ontario) a big, beautiful butterfly— the Monarch, about twice the size of our Tortoise-shell. Furthermore, we may suppose that chance leads the stranger to the garden of a farm-house, where he is likely to find trelliaes festooned by wild clematis, and the beds r ow with asters, cinniaa and salpiglossis, with verbena, canaas and the scarlet geranium; and it may be that he will bohold, flying swiftly among he blostoms, a tiny creature with feathers o! irridescent splendour, t winged morsel 6 I r \ i. r> }■ It ■akaowa. «1m. m Raglaiid-I tnma, Um hamminc bird. WhcUwr Um tenn-hoaM »mM wwUd txoito nmuk It !■ dlSealt lo My. rat white a apMiott* vmndsh. tarolabwl wllh ohaire. tabi« aad hammock. Is m •Imott anlvwial iMtun ol dowwtle ^)^ Ian In Boathtro Ontario. m»ny • luxnrioaa boaMholdw In EnfUnd hat Moarwl tho tarn* oonvonUnot. „ .u . w Th« Ontario bam la qulU unllko tho Brlttah bam. Mo thatch, no r«i UlM. no Urrml and " cllnkcr-balU" wood«> waHa-Joat a graal. aaaaro. aubaUntlal tlmbw atroetttra, aa roomy u • amall cathedral. aad with tu roof guardad by aavanil conaplcaoaa U^tnlni roda. Tha advantafo llaa. for picturoaqnanoaa, with tha Britlah bam; for ntllity, with the Canadian. Ti% Ontario farmer loraa hU barn. Ha narar aaama to mind how many thotuand dollara ha apmtda In putting up a naw ona larfar than th laat. In aoma dlatrlcU • variety known u tha ' bank bam rai^-n.^ auprama. A baaamant wall aoma tan faat high, and probably I uilt of atona, Incloaaa a graat area parUtlonad off aa atalla for horaaa and winUr quartara for cattla and awlna. Tha roof of that atabia la tha floor of tha vaat granary towering overhead; and a broad bank of earth and atone*, rialng by an easy gradient. U built to the doora of iba granary, aa moana of aceaaa for tha loaded wagon. There would be other amall mattera u make the atranger open bla eyea. If anything of a taimer, he acaroely could fall to notice, among the cowa out on paatura. a predominance of the black and white kind that one aaaodatea with Holland and the child'* Noah a ark. And. even aa bla eyea roamed over the herd, we may picture him detecting another unfamiliar detail In the peaceful farmland aoane. Now he came te think of it. he mlaaed the hedgaa and dllchea of old England. The field boundariea are mainly of two klnda: one. to which he would be accuatomed, formed by wire atralned on poete: the other, to which he would not be accuatomed, formed of rough banlka of cedar piled In alg-tagglng aectlona with anda Interlaoed-an effeoUve barrier to cattte, and good to laat, aa I am told, for twenty yaara and more. There would be at laaat one unfamiliar crop In eight. Many of my fellow country inen have aeen malse, or Indian com. growing In auch atunted form aa the climate aanctiona In England, where ite Tdue aa green fodder la ooniing to be recogniaed. A different iight la a Held of " com ' In Canada— denae ven.ant Jungle ten feet and more In height, topped ly a aea of quivering bronte taaaela, and bear- ing, aa lower out-growtha from the atem. great poda bulging with their wealth c! ripening grain. And now I come to the only other external feature of rural Ontario calculated to arreet the eye of a atranger from Great Britain. The roada are rougher than thoae he la uaed to. In thla matter my fallow countrymen are living u,. to a high atandard aat them by the Bomana. Moreover, the inventor of macadam waa a Scotaman; and azeellent highway a are a natural oxiUnmi of denae population and oonturiea ol development. Talk U' - ...aedian who haa vialted England and you will find that he nfc. oeen impreaaed mainly by three thing*— our old ruina. our amooth roada and the urbanity of the London policeman. Ontario pute plenty of hard material on Ita roada. What Ontario needa la more atoam rollera. It la now getting them: and meanwhile nobody aeema any the worae, 1 am bound to admit, for the little upa and downs one oxperiences when out driving in that country. The buggies, carrlagea and wagona are atrongly 6 0Q9;e50i8 b«UI OB biitAd ulM to tuan »o«r»»y; »imI m for ">• *5«»^ ?f ■MMor out that 10 owooring throngh tho pwrtnoo. «>»^ "f^ » oorUliily oTorrUiint thol iho moot onthooUoUo BaimiiobHltt oenU AMrt, thon. Irom thght ond unlmportsut dIRoronoot. tbo ooanlry ol whloh I om wrillng looki llko Owot BHt»ln. Uolng from ruf^ BulMd to tho Iroo Undo ol tho Northwoot. tlio imfcilgront U Inwlvod laTa ycM oi two, it moy bo. In tho ooolthy omporionooo of tho Dtonoor, But to «o from nirol Bnglond to Southorn Ontario to moroly to otop immodlotoly Irom ono oottlod and olvlUiod oountry to anothor. SaTO lof t'.^ advonturo ol a .looli on tho oooan. It la muoh llko mlgnU ini Irwn "orthihlro to Cornwall. And obtorvo-oottlod and oWllliOd SoLthorn Onurlo I. a. largo a. England. Nor will «»,»>• /"f* »« montlon. at thU point, that Mttlod and oWllliod Ontario !• dWldod llko England Into oountloo. many ol whloh follow tbo EnglUh namoa. Thu. thoro I. a Kont. an E.m« and a lllddloro«. aa wall aa an Omiord. a Norfolk, a Lincoln, a Durham, a Northumborland and a York; anothor part ol Oroat BrlUin boing roprowntod by Forth, by Elgin, by Lanark and by Bonlrew. In naming thoir towni. it is true, tho OnUriano haw not alwaya boon bound by procodont. Thuo, if l-ondon. W««tmlniUr and Hydo Park aro all. with itrict propriaty. looaUd in MlddloMi, that county alio harbouri Gloncoa and Btratbroy; while llaiditono U In Btoox. Brighton in Northumborland. and Norwich in Oxford. Stratford boIng oltuatod in Forth, It is approprlaU that tho tamo county ihottld contain tho intoroitlng llttlo town of Shakoipoaro. with tto Bomoo aroa lU Hamlat aroa and it« other local divliir ^ namod altar charaeUri In tho playt. In furthor prool that our broti.ron aorooa tho waUi havo allowed tbom»eivoi a wldo latitude in chriitening their irban control. I may add that there U a Berlin, a Petor*burg and a Baden in the county ol Waterloo, beiides a town called Farla and anothor called Scotland in the county ol Brant. la It not an InUreeting lact-the exltUnce ol that other England aoroaa the waUrf But it U more than merely intereatlng. It la a Uct ol vital pereonal Importance to four clatMt In Great Britato-I roler to our tanant farmere. to our farm foremen, managere or balUfli. to our fruit growera and to our market gardeners. And here let roe eay ■ometbing ai plainly aa I know bow. In England and ScoUand there are well-meaning and coMcientio-u public men who object to the disiemlnaUon of iuob information aa thoM pages will be found to contain— Information tending to show that industrioui agrlct^Uurista who cannot lecuro a oomforttbla inde- pendence, with a good future for their children, in Great Britain, will be able to do to in Canada. Those public men take alarm at the thought of " the old land being drained of her best blood." But it seems to me that the best blood U entitled to the best opportunl ies. Moreover, when one part of tho British Empire contains too m ^ people, and another part too few. are not the highest Imperial interests served by an adjustment of population P Indeed, every oom- patent worker who emigrates from the old land te Canada haa the satlsfactlton of knowing that he has done four good things: firstly, he has benefited himself: secondly, he has relieved the preuure of human competition in Great Britain; thirdly, he baa strengthened Canada; lastly, be has helped to consolidate the Empire. Observe that I am addressing myself, more parUcularly, to thoao who have capital enough to be working a rented farm, and to those who. lacking capital, have to supervise for a smaU aalary the crops 7 and stock of other people. Both claaaea would like to own the farms they tAnd; but, so long as they remain in Great Britain, that aspira- tion can scarcely be more than a dream. They can turn their dream into a reality if thjy remove to the other England across the Atlantic. Nor is the statement based wholly, or even mainly, on the important fact that, because the youth of the Southeast have listened to the call of Greater Canada, farms in Southern Ontario may now be cheaply and easily acquired. My investigations have brought to light another important fact, namely, that, substantial as are the returns secured by the average native-born farmer in Ontario, returns still more substantial are secured by the farmer who hails from England or Scotland. This, when you come to think about it, ia easy to understand — it is because his methods are better. The British farmer hag to face open competition with the agri- cultural products of the world. Moreove.. he has to contribute largely Thi" Province of Ontario can hiiiuit of many fine chiirchfH, thp abovt- beint oni- in the town of B>>ll)>ville. towards the up-keep of his landlord, of the established church, of the roads aforesaid, of a huge navy and army, and of a vast poor law system. In order to have any margin of profit for the support of his family, after paying rent, tithes, taxes and rates, he must be ever striving towards the utmost measure of professional proficiency that the advance of agricultural knowledge renders possible. He cannot afford to be ignorant of the lotest discoveries in soil fertilization, crop raising and stock management. He is compelled to be an up-to- date farming expert. As is constantly remarked by agricultural authorities in Canada and the United States: " Scotland, Ireland and England produce the best farmers anywhere to be found in the world." It is no discredit, to the average Ontario farmer that his standard of achievement is a lower one. Being his own landlord, and having to make only slight contributions towards public objects, he has not been goaded by necessity txj tax his soil and his wits to the utter- most. We must remember that the Ontario farmer inherits traditions dating from the days of persistent grain growing on virgin soil; and 8 though he hat, of coone, gradually swung round to crop rotation, mixed and dairy farming, he has not greatly worried his head over ■ttoh matters as the chemistry of the soil, food yaluea and the pria- oipla of selection in breeding. It is enough for him that, by following much the same methods as his father followed before him, he oan support his family in comfort and put by enough to enable him. in due season, to retire. Mind, I am speaking of the " average " farmer. In every county one finds brilliant exceptions to the rule- men who are farming on progressive lines: putting up silos, using fertilixers, fighting weeds, keeping milk records, improving their herds, and, in a word, entering into the closest competition with farmers from the old land. It would be surprising were it otherwise. For agriculture receives in Ontario a constant stimulus, and much practical guidance, from the two Governments. Firstly, the Dominion Oovernment has its experimental farms, where the relative values of different crops, and A rural Ontario Publio School. Thia Province is miiecially proud oi her free schoolr open to all children of aohool age. of varieties of grain, are demonstrated by repeated cultural experi- ments, and where cows, horses, pigs, poultry and bees are kept under model conditions, as permanent object lessons to visiting farmers. Secondly, the Provincial Government maintains its fine Agricultural College at Guelph, as well as its agricultural departments (where information is freely given to all inquirers) in leading county towns. Added to this, the province is well supplied with Farmers' Institutes, Agricultural Associations and other bodies that distribute bulletins giving useful data concerning insect pests, plant diseases and kindred subjects. Nor will my readers fail, I think, to realize the advantage they themselves must derive, should they remove to Ontario, from the existence of all those channels of practical counsel; for the more a man knows about any art or calling the more ready is he to profit by the experience of other people, and it necessarily follows that a person from the British Isles, on commencing to farm in a country and climate new to him, will stand in need of many a little wrinkle. nset— 2 9 No doubt Um anthoritiM. in MUbliihlng th«M adaeatioiial o|>poT- tonitlM, w«N pkrtly influanoad by a dMin to uim the n«w«om«r; bat thair main motiva waa to foatar and promota tha laading national indnatry. For airioulture is raeogniiad aa Oanada'a ebiaf eonoarn, bar termara baing tha moat raapaotad taction of tha population; tha good fannara. in particular, finding their individv J achiavamanta a mattar of public knowladga and local prida. And that Canadian agriculture juatiflaa tha fullaat maaaura of Stata aaaiatanoa, may ba iUuatrated by tha fact that— to name two products for which Ontario stands unrivallad among the provinces— Great Britain receives far mora cheese and apples from the Dominion than from any other country in the world; the annual volume of those imports being measured, in the former case, by more than £4,000,000 and, in the latter case, by more than 4,000,000 bushels. The mention of those figures— which, of course, represent only a portion of Ontario's fruit and dairy production— prompts me to clear up a doubt which, earlier in the chapter, I may unintentionally have suggested to the reader's mind. I pointed out that, the farmers' sons having for the most part decided against staying at home, a great many farms in the province are now awaiting purchasers. It must not. however, be inferred that they are meanwhile at a standstills That would never do. A farm in Eastern Canada is too efficient a moneymaker for the owner to let it lie idle, especially as that would involve deterioration. So perhaps the old man, though under no further necessity to work for a living, lingers on at his post, impatient for some one to take over the property. There are two other alterna- tives. Pending 'the arrival of a buyer, a hired man may be put in to keep things going; or the farm may be rented, at, usually, three dollars (or about 128.) the acre. As to the former possibility, if the old man secures ^ competent manager the old man will be lucky; tor efficient agricultural labour is scarce in Ontario, and, when found, haa to be paid liberally. This brings me to a matter on which it is important there should be the clearest understanding. I have already implied, and I shall presently prove, that Ontario, besides being as nice a land to dwell in as our own, offers the farmer far superior opportunities for living in comfort, and saving money, than he is able to find in Oreat Britain. But Ontario, like the rest of Canada, grants her favours only to the industrious, and only to the farmers who are prepared them- selves to do the actual work of farming— to harness the team, to put in a good day's ploughing, to load the wagon, and to take their share of the milking. The majority of our farmers are. of course, of that practical kind. But we also produce another type of farmer— the supervising farmer, whose work mainly consists in seeing that the other people work. He is sometimes a fine old fellow, tending to be corpulent, who goes about in gaiters carrying a stick, and who is probably as good a judge of fat beasts as you will find at the weekly market he never misses. Then there is what is sometimes known as the " gentleman farmer," who probably leaves nearly everything to his foreman. Ontario is not primarily for them. It is not the best place for farmers who either will not or cannot do the hard slogging part of farming. " But." the typical John Bull and the gentleman farmer may argue, "suppose we induce our men to cross the sea with us. will they not work just as hard in Ontario as they do here? " Doubtless. And it will not b« long before they discover that in Canada