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S
6
FRUIT GROWING IN CANADA,*
John Craig, ,
Horticulturist.
Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa.
I wish to speak of the fruit and fruit districts of Canada
as these cover the whole, or practically the whole, of Cana-
dian horticulture. The term "horticulture" embraces not
only the cultivation, but the amdlioration of fruits, plants and
vegetables, so that the field occupied by the subject under dis
cussion is exceedingly wide. As originally used, the term
horticulture, applied to the cultivation of fruits, flowers and
vegetables within circumscribed enclosures, commonly called
gardens. Thus we find that the English word garden is derived
from the Anglo-Saxon g-yrden, to gird or enclose. In like man-
ner the derivation of orchard is found in ortgeard, an enclosure
foj fruit trees, and again wyrt geard^ a garden for the cultivation
of vegetables or herbs.
It is diflficult to discuss the status of fruit growing in
Canada to-day without glancing at the evolution of the art —
as it was for centuries previous to the application and study of
principles, which raised it to the dignity of a science — not only
in Canada, but in the mother countries, for both are intimately
connected. There has, and probab. always will be. some con-
troversy between botanical and horticultural historians regarding
the relative antiquity of the two rural and venerable arts, agri-
culture and horticulture — one side claiming that since agricui-
*An address delivered before the Field-Naturalists' Club, March ilth, 1897.
/g'?7f/Tj
ture, or the cultivation of cereals as it was undoubtedly restricted
to in our early civilization, provides food in sufficient quantities
and adapted to the use of man, that it should be considered the
parent of horticulture ; while those on the other side, take the
ground that historically.at least.agriculture appears in the natural
course of events to have been evolved from the art of j^^ardening,
and claim that the latter, therefore, should enjoy the distinction
of parentage.
EVOLUTION OF HORTICULTURE.
It would seem reasonable to suppose, however, that at first
there was little dfferentiation. That those plants, cereal or fruit-
bearing, which most readily yielded food and supplied the wants
of man were used at first, and cultivated later — contemporane-
ously. We should remember, as DeCandoUe points out, that
" between the custom of gathering wild fruits, grain and roots,
and that of the regular cultivation of the plants which produce
them, there are several steps." The history of the cultivation of
those plants which have ministered to the wants of man as food
producing agents is most interesting. This history is given by
Alphonse de Candolle in his " Origin of Cultivated Plants." To
those interested in the evolution ol agriculture, I would recom-
mend this work as a reference book and one filled with a vast array
of historical facts. If we cannot claim for horticulture, priority
over agricultune with satisfactory assurance, we can at least
claim that it is what we may term the fine art of common life,
because it supplies luxuries — and luxuries within the reach of
all. In this way it is eminently republican.
The causes which have in the past promoted on the one hand,
or retarded on the other, the cultivation of a particular plant have
been various. If easily grown and yielding a product which was,or
soon became a necessity, its propagation and popularity was
assured. "In the same way* the various causes which favour or
♦De CondoUe.
7J3V3
obstruct the beginnings of agriculture, explain why certain
regions have been for thousands of years peopled by husband-
men, while others arc still inhabited by nomadic tribes."
Strenuous and perservering efforts, though probably not always
well directed, were made in prehistoric times — as in our own age
- -to grow those plants which yielded in greatest abundance and
with least outlay of labour (men like to live without working
when they can) products that supplied pressing wants. In this
way we find that maize, wheat, the sweet potato and tobacco were
widely diffused before the historical period. The Chinese Emperor
Chenming instituted a ceremony 2700 B.C. at which seed of five
useful plants were sown each year, viz., rice, sweet potato, wheat
and two kinds of millet. As those species which were cultivated
easiest, outstripped their fellows in the race, so in regard to
localities, those sections or regions, which offered least resistance
to the rude efforts of the early cultivator became agricultural or
horticultural centres, from which after the advent of civilization,
seeds, plants and culture flowed out in diverging lines. With
the history of the civilization of the old world is most intimately
wrapped up the progress of horticultural development. This is
absolutely true when applied to the colonization of the new
world.
CLIMATE A.S AFFECTING PLANT GROWTH.
Among the factors bearing upon the horticulture of any
country it is readily seen that climate exercises the most potent
influence in determining the range and character of the fruits it
is possible to cultivate, and the fact that our fruit lists have
greatly changed during the last half century is no doubt owing
as much to modified climatic conditions, as to the difference in
methods of propagation and due also possibly to the fact that
among fruit growers there has been of late a keener discern-
ment in regard to quality in fruits.
