TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Fruit-Growers' Association OF ONTARIO. 1896. (PUBLISHED BY THE ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE, TORONTO.) PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO. TORONTO WARWICK BRO'S & RUTTER, Printers &c., &c., 68 and 70 Front Strjibt West. 1897. CONTENTS. Page. Letter of Transmittal ^ List of Officers 2 Annual Meeting ^ President's Address ; Murray Pettit 4 Horticultural Reminiscences : C . E. Woolverton 6 Gardening in Relation to Civilization : Prof. Short 8 Fertilization of Fruit Trees and some Causes of Failure : Prof. Fowler 13 Committees ^^ Packing Fruit for Export : R. W. Shepherd 19 Overplanting : F. G. H. Pattison 23 Addresses of Welcome 29 New Hybrid Cannas in 1896 : H. H. Groff 30 The Gladiolus in 1896 : H. H. Groff 31 Chrysanthemums 33 The Sweet Pea : R. B. Whyte 34 The Amateur's Rose Garden : O. G. Johnston 38 Napanee Horticultural Society : W. S. Herrjngton 44 Fruit Growing and Dairying : J. A. Ruddiok 46 Election of Officers 51 Treasurer's Report ^1 Report of Finance Committee • 52 Address by the New President : W. E. Wellington 52 Packing and Shipping of our Canadian Apples : C. H. W artman 53 Picking, Grading and Packing Apples : L. Woolverton 54 Address : Hon. Sidney Fisher 60 Chairman's Address : Principal Grant , •• 69 Address : Hon . John Dryden : 70 Address : Hon. Sidney Fisher 76 Organic Evolution : Prof. Knight 79 Report of Special Committee on Finances 79 Report on Fruit Exhibit 80 Report of Committee on New Fruits and Seedling Apples 81 Fruit Growing in the Midland District : James Daly 87 Fruit Spraying, Insects and other Enemies of the Fruit Grower : W. M . Orr 89 Small Fruits : J . L. Haycock, M.P.P 93 Report of Committee on Score Cards 99 Dominion Fruit Experimental Stations 100 Orchard Cover Crops : John Craig ." . 104 Report of Committee on Resolutions 112 Fruit and Tariff Commission 112 Fruit as Food and Medicine : Rev. George Bell 114 Some Causes of Failure in Apple Culture : L. Woolverton 117 Pear Growing : R. L. Huggard 124 Currants and How to Grow Them : R. B. Whyte 126 Some Good Herbaceous Perennials : R. B. Whytk 127 Appendix. Our Affiliated Horticultural Societies 131 Hints on the Cultivation of the Canna, Tuberous Begonia, Sweet Pea and Chrysanthexnum 132 W. E. WELLINGTON, ESQ.,/rOKONTO. President Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, 1897. H. L. HUTT, B.S.A. Horticulturist ai the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL KEPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. To the Honorable John Dry den, Minister of Agriculture : Sir, — I have the honor to present the Twenty-eighth Annual Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. The meeting at Kingston, reported herein, was one of the most profitable in the history of our Association, and we believe it will mark a step forward in the fruit growing industry. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, L. WOOLVERTON, Secretary, Grimsby, l)ecember, 1896. 1 F.G. [1] OFFICEES FOE WU7. President — W. E. Wellington, Toronto. Vice-President — W. M. Orr, Fruitland. Secretary-Treasurer and Editor — L. Woolverton, M. A, Grimsby. Divis Divis Divis Pivis Divis Divis Divis Divis Divis Divis Divis Divis Divis Directors. on No. 1 - Harold Jones, Maitland. on No. 2 R. B, Whyte, Ottawa. on No. 3 . . . George Nicol, Oataraqui. on No. 4 - W. Boulter, Picton. on No. 5 Thomas Beall, Lindsay. on No. 6 R, L. Huggard, Whitby. on No. 7 - M. Pettit, Winona. on No. 8 A. M. Smith, St. Catharines. on No. 9 J- S- Scarff, Woodstock. on No. 10 -• John Stewart, Benmiller. on No. 11 • T. H. Race, Mitchell. on No, 12 Alexander McNeill, Windsor. on No. 13 G. C. Gaston, Craighurst. Auditors — A. H. Petiit, Grimsby ; George Fisher, Burlington. Committees. Tarif—W. E Wellington, M. Pettit, W. M. Orr. Cold Storage and Transportation— L. Woolverton, W. M. Orr, G. E. Fisher, A. H. Petti^ E. D. Smith. New Fruits— John Craig, H. L. Hutt, L. Woolverton. Finance— W. M. Orr, A. M. Smith, M. Pettit. Executive and Program — W. E. Wellington, W. M. Orr, L Woolverton. Delegate to Quebec Pomologiccd Sociefg — B. B. Whyte, Ottawa. Representatives on Boards — Western Fair, T. H. Race, Mitchell; Toronto Fair, W. E. Wellington, A. H. Pettit ; Central Fair, R. B. Whyte, Ottawa. [2] FRLMT GROWKHS ASSOCIATION OK ONTARIO. ANNUA!. MEETINO. The annual meeting was held at Kingston, Wednesday, December 2, in the Dairy >ohool lecture hall, the first session opening at two o'clock p.m. The president, M. Pettit, of Winona, expressed pleasure at seeing so many present it the opening session, which promised a good meeting, and called upon The secretary, Mr. L. Woolverton, who read a telegram from Mr. Alf. Brown, Pic- ton, regretting his inability to be present and read his paper; from Mr. Holtermann, of Brantford, calling the attention of the Association to breach of the law forbidding spray- ing fruit trees while in blossom by some fruit growers. Referring to the latter, the secretary stated that this Association is fully in accord with the Bee Keepers' Association on this matter, and will use its inliaence in endeavoring to prevent any transgression of the law on the part of the members throughout the Province. The secretary also read telegram from the Minister of Agriculture for the Dominion stating that he would be present on Wednesday afternoon and deliver an address ; also from the