they are 10 tttim •ntitlad to highar wagM than th«y reoaivad in th« BritUh Istot. Not that that will mattar to thair amployar, bacause tha prodaotiva valM of thair sarvieai will hava inoreaied in tha uuna proportion. Bnl ▼arjr loon thay will maka anothar diacovbry, namaly. that a ehaaea to improva thair position, if denied them in tha old country, ia pro- vided in tha new. Tha foreman will realixe that he can bloasom into a farmer on his own account, and that, beginning as a tenant, ha can soon become an owner, liven for the farm labourers, if they ba man of thrift, the same path to prosperity lies open. The labour available in Ontario is largely immigrant, and tha farmer wlio does not personally manage his business is likely to meat with failure through the sloth or incompetence of the agents ba employs. It is essential that my readers should understand tha labour difficulty. In all other aspecU of farming, the conditions in Ontario are superior to the conditions in the British Isles. The price of cows and horses is considerably lower. Plenty of sunshine is assured in the growing season. The rainfall is less likely to be either excessive or inadequate. Even the Ontario winter, despite its longer duration, is by many persons preferred to the British winter: sunny days and dry air being a compensation for the lower temperature. But tha single disadvantage must be reckoned with : while skilled form labour is plentiful, and therefore cheap, on one side of the Atlantic, it ia scarce, and therefore deer, on the other side. And now, having concluded my broad survey of conditions affect- ing the Southeast generally, and one section of it in particular, I will explain what I saw and learnt on my tours in Southern Ontario, dealing in separate chapters with the several phases of farming which receive special attention in different quarters of the province. CHAPTER II. PEACH ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS. It has been my endeavour to point out the general similarity, both in conditions of life and the look of the landscape, between Southern Ontario and Great Britain. But to that rule, it so happens, we shall begin by considering an exception. In its aspect and character the north belt of the Niagara Penin- sula is perhaps unique. Certainly I have not seen its counterpart during such casual explorations as it has been my privilege to make, not only on the continent of North America, but also in Europe, Asia and Africa. A locality is apt to breathe the spirit of any special industry for which it may be famous. The people of the north belt ol the Niagara Peninsula earn their living— their substantial living— by growing peaches and grapes, supplemented by other fruits; and life all along that countryside seems penetrated by a bright beauty and a perfumed sweetness. But before going into that, I should like you to look at tha accompanying map to locate the Niagara Peninsula^that tongue of land which occurs between the western end of Lake Ontario and the eastern end of Lake Erie. And note that the north belt,— which has Niagara-on-the-Lake at one extremity and the city of Hamilton at the other,- is a strip of land about forty miles long and from one to ave miles wide. Its varying width is fixed by a strange geographical' feature. STou come to a cliff, rising abruptly several hundred feat, and clothed with a beautiful jungle of trees and vigorous undergrowth. It ia known locally as " The Mountain "—a name that seta visitors scratching their heads. 11 SIMS-Si !■ To begin with, it it not auy to oonMira of » monntain thkt it %>rty milet and more in langth. MortOTir. ona nmiaUy thinka of a vountain at an all-round elevation. But it you go up one tide of «bit partionlar mountain, you oannot go down on the other tide. For there it no other tide. It it all top. In other wordt, after leaving the thore of Lake Ontario, and traverting a few milet of orohardt, you atcend an etcarpment to a higher elevation, and you continue at that higher elevation right aerota the Peniniula. Nay. when you eome to another thore, and face another inland tea, you find much the tame level continued by the vatt tilvery expante that kittet the tky at an unbroken horiaon. This may tuggett the interesting question: how doet the water of Lake Erie get into Lake Ontario? I will tell you. It etcapea along a broad channel and tumbles down the Mountain; and it doet to in a manner to beautiful and awful that the whole world hat h^ard of that tmoking cataract of watert cannonading on the Palaeocoio rockt. But my purpose is to tell you, not about the Niagara Falls, but about the Niagara fruit. Never shall I forget my first walk at Orimsby— a dittriot in the Belt. I was on an excellent cement sidewalk extending beside a well- made road (we are dealing, remember, with an exceptional dittriot) that apared space, on the other side, for an electric tramway. I was patting beneath a canopy of treet; and you may say there wat nothing unutual about that. Yet there wat. For never before had I known a public thoroughfare planted with euch trees at thote. Betidet •ortt merely green, including magnificent cedart and weeping willowt, there was the rowan, on fire with berries; the butternut tree; the eatalpa, festooned with its snake-like beans; the mulberry, pleating the eye with ita juicy richet; and the blackheart cherry. The most pre-occupied visitor could not have failed to notice those cherry trees, for the pavement beneath them was patehily empurpled by the juice of fallen fruit, whereof the skins, stones and stalks lay visible. Had it been possible to co'jtider that road apart from ita anr- joundings, it would have been inspiring to find the King's highway making so good an attempt to look like Kew Gardens. But the scene —which embraced orchard after orchard, garden after garden, mansion after mansion— was all one delightful whole. The reason for this lay in a feature of Canadian life that is ever a novelty to newcomers from the old land. Our real estate properties — from the park of the squire to the cottage of the village cobbler — are compassed about with walls, fences, hedges and palings. Every individual dwells within a barricade, •wing concerned to hold the public at arm's length and resist en- croachment from trespassing neighbours. Nay, the very law impels him to those precautions, since to leave land unfenced in Great Britain is to imperil its owner.9hip rights. Society in Canada Tests upon more trustful, not to say more communistic, principles. In a residential thoroughfare it is usual to find the gardens of the different hotises unfenced from the roadway and unfenced from one another. Perhaps a group of palms in tubs, or a cluster of hydrangeas, may hint at the boundary between one property and the next, but it is an almost invariable rule that the .expanse of well-kept lawn, with here and there its bed of brilliant blossoms, shall extend at one uninterrupted garden in front of all the houses. And in tree-planted roads where the pavement has margins of grass, there is nothing to show where public property ends and private property begins. " Then what," I can hear the reader protest, " is to prevent trespassing and the stealing of flowersP " 13 ■I ■1 •>f Kothinfl— «l iMtt. nothlag physioal. Bnt a moral obligation, and th* pravalllng good taste, Mcm to proye more efleetiva than barrioadai of briok and iron. Kay. ovan tha dog»— ai I was aatoniahad to ■••— trot damuraly along tha lidawalk, apparently quite untempted by the floral diaplay. And so now you will understand "'by, to any one passing through Orimsby (as, indeed, through other districts in the Belt), the scene presented to view has a unity and a continuity very pleasing to the eye. I have called the houses mansions for want of a better word Ton know the style of such residences as, on the confines of our eitiea. are oooupied by merchants and well-to^o professional men — the sort of establishments that keep a cook, two housemaids and a gardener. The homes of the Grimsby fruit-growers are, for the most part, of the same general appearance. They bear the unmistakable stamp of prosperity. Into each distinct design there enters the quality of simplicity and good taste, a wise and unstinted expenditure being suggested by substantial buttresses, verandahs of solid masonry, and the newly-painted gable ends of turreted roofs. The same financial note is sounded by dainty summer houses, by tennis nets and croquet hoops upon the velvet lawn, by the fountain playing amid a parterre of glowing annuals, and by rustic screens draped with honeysuckle and roses. Where the house is built on a knoll, the garden is shaped into terraces. Where a rivulet haa hollowed its channel, stones hava been piled to form a rockery for sub-tropical plants. So, you see. thei* is a dose analogy to the residences of our thriving city fo)l- who work not in the districts where they dwell. But each attractl\ « home in that Belt is attached to the sorrce of revenue for its maia- tenance. Having passed a house and a garden, you skirt an orchard; then there is another house and garden and uiother orchard; and that, in brief, is a description of Canada's land of the peach and tha grape vine— that idyllic region which is bordered on one side by the great green Mountain, and on the other side by the great blue Lake. The world provides, I think, no more acceptable sight than is afforded by those Ontario orchards. Picture the perspective of peach trees aligned in the sandy loam, with patches of sunshine lying among the shadows cast by far-spreading branches. Ami^ the dense, crinkled foliage, the velvet balls are visible, hanging in profusion— some ol softest green, others with their outer cheeks aflush with crimson. In that gracious climate all vegetation develops at a pace that astonishes an old countryman. The peach, planted in the spring as a little whip of a thing costing sevenpence halfpenny, becomes in four years a large tree carrying a remunerative crop; and its profitable life, in expert bands, may extend to thirty years. Where thorough cultivation has been given, I have seen a three-year-old orchard carrying an estimated average of four shillings worth of peaches to the tree. The kinds grown in our glass-houses and on our southern walls are unknown in the Peninsula. At least, I certainly did find one young Scotchman who. at the instigation of a visitor from the old land, planted a few British peach trees in the open two years ago; nor will there be, I think, any indiscretion in adding that the visitor was Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and that those specially exported spe*^ mens of " Waterloo." " Duchess of Cornwall " and " Earliest of All ~ have already developed (and in one case fruited) in very promisinr fashion on OnUrio soil. Of sorto favoured in the Belt, the majority originated in the United States. They ripen at different timea— e matter of importance to the grower, since, by planting several vari» 13 I tlM. ha ananrM that the work of piokinc and gradinc shall b« ooa* VMiantly apraad ovar savaral weaks. Thna Alazandar. an Illinois clingstona with graanish-whita flash, nsually arrival at maturity early in August; Graansboro, a North Carolina fraastona with oraam-colourad flash, raachas full davalop- mant towards tha and of that month : Early Crawford, tha Naw Jarsay yallow-flashad fraastona that enjoys unrivalled popularity, is usually welcomed on tha market (for both dessert and canning) early in September; Elberta, also a prime favourite, and of similar character, but hailing from Georgia, is available later in the month; nnd Smock, another New Jersey yellow-fleshed freestone, assists in meeting public requirements at the beginning of October. So much for the crop which, after the fourth year, brings to txperienoed and industrious growers a handsome profit. And since there are different qualities of soil in the Niagara Peninsula, it is appropriate that, speaking generally, the peach prefers the golden land— which land, in consequence, commands the highest price. The earth of the vineyards tends to be grey and more of a clay. An applie orchard in blcxim. Perhaps you do not know what a vineyard looks like; for vine- yards, Bs well as peach orchards, are prohibited by the climate of Great Britain, because that climate lacks the warmth and sunshine with which Ontario is blessed. Trained on wires stretched along lines of posts, the vines form walls of dense foliage burdened with innu- merable bunches of grapes— one sort purple and conspicuous, the other sort green and not easy to see, and both sorts yielding some three tons of fruit, and about £11 net profit, to the acre. You will not find our P'ack Hamboro or Royal Muscadine in Ontario vineyards. Four ruling f vourites are Rogers (red and blat ■.). Delaware (red), Niagara (white) and Concord (black). For the hundreds of young men from this county who go out to the Belt, the vineyard proves less attractive than the orchard. How- ovei. It often happens that, where one section of a property is unsuitable for peaches, grapes are grown as a side line; and so, that my readers may form some idea of the work and opportunities involved in this branch of fruit farming. I may mention that the approximate cost of planting a vineyard (with two-year-old vines set ten feet apart each way) is £2 10s. to £4 per acre (including cost of 14 vlnM): that th« tnllia of poata and win naad not b« araetad till tha iaoond yaar; 'hat tba flnt lull crop ia boroa in tha fourth aaaaon; that tha profltabla lifa ol a grapa vina eontinuaa almoat indailnitaly: that culture couBitta in pruning, in luppljring tha soil with potaah. and in sowing and ploughing an occasional nitrogenaous oovar erop; and that ths produce finds a market for daasert, and tor tha making of wine and grape-juica. And now to continue my enumeration of tha pretty aights one aeaa in the Belt. The immature peach orchard, if iU owner be skilful and industrious, is planted betwe«n the rows of trees with berries, currants, tomatoes and vegetables, which all grow to perfection in that soil and climate, and bring a substantial revenue. The strawberry plantations provide an English fruit-grower with Severn 1 little surprises. To begin with, I could nowhere find Royal Soverugns, or Paxtons, or other of our varieties, in those Ontario orc'ards. The sorts grown there are of American origin, with names wholly new to me— such as Williams, Michel, Senator Dunlap and Buster. Again, strawberries in the Peninsula are grown in matted Peach and pear trees in bloom. rows, about two feet wide, separated by cultivated avenues; and after one year's crop has been gathered— or, at moat, two years' crops- the plantation is ploughed in. Straw plays a part in the culture of this berry, but not the same part that it plays in England. The Ontario farmer spreads straw on his rows in the winter, to mini- mize the influence of alternating thaws and frosts at the opening of spring; and, with the commencement of growth, the covering is removed. Certainly that simple method of growing strawberries is justified by results. I spoke with several men who certified that, after allowing for the cost of platting, fertilizing, spraying, picking and packing, they hsd netted £'" ».nd more per acre from strawberries. CHAPTER III. VALUES IN THE NIAGARA BELT. An English fruit-grower, travelling through Ontario, soon ceases to exclaim over the wild raspberries that grow so profusely on wood- land borders and in wayside places. But never, I think, can he fail to be surprised by the over-recurring avenues of cultivated raspbarries 15 iiiiift i;-!