In the early history of the province, when the forest
primaeval covered our hills and valleys and shed abroad its bene-
li
ficent blessings in the form of evener distribution of m-Msturc
and evener radiation of heat, there is little reason to d lut that
with this almost complete covering of verdure acting as a modi-
fier of extremes in a measure — in the same manner as large bodies
of water — there would prevail more equable climatic conditions
and a more favourable era to the longevity of classes of trees
and fruits more or less susceptible to climatic extremes. So climate
may be considered the regulator and rcstrictor of varieties and in
all horticultural operations whether our energies and faculties are
applied to the production of, or the trial of a new fruit, it is of
prime importance to know something of its probable inherent
qualities, acquired from climatic situation, and perpetuated by
heredity. Turning to another phase of the question, we should
not forget that with perhaps slightly changed climatic condi-
tions, brought about by the operations of the agriculturalist,
come greatly altered soil conditions, the extent of whose influence
upon plant growth we are apt to under estimate. Woody
growth produced by virgin soils is very different in its capacity
to withstand cold, to that produced by soils first depleted of their
natural store of plant food by cultivation and then enriched by
artificial fertilizers ; and so it happens that we find many of the
fruits successfully cultivated by our forefathers, do not succeed in
the same localities at the present time. It would be interesting in
this connection, and in view of the fact that we are indebted to
England for so many horticultural treasures, to trace the influence
of the Roman, Saxon and Norman conquests upon English horti-
culture and the important mission filled by the Roman monks in
the same connection, but I must without further preamble come
nearer home and consider the condition and status of Canadian
fruit growing.
.SOURCES OF CANADIAN FRUITS.
Whence came our fruits ?
They came, undoubtedly, with our first colonists ; whether
the peasant of Normandy, the Puritan, the Scotchman, the
.w'!ii.. i^ial^>lIi6>iik^iilkij<MlMj^ui, JkttS^i
5
Englishman or the Irishman. Unfortunately, the early history
of fruit growing is in each of the provinces wrapped in more or
less obscurity. It has been the fashion in the past, that while
political and social events were recorded with precision and
accuracy, the introduction of important agricultural and horticul-
tural factors bearing upon the happiness and welfare of the human
race have been entirely overlooked, unrecorded, and their influ-
ence thus under estimated. How much do we owe to the person
who was instrumental in bringing from the orchards of Nor-
mandy the seed which produced our unrivalled Fameu.se. Who
can estimate the value of that apple in ministering to the wants
of the poor, in supplying a luxury to the rich, and acting as a
colonization agent for us in the mother countries. As with the
origin of the Fameuse, so with many other fruits — we find our-
selves without definite information regarding their early history.
These fruits came as seeds with the early settlers, — who cleared
the forest, who faced privation from lack of food, danger
from the Indian who lived by the chase — but remained as useful
fruit-bearing trees to lend a semblance or likeness of the home
in the new land, to that '■ the seas.
Reproduction in early _ ys — fortunately for the welfare
and successful evolution of a race of hardy fruits — was by natuie's
method, through the seed. Hy means of this agency, assisted by
another force operating silently but unceasingly — natural selec-
tion, or the survival of the fittest — many of our fruits have been
produced. The Fameuse and St. Lawrence, — two grand Canadian
apples,--thc Newton Pippin and Baldwin are familiar samples.
The following is the inscription upon a monument in Massa-
chusetts — the ouly one of its kind as far as I am aware in the
world — : *"This pillar, erected in 1895 by the Rumford Hisiorical
Association, incorporated April 28th, 1 877, marks the estate where
*" ^793 Samuel Thompson, Esq., while locating the line of the
•Address by C. C. James before Entomological Society of Ontario, Nov. 1896,
■■■■M
6
Middlesex canal, discovered the Pecker apple tree, later named
the BalJwin."
The apple trees that were grown from seed planted by the
early settlers and cultivated by the pioneers, in many in-
stances proved long lived, some reaching the age of 200 years, or
more. These trees attained great size and bore immense crops
of what was termed natural fruit. Even now we find in tho
older portions of the province isolated individuals and remnants
of these early plantings ; among them, fruits possibly not always
of high flavour but frequently surpassing in keeping properties
any of the propagated varieties now common to the district.