same, suggesting that the Association should discuss what tariff changes are desirable ; also from Mr. Lockie, of Waterloo, inviting the Association to meet in that town next year ; also letters of regret from Prof. Taft, Mr. Rice and Mr. Watkina of Michigan, regretting inability oi be present ; also invitation from St. Catharines to hold convention there next year; also from Whitby, inviting the Association there in 1897. The secretary read the regrets of Mr. Anthony Oopp, of Hamilton, at his inability to be present. The secretary stated that Mr. Copp and Senator Sanford were ardent advocates of the establishment of a station in London, England, for Canadian fruit. The secretary, the president, and some other of the fruit growers in the district near Hamilton had the honor of putting up some boxes of choice fruit for Her Majesty Queen Victoria, some of which, as mentioned in the newspapers, had appeared on Her Majesty's table. It was thought that this would be a good means of bringing Canadian fruit prominently before the English public. A letter received from the Dominion Department of Agricul- ture has been received stating that the award for the exhibit of horticultural literature at the World's Fair had been received, consisting of a medal and diploma. The judges considered our exhibit of literature unique, and such as was not exhibited by any other horticultural society. Tbi^ diploma is not an ordinary one, as it has engrossed upon it the reasons why our exhibit was considered meritorious, as follows : " This exhibit con- sists of a complete set of the reports of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, and it is of a very high order of merit. It illustrates the extensive and progressive work of a wonderfully successful organization." Mr. Thos. Beall suggested that all our medals should be exhibited at the annual meetings, so that the public might see what the, Association had received in time past. The Secretary : We have a set of medals received at the Centennial, and medals received at the Massachusetts Hfrrticultural Society and other places. We shall endeavor to show them at the next meeting. L3j FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. By Murray Pettit, Winona, Ontario. Again we are permitted to meet and extend to each one that friendly greeting we owe to each other as horticulturists. All are interested in one common and grand industry, that of horticulture in all its various branches, an association less selfish than any other association, having only as our object the benefit of mankind, the building up of the Province in which we live, and the health and wealth of its people; for health is wealth. What association is to-day laboring more earnestly for this than the society of which you and I have the honor to be members, by encouraging the growing of fruits, flowers and vegetables, and ever advocating the doctrine that every landowner in this Province, no matter how small, can have a fruit, flower and vegetable garden, thereby^ bringing health and happiness to his family ? What is more elevating to humanity than the outgrowth of our industry ? What more advances the wealth of our Province than, the work in which we are engaged ? What to-day has placed our beloved Province more in advance of the other provinces than the fact that fruit growing has become a success ia all her borders, largely through the work of this Association ? Now that every home in our land can be fully and cheaply supplied with fruit, and an abundance for export, should we not turn our attention more fully and earnestly to better means of transportation and development of markets ? The abundant crop and low prices of the past season warn us of the danger of over-production When we consider the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of acres are yet to come into bearing, this is a question of great importance to the fruit growers of the Province of Ontario. Apple culture has engaged the attention of our association, at their annual meetings, for the last thirty years, new varieties continually claiming our attention, but it would appear to me that the time has fully come when the question of transportation and the development of new markets should engage our careful consideration. While we claim to be a progressive association, and welcome the advent of new additions to the already large list of choice varieties, we might now leave their development to our fruit experiment stations, where their true value, hardiness, productiveness, and quality, as well as their adaptability as to locality and soil, might be fully tested, and not, in our ambition to secure a mine of wealth in some new and untried variety, forget that almost millions of barrels are being produced now of exceedingly fine quality, the value of which might be enormously increased could we place them upon the markets of the world in proper condition and at reasonable cost. Thousands upon thousands of barrels this year are scarcely bringing freight and commission charges in the British market, and we ask ourselves can it be possible that after subsidizing railways and steamships for the transportation of our products we are now called upon to pay the total value of the product to these companies to carry them to their destination, or does the fault lie at the other end ? That part of the transaction we do not see. Reports as to the prospects that reach us are