^ ■fr in Um orohardt. And on all (idM h« find* (umfln njoieing orar Um proAU Ui«y darWa from thoM Tigorona omim drooping with thtlr waif ht of ruddy fmii Raapbarry pieking. ainea it inTolraa but littla atooping, ia mora popular than atrawbarry picking: and in thla work tha lannar oftan anjoya tha aaaiatanoa of hia amiling wifa and of tha childran in thair pratty troeka. Alao ha haa laaa troublo than naual in retaining an aiBoiant oorpa of protaaaional piekara, auoh aa Iroqnoia Indiana from Caladonia— « happy-looking, Engliah-apaaking. brown-akinnad paopla who. in tha dothaa of tha oiviliiation thay hava long ainca ambraoad, look very mnch lika raapaetabla gypaiaa. Vivid in my mind ia the piotura of raapbarry picking at a thirty- acra farm naar Baamsvilla, in tha Bait— a farm owned by a broniad young Kngliahman on whom Providence haa bestowed a charming wifa, a cluster of healthy little onci and a state of mind that I can only describe as one of enthusiastic contentment. Dotted along the raspberry avenues, that family weie all with nimble flngera filling the little chip boxes, their industry not hindering the flow of merry conversation; while, farther afield, a group of squaws in cotton dressaa and braves in homespun stood grinning and picking, picking and grinning. The doors of the barn were open wide, and on a bench within was a cluster of the filled boxes, while others were stacked in crates on the flour. I had been told that raspberries were fetching nine cents a quart (a cent being equal to a halfpenny), but. at that time, I had no clear understanding of the financial side of raspberry growing. " When you have paid your labour bill," I remarked to the com- placent young Englishman, " and when you have deducted the cost of the boxes iL>nd crates, there can't be much profit, one would suppose, out of nine cents? " " Nine ! " he laughingly replied. " But we are only getting eight and a half ceata now, and it may be down to seven and a half before we are through. For the season. I don't look for more than an average of eight. Out of that we have to pay two cents a quart to tha pickers, and the price of the boxes and crates works out at three- quarters of a cent per quart." " Which leaves you only a shade over five cents, or two-pence halfpenny," I pointed out. " Does that pay? " " Not as well as peaches, of course," he admitted. ' But it is a pretty fair return to be getting while you are waiting for the peach trees to come into bearing. At 2)d.. a crate of 24 boxes would work out at 5b." " And how many crates," 1 asked, " would you take from an acre of raspberries? " " Last year." he replied, " I had 260 crates to the acre, but I think that would be above the average. You see, no man feels quite the same towards all his crops— he favours some and neglects others. I happen to be as interested in raspberries as 1 am in peaches, so my raspberry crop probably comes out above the average, which perhaps you might put . t 200 crates to the acre. You'll understand what I mean," he gaily added, " it you look at my blackberries. I absolutely hat« blaokborrios ond you see the result: I. suppose there isn't a more weedy lot of rows in the district." But meanwhile I had been doing some mental arithmetic. Five shillings multiplied by 260 gives £62 10s.— multiplied by 200, £60. I asked him if all his thirty acres were under cultivation, and when he aaid that they wore I began to realize why fruit farmers of the Belt 16 WON aooh bspnr •xpnutont tad how It omm about that whim of thorn koop motor oon. Haying a littlo knowlodc* ol tho rttuma Moarad from oreharda In tho old land. I wai atiU thinking about thoM raapborry oUtUtloa whan, a law hourt UUt. 1 happonad to onter -.ho ball at Orimsby whan fruit fannon ol tho diatriot poriodically atMmbla in tho ovaning lor buainoM mooting! and Iriondly chaU. Thoro wai a goodly muator; and, going up to a man I alroady know aa tha ownor ol a wall kopt orchard, I aaked:— ^^ " How many oratoa do you got hom an aero ol raapborrioaP "About 300," ho ropllod; whoroupon, thinking I had authority lor doing so. 1 scoffed at his testimony. Tho result was that ho insti- tuted an interesting means of settling the issue. " I'll call a lew growers over here, one by one," he said, " and, without saying why we want to know, I'll ask them how many cratea ol raspberries they get off an acre." The first man replied unheslUtingly : " Three hundred." Tha second man thought awhile, and then said: " Dunno that I oould tell you just ofl-hand, but ifd bo between two-fllty and three hundred." Tho third man also hesiUted in some uncertainty: then testified: " Anything Irom two to three hundred crates." " I guess," said the fourth man, " that I'm satisded when I get three hundred, but there's years when I'm under that figure by quite a bit." My antagonist claimed, not without justice, that the balance ol evidence went in his lavour; but he had not yet done with the matter. " Mind you," he explained, " I've purposely only called up men that I know to be good Iruit larmere— 1 mean, men who tackle the business thoroughly, and when they put things in the ground, whether ita raspberries or anything else, don't stand around whistling, but take care that the pruning is attended to, and thnt the land gets all the cultivation it wanta, and that tho right sort ol lertiliaer is given in the proper quantities. There are plenty ol people who prefer to spend their time in other ways, or maybe they have too much land and not enough help, so that things don't get looked after aa well as they might be. If you grow weeds and raspberries in the same rows, and don't give the land more than perhaps one turnover in the fall, you won't get three hundred crates, or anything like it. Now. there is a man over there that we'll get to come across next. I'll ask bun how many raspberries he takes off an acre, and I^ shall be surprised if he says more than a hundred and fifty crates." But in this anticipation my companion proved a little at fault. Said the good-tempered young Englishman in question (who obviously belonged to the engaging section of humanity that takes life easily) : " Oh, about two hundred crates." Nor was th<» matter permitted to rest even there. " You seo that man in flannels," exclaimed my companion, indi- cating an alert and prosperous-looking individual who had just entered the buUding. " Now. it will be quite interesting to hear what he says It was raspberries that first brought him to this district five years ago. He was struck, the same as you might be. with the number ol crates to be got ofl an acre. So. though he hadn't been iu fruit- growing before, he bought a few acres and planted the land to raspberries. I suppose the crops cam 3 up to his expectation, for he afterwards bought more land, and more after thatr-in fact he has been going ahead ever since, and haa now branched off into the canning business.* nM>-3 17 fa TIm vTidMiM ol th* piuhini •nthoaiMt wm oarUinljr intMwUng. " OoM I fot four hundTMl ontM oil an wen," h* rapUlmd. " but ol eoufM thai wu quit* axcoptlonal. The oondltiou wort all toTonr- abla, th« crop waa anonnoua and— )uat to ■•• what an aort would do— I put on an axtra lot ol piekara and told thorn not to loavo a lingla barry In tha rowa. In a ganoral way. ol eouria, you don't gat mora than about thrao hundrad orataa." And now lor a law #ord« raiipeeting a crop incldontally man- tionad by the Daamivilla larmar. An Encliahman ii apt to smlla at tha idaa ol planting, oultivating, pruning, and lartiliting blackbarriaa —a Iruit wa ara oonlant to taar our clothaa and handi in teouring, with tha aid ol a hookad atiok. Irom tha badge row; a trolloaoma party ol aix paraona baing abla, on ocoaaion. to gather aa mueh aa twelve quarta in an alternoon. Or wa may buy in ahopa, at 4d. or 5d. a pound, blackbarriaa that have been gathered by goodneii knowa whom. Thia fine Iruit rticeivea. and repaya. more honourable treatment acroaa the Atlan' . I have n.ver taated better and bigger black- berriea (or " lawi^n berries." an they are uaually atylad on the menu) than those provided in Canadian hotels. Taken with cream, aa tha first dish at breakfast, they give great pleaaura to the palate. In the Ontario orchards I saw and sampled several varieties— the Agawam, the Eldorado and the Kittatinny among othera— each having distinct qualitiea to recommend it. Where the blackberry receives a fair riiare of the farmer's attention, it proves almost as profitable, I learnt, aa the raspberry. Here and there in the Belt you find a man who has devoted study and space to currants, which in capable hands yield a very satis- factory revenue. Among the reds, our Victoria shares public favour with Cherry (from Italy) and Fay (from New York). 80 far aa the transparent sort is concerned. White Grape holds the field. In blacks, our Naples and Lee are widely grown, but I travelled far baforr gaining tidings of Boskoop Oiant. At laat I heard of a recently arrived iilnglishman who waa growing that variety and growing it auocessfully. One thing, however, I inquired for induatriously, and never found. There seems to be no " big-bud " in Ontario. Nay. I did not happen upon one fruit farmer who knew anything of the peat that is playing such havo . with black currant plantations in England. British troubles, ho. 3ver. are sometimes duplicated across the Atlantic. For example, gooseberry mildew is only too well known, more particularly :i connection with the cultivation of English varieties. Immunity has been secured — ^though at a sacrifice of size — by crossing those varieties with thr. small, sturdy, native gooseberries. The main market, as with us, is for green berries. Which reminds me, the Ontario fruit farmer, unlike the English fruit farmer, is not constantly at war with feathered foes. Ha knows not what it is to have buda picked off by impudent tits. Battalions of shrieking star- lings do not swoop down on his cherries and purloin the ripest fruit. H« is under no necessity to hire boys, erect scarecrows and shoot to keep winged thieves away from his strawberries. There is lically only one item in the orchard— the French cherry known Early Purple — that is liable to serious molestation by birds. Talking of cherries— here again is a fruit that grows to perfection in Ontario, and eonur ' ' ' a good market. At one time " rot " proved ao deatmctive to cer* inds that fruit farmers hesitated to enlarga their cherry plantation But with the discovery that other kinds are apparently immune from this disease, and that, in any case, it can be controlled by lime and sulphur, this branch of fruit culture has received a considerable impetus. Where cherries are grown over a 18 vkto •?••. «»»«• »•. ol oourM, tba irktosi* obligation to orfuiM • ■pMial iqt»d of piekm: but orwy ono MtUng ont * mw crehard to eowuUlod to pat in t tow ohwry tma, protonbtr woond th« houM. •inoo thoy dovolop Into • TMnttowsUTt llttto ild* lino. VBTtotiM onjoying ooni»''"«bU popaluritr in tho B«lt tn rarioM Monllot and DukM Mid-«inonB iwtot klnd»— N^oloon. YoUow Spraith, Windsor (ol Canadian orifin). Govornor Wood (a Yankao) Btoek Tartarian and Ktntith Pto. Ifr. Linna Woolvarton. an authority on tho •ubioct in Ontario, told mo ho had known, undor •sceptlonally tovourabla olroumstanoM. tan to b« raallMd by tha obarriai frown in ona Maaon on a lingto aora; and ha addad that, in tht caaa ol traai twaWa and ftltaan yaara old, «1»0 and £140 par acra waa by no maani an unuiual groaa ratum. Tha raadar will plaate not toll to nota tha afo ol tha traea thai wara giving thoio handaonia recaipta. In this connaction it ia worth mantionlng that Ontario nurierymen gralt charriaa on tha mahalab. in which aaaociation taveral kind* baar Iraaly in tha third and lourth yaar. Cortoinly tha longar a viiitor aUya in tha Bait, tha mora daarly doaa ha raali«a— Irom tha accun. alatlng taitimony ol what he ue> and what he heara— that a large meaaura ol proapority is enjoyed by ito healthy and hearty community ol Iruit^rowara. But to capture Irom an orchardiit juat such simple net ol taoto as, without violating Uia law ol averages, would reflect and illustrate that prosperity, proved a dilBoult task. Tl 1 questioned one grower as to the retuma ha received Irom peaches, I must have questioned thirty; and it will not be amiss to quote a law typical replies, translating dollars into their approximate equivalent in British currency. " Most of my trees," said one mf . " are only three years old. b'-* Irom two and a half aerea ol lully bearing peaches I last year received 1.700 eleven-quart ba«kata which brought n\e £179." " Off one aora thto year." s»id another. ' I have cleared £100. Ya»-I mean what I say; there was a balance ol £100 alUr deducting the cost ol picking and packages. But. ol course, that waa quite ezcoptional. and soma ol my other acres have not given more than hall that return." " The average Irom my bearinc trees," another grower explained. " would be about £70 to the acre, and 1 suppose my expenses, includ- ing the cost ol lertilising, spraying, picking and packing, would ba £17." " Does it pay to grow peaches? " echoed an energetic Irult- grower who hailed from the United States. " Vou bet it does. See here— you've got two hundred trees to the acre. Take the average at four baskets to the tree -that's eight hundred basketa. You sell 'am at 2s. a basket, which works out at £80. Knock ofl £10 for picking and baskets, and there's £70 left. That's clear enough, isn't it? And. niir . you, those figures arw not guess-work; they stand for what I'm actually doing, and what anybody else may do just as easily, il ha'a got half an ounce of sense." 1 certainly agreed that, as far as it went, the statement waa admirably clear; and it seemed to me that here was a little group ol lacts which would serve typically to illustrata the financial aapeet ol peach growing. In this opinion, however, 1 waa grievously mistaken. as became apparent when, a few days later, I submitted those figuraa to just such a jury ol uxperib as had dealt with the raspberry problem. At the mention ol two hundred peach trees to the acre ther* a chorus ol laughter. 