Mr. Hadwen, an eminent pomologist of Massachutts, says :
* The process of degeneration or decay of the apple seems to be
less rapid than that of the pear Out of 60 varieties mostly of
American origin, grown fifty years ago, more than 40 are still
cultivated and esteemed. There is little doubt that the now
almost universal practice of propagating by grafting and bud-
ding has more directly affected the longevity of our large Iruits
than any other factor, though the change is less marked, as
already stated, in the case o^ the apple than with the pear and
peach." At the same time we have all had reason to notice how
much disappointment frequently arises in our attempts to multi-
ply the individuals of a seedling of special merit by the usual
methods, grafting and budding. However healthy, vigorous and
profilic the original tree may be there is no absolute assurance
that when grafted either upon the root or top of another indi-
vidual, it will maintain all its original and desirable character-
istics. As some trees are sensative in this direction, so again
others are apparently entirely oblivious to congeniality of stock
and root, sustaining their own strong individuality through life
despite varying soil and climatic conditions. The Duchess of
Oldenburg, a Russian apple, is an excellent example 'of this
class, bearing freely and regularly wherever planted.
BOTANICAL POSITION.
A glance at the botanical position of some of our leading
fruits — Canadian fruits, at least — may be of interest. We see
at once that to the Rose family we are indebted for nearly all
our tree fruits, as the apple, the pear, plum, cherry, the peach and
its smooth-skinned sister, the apricot, in addition to the king of
of small fruits, the stra vv ben y, and the members of the genus
Rubus, — the brambles and raspberries.
PyruH malua, L. with P. frunifolia, L. both European, are the
parents of the cultivated forms of the apples of to-day. By
comparing a ruddy specimen of the Emperor Alexander with a
small specimen of the Siberian crab, we may obtain an idea of the
improvement which has taken place in apples since the inhabit-
ants of the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland cultivated pomaceous
fruits. The native crab of America, Pytus coronaria, L. is beauti-
ful in blossom, hardy in tree, but thus far incorrigibly astringent
in fruit However, over 80 per cent of our apples are of Ameri-
can origin that is to say the seed which produced them was
planted in American soil. Nature has not dealt generously
with us in matter of peaches, cherries and pears, all indigenous
to Europe, not found wild in America ; but man has by
seedling production developed varieties well adapted to the
vicissitudes of our varying climate
NATIVE FRUITS.
Remarkable progress has been made during the last half
century in the development of native fruits. By looking at the
evolution of the American grape, a prominent example is
afforded. It is but a little over 60 years since Catawba, the first
selection from the wild Vitis Labrusca L. of the south was made.
But it is since the advent of the Concord, "the grape for the mil-
lion," about 40 years ago,, that varieties have multiplied with such
astonishing rapidity, till at the present time they are numbered by
the hundreds. Another example may be cited in the native plums
8
of America, P. Americana, Marshall P. Chicasa, Michx with sub-
species. Thirty years ago, the progeny of P. domestica L.
(the gage and egg type) of Europe were entirely relied
upon. Now we have fully 300 varieties, pure or cross-
bred, developed from selected varieties of our native species.
These are destined in the future, by reason of hardiness
and vigour, to supply the wants of settlers in the interior of our
great country and in parts little more than explored at the
present time. Within a century there have come to Canadian
fruit growers, native plums, grapes, gooseberries, raspberries,
cranberries, mulberries, pecans and chestnuts — and I had
almost forgotten persimmons, a favourite with our coloured
brethren in the south. These latter we do not expect to be
widely planted in our day.
FRUITS .STRUCTURALLY CONSIDERED.
The structural part of fruits is extremely interesting, as re-
cording the remarkable modifications brought about by cultiva-
tion, as well as affording a glimpse of the analogy existing
between the various organs and parts of the plants.
In horticulture we deal with those fruits called by the
botanist, fleshy or indehiscent fruits. There is a disagreement
between botanists and fruit consumers in regard to the use of
the term " fruit," It is a disagreement between science and
sentiment. Speaking botanically and technically, the seed is
the fruit. Poetically and practically, the fruit is that which we
eat. However, those plants yielding fleshy fruits are tho.se
which concern the horticulturist. This fleshiness is brought
about by an abnormal development of the parenchyma. The
ovary results from the transformation of a leaf, made up of the
epidermal coverings, the endocarp and pericarp, enclosing the
mesocarp. These parts may be traced in the structure oi pomes,
or berries, as styled by some botanists, as well as in the stone
fruits, or drupes. Examining an apple we find that it results
- - ^^ - -^-
from the ripening of an inferior and coirpound ovary, with five
carpels, orginally free. It is wrapped like the fruit of the rose by
an expansion of the floral receptacle, This covering becomes
fleshy and succulent like the ovary with which it is joined, of
which the endocarp alone lining the hollows of the five cells is
thin and cartilagenous. The endocarp, as Figuier points out,
forms that part which sticks out between the teeth, when we eat
an apple. In the case of the orange we have a cnrions modifi-
cation. The external yellow skin represents the epicarp ; the
white spongy matter, the mesocarp ; the thin membrane lining
the quarters, the endocarp, while the edible part exists as an
accessory to the pericarp. Turning to the drupes, the peach,
cherry and plum result from the ripening of a superior ovary.