very encouraging, but returns are most discouraging. Much fault is laid at the door of the packer, but this I cannot endorse as being general. We have before us to-day an object lesson, and one we might carefully study for our future guidance. Large quantities of choice apples wasted in the orchards. " Why f Because of doubt and uncertainty in regard to the system of marketing on the other side, and, to add to the doubt, the increase in freight rates, which are usually made when the quantity to go forward is large. Let us analyse the matter as it has stood with many a shipper this season. Freight from, say Toronto to Liverpool, $1,074 V^^ ^^1. by the car load ; insurance, say 3c per bbl. ; cable charges, Ic per bbl.; receiving, delivering, and sale expenses, etc., 18c per bbl. : commission, 5 per cent., this year, on selling price of say 8s. per bbl., 10c, and he has the respectable sum of $1.40 against him. Now, out of the small balance of 52c in his favor, there is one barrel to pay for, 28c ; picking, 10c; packing, 10c ; cartage, well, we will only charge half what they do on the other side, because we can do it ourselves, 5c, and we will throw in small items, such as nails, postage, telegrams, stationery, etc., for the sake of doing business with those large receiving firms in the Old Country, always remembering the FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. special injunction to " put in only the choicest specimens,^' otherwise the slightest neglect in this regard would bring discredit upon Canadian apple growers ! We want a change in the present system, and you, gentlemen, fruit growers of Ontario, will need to solve the problem. Slack, wet and wasty are convenient terms too frequently applied, unless the product is towed across like a raft behind a scow. We see in the public press and from high authority in the land that cold storage facilities for the transportation of our fruit products will be put in proper shape before the next season's crop. I sincerely hope such win be the case. But one additional link will then be necessary to make the chain perfect and establish confidence with the producer — the establishment of a depot for the handling of Canadian fruit, and by one who has some knowledge and experience in Canadian fruit culture. This I consider all important, and his return to this country at the close of the season to report to the fruit growers the conditions that exist and the possibilities of trade in the future. At present all is uncertainty and doubt. " Distance lends enchantment to the view,'' but when we pause and reflect that our big English brother is to-day revelling in choice Canadian apples at cost of freight and commission, or less, it does not inspire the Canadian apple grower with nauch respect for the present system of handling the product. Up to November 30th the quantity gone forward from this continent was about 1,000,000 barrels, or about two quarts for each family living in the market boundaries to which they have been shipped, while in Canada the probable consumption would reach one bushel or more per family, which shows an almost unlimited market under proper conditions. Spraying experiments were again conducted by the Department of Agriculture during the past year, and we expect valuable information from the report on this work. Now, it has been practically demonstrated to the fruit growers that spraying with Bordeaux mixture is an effective remedy for all fungus diseases. We think a careful system of experiments should be conducted, either in a similar way or by the Fruit Experiment Stations, for destroying the Codling Moth. Great improvements have been made by the manufacturers of spraying outfits, and in answer to the numerous enquiries continually being made as to which spray pump is the most suitable for general use, the Board of Control of the Fruit Experiment Stations of Ontario decided to invite a public trial of spray pumps, which was held last April, at Grimsby. Eleven pumps were exhibited, each being required to use one barrel of the Bordeaux mixture. The pumps and their work was judged by H. L. Hutt and your President on a scale of points as follows : 1. Ease of operation. 2. Evenness of distribution. 3. Compactness of style. 4. Durability. 5. Power. 6. Agitator. 7. Accessories. The judges, in their award, class the pumps in three groups ; group one standing as follows : Spramotor, London, Ontario. Eclipse, Benton Harbor, Michigan. Anderson, Aylmer Iron Works. Pomona, Seneca Falls, New York. Medals and diplomas have been received, awarded on fruit at the World's Columbian Exhibition to districts and societies in different parts of Ontario. At the suggestion of the Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Dryden, these awards will be placed on exhibition and kept in the Parliament Buildings, Toronto, showing the great achievements of the fruit growers of Ontario. This arrangement we consider much better than having them buried in the private houses of the presidents and secretaries of the different societies. I would suggest that they be placed on exhibition each year, for a few years, in the Horticultural Department of the Industrial Exhibition, Toronto It is a matter for regret that fifteen individual awards, after this long delay, have not been received. Fruit experiment stations have been established during the past year, making ten in all, covering every section