21982— 3i 1» %L " Why, Uikt't bow |Mopl« rrow Uiwn mtom Um BoHw," I wm told. " Ywm MO t>>*y *•*• pluUd JiMt u oIom on thla •Mo. but wo'vo loornt bailor alnoo Uion. Twonly loot by oichtoon, or ovon twonljr by twonly, i* q»U« noor 'iiouih. Two hundrod Irooo to tho Mfot No, Sir. ono hundrod ond Un U moro llko it" Though ■oinoMltol abovhad al tho rocoplion niy flrd ovoroio hud mol wllh, I novortholnM •ubmitud my Moond-iour boilioU to tho troo. Again Iho aaaomblod poach growora woro amuiod. Tho flguro waa donouncod •• a ludicroui under-oitimato ol tho yiold trom an aoro o( maturo trooa. Nay. tbo Iwo hundrod and tho tour woro at oneo acooptod in tho rotation o( cauM and oHocl. " You »f," aomo ono aaid, " what comes ot planting tho trooa only flttoon loot apart oaeh way ! " It waa with gravo misgiving that I lubmittod my romaining flgurot— Sa. as Iho avorago prioo, and CIO as tho doductton (or baskota and (or gathoring. Bui to Ihoso flguros no serious oxception was taken. Wlittt the Ontario vineyard louk< like. Not yet, it will be noted, was I in a position to present my (ellow countrymen with a definite and coniprehensivp statement concerning tho revenue to be derived from this phase of fruit-farming. Light, however, came at last. Mi F. was mentioned to me as a young Scotsman who, having an excellent peach farm o( ton acres, was running it to full advantage. So I called upon Mr. F., and he gave me a comprehensive view of a peach grower's expenditure and revenue. " One of my acres, he explained, " is taken up with my house, garden and outhouses. Another acre is occupied with peach trees which, being less than four years old, yield no return worth mention- ing. The remaining eight acres cany bearing peach trees that are from four t-> seventeen years old. On the one acre t.' ihiuiatu>» peach trees I grow potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, bush fruits and vegetables for our own domestic use, much of the produce being given away, but none marketed. On the eight acres of bearing trees, there are now no auxiliary crops. So my entire revenue is derived from pMohM. It ia op«» to quMtion wb«lh« • mMi ta wta* to t»y aU hia M|t In oi» bMkrt; but that ta my poalUwi, And, talklaf abovl aoa parhapa I oufht to mantlon that, though you bm quito a numbat ol towta Mfatohkng around, thalr produaa is all eonauniad on tha DramiMt " " You «raw markat crop.." I aikad. " on portlont ol tha aljjht Mraa whila you wara waiting for the mora netnt ina» to matura." " Oh yaa." Mr. F. rapllad, " I graw ra.pb«rrtai. ttrawbarriaa. pototoaa ato.. but In quantltlaa that dimtniihad yaar by yaar a* tha troat mada mora and mora damand on tha toil. A« racantly aa 19M I attll had a ranldua of tho«o temporary plantation*, and In that yaar Ihay yleldeil me £l?0 grow. Then I judged the time had coma for leaving my peach treee In uiKllnpuled poeaeeelon." ^^ '• And how many baaketa." I aiked. " do you gather In a eaaaonF " Lait yaar." ha replied. In allualon to IBIO. " tha eight acraa. which carry eiactly eight hundred bearing tree., yielded 7.800 bnaket.. which Mid lor £660. » >g at the average raU ol about l»d. • POund. Tha treaa vary con.lderaWy In ape. and conneqnently In productive- W'SP'' Fruit io bMkaU en route to tha market.. neu. About fifty per cent are from aix to nine year. old. forty par cent run to twelve and fourteen year, and ten per cent to seventeen '^**" What is the average rate of increase in the yield of a peach " In the fourth year." replied Mr. F.. " you can count upon about two baskets, in the fifth year three baskets, in the sixth year five baskeU. and in the seventh year seven bftsketo. From that point there is a steady rise until, in the twelfth year and afterwards, you get an average of fourteen baskets. I have t-.ken as many as twenty- one baskets fron: a single tree." I next inquired what it had cost Mr. F.-in ««"«*• "^'^•**'': guished from capital, expenditure-to secure the. 7,200 boskets ol peaches and maintain hi? beautiful garden. " The largest item." h= explained. " i* for my hired man. who ia with me permanently, and who does the bulk of the heavy work I pay him £90 a year, he providing his own board and lodging, except 21 f ttwt w« aapply him with vegaUblM, fnilt and acgi. I have to kaap a hoTM foi oaltivatinc the ground, and tha coat of ita faad, ate., ia filO a year. For additional labour, mainly in pioking, my expenditure la«t year waa £38. There waa a total outlay ol £70 for marketing the OTop. Fe.'tilixers, spray fluids, repairs and inoidentala came out at CM." " Then your net income waa £390? " " Yea,— I uaually reckon it at £400." The queation oi capital expenditure remained to be considered. " Ass'uning," I said, " that a man buys ten acres of peach land, with a house and outbuildings upon it. what initial outlay would he have to faceP " " One hundred and fifty pounds would cover the cost of horse, harness, plough, harrow and cultivator ; and for another £S0 he would be able to plant his land." " And what shall we allow for living expenses during the year or two years that are unremunarative? " " It all depends upon the man," said Mr. F. " Out here, of course, it is the usual thing for a bachelor to do his own housework. Take our hired hand3, for instance. They usually manage to bank about half their wages; and most of them in a few years are able to start in another district on their own account." To this summary of peach farming in its financial aspect, I am able to add a finishing touch. For I chanced to become acquainted with the man from whom Mr. F. purchased his ten acres, with its handsome brick house and fine garden. " I bought that property as a speculation nine years ago for £800," he said. " I sold it to Mr. F. five years ago for £2,400. That was a big profit for me, of course, but 1 reckon his investment is paying him fifteen per cent. At any rate, I happen to know he won't sell the place for £3,000." At this point, I hope, the reader will be conscious of what seems to be a glaring inconsistency in my narrative. The first chapter bore witness that agricultural land in Ontario, owing to special circum- stances, is very cheap. Yet here am I referring to a transaction in which land was m\d at about £200 an acre. The solution of the enigma lies in the fact that, as has been already mentioned, the Belt (that mere tiny strip of Old Ontario — approximately 80 square miles out of 48,000 square miles) is an excep- tional region. In the favourite Grimsby neighbourhood, it is by no means unusual for good peach land (sandy loam on a gravelly subsoil) to exchange hands at the figure named; £200 an acre being, as we have seen, a sound commercial value, as measured by results. To under- stand how this value has been created we must glance at tlie rise and development of the peach industry in the Belt. Dennis Woolverton's family (whose ancestors had emigrated from England to America in 1690) did not remove to Canada with the United Empire Loyalists in 1783. Not till some fifteen years later did they cross the boundary and start farming on the north shore of the Niagara Peninsula. Nor, apparently, did this family sever their old ties with the new Republic; for Dennis, when well advanced in years, was in the habit (as his grandson informed me) of going back occasionally to the scenes of his boyhood in New Jersey. From one of those expeditions, it seems, he returned with specimens of a form of vegetation remote from the experiences of Canadian pioneers — to wit, some peach trees. The attempt of a Londoner to grow bananas in his back garden would not, I imagine, excite more hilarity than was probably provoked, some half century ago, by the attempt to grow p««che> on .n OnUrio farm. But Done It wm not th« mwi to b« daunted by doubter.; and behold! th- tree, bore a bountiful crop. This encouraged the old man, and it was not many years before a eonelderable part of hie acreage, in place of fodder for pigs, was grow- teg fruit fit for prince*. Other people took the hint. A. time went on. more and more peach trees were planted. Some of Dennis Woolverton s ne.ghbouiii al«> planted pears and plums, cherries and kernes, qumce. and currants: and they had good cause to be glad they Jad done so^ Gradually it was demonstrated that, in the north belt of the Niagara Peninsula. Canada posse.eed an ideal place for the «""'"« """jj: Transit facilities were developed The price of land rose-and is still ""The city of Hamilton at one end of the Belt, and the town of St. Catharines at the other, are important marketmg ««« "«■ J^'*^'". two hours' journey is Toronto, a great consumer; within ten hours run.ey is Montreal, a greater consumer. Western Canada, enjoying very limited opportunities for raising fruit, makes an ovor-mcreasing demand for the produce of OnUrio's orchards. With means of carriage, the Belt is amply provided. It is traversed by the Grand Trunk Railway, and all along that length of line m summer months the Dlatforms, sidings and freight-sheds look like outlying portions of Cove'nrSn market. Then there is the electric railway, previously mentioned, running from Hamilton to BeamsviUe ^I^.t^e Belts S highway .-the hourly service of passenger cars bemg sup^e- mented from June to October, by a persistent flow of he'^ht traffic^ This consists of fruit-laden trucks destined to join trams that take them far to the east and farther to the west. Some are refrigerator ca'r which, thanks to Government initiative and subsidies, are pro- vWed by the railroad companies to ensure that tender fruits shall be conveyed long distances in unimpaired condition. \7any an orchard fronting on the line has its own neat ittle goods p,at?orm!on which at any time the fruit farmer -^-J ^^^^^^'^^^^^ toT the next-arriving car to collect-a convenience which, of course, has Its Xence on local land values. A constant stream of motor c^rs nrociS on pleasure jaunts to and from Niagara Falls, shares h wJhTotd wUh wagons'and trolleys piled high with gorgeous ISSs. barrels of apples, crates of ^^^ VrLdtwttl' lUng md neaches Indeed, this procession of bright and sweet-smelling mercCSse makes so tantalizing an appeal to one s senses^^that Xr a while, it is quite a relief to see a ton of coals, or a load of '"t musfnof be supposed that the Belt is characterized throughout Tn^fW districts B I land is obtainablfr-partly because of an ^ferorVtyt local m_.ns of transport-at £50 an acre. That pr co or instance rules at the eastern end of the Peninsula-the beautiful N aja a-le^Uke district, where many wealthy A-ricans have UieTItatelv homes, and where the conditions are more avourable for t^ach growing (as I was informed by Mr. E. D. Smith, a former ^estdent of tL Ontario Fruit Growers' Association) than anywhere ''"ind*now° «"verting from deUils to generalities, it will be interest- ing t inqulU why fr'uit-growing is a more reliable and prosperous 23 p ':¥i indoatry in that itrip of Old Ontario than it is, lay. In our eoontjr ol Kent A dimat* that enattTM quicker growth and fuller development ia not a complete explanation. A combination of favourable condi- tions for production with wide opportunitiea for oonramption. fails to account fully for the sustained success of those Ontario orchards. The fact that elaborate channels of distribution link producer with con- sumer, still leaves the riddle unanswered. For, as English growers know to their cost, the quickest trains and the densest population afford no guarantee that ripe fruit will not arrive in a congeited market, where, being perishable, it must be sola to no profit and perhaps at a loss. There is only one way of preventing ripe fruit being sacrificed to the temporary caprice of supply and demand. From a perishing article, it must be changed into an enduring article. In other words, it must be dried, preserved with sugar, or packed, sterilized, in an air-tight vessel. Jam-making does not meet the difficulty. But canning does. Canada's canneries— those huge establishments dotted along the Belt, and in many other districts of Southern Ontario— serve to sustain the demand, and steady the market, for orchard produce. They have an insatiable appetite for sound fruit of various grades and all available species, grapes alone excepted (and in the wine and juice factories the grape grower also has an alternative to the dessert market)* Thus in Ontario a crop of late strawberries or undersised apples does not have to be sold — as sometimes happens in England — at a price that barely pays for picking and carriage. At various dates. I visited several of thosp 'i.vtge, dean factories, where colonies of cheerful women and girls were assisting complex machinery to skin tomatoes, shell peas, stone peaches, stalk rasp- berries and deal scrupulously with a dosen more fruits and vegetables ; other amazing mechanism cooking, covering and cooling the filled tins, which, all ready for their pretty labels, pour forth in a glisten- ing cataract totalling many thousands a day. Observe, then, that the farmers of the Belt grow fruit, not for Canada alone, but for the world at large. Often with great zest had I eaten Bartlett pears in Great Britain; and so it was like meeting an old friend when, on my first visit to Grimsby, some well-laden pear trees were introduced to me by that naine. And as I gazed at those pear trees, my thoughts took a new turn. In form, foliage and fruit, they certainly did look very familiar— a circumstance which, on noting my perplexity, the orchardist was quick to explain. " In your country," he said, " they call it the Williams." Odd that one should have been paying double homage to the same fruit under different aspects and different names ! Mr. Enoch Bartlett, of Boston, certainly deserves credit for introducing into America the famous variety propagated in Berkshire, England, by Mr. Williams; but to celebrate the event with a re-christening was, I think, going a little too far. The Williams, under its trans-Atlantic alias, is a paying crop in Ontario, where Clapp's Favourite, and a long list of familiar French varieties, also thrive and sell well. Plums figure conspicuously in the orchard and in its balance sheet. The nurserymen stock three distinct groups in great variety, namely, the European group (includ- ing Greengage, Victoria, Monarch, Pond's Seedling, Coe's Golden Drop, German Prune and Italian Prune) ; the American group, which tend to be more hardy than the foregoing; and the Japanese group, including many introduced by Mr. Luther Burbank. Operations are not tmattended by difficulties and troubles, how- A sale of wind may dislodge, a storm of hail may disfigure, a 24 portion o( tho termor's erop. Porhapii th« Coiorado booUo will ptey havoo with hit potatoos. " Yellows "—that dread, myeterioua diaeaae, may break oat in hie peach plantation: a Government inapeotor promptly arriving to mark affected tree* for deetruction, no eompon- aation boint paid. Knowledge, perseverance and industry are required of the fruit grower. " I earn my daily bread," one of them told me, " by the sweat of my hired man's brow;" but he did but jest, as was apparent when 1 saw him, a wealthy man, one day helping to pack his peaches, on another day driving a loaded wagon to the cannery. Indeed, one of the chief charms of life in the Belt is that there, as everywhere else in Canada, all forms of manual labour are recognised as honour- able. It need not be supposed that the graces of life are neglected in that community. When the day's work is done, overalls a^e exchanged for orthodox attire. Dances and evening parties are frequent; gaiety deriving a stimulus from the occurrence of such " seaside " resorts a.