We find first, in the waxy skin of the plum, the epicarp ; in the
pulpy succulent flesh, the mesocarp, and in the wo<xiy kernels,
the endocarp. A knowledge of the nature of each fruit, the con-
ditions surrounding the development of its acids and aromatic
flavours is essential to their proper and satisfactory preservation.
This touches the broader and commercial economics of the
industry.
FRUIT DISTRICTS OE CANADA. — MARITIME PROVINCES.
Prince Edward Island. — We find on the Island still a few of
the old French orchards of apples and cherries. Rural husbandry
has, however, been of a specialized kind, and up to a few years
ago little was done outside of potato growing and horse raising,
A deep interest in dairyinp and fruit growing has recently been
awakened. The advantages of the Island from the standpoint
of the fruit producer are many and weighty. Among these are
natural underdrainage in many parts, an equable climate and
proximity to the European market. Cherries have been culti-
vated with success since the advent of the first settlers.
They belong to the Kentish type and ripen a month later
tSan do the same varieties grown in Eastern Ontario.
lO
1
Cranberry culture is being extended in the inland marsh
lands. The fruit is shipped to Rngland. There is undoubtedly
a future for cherry, apple, plum, pear and small fruit
growing on the Island ; a few large orchards are already
established and are bearing satisfactorily. The fruit keeps par-
ticularly well.
Nova Scotia. — The Dominion owes very much to this pro-
vince for the good pioneer work done in advertising the fruit-
growing capabilities of Canada in the European markets. The
best advertisement that could be given by any country was
afforded by the magnificent display of fruit made by the Pro-
vince of Nova Scotia through its Fruit Growers' Association at
the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London in 1886.
As early as the middle of last century, the Acadian French,
who then peopled Kings and Annapolis counties, cultivated
apples and pears with great auccess. When these lands fell into
the hands of the Connecticut and English immigrants in 1760,
old pear and apple trees were found in many places, some of the
latter existing at the present day. It must not be supposed that
the apple growing of Nova Scotia is restricted to the Annapolis
Valley. The fertile valleys of the Cornwallis andGaspereaux rivers
are eq^rlly well adapted and equally productive. The protection
afforded by low parallel lines of hills, known as the North and
South Mountain ranges, sheds a beneficient influence much
appreciated by the fruit growers of these regions. The numerous
bays and inlets assist in equalizing temperatures and exercise a
marked influence upon the longevity — which is proverbial — of
the apple trees in this region.
The soil consists of sand, ^andy loam and clay, overlying a
sandstone formation. The enormous rise and fall of the tides,
from time immemorial have worn away soil and rocks and pro-
duce those rich and extensive deposits constituting the present
marsh and dyked lands. These marsh lands serve the pnrpose
II
purpose of supplying an abundant annual supply of herbage, in
addition to yielding an inexhaustible s<Dre of cheap natural
fertilizer used by fruit growers with great advantage upon the
upland orchard areas. The more favourable portions of the
province produce apples of the finest quality, plums, pears and
small fruits in fair quantity and of good quality. The early ripening
varieties of peaches may, and are being cultivated with success
in the open. This branch of the industry is developing rapidly.
Another branch of the industry unknown to commerce ten
years ago, is now rapidly assuming important proportions. I
refer to cranberry culture. In 1890 some 400 barrels were har-
vested. Last year the output reached 2,000 barrels The
total orchard area of the province is estimated at/s.ooo acres. The
marketable crop of apples amounted last year to over 500,000
barrels,nearly all exported to Britain. The cultivated orchard area
was increased this year by 5,000 acres. The names of Col. John
Burbidge, — introducer of the well known Nonpariel Russet, —
Dr. Samuel Willoughby, Ezekiel Calkin, Dr. Inglis — first Bishop
of Nova Scotia, who brought to the Valley Yellow Bellefleur,
where it was named Bi.shop's Pippin, in consequence, — Hon.
Charles Ramage Prescott — who imported Ribston Pippin and
the famous Gravenstein, which he fjuited in 1838, — Dr. C. C.
Hamilton — the founder and first President of the Provincial
Society — are all names that should be handed down to history,
and are tho.se whose good deeds will live after them, for is it not
true that he who originates or introduces a new and valuable
fruit suited to general cultivation, is as much a benefactor to
mankind as he who discovers a new principle in science, which
increa.ses the comfort and happiness of the race ?
The fruit growers of the province are intelligent and ener-
getic. The establishment of a School of Horticulture at Wolf-
ville, the only one of its kind in America, is but an evidence of
the progressive spirit of the people. There is still a large amount
of unoccupied fruit land in the province.
%
m
New Brunswick. — The climate of this province favours a
mixed husbandry. Wild raspberries, strawberries, blueberries
and cranberries grow in profusion and have to some extent
hindered their cultivation. Apples may be grown successfully
for home use in nearly all parts. Large commercial orchards
are in bearing and others are being planted in the valley of the St-
John River. The fruit harvest is later than in Nova Scotia. New
Bruns wickers are,therefore, enabled to place their berries upon the
Boston market at a time when competition from other quarters is
light in these classes of fiuits. Bright minds arc at work in the
province. What to grow and how» to grow it are questions
receiving earnest attention.
Quebec. — The climatic conditions in Eastern Quebec ap-
proach quite closely those obtaining in many parts of New Bruns-
wick We find the principal fruit areas lying along the south
side of that great artery'of commerce, the St. Lawrence River.
Here and there, not on the low clay flats, but on the higher
middle elevations with gravelly subsoil affording natural drain-
age, we find orchards made up of the La Belle, Famcuse, Pommc
Grise and St. Laurent — truly Canadian and truly delicious
apples. It seems to be a principle in plant growth, especially in
apple development, that the farther north a given variety may
be grown to successful fruitage, the finer in quality will be the
pioduct. So it is with our Canadian Spys, Fameuse, Gravenstein
and King — and what of our North-west and No. i hard wheat ?
In L'Islet county, about 70 miles north-east of the city of
Quebec, plum growing has become a specialized industry, during
its gradual evolution covering a period of 100 or more years. The
Reine Claude de Montmorency is delicious and peculiar to the
region. The Damson plum trees grow in stocky form and pro-
duce all out of prodortion to their size. The Kentish cherry has
through heredity developed hardy forms well adapted to its new
home and ripens its fruit a month later than the same variety
grown at Ottawa.
13
Coming up the St. Lawrence we might prontably look
through the old gardens in the suburbs of Queb''C. We
might not find apples of gold, and melting pears such as
are described in poetic sentence by the author of Le chien d'Or,
but we shall find that even on the heavy clay loams of this
region, apples and plums arc produced of good quality and in
fair quantity. The Island of Montreal is undoubtedly the cradle
of tha fruit industry of the province. The ground, now covered
by many of those majestic achitectural structures so beautifully
situated around the base of old Mount Royal, was once occupied
by monuments in the form of fruitful apple and pear trees reared
by the efforts of man and nature, not so imposing in appearance,
though hardly less beautiful, but perhaps more useful in effect
and beneficial in influence than piles of granite, sandstone, or
marble. On the Island of Montreal we find a truly intensive
style of fruit growing ; apples and pears are staples. Straw-
berries, gooseberries and other small fruits are extensively culti-
vated. Convenient market facilities, both at home and abroad,
assist the fruit grower. About the foot-hills of those curious
out-croppings of the Vermont mountains that we find in the
Richlieu Valley and in the Eastern Townships — localities
peopled by U. E. Loyalists — fruit growing is a leading branch
of rural labour. The number of varieties peculiar to a locality is
an indication in fruit growing of the relative antiquity of the
industry. Here we find our native Canada Baldwin and our
Winter St. Lawrence. Beloeil. Rougemont and Abbotsford, are
well kno\ n to Quebec fruit growers as the homes of progressive
horticulturalists, and the name of the late Charles Gibb of
Abbotsford is well known throughout the continent as a fruit-
grower and a philanthropist. The fruit area along the New
York boundary line is rapidly extending, Apples, plums, pears
and grapes here reward the efforts of the fruit grower with
abundant crops. The scene in Montreal along the docks last
autumn when apples by the thousands ot barrels were going out
by steamer was indicative of the extent of the indnstry.