-" Grimsby Beach, where people come from afar to spend aummer holidays in a village of dainty cottages. Bedecked with flags and Japanese lanterns, those cottages nestle among great maples and cedars preserved beside the lake; and on a clean shore of sand and shinRle the little ones assemble to bathe and paddle. Resident millionaires, whose fortunes were made in the States, have contributed to the amenities of life in the Belt. One has built at Grimsby " The Village Inn "—an asylum appreciated by visitors, since it is furnished with taste and provided with all conveniences proper to a first-class hotel. ^ lother— at Jordan Harbour, near Vine- land— has established, close < the Provincial Government's useful and extensive Experimental Fruit Farm, a superb children's school, associated \ a fine library, a natural-history museum and a beautiful ga i, not to forget a band-stand, an open-air skating rink, a toboggan slide and a concert hall with upholstered opera chairs to accommodate three hundred persons. The two main sections of society in the Belt are: Canadian families whose orchards have brought them affluence; and young Englishmen and Scots who, after serving their apprenticeship under experienced growers, have bought land with money supplied by rela- tives in the old country. And this suggesta a final word of warning: without the requisite capital, it is impossible to embark on fruit-farming in the north belt of the Niagara Peninsula. CHAPTER IV. THE LAKE ERIE COUNTRY. And now I would have you turn again to the accompanying map. Note once more that, compared with the wide dimensions of Old Ontario, the Niagara peach belt is but as the paring of a man's finger nail. Observe, too. the great stretch of Old Ontario lying in a lati- tude thirty, fifty, and even seventy, miles south of that in which the peach belt occurs— a latitude, indeed, which, if you follow it round the world, will take you through the orange and olive groves of Spain, the sweet-smelling myrtle maquis of Corsica, the vineyards of Italy, the couon plantations of Manchuria, and some of the finest fruit-lands of the United States. To certain features of that southern country I would ask special attention. Note its shore line of over two hundred miles along Lake Erie. Observe the situation of Norfolk county, and of Simcoe, its capital town. Let your eye travel westward to the two counties il \: estandinv furthest south— Kent and Ebmx. Lastly, locate the posi- tion of Lambton county, with its forty milei of coast lapped by the waters of Lake Huron. With those features fixed in your mind you will be the better able to appreciate the facts which, as the outcome of protracted investigations in that country, I am now about to state My inquiries had as their starting point this question: As peaches and other tender fruits grow to perfection in the Niagara belt, why in the name of latitude and common sense should they not grow equa.iy "ell in neighbouring land lying nearer the equator? In other words, I set myself to ascertain whether there wos any variation of soil, any caprice of climate, or any deficiency in means of transit, to hinder a vast extension of OntarioV fa'cintting and lucrative orchard industry. Hat vesting the peaches. There is not. In that southern country, 1 passed through vaot tracts of choice fruit land that is now growing grain and hay, or pasturing cattle. Mine was the interesting experience to be traversing a region which will inevitably some day figure among the great fruit- growing countries of the world, but where, at present, land stands at a low agricultural valuation. This forecast has a foundation ir. facts. Peaches are already grown, and grown successfully, here and there throughout that country; and in various localities certain wide- awake persons are buying land, and planting it with peaches and other choice fruits, to an extent that is causing no little astonishment among neighbouring farmers, who. loyal to the form of agriculture on which their prosperity rests, are slow to admit that fruit may pay 26 better than " corn " and hogs. Near Simcoe, in Norfolk county, I ■aw some fine peaoh orchards, while extensive plantations on recently acquired land bore witness to the enterprise and foresight of an English company. Moreover, when in Kent, I leamt of a similar syndicate (but it was American capital this time) who were display- ing considerable activity in securing future values at present prices. The area is so vast that those two companies may be lilcened to sparrows peclcing at a pumplcin. Let me try to illustrate the condition of affairs in that country which, now largely a network of ordinary farms, is destined to develop, over large areas, into a land of orchards. After examining the soil of a farm on the Norfolk coast, I said to the farmer, " You could grow peaches here." " Shouldn't wonder," Cutting gra|ieB. he agreed. " Then why don't you," I asked. " For one thing," he replied, " I ain't too well acc^uainted with the business. More than that, I've got just about all I can attend to as it is." A similar answer was returned by another Norfolk farmer to whom I made the same suggestion. " I havn't got the time," he explained, " to monkey about with fruit." Both farms were for sale at prices which, even if one looked no further than their present use, could only be described as moderate. But let me refer to prices ruling now (1911) in Norfolk county. Heavy land east of Port Dover varied from £12 to £16 per acre. Light sandy land west of Port Dover varied from £5 to 2\0. For farms in the vicinity of Simcoe, some owners were asking £16, others 21982— 4i 27 u muoh u 'tM u man. From t libt of (umi tor lala In varlooi othor parta of the ooonty I took tho loUowing flgurM: U, £10. £16 •nd £17. That varioty in pricot ropreienta di&aroncM In tho ▼•lu« ol fanprovomtnts, or difforent dtgroM ol urgency in the owner's wieh to itUre. And now I cannot do better than introdnee you to the brotheri X. whoee operation! illustrate the extraordinary industry, as well as the excusable laxity, that characterite Canadian farming of the old school. Moreover, the farms ol the brothers X are interesting as typifying the destiny ol the country, inasmuch as we there shall find fields passing to the higher lunction ol orchardii. Men ol middle age. the brothers X live on their larm ol sixty-flve acres near Cedar Springs, in the county ol Kent, and they also own and worlt another larm, situated a mile or so away, and embracing flity-eight acres. They have a hired man during eight months ol the year, and Iriendly neighbours help them gather their Iruit. Other- wise the two brothers, assisted by their wives, do everything. When, early in October. I called upon the brothers X, I was under the impression, Irom something some one told me in the village, that they grew nothing but peacht s. The senior partner began by showing me their tobacco. Recently harvested, the great leaves, already turning yellow and brown, hung in bunches on succeeding lines, tier upon tier, the dense array ol drying loliage filling that ventilated bam Irom end to end, and from floor to rool. For note that the gracious climate ol the Lake Erie country is favourable to a crop v.aich perhaps you have asso- ciated with the tropica; larmers in Kent and Essex, and on the neighbouring Canadian Island ol Pelee, having during recent years waxed opulent Irom the culture ol tobacco. " Is it difiicult to grow?" I asked the senior partner. " Oh, no," he repliecl. " Like other things, it pays lor all the time you can spare to cultivate between the rows and round the plants. Then you've got to head ofi the flower stalks, and nip out the suckers that come up beside the leaves." " What 3ort ol quantities and prices do you get? " " Well, last year from two acres we had 1.200 pounds or 1.600 pounds. 1 won't bo sure which; but 1 do remember the price was 8d. to 8Jd. a pound, according to quality. What the price will be this year no one can say. Some people don't fancy it'll be more than 6d.. but we've get twice the crop we had last year, so at 6d. we'll likely make £60 Irom tobacco." " And how many acres ol peaches have you? " I asked. " Don't know as I could reckon it that "vay." replied the senior partner doubtfully. " But as near as you can say, we've got 1,000 trees in bearing, and they're planted sixteen feet by twenty." " About seven acres," I suggested. " Daresay you've hit it pretty close," he agreed. " Then there's quite a number that'll come into bearing next year and the year alter; and there was a thousand and upwards we planted this spring." " What return do you get from the bearing trees? " " Ah ! there you've got me," replied the senior partner apolo- getically. " We don't keep any books. It wouldn't be difEoult just to jot down the figures when we both come to turn out our pockets c( an evening; only we don't do it, being mostly ready to take things a bit easy after a long day's work. We did start to keep track of the Elberta*, for they were a fine crop— fully tliree hundred bushels on the trees. I reckoned. But it took us all our time to pick 'em. leave alone count the baskets, so we soon lost tally." 28 Fully ft third of tha nop, I lawnt, wm roteUod on tht ipot to faraion who droya in from miles uonnd to buy trait thoy miffht havo grown tor thomiolTM. The balance, it aaoined, found a ready lale in the thrivini town of Chatham. Tha brother* reUined a general impresaion of the quantity yielded by each variety; and my oomplioated calculations went to show that their gross return from peaches probably did not exceed £S30,— « ftgurt which, at I pointed out, compared unfavourably with reaulta secured in the Niagara Peninsula. " Lilcely." said the junior partner modestly, " the folks up there have more experience than us. Maybe, too, they're better off for help than we are." I made an effort to arrive at the net result. " That's easy to worlt out," exclaimed the elder brother. " Nobody bought any baslcets except me. and I mind the first lot came tu £10 and the second lot to £6; and that's all we had." " And how much did you pay tor picking? " I asked. " Nothing," came the unexpected reply. " One neighbour would take a couple of baskets, and perhaps another might have a bushel, according to how long they'd been picking. So it didn't cost us any> thing." " Do you go in for thorough manuring, thinning, spraying and pruningP " I asked, remembering the Grimsby growers' four cardinal principles of peach culture. " We spray the peaches right enough." the junior partner replied. " I always see to that myself. And we spray the apples, pears and plums just the same. As for manure— well, we ran short of it this year, so the peaches had to go without. But most of 'em had quite a bit last year." " Don't you use artificial fertilizers? " " No, sir— to my mind there's no goodness in them " (a view, I need scarcely add, that is not shared by the more progressive farmers of Ontario). " Barnyard manure is the stuff, and if you havn't enough to go round, some crops have got to do without it— that's all there is to it. Then you were asking about pruning. Yes; we'll mostly find time to cut out wood when a tree might be getting a bit crowded. As for thinning the fruit— I've heard tell of some that say it'e a good thing. But how is anybody going to find time for the like of that sort of work? " " You mentioned apples, pears and plums," I recalled. " Surely you havn't many? " " Lor' bless you," replied the amused senior partner, " we've got more ground under them than under peaches. Plums figure with us quite a bit, and pay well, 1 reckon. So do cherries." " You've got cherries ! " " Aye, quite a few, and so we have grapes and quinces." • Anything else? " I gasped. " No," was the thoughtful reply. " That's about all in the fruit Ihie." " No berries? " I persisted, determined to get to the bottom of their multifarious activities. " Well," the senior partner meekly confessed, " we've an acre and a half of raspberries, but they don't cut any figure, seeing it's an old patch that ought to have been replanted a couple of years ago. Then, too, we havn't found time to keep it properly cultivated. I don't suppose we took £26 worth off it this year, if as much." " How about strawberries? " I asked. " Ah," replied the senior partner, almost blushing, " what with 29 m Um troubU w« had to gat tham pickad Uut yasr. «nd forg«ttla| «U •bout rannint tha oultlvator through tham thia apring, wa'va glvan atnwbarriaa tha go-by for onoa." By thia Uma I waa all aagamaaa to bahold thair orobarda; and •oon wa wara wandaring through atUnaiva. undulating planUtioni ol haalthy fruit traaa. 1 waa flllad with aatoniahment and admiration on noting tha maaaura o» afflcianoy which two pain ol handa, aaaiaU-i by a third, had auocaadad in mainUining ovar lo larga an aoraaga ». varioua Iruita. " 80 you don't put up any tancaa batwaan your land and your naighbour'a," I happanad to ramarlc whan, on raaohing tha adga ol an orchard, wa confronted a field ol stubble." " Ifa all oura," replied the senior partner. " We had those seven acres under wheat, and so we did that small field over yonder. It came out pretty light this year— under sixteen bushels to the acre. But we had wheat on the same land last year, and that's not a good thing, some people say. More than that, half the land didn't get any manure." But I had no attention to spare even for such striking departures from agricultural orthodoxy as thise words revealed. My mind was sufficiently exercised by the new light now shed on the industry and enterprise of the brothers X. " You find time for wheat! " 1 exclaimed. " Why, of course." protested the younger brother. " And corn, too. Thafa some of our com still standing over there, in tha field where we planted the new lot of peach trees this year." " But why in the world," I demanded, " do you bother with wheat and corn when you've got so much fruit to look after? " " Well, how should we feed our cattle. elseP We're fattening a tidy bunch of steers down at the other farm." " The other farm ! " I echoed. " Ah, I was forgetting the other farm. What do you do there, besides raising beef? " " That's where we grow our hay, and there's one large field we had down to oats this year. The rest is mostly pasture." " Any cows? " 1 facetiously inquired. " Five," replied the senior partner. " And do you do the milking? " I asked, nothing seeming 10 oe impossible. " I do my share," he stoutly replied, " and the girls do the rest " —(such being, as I was afterwards to learn, his pretty way of referring to their wives). " Have you got a milk round? " I asked. " No, sir, we make butter-or, rather, the girls do— and sell it in Chatham." " Why not save trouble and sell the miik? " " Because we want the skim for our hogs." " You raise hogs ! " " That's one of our chief lines," said the senior partner. " We've got about eighty ready now." " Yes," put in the junior member of the firm. " They've been ready six weeks, and ought to have gone to market a month ogo, as I told him. Now the price has dropped a dollar and a quarter." " I know, I know," agroed his contrite colleague. " But there was the peaches and apples to look after, nnd one thing and another; so I didn't seem to have time, and the chance slipped by." At that moment a corpulent red pig ran into view, causing soma alarm to a gathering of hens. Vou keep fowls, too." I pointed out. " Ym. Mid Um (iria don't do ao badly with agfa, though thay'ro only got about a hundrad hona now. Tho ohiaf part o( It ia aalllng young blrda aarly in tha year. Wa'va got a eoupla of incubatora, and thay raiaa quJta a taw." Than my inquiaitivanesa took a naw turn; and I aakad tha brothara X how many horiaa thay ownad. " Lat ma aaa." haaltatad tha aldar, aa manUl arithmatio puckarad hia brow. " alght." " But why ao man> P " " Wall, wa lika to hava two teami. Than an axtra horaa might ba handy at any tima." " That only acoounta (or flva." " Thara'a two th.aa-yaar-olda wa'va raisad to aall." ha azplainad, " and aa aoon aa I gat tima I must ba looking altar finding a ouatomar (or tham." " I aee— you go in (or a little hone-braading. Still, flva and two only maka aavan, and you aaid aight." " Oh, thara'a old Joa. Ha'a pretty nigh too old and too (at (or work now, but ha'a bean a good bona in hia tima, and ha'a no trouble, ■Unding quietly there in hia atabla." " You don't keep bees. I tuppoaaP " waa an aiterthought that came to me. " Why, sural " cried tha alder o( thoaa two (orgat(ul but varaatila (armara. "Fancy not remembering the baaal Wa'va got tan hivaa. And that reminda me— I must remambar to hava a look at tham. (or there'll ba a lot o( filled aaotiona ready to eoma out." From the range o( thoaa aotivitiea. tha moral to ba drawn, I concluded, would ba more apparent to an ouUider than to the brothers X themaalves. Nevertheless. I ventured to express the opinion that it would pay them to cut aoma itoma out o( their pro- gramme. " You've just hit it! " tha elder brother declared. " We've been that way o( thinking (or quite a while. Our Idea is to give all our time to this (arm. as soon as we can aell the other one." " What is the other (arm like, and what do you want (or itP " 1 asked. " The buildinga are (air." he explained. " There'a twenty acres that would do flrat-dasa (or peaches, and plenty more land (or other (ruita. We'll sell (or £800. which works out under £14 an acre." " How do you know," I aaked. " that thoaa twenty acrea are good (or peaches? " " We had a nice little peach orchard there. It's gone now. The trees were winter killed." " In a year when there wasn't any snow? " " That's right." " But you know now how to prevent winter killing? " " You bet we do What's more, we knew then. But, having a lot o( work on our hands, wo only protected the trees on this (arm. We took chances on the other (arm." These allusions may not be very clear. It behooves ma to eluci- date them. For hare we find the key to a problem over which. I think, the reader will have been puzzling. The last chapter in(ormed him that, in the Niagara belt, peach land realizes £200 an acre. Now he learns that, in the vast Lake Erie country, peach land may be acquired at £14 an acre. Why, he will be asking himseU, should there be that enormous difference in value? My next chapter ahall aolve the riddle. 31 I CHAPTER V. TOBAOOO AND lARLY VIQITABLtS. Th* Niagua bait had already baooma lamoua baiora tha eultura o< tandar frolu was attamptad on eommarcial linaa alMwhara In Ontario. In tima paach traaa oama to ba plantad in Eaiax and Kant, whara thay throva, yialding 0na cropa. Bat tha lama of tha young orchards in that nouthem country did not. aa wai natural, «praad to far aa tha fama of tha oldar orchards on tha ahora of Laka Ontario. And juat aa tha outiida world waa baginning to appraeiata thoaa young orchards, a catastropha ovartoolt tham. Undar tha auspicaa of tha Provincial Qovarnmant, " fruit axpari- mant stations" had baan astablishad throughout Ontario; and in laSG tha following revelations came from Mr. W. W. Hilborn, who was in charge of tha rtatlon at Leamington, Essex:— f Showing kn orch»rd in full bearing. I scarcely know how to begin my report tor this season, tha two 01 three weeks continuous cold weather during the month of February wrought such sad havoc among the peach orchards that to look in any direction you choose, ruin and dostruction is to be seen on every hand. Trees planted on soil most suitable to the growth of the peach suffered most. About 90 per cent to 9S per cent oi all peach trees of all ages were killed. We had about 20,000 iraes, most of them plonted from five to nine yeors. Out of this number not more than 1,500 survived. A neighbour had 4,200 large bearing peach trees that had been well cared for and in splendid shape when they went into winter quarters. Out of this number he has only two trees that were not killed. Last spring about 1,000 acres of peach orchards was to be seen from the top of my house; at present there is not SO acres of them remaining. The trees were killed ot the roots. The top was not injured. They came out in full bloom. All varieties gave promise of the largest crop oi fruit ever grown in this district when the top only was examined. But, alas, the roots were destroyed and in a few days after the blossoms began to open the trees began to succumb to their sad fate. Trees that escaped were those that had been planted in soil that for some reason did not dry out with the long- ^HH \ oootlniMd eold ptriod. It wm not th« Mv«r« oold, but th« lonv- ooatlDtttd oold that did tht mliehitl. In th« •utnmn o( IMS th« wood and trult budi of tha ptaeh riponad up pwrtaotly, aad want into wintar quartan in tha bait poaaibia oondltlon. During tha mopth of Fabraary wa axpariancad about thra* waaka of oontlnuoua aavara oold. About 14 u««»«^ * '"^ no .now on th. ground-U will And u. pr.p.r^. I •»«>**•'""''"?• th« B»ner»l lacUF Th.f* *•• nothing .pMi«l to thU part ol th. Sundry In th. dnr- c eold r«ord«l. Th. th.rmom.tor |av. . .ImlUr r.«llnf In oth.r p«ch dtatrlcU. *»»«• J»». U.«. w.t. nm. "tl^ tioo wlM*. mat ol wMd. around th.m. and thoM inm w.r. not kUlod. 1 noUd that lact at th. tlm.. but you mutt not .uppow that w. hilly »•"«»»»«" iSon Irom th. IM vUltatlon. Flv. y~». >«»r ^^VT* "?Sl^ oondiUon. occurrod and again w. loot a numbar ol trw. That compl.i«l our .ducatlon. At ttr.t it wa. «•" ">at a «»vr crop, .uoh u clover, would b. an ad«juato proUcUon. But th.r. U • /•"'••'^ lor th. oov.r crop to lall In th. Imm^llato nalghbourhood ol th. tm. and that U Ju.t wh.r. th. protection !i n..d«l. A compl.to wlutlon ol th. difficulty ii to .pr.ad a good thickn... ol .traw lor from thrM to flv. iMt around .aoh trw. That U now th. univwMl praotlo. In *'''*..'*i'}'S; by." I .aid. " th. awlul .laughtor ol trM. in 18» muat hav. hit .om. ol you grow.r. pr.tty hard. You youri.ll w«. in p«M!hM 8lmo.t .xduilvdy, w.r. you notr* vi. i...j "^Y.. " r.ull.d Mr. Hilborn, grimly. " and to Ay I wa. hit hard i. a mild way ol putting It. But." h. .mlUngly add^. "It all prov^ a bl...lng In dlagulM. I roplanUd a cwtoin numbor ol p.aoh trw. at one. but I wa. compolM to look lor a crop that would yiald a quicker return. W.ll. I kn.w that th. .prlng op.n«l h.r. Mrll« ?hon anywher. .1m in OnUrio. and 1 notic^l a^ ^^"^^^^fjZ high and dry sandy land, that it .Mapml Mriy apring lro.t. that war. •xperiencMl on land ol other lormation. in th. immwllat. vicinity. I went to work on those laoU. and began by building a glaas houM. which was ton leet by fifty and cost U. " A very low price." was my comment. , , . " Materials are cheap in this country," Mr. Hilborn expWnwl, " and 1 did all the work myself. It was. ol course, a rather rough and roady structur.. but it served iU purpose. In that house I raised a 700 tomato plante. which, at the earlleat possible day in May. I put o^t on an acre and a quarter. They ripened early and I sold the crop lor £132 I figured up all the expenses, and. allowing for .verything. including rent ol the land and the value ol th. manure, they came to £32 So I netted £100 from an acre and a quarter. Then I put up some more glass houses and raised sufficient plants lor ten acrw. from which 1 Mid over £800 worth of tomatoes. I have also gone Into musk melons, which follow th. tomatoM In the glaas housM and on the land, and as musk melons pay nearly as well a. tomatoes we get a double crop. 01 course the business has gone on developing, and th. last glass hous. I put up measurw 103 feet by 116 and cost £1.800. You might like to see it." WiMMopon w« vUlitd • lofty, tour-tpui. ilMl-lraiM ■trMtur*. Mid I iMrnt thai tb« ground it eov«n~two>fl(ths ol <%n Mr*— U o«ltt> TBltd by • iMun of horatt Mid a plouch. Mr. HIiboro dnw my •ttMitton to th« adroit mMhanUm by which ona man, on tttrniag • whaal. ean almultanaously opan or ihut all tha vantllatora along • apan. Ha alao polntad out tha ampla inatallatlon of hot-«ai«r pipaa. " Your ooal bill muat ba an itam," I obaarvad. " No," laid ha, " wa do all our haatinf with tha natural gaa that eomaa out of tha eruit ol tha euftli htraabouta. It la vj'y muoh ehaapar than ooal. Wa gat It. for oommarclal purpoaat, a^ 6)d. a thouiand faat, and, for doniMtlc purpoaaa, at lOd. You y rathar mora for gaa In England, I ballevtp " And I had to admit that wa do. My thoughta than turned toward* methtHl* of culture. Elaawliara ■ in tha Provlnoa I had notad that tha tomato planta ara laft unatakad, ^ iprawliiiR on tha ground, the grower giving no thought to defoliation or the nipping out of laUrali It occurred to me that the mathoda of Mr. Hilborn, alnoa ha waa an expert caterer for early markaU, might in thoae reapacta conform to Engliih uaaga. " Oh, no," he laughed. " ataking and all the rait of it la quite unnacaiaary in Canada. Indeed, exparimetit hag ahown it to b* ootually dlaadvantageout. Tha fruit ripens beat whan lying on tha warm landy aoil. Having put tha plant in tha ground, you don't have to bother any more about it. All you have to do i* to manure your land and keep it well cultivated. It la mainly hori* cultivation, but a certain amount of band hoeing ia necemary. I am particular to get men who carefully guide the cultivator in and out Juit where it ought to go. For the man who tiuitles hii team along tha rowa, and boi'sta that he can cultivato twenty acrea in a day, I have no u*« whatever." " Do you find it difficult," was my next inquiry, " to Mcura an ample supply of fertilizers P " " No." said Mr. Hilborn, " I buy barnyard manure from farmara in the neighbourhoud." " What ! You are cruel enough to let them part with itf" " Aa they are willing to sell," replied Mr. Hilborn, "some ona else would snap it up if 1 didn't, so with a good conscience I buy all I can get. That supply I supplement with very useful desiccated animal manures that have been put on the market. Then, too, I use a good deal of nitrate of soda, bone and potash." We had strolled back to his handsome residence, and as I stood admiring it, I had tha audacity to ask:— " Did you build that out of early tomatoes? " " Every brick of it," he admitted. " What is more," be laugh- - itigly added, as he pointed to the motor car that stood panting on liis carriage drive, " I bought that auto out of early tomatoes, too." " Well," I soliloquioed in all good faith. " you are obviously a man gifted with exceptional powers, and it would be misleading if, in writing for the information of readers in the old country, one were to give your case as a typical instence of what can be dona on tha land in Onterio." " Now that is a moat unfair thing to say," protested Mr. Hilborn " To begin with, I am not an oxceptional man. If I am, than my neighbours must also be exceptional men. For instance, there are nine growers close here who are raising early tomatoes in tha way that I am doing, and on land identical with mine, and each of tboae nine men to-day ridea in his own motor-car. I don't understand why s« many writers ahould systematically under-stete reaulte. Appar- 35 «ntly it is becauM a certain number of immigrants, being unfitted by temperament or training to take liold of opportunities like these, have made a mess of things out here and have gone bark Rrowling. Well, of course u man who won't work, or who is mei. uUy deficient in some other Tvsy, will be - ' " 'e in Canada; but 1 don't see that you do anything to meet b' n'^e U vi«', \vl\ili< rural mail di-li%'i'ry and the tt'lH|ilione keep the Ontario faruiiT in cunxtant touch with the oucbide world. man altogether. Poor fellow, his clothes wasn't any too good, and his face was white and drawn— the sort that looked as if he'd never made any headway at all in the world and had had to go hungry half his time. It seemed he had only been out three or four weeks, and in that time he'd had several masters— hard-working and success- ful farmers, for I happened to catch their names — but either they hadn't suited him or he hadn't suited them. And I heard him say to Jim, shaking his head very dismal and solemn : ' The worst of these Canadians is, they don't know anything and they won't learn.' " It is a strange fate to have overtaken one of the fairest and most fertile regions in the world— that its afirriculturists should be dependent on miscellaneous immigrants who are largely of urban origin. Such is the price Eastern Canada is paying for its enlarged nationhood. Thousands of young men from the old Province went forth to found the greatness of the new Provinces. Others— respond- ing in another way to the needs of a new nation— have enrolled themselves in the professional and commercial populations of Canada's superb and vigorously-growing cities. 61 ! Th« axodna of ronl popnlmtion from the tut hu bam lUmnlAtod by auxUlary oaoMs. By raarcn of trsditioiu inherited from pioneer daye. the habit of working long hours became ingrained In the ohar- •cter of the Ontario farmer. And. tinee be waa accustomed cheer- fully to toU from sunriae to sunset, it naturally seemed to him only fit and proper that his sons should do the same. " My brothers," said a young and pTogressive Canadian farmer who had inherited the paternal property (and the foUowing disclo- sures are represenUtive of what I heard in many parts of the Province)—" My brothers were all older than me, but none of them wanted to stay at home and take over the farm. I didn't want to either, but it was a promise to mother, and I'm so nicely fixed here- clearing up three thousand dollars a year— that I've never regretted it. My dear old dad was one of the finest men you could wish to meet, but he never seemed to understand that young people want to have a little time for recreation. " It's been the same with many I've known— they were tired of the everlasting work with never a break, and no time to themselves, unless it might be an hour or so of an evening, when they would be pretty well played out. Then there was another thing— although we were always at work, we never had any regular wages. I don't mean we couldn't get money for anything we wanted to buy, but we always had to go and ask mother or father for it. When my boy grows up to do his share of the farm work, I mean to pay him regular wages. But the old plan of working from rooming to night— that was the worst; and 1 reckon it's keeping back farming in Ontario to-day. I began the same way myself, but three years ago I made a new rule- all hands to start at seven and knock off at six, with half an hour for breakfast and an hour for dinner. Of course there might often be a few little things that have to be attended to after six. but I look after them myself. Then, too, there are occasions when we all have to work overtime, but I give extra pay, or an extra day off, to make up for it. I find I get more work done than we used to, everybody going at it better for having a good rest in between; but if I didn't get as much work done, I wouldn't go back, because of the difference it has made in the home-life. There we are every evening all bright and jolly, and ready for a bit of music or to settle down quietly over a book; while sometimes one might prefer to go off and spend the evening with friends. As my wife says, it makes all the difference between just living and having a good time. " Especially does the old plan disgust the girls. You'll often hear them declare that, if they marry, they'll take good care not to marry a farmer, as they want their home to be a home, not a board- ing-house." " The problem of housing the hired help is one that Ontario has got to solve," Mr. Nelson Monteith told me. " My own solution is to have a married man for my permanent help, and to give him and his wife a good-sized house to themselves, on the understanding that they shall board any additional hands we may have from time to time. In that way I preserve the home life of my family; and I think the plan might with advantage be generally adopted. It involves the building of a second house; but domestic comfort is bought cheaply at the price." So much for the conditions which in Ontario have tended to check agricultural development, firstly by deflecting the younger generation from local opportunities, and thereby causing the supply of fanns greatly to exceed the demand; and, secondly, by leaving the majority of old-established farmers without any incentive to improve their methods and incomes. The latter phase of the situation may a vividly b« illiutratod by tha important crop to which rafuanoa hu already been made— oata. Indifleranoa to rotation, to mannring. and to seed selection, is reflactad in the ratio of production. From oar»' fully-prepared Oovamment figures wa find that in 1911 Ontario's average yiold of oats per acre was 30.K bushels, while the Unitad Kingdom's average was 43.03 bushels. And lest the reader should suspect natural conditions as in some way responsible for the differ- ence. I may mention that in 1911 sixty-five acres of oats were grown at the Central Experimental Farm near Ottawa, and that the averaga