14
Ontario. — A hasty description of fruit growing in this pro-
vince would easily occupy the whole time at my disposal
this evening. VVc shall first look at some of the older
fruit growing sections. Along the banks of the Detroit river
in the extreme south-west are gigantic pear trees. These arc
from seed pUnted probably by French missionaries. One of
the oldest is said to date from 1705. Legend also states that a
a colonist brought from his European home three pear
seeds in his vest pocket and planted them near Amherstburg.
These grew, bore fruit, the seed of which produced the pic-
turesque old trees marking the landscape of this region at ihe
present day. The trees are productive, but the Iruit is not valu-
able. The planting of apple orchards began in this region about
the year 1784. Since that time grape growing has as.sumed
enormous proportions. The entire peninsula between Lake St.
Claire and Lake Eric, composed of the counties of Essex,
Kent and Peiec Island, are especially favoured climatically, for
the production of grapes and peaches. The manufacture of wine
is a business of growing importance. On Pelee Island there are
350 acres of vineyards. This Island has probably the highest
mean temperature of any point in Canada. North of Pelee
Island is a peach section — rapidly becoming recognized as one
of the best in Canada The industry is not more than 20 years
old, yet in 1894 a single station, Leamington, shipped 35,000
baskets of peaches. Last year that number was probably
doubled. It is estimated that nearly half a million peach trees
were planted ' 'st spring in this section ; this rear the area
planted will ntc^rly equal that of 1896. Land values are increas-
ing in this section.
Along the south side of the Georgian Bay, in the valley of
the Beaver River, wc find one of the finest plum growing
sections of Canada. Disease of the trees is practic;.lly unknown.
In 1894 a carload of plums was shipped every day for three
15
weeks from Thornbury. Mr. C. C. James, JJeputy cf Agriculture
of the Province, says : " There are those who would rather
po. sess a plum orchard in Beaver Valley than an orange grove
in California." The apple region of Lake Huron is well known
to buyers who cater to the demands of the European markets.
The handsome appearance and fine qualities of the fruit are duly
recognized. This region produces from 300,000 to 500,000
barrels of apples per annum. The staple varieties of this region
are Spy, Baldwin and Greening.
Travelling eastward along the north shore of Lake Erie, we
come to another famous fruit growing region — the Niagara
Peninsula. This is one of the oldest fruit growing sections of
the country. Here, between 1780-90, the U. E. Loyalists re-
ceived grants of land from King George, and sowed seeds of
apples brought from their homes in the United States. Here,
we are told, that John Smith, in the early part of this century,
offered to sell his claim to 200 acres of land for a cow, but found
no buyer. This land is now valued at $300 to $500 per acre.
The improvement of native fruits by grafting and by the intro-
duction of foreign varieties began about 1830. Since then the
development has been amazingly rapid. Electric cars run every
hour past the doors of the fruit growers between Hamilton and
Grimsby ; telephones connect their homes and bring daily
market reports. During the shipping season, a fruit train leav-
ing Niagara Falls daily and running to Hamilton, carries away
such peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, pears and berries as are
not shipped by boat from Hamilton or St. Catharines. A single
firm paid $3,000 for fruit baskets in 1894, these cost from $3 to
$4 per hundred. Wine making is also an important industry. The
old town of Niagara-on-the- Lake is the shipping point for a
splendid peach .section. In 1894 300,000 baskets, mainly peacfies,
were sent out from this port. It is worthy of mention that figs
and black Hamburg grapes, both grown and ripened in the open
t6
air, were shown in Philadelphia in 1876 and in Chicago 1893 by
Henry Pafford, Esq., for many years mayor of the town ot
Niagara.
Crossing Lake Ontario to Toronto and travelling eastward,
we pass through a favoured pear growing region, but one pro-
ducing also fine apples and plums. The Peninsula of Prince
Edward county is deservedly famous for the apples it produces.
Northern Spy, King and Fameuse are staples and grow to great
perfection. The growing of garden varieties of pease for seed
and canning purposes is a specialized industry in this county
and one which yields an estimated annual revenue of about
$200,000 to the farmers of the county. From Kingston to
Montreal along the river is also a region producing fine apples,
plums ard berries. Mr. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agri-
culeure for Ontario, gives the following estimated statistics
regarding fruits and fruit areas in the province in 1895. Area in
orchard, garden and vineyard, 320,122 acres ; number of apple
trees of bearing age, 5,913,906 ; young trees not bearing, 3,548,-
053 ; yield of apples in 1896 estimated to be 55,895,755, or about
20 million barrels. Fairly complete statistics covering the fruit
resources of the province may be found in Bulletin No. 92,
Department of Agriculture, Toronto. I have given more
space — and for obvious reasons — to Ontario than to the provinces
eastward. The fruit possibilities of the province are great and
are being rapidly developed by progressive and intelligent
orchard ists.
Manitoba and the North- West Territories. — As far as
the tree fruits are concerned, those which can be grown
successfully in these regions without extraordinary care
have yet to be produced. A few apples and crabs have reached
fruiting age in Southern Manitoba. The seeds of these should
be carefully planted in the hope of securing therefrom hardier
forms. Berries of all kinds may be grown by the exercise of
judgment, skill and perseverance. Some of the native fruits are
17
being cultivated and appreciated among these are gooseberries,
currants and juneberrics. Wheat is king here — long may he
reign — surrounded by lesser lights in the factors that compose a
successful and profitable mixed husbandry.
British Columbia. — I approach a description of the fruit re-
sources of this province with a diffidence born of lack of personal
knowledge.increased by a feeling of the extraordinary possibilities
of its deltas, its coast line, its valleys, its benches, its irrigated lands.
Great climatic variation means a corresponding widening of the
possibilities of fruit culture, and there is here undoubtedly a more
extended range of thermometric variation and atmospheric
moisture, than is found in any other province of the Dominion.
That fruit of fine quality can be grown and is being increasingly
cultivated is evidenced by the magnificent plums, pears and
apples shown by the Superintendent, Mr. Thos. A. Sharpe, Of
the British Columbia Experimental Farm at the leading exhibi-
tions of Ontario last autumn. That apples of surpassing size
and ot great beauty are grown is attested by the fact that British
Columbia won and held the distinction for some time at the
World's Fair of having the largest apple on exhibition, and may
I venture to add that she can also claim the proud distinction of
numbering among her landed proprietors the Earl of Aberdeen
His Excellencj' the Governor General of Canada, and the largest
orchardist in the Dominion. The value of His Excellency's
extensive orchard situated at Vernon in the Okanagan district,
to the province from the standpoint of a stupendous object lesson,
comprising as it does some 200 acres of fruits, together with its
colonizing influence, may not be over estimated. Pears, plums
and apples are grown with great success in the Okanagan valley.
Speaking of the best fruit lands of the province, a pioneer
fruit grower, Mr. E. Hutcherson. of Ladners, says : " Some of
the best fruit lands are to be found along the monntains and foot-
hills on either side of the numerous valleys of the province.'
i8
This is particularly true oi tbe region along the Fraser River
between Chilliwack and Hope. Briefly, the region along the
Fraser River from Agassiz to the coast is one abundantly sup-
plied with water and now producing large quantities of plums,
pears, apples and berries. Some of the interior valleys arc
eminently adapted to the requirements of the tenderest tree
fruits. Peaches are being successfully cultivated here and there,
on the bench lands.
The climate of parts of the Okanagan Valley is described
by those who have studied it carefully as approaching perfection.
At Vernon fruit growers, stimulated by the example of His Ex-
cellency, are planting fruit trees extensively. With irrigation the
upper plateaux and interior regions are proving wonderfully
fertile and productive, and with this life-sustaining agent the
possibilities of fruit growing in the province would appear to
widen as we advance. The increased interest in mining will in
time re-act favourably upon the fruit interests of the province.
With favovrable freight rates, should not the fruit growers of
British Columbia supply the homes of the rancher and farmer
throughout the vast area between the Rocky Mountains in the
West, and the Red River in the East, with this flower of com-
modities ? And is he not in a position, at the Western Gateway,
if supplied with proper shipping facilities, to give of his plenty to
his cousins in Australia duripg their season of scarcity.
Did time admit, I would like to speak of the canning
industry of Canada, the evaporating industry, and the great
nursery interests of the Dominion. It might interest you to
know that a single canning establishment in Prince Edward
county made a shipment last year of canned fruit and vegetables
put up in one factory, consisting of a complete train of cars,
which steamed away to supply settlers in the Western prairie
provinces with the good things of life, concentrated and properly
conserved. ,
19
♦
Most powerful among the factors which have assisted the
develo{>ment of fruit growing in Canada, are those organizations
known as Association's of Fruit Growers. Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and, lately,
Prince Edward Island, have each a provincial organization com-
j)Osed of the best men. It is to the credit of the several [»ro-
vincial governments that the good work of these societies is in
the main wisely assisted. In the volumes of the reports of these
societies are chronicled the histories of pro\ incial fruit develop-
ment. The |)rogress of less than a century has been marvellous.