yield was 64.2 bushels per acre. Oiven an equal mastery in agricul- tural methods, the sunny climate of Ontario yields better results, in this as in the majority of crops, than the humid climate of Great Britain. And nuw I cannot forbear to glance briefly at a few cases (from among the many that came under my personal observation) of Englishmen or Scotchmen who, having crossed the Atlantic with nothing but agricultural experience, are now thriving Canadian farmers. Near Simcoe I made the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. L.. who went from Cumberland to Canada seven years ago. He told me why. " I was a tenant ' - "' •'airying; and for some time I managed to get a livir X> rtion broke out in my herd. One after another slipped ./es, and I was done for. It meant downright ruin— there \»-a no other word to use. Well. I'd heard of Canada in a general way. and me and the missis made up our minds we'd cross the seas. The neighbours would have it we must be crazy to take a leap in the dark like that. But I looked at it this way— however it turned out. it couldn't mean any loss, because we'd got nothing to losej and it wouldn't hurt us if there was no good prospects in Canada, because we hadn't got any prospects at all in England. When we'd sold the little that was left to us. and settled up one thing and another, it's a fact we'd only got just enough to gat us over the water. So out we came, to sink or swim. That was seven years ago. and," he added with twinkling eyes, "we're still aUva. you'll notice." " You have dene well in this country? " I asked. " We are not doing so badly," was the modest and thoughtful reply. " You musn't run away with the idea we've made a fortune, for we havn't. We don't keep a motor-car, or live in style or any- thing like that. Still, we've gone far enough for me to tell you this: I thought the abortion back in Cumberland was the greatest misfor- tune of my life, but it has turned out the best stroke of luck we aver had. For if it hadn't been for that we should never have come to Canada, and we're better off already than ever we were in the old country." " Do you own this farm? " " No. but a few months now will see us on our own place, please God. That's what we've been working up to all the time. At first we hired ourselves on somebody else's farm, my wife doing the dairy- ing and helping in the house. So we drew double wages— what's more, we were able to save pretty near every dollar we earned. After two years of that. I worked a farm on shares— a farm belonging to an old gentleman who wanted to retire. When it was sold. I rented this one, for I'd got together enough money to stock it. Now it's the turn for this farm to be sold— been taken over by a company that's going to plant it to fruit, by what I hear— and so. everything on the plaoa being our own. besides a bit of money in the bank, we're looking round to choose a farm to buy." " What class of farming do you go in for? " I askad. U !■■>■■ makM batter. That Imtu me the ikim milk for tha hogs, whioh mv ^U. Then I raise a number ol ateera and alao a few horaea." " You find a ready market for the butterP " I aaked. " ^J*- K«t«? " "id Mr. L.. laughingly paaaing the queaUon on to hiB wife. " Yea, indeed," replied the lady. " I make it in real Cumberland laahlon and it's very much run after. But about what my huaband waa telling you-there'a one thing he forgot te aay. If we've got aomething behind ua to-day, ifa all been done by working hard and never spending a cent more than we were obliged. It haa meant a lot of managing, and making ahift with what we'd got inatead of buymg new things. I don't mean I've let the children go abort of warm clothes; and of course on the table there's always plenty if its plain; but we've denied ourselves everything wo could do with- out. If we hadn't, we shouldn't be where we are to-day." One day I hired a " rig " at Port Dover, in order to explore the fertile lands of Haldimand county; and the proprietor of the livery stable, being minded to kill two birds with one atone, utilized the occasion for breaking in a new colt. The road dipped into tree-ahaded valleya that interrupted the line of low cliffs skirting the beautiful lake shore; and the erratic behaviour of our spirited but inexperi- enced quadruped, as we went swerving and plunging down those declivities, taught my companion that he had embarked upon an adventure which it would be unwise to prolong. Thus it came about that, ere we had traversed half a dozen miles, he apologetically admitted the necessity for turning; back. Wishing, however, to derive :Jome advantage from our ill-starred expedition, I bade him give his leadatrong beast a breather, while I visited the faruit • against whose property we had chanced to arrive— my impulse bc.ug stimulated by the sight of merry children playing in the garden Mr. H., the farmer, proved ii man overflowing with energetic enthusiasm; and almost before I liad wished him "good afternoon," he had told me all about himsell. and poured forth a dozen ques- Uons— though without sparing timt! for my replies. "Hullo! Out from the old land? Glad to see you. Looking around for a farm? Well, you've struck the right spot. You'll find plenty to choose from, and there's no better land in the world-you can take that from me. I've been out eight years. Hadn't a cent when I arrived. First had a spell of working for some one else, then rented a place, then bought this farm. Had a mortgage on to start with, but I've paid that off. Just bought a small farm for my eldest boy. Yo» ..ave to work like thunder in this country, let me tell you But you ve got something to show for it. I farmed in England before I came out. Bah ! after ten years where are you? Just about where you started. In this country you can go as far as you like. It all depends upon yourself." ^ " And you like the climate? " was a question I managed to wedge " Clhnate! " he almost shouted. " Well, where on this earth can you find a better one? We've got a real climate here. Look at England You ve got to keep a calendar hanging in the parlour, or you wouldn t know W it was spring, summer, autumn or winter. You am t make any mistake in this country. Why, over the water you could often go out of doorn in your nightehirt in December. Try that game some days here, and you'd have your heart frozen in your body. We have to dreaa up for our winter and keep a good fire in the atove. 64 %^ It'i Um bMt tima of the year, to my mind. Take thoie days yon gat now and again in the old land— when the eon ia ahining and the anow ia criap under foot, and the holly looks ao bright and green. It don't often happen, except on Christmas carda. but when it does happen, you go for a walk and feel as young as a lark. Then next day the thaw comes and everybody goes about chilly and miserable. Well, in this country we get the Christmas card weather off and on all through the winter. The nippers go sliding and skating and tobog- ganing and have a rare healthy time, and so do some of us older ones— what with torchlight processions on snowshoes. New Year parties, and one thing and another. Its nothing strange to go out and get sunburnt when the glass is down to zero. Of course there's the other side. When the sky is cloudy and there's a blizzard blowing— gee! but if you must go out of doors, you'll want your woollens and your fur overcoat." Even that exuberant farmer had at last to pause for breath; and I found a chance to utter, in an interrogative tone, the word " summer? " " Spring and fall are the times," he hastened to assure me. " It's a bit hot working in the middle of summer. That's when a dip in the lake does you so much good. Me and my youngsters go down for a swim morning and evening. It's why I wouldn't sell this farm when I got a good offer. Seeing what I was taking oft the place, a party was anxious to buy it. As I told him, there's plenty more farms that could do as well. Only it isn't enough to have good land— you've got to work it properly sud feed it. That's where any one across the water has such a pull. In the old country, what with rates and rent and all the rest of it, you get wise to making three blades of wheat grow where a lot of Canadians are content with one. Another thing, some of 'em put up with any old cows so long as they've got four legs. I want the best-bred animals I can get, and I don't care what I pay for them. Come and look at r nncb." They certainly were a picture. And it was ch^ 'c of all the British-born farmers— «o far as my experience w».ntr t they were immensely proud of their live stock. Driving out from the picturesque port of Goderich, in Huron county, I came upon a group of Canadian agriculturists, whose thoughts (when the purpose of my explorations was explained) all turned in the same direction. " Then the man you simply must see is B . Youll find his place a couple of miles along the road." " Aye, he's a countryman of yours, and as far as farming goes, he's got us all beat." " As he'll tell you himself, B came out with nothing but the clothes on his back— and now look at him ! " " Yes. you go along and see B . He's a great boy. and there isn't a man in these parts that's thought more of." I did as I was told. " Making money ! " laughed Mr. B . when I alighted beside his handsome barn. " Well, yes, I'm doing all right thank'ee. This is the country where a farmer can make money, especially if he's learnt his business in the old land, same as I did. When I came out first— that's eighteen years ago now— I hadn't a red cant. So I went into town and started working for a builder, x lived quiet, and didn't spend any more than I was forced to. That's where so many fall down — ^they work in towns, and try to save, but they spend as fast aa they earn. But I knew just what I waa aiming for, and moat of my money went into the bank. Then in a few years I took a farm •nd went straight at it, not asking any one how to do anything. Well. M I've not mat any raal lat-back all tha time, and to-dajr IWa got thraa farms running. Hera ! Half a minute—ril show you a pretty tight." Having disappeared into his stables, Mr. B- — presently raap< peered leading a ringed two-year-old short-horn bull. " Isn't he a beantyP " cried the enthusiastic farmer. " I went a long way to fetch that beast, and I've just brought him home. He cost me sixty dollars." " A bargain," I suggested. " Yes, but that's almost an unheard-of figure in these parts. We're a long way below old country prices out here, you must remember." Having put his ponderous treasure away, the farmer started to chat about the old land. " I shall never forget the first time I went back to my native place in Gloucestershire," he recalled. " I thought ten years in Canat2a would have made a bit of difference to my looks. So I dressed Interior of a cheeM ourinft room. up in old clothes and decided to have some fun. I stood up at the hiring, and presently who should come along but my old aunt — out to engage some one by the day. I pulled my hat over my eyes — and if she didn't come right up and wanted to hire me ! In a gruff voice I asked : ' How much money? ' ' Half a crown,' said she. ' Why,' I answered her back, ' that wouldn't keep me in cigars.' Then I burst out laughing, and the next minute she saw who it was. Gee! And there they all were doddering along just how I'd left 'em. And out here in Canada I'd gone right ahead of the whole lot of them. I take a trip across every year now, for the fox hunting. That's some- thing I'm very fond of, and we don't have it out here." Personal preferences as well as local conditions control, of course, the combination of activities that come within the scope of mixed farming. In the prosperous county of Waterloo, with its delightful English-speaking German population, I visited one farmer who, having discovered a deep deposit of gravel on his land, derived profit by selling road material as one of his incidental crops; while one of his neighbours, who keeps a large herd of swine, turns winter leisure to remunerative account by making sausages. Bees and poultry are familiar farm auxiliaries throughout Southern Ontario. There, because of copious sunshine, the honey-flow is constant and reliable, instead of sporadic, as in Great Britain; prices on that side of tha 66 i^ Atlantic baing, consequently, lower than on thl^ side 1 came aeroM two enthuiiaiU who. foregoing all other means ol livelihood, were deriving an adequate revenue from their hives. I also came upon men who were successfully concentrating their energies on poultry farming. CHAPTER VIII. APPLES AND CHEESE. .\11 this time I have, in effect, been keeping a secret from the reader. I have not yet told him obout a well-nigh universal feature of Ontario farms. So far only casual allusions have been made to a fruit which is grown from the River Ottawa to Lake St. Clair, from the St. Lawrence to Georgian Bay. Apple growing in Ontario goes back to the early days of its settle- ment as a colony. Man is apt to be slow in learning the cultural capabilities of a country. The Province's suitability for pro ducing R««idence of a fruit grower inV' The Belt.'" peaches has been discovered, as we have seen, only recently and only incompletely. But from the outset it has been patent that Ontario's climate and soils fulfil precisely the conditions necessary for the perfect development of the apple tree. In that Other England you find old-established apple orchards almost everywhere. That is the least strange of several strange facts which, in this connection, I have to record. At the outset I would ask you to sus- pend your English ideas of what an apple tree looks like, .^udged merely by size, the apple trees of Ontario could easily be mi aken for oak trees— a statement which the British orchardist will doubt- less receive with a complacent smile, even as I shrugged my superior shoulders, and shook a sympathetic head, when first I saw those Canadian trees. For have we not all learnt that the day of thle standard is over, since it yields low-grade fruit and cannot effectively be sprayed? Have ve not all come to realize that the bush— on English broad-leaved paradise, in most varieties— is the only sound commercial investment, since it yields large fruit and can be thor- oughly controlled? Yes. but listen: the Ontario standards, because of the superior climate, are far nobler specimens than our standards: the expert orchardist of Ontario (using much more powerful machinery than our knapsacks and trolleys) does succeed in thoroughly spraying his great 67 toMi; and from thoM hug* aUndmrda h« f«thma Inilt folly u Urg* and u fln« m tb« fruit wa father from our boihM. By that atat*- mant I ahall perhapa ruffla tha auaoaptibilitiaa of oarUin of my fallow- oountryman, juat aa, by tha eompariaon batwaan Britiah farmara and tha avaraga Canadian farmer. I may ruffle tha Buaeaptibilitiaa of carUin of my fallow-aubjeota aoroia the Atlantio. But it would apoil the value of thia book if one allowed the truth to be warped by diplo- macy. The Engliah fruit-grower believea— and it ia a natural and hannlesa belief— that, for flavour, the English apple ezcela all othara That conviction can scarcely survive an autumn visit to an orchard in Eastern Canada. Again, I have heard untravelled Ontario fruit' growers declare that, so far aa taste is concerned, the apples of their Province leave those of British Columbia far behind. To that opinion they did not succeed in converting me, who have eaten newly-picked apples in Kootenay orchards. My own summing-up would be thia: tested by the palate, the apples of Great Britain, the apples of Ontario and the apples of Britiah Columbia are— perfect: but of course an apple that has travelled three thousand miles can never have quite the same delicate freshness, flavour and fragrance aa a local apple newly-gathered. Now I want you to turn your thoughts to the revolution which, during recent years, has come over fruit-growing; a revolution which has l^ad for its watchword—" spraying." In by-gone days the crop often failed, scabby apples went to market, and it was nothing unusual, on using your fruit-knife, to disentomb the larvis of carpo- capsa pomonella. Fungoid and insect pests came at last to work auch havoc in the orchard that man took up arms against hia foea; and to-day fruit-growing, instead of being a lottery, is a science. Con- comitantly— or, perhaps, consequently— the world has learnt more fully to appreciate fruit, as a wholesome article of diet, than ever it did before. But I am turning your thoughts in this direction in order that you should bear in mind the sorry plight of those apple orchards which have not felt the influence of modern methods. Such orchards — still yielding their light and occasional crops of blemished and under-sized fruit— are numerous in Great Britain. They are far more ' numerous in Ontario. It could not well be otherwise, seeing that there are many mora orchards in Ontario than in Great Britain. Moreover, the powerful spraying machinery necessary across the Atlantic, has been placed on the market more recently than the slight spraying machinery suitable on our side of the Atlantio. This, then, is the position in Ontario to-day :— Apple-growing being one of its leading industries, the Province is provided with ample channels of distribution— namely, the huge export trade for fruit packed in barrels and boxes; the ever-increasing demand made by the canneries which exist throughout the lake-shore counties, and of which one company owns as many as forty-nine; and the dessert market that is growing with the expansion of Canada's population and with the developing public appetite for a valuable food. The up-to-date growers are rapidly increasing their plantations and reap- ing a rich harvest. But the overwhelming majority of Canadian farmers, being unconverted to modern methods, continue to derive only the unsatisfactory crops that survive the attacks of scab, scale, caterpillar and aphis — crops which are of little commercial account. Experts of the Federal and Provincial GovernmenU are crying urgently to the owners of those orchards " Spray ! apray ! apray 1." alao " Cultivate! cultivate I cultivate!," and likewise " Prune I prune! prune ! " Comfortable, philosophic and old-fashioned farmera are, however, alow to adopt strange innovations. Therefore (and thia ia 68 tha point to which I hvn bMn iMding np) immigraot agrienltoriata from tho old land will And, in tho n«|^«ct«l orehMd which it a iMturo of M many Ontario farms, a dormant ataet which may quickly b« turned into ravanua; that ravived orchard aarving at a nuelaua for a gradnally-aztendinff plantation. For tha apray-nosala i» a golden key that unlocks the door of a treasury. Bedew the negtncted trees with lime and sulphur, supple- mented by arsenate of lea-aera farm wa bought for £1,770. After taking oft thoaa two crops, amounting to over £9,B00, we aold tha orchard and farm (laaa » aciM that wa retained) tor £3,540. Tha new owner, continuing spraying and culture, haa thia yaar har. sated a larger crop than wa secured laat year. For tha raaulta of thmrough spraying and care are cumulative." " There ia an orchard of less than six acres east of Burlington," Mr. Smith waa presently explaining. " It had never been aprayad, though it had always received a certain amount of manuring and cultivation. Owing to ita situation beside the lake, the fruit got very scabby, and as the crop was always poor in quality it never gava tha owner more than an annual return of from £60 to £80. A year ago last spring I took hold of that orchard as an object-lesson. I sprayed it very thoroughly, at a cost to the owner of £20, and that aaaaon ha •old his crop ol apples for £370." I asked if the spraying outfit waa costly. " No,' replied Mr. Smith, " a man with only an acre and a half of orchard can fit himself out for £3. A hand pump suitable for from two to five acres would cost about £13. For larger orchards the power apparatus may run to as much an £60." And in this connection I recall a visit I paid to the owner of a large and prosperous orchard near Belleville. He showed me the wagon that bore the tank of spray fluid and tha petrol eneine tor pumping it. The cost, it seemed, was £22, but he found it a cheaper investment than the £13 hand-power apparatus he formerly used. " You see," he explained, " in that case I always had to have a man with me to do the pumping. This outfit I can work by myself, tor you are not on the move while you ore directing the spray on the trees, and when you shut down on that job you are free to look after the horse." Also I learnt that to reach remote branches, the operator stands on the wagon, while exceptional altitudes ^as when a tree haa attained a height of forty feet) are dealt with from a movable timber tower. And now I come to another at ■ ge tact in the recent history of apple-growing in Ontario. A number of capitalists formed themsalvea into a company and rented some of the uncared-for plantations. Said the company to the farmer : " We will pay you £40 per annum "—or other figure, according to the number and age of the treea— " tor your orchard on a ten-years' agreement." If the farmer consented, probably hia next surprising experience waa to find the company employing and paying him to run hia cultivator through hia own ■iiiillii ordutnL And ha would «itn«M th« Mrlvtl ol ipikytn and pninwa, •ad klUrwuda ol piokon and pMktra-tlM crop probably Ukinf hta broath away. A aaoond and largtr company hat tinea tnUrad tha flald, and combinations of profrawiva (armara ara oparatlni on almllar Unas. Thata is ampla room lor all. Nay. Southern OnUrlo ii ao larga a country, and it ii io liberally prov lad with oroharda, that Individuali and oompaniaa hava at praiant ■uceaedod in tjpturinf only itripa and patohai ol tha vait kingdom over which tha codlinf moth and tha cankarworm, tha bark baatla and tha aooty blotch , hold dominion. No part ol Ontario it battar adaptad lor apple-growing than a broad ttratch ol country extending right along the north shore ol Lake OnUrio. and having the city ol Hamilton at one end and the town ol Kingston at the other-its coast dotud with dainty pleasure resorU, with here and tha»e the stately homes ol American million- aires. The "keeping" varieties ol apples mature to parlection in that country, and lor distant marketa those varieties are ol chief account-a matter ol which the importance is revealed by the lact that Ontario annually axporta (to Great Britain and Western Canada) about £1.000,000 worth ol apples. Since many ol the wintar and autumn varieties are slow to come into bearing, they are usually planted thirty-five leet by lorty. these permanent trees being intarsp«rsed with quick-developing kinds that become profitable in five yet/s Irom planting. Where more speedy returns *re desired Irom a newly-planted orchard, berriea and currants are grown between the rows. Superb American applea reign almost supreme in the Ontario orchards, where Cox's Orange Pippin and Wellington are unknown. In the matter of pasta, the two countries diffe? more in nomenclature than in speciea. The Canadian " canker- worms " are apparenUy identical with the voracious progeny ol our winter moths (" grease banding " bein? sometimes adoptad against the winglett lemalet), whUe the trains-Atlantic apple aphis is presum- ably our psylla mali. So lar as my peraontl observaUon went, we ara the stronger in aphidea and Ontario is the stronger in scales; while in " fire blight " that country has a mysterious disease (unlor- tunataly not yet under control) Irom which we are, I believe, quita free. As to remedies, growers on the other side do not bother about our caustic soda "wintar wash"; against catarpillars they employ the same arsenical poisons that we do; and their favourite fungicide is a solution ol flowers ol sulphur and Iresh stone lime, which is used at one strength on dormant wood, and with more watar lor later applications. Ontario is. however, lully alive to the virtues of " Bordeaux." Among English and Scotch agriculturista who desire improved opportunities, many would be willing and able to include a remunera- tive orchard within the scope of their activities. To such persons I commend that Lake Ontario country, where prosperity is attained in greatest measure by men who devote part of their energies to fruit- growing and part to either mixed farming or dairying. And mention ol dairying recalls me to the thriving eastern counties (Leeds. Hastings. Dundas, Addington, Lanark. Glengarry. Russell. Stormont and the others), which bring to a fitting climax my cursory review ol Ontario's varied lorms and phases ol agriculture. For those eastern districta (associated with Oxlord, Norfolk, Middle- sex and other inland counties in the west) are the headquarters ol milk-production, which is a leading industry of the Proviaee. Trans- lating that statement into statistics, I may rcantion that in the year 1910-1I the United Kingdom received mr\ and watch tha trainad aspart maklni a lood ol whioh ons p < n ' (coating about lOd.) contains as much nourlihmant aa two aU'' oiio-holt pounds ol baaf- ■taalc. Wagons arriva In aarly nurning w t)) il" milk, which, attar balng waighad. is passad into a jackatad vat w'l ra its tamparatura is ralsad to M degreas F. The prooar d»'r«c > cidity having baan tha ohaasamakar ti ti to 1.000 pounds o! ly minutaa. Than - loUowad by tha cd, aaltad, plaead ugas ut pvassura, adjustr- 1 it and haddar- . "' »' ^ut t' ■> - .ng ansurad by tha usa ol a lermentatlon ii"t> adds his attract ol rcnnat (about thi li r i i "i ol milk): coagulation rasulting in troi. o .■<■ i. coma tha procassaa ol cutting, stirring dxi *K>'>tii < drawing ol tha whay. Aftarwards tha Cfid i :iifi*i in hoopa, and subjectad to various dai;".'s« ini s which is intarruptad to giva opportune ivi < < trimming ol tha bandaga. Finally tha g su . lu sevt ty pounds or ninaty pounds in waif'.: ue iUjiit' room, which is associatad with an ica i ' > jr Tha lactorias and creameries aie rut u ro. ttr -. j lines, each larmar receiving his due proportion ot , lyment o', tned lor tha cheese or butter, leas a corresponding pei.-ntaga f ' oost ol pro- duction. For my readers the significi> .. point i* uia: just aa canneries provide a constant suppleroei.uiry market tot Iruit and vegetables, so the cheese lactones and creameries providu i\ constant supplementary n.arket lor dairy produce. Ol course larmars in Ontario dispose ol their milk in all ol tha alternative ways adopted In Qreat Britain. Soma dispatch it by rail to an urban centre; others, situated near a tuwn or village, have a retail connection; still others use separatoro und send cream into town ; a lourth class make butter on the larm; ai>d so on. Each ol those alternatives involvoH labour lor milk disposal, as distinguished Irom milk-production. From the dairy-larmer's point ol view, the supreme merit ol the lactory and creamery system is that it relieves him ol all trouble in marketing his produce. Once a day he puts his churns ol milk on tho littlo roadside platlorm in Iront ol his house; a wagon collecting those churns and alterwards return- ing his whey as a beverage lor hogs. Or twice a week he in similar loshian dispatches his cream to be made into butter. Or, again, his milk is taken to the creamery, whence he receives either tha " skim " or the value ol its casein (lor which, as a substitute lor ivory, cellu- loid, etc., there is a growing demand). In either case, be it noted, the larmer is enabled to devote undivided energies to the selection and care ol his live-stock, and to the raising ol grain, " corn," roots and hay lor their sustenance. Here, then, is the large field ol opportunity lor men who have learnt agriculture and cattle-breeding under English, Scotch, and Irish conditions— a stern school making lor high proficiency. All the dairy formers ol Ontario seem to be doing well; but the men (Canadian as well as British) who have the skill to raise bumper crops and heavy milkers, are making handsome profits. And none are laring better than those who are speeialiiing in breeding (whether cattle or hc-rses). By good judges who keep their eyes and ears open, there are some noble, cheup-at-any-price beasts to be picked up in tha Province, not only among Ayrshires and Jerseys but also among shorthorns and Holsteins. I have not lorgotten " Boutsje," discovered and acquired by the prolessors ol Guelph College; though even they were surprised aa whMi th« nootia ol H09-JO thowtd ih»t her swuon'i outpul wm »,0U pounds ol milk, tm\ln$ 3.6 p«r ctnt tot—* p«rlofin»nc« which. Ttlulng milk u low m Sd. • quart, ihowod • profit 1 ov« £86 grow •nd ov»r C4B not With th^ pro«»ny of iuch c»ttl« »v»»»bl», th« Mp«rt dairy farmar of Eaaiarn Canada can build up apUndid htrda. Thui— vj lummariM thl» littla boolt In a wntanca— Ontario ofltrs to indu«trlou» a«Ticulturi»ti cheap land, congenial iociaty. a ilorioua ellmata. beautiful turrounditig* and awured pro»i..!ritv Of what tha Tob»cc(> (fn)wn in Fliwex C.'unty. Province is destined to achieve, when her rural population shall be adequately recruited, some idea may be gathered from what the Province has already achieved, in her present under-nmnned condi- tion. The Ontario farms annually yield £25,000.000 worth of produce ; and careful Government figures show her agriculturists to be possessed of the following values .—£eO,000,000 in buildings; £15,000,000 in implements; £36.000,000 in live-stock; and £136,000,000 in land. That last item prompts me to add an in?=tnictiv« statistical com- parison between the developing West and the developed East. The average value per acre of occupied farm lands in Ontario is £10, in Manitoba £6 198. 7id., in Saskatchewan £4 lis. 8d., in Alberta £4 IBs., and in British Columbia £15 8s. 4d. 63 mmmm K t, rri- k If the reader desires further information or advice In reference to the Province of OnUrio or to any other part of Canada, the same will be given free of charge on application, either personally or by letter, to on» of the undermentioned Agents of the Canadian Immigration Department. ENGLAND. Mr. J. OBED SMITH, Assistant Superintendent of Emigration, Il>l2 Charing Cross, London, 8.W. Mr. A. F. Jury, 48 Lord Street, Liverpool. Mr. Malcolm Mclntyre, 139 Corporation Street, Birmingham. Canadian Qovsrnmsnt Agent, 81 Queen Street, Exeter. Mr. L. Burnett, 16 Parliament Street, York. SCOTLAND. Mr. J. K. Miller, 107 Hope Street. Glasgow. Canadian Government Agent, 28 Guild Street, Aberdeen. IRELAND. Mr. John Webster, 17-19 Victoria Street, Belfast. Mr. Edward O'Kelly, 44 Dawson Street, Dublin. The Special Agent of the Provincial Government of Ontario is Mr. N. B. Colcock, 163, Strand. London. W.C. who will also be glad to furnish information on any mattei affecting emigration to Ontario. UPOBTAHT. Farmers, Farm Labourers, and Female Domestic Servants are the only people whom the Canadian immigration Depart- ment advises to go to Canada. All others should gst definite assurance of employment In Canada before leaving home, and have money enough to support them for a time In case of disappointmsnt. The propsr time to reach Canada Is between the beginning of April and the end of September. 64 ■! a to will Iter, tion JrV^ /} y p^^ Vi ^v: \C^ K^^ 1 " n ChW flm— p tw . omm. DdiwtMBt tt latariar