The trend of the age in fruit growing as in other industries is
towards specialism. The fruit grower is yielding to the impulse.
We are now growing fruits especial!) for canning, for h^ me use,
for keeping, and for carrying. We are finding the areas best
adapted to the production of particular varieties and jtiofiting by
this experience. La.stly, we are uniting science with practice in
studying principles and in ap[)lying methods which will j'roduce
better fruit than heretofore at less cost, thus ministering to the
wants of the poor as well as to the rich, and by so doing adding
the wealth to of our land and increasing the sum total of
human happiness.
The President (Mr. Shutt) in conveying the thanks of the
Club to the lecturer, said that the intensely interesting and in-
structive lecture that they had, had, the pleasure of listening to was
one that might well serve as a type of those most useful ad-
dresses which treat of the practical or economical, as well as the
more strictly scientific aspect, of the subject. There was prob-
ably no one in Canada, he said, who by reason of his official
position and the wide experience which it afforded, was so able
as Mr. Craig to impart reliable information regarding fruit
culture in the various parts of the Dominion.
They were especially honoured, the President remarked, by
ao
«
the |.resencc of His Excellency the Governor General, who, he
need not remind the audience, was Patron of the Field-Natural-
ists' Club. This was the third lecture of the present course that
His Excellency had attended, and the Club was particularly
gratified by the interest that he was showing in the work of the
society. His Excellency had not only a general interest in all
the imjjortant industries of Canada, bnt a particular one in fruit
culture and its possibilities in the Dominion. It was well known
that His Excellency was an extensive fruit grower in British
Columbia, and he (the President) felt sure that those assembled
would be very much pleased if His Excellency would address
them on the subject that they had had brought before them this
evening.
The Governor General, then, rising amid ap{)lause, spoke
as follows :
It is not surprising that the lecture af this evening has been
followed with much and attention, for the subject treated is one
of much importance, and has been dealt with in a practical and
interesting manner. I was struck by the following among other
points alluded to, namely, where Mr. Craig spoke of successful
fruit culture in Canada, and of the export of Canadian fruits to
Europe furnishing an excellent emigration agency. There can
be no doubt at all — and it is well to keep it in view — that a
supply of first-class fruit, such as Canada is well capable of pro-
ducing, for the markets, for instance, of Great Britain, will
always be particularly valuable as representing the resources and
capabilities of the soil of this land. Even apart from the busi-
ness aspect of the matter, fruit culture has an attraction of its
own. It is a branch of botanical science ; and it occupies and
requires attention and care of one kind and another throughout
the year. I speak to some extent from personal experience, as
I may claim to be a Canadian fruit grower (applause), though
other duties and avocations render it necessary that I should
carry on the work to a large extent by deputy. However, I have
at least sufficient practical experience in the matter to make me
21
aware how easy it is to allow a fruit farm not to pay ; in other
words, to realize, and it may be to impress upon others who in-
tend to follow the pursuit, the necessity of unremitting care and
vigilance in the selection of trees, in the planting, in subsequent
attention in the matter of spraying, so as to destroy the voraci-
ous pests which are ever ready to appreciate good fruit ; and
furthermore, the equally all-important matter of skilful and
judicious packing, in order to secure success, whic^ however may
surely be obtained in due time by perseverance and skill.
I think we may feel that Mr. Craig, although he dealt with
various classes of fruit culture, and various districts in the
Dominion, displayed a judicious impartiality. That is a quality
which of course always appeals to a Governor General Mr.
Craig did perhaps indicate a leaning, if anything, towards the
Spy and the Baldwin ; but I am sure he would not go so far as
a worthy fruit grower who at an Association meeting remarked
that if he had a hundred trees to plant, he would select Baldwins
for ninety-nine of the lot. " May I ask," said another member,
" what variety the gentleman would select for the hundredth
tree ? " "A Baldwin, sir."
His Excellency concluded by saying some kind things in
reference to the work of the Experimental Farm officers and by
expressing appreciation of the service rendered to the public by
the Ottawa Field- Naturalists' Club in providing the valuable
series of lectures of which the one wc have had the pleasure of
hearing to-night was a typical example. He wished the Clnb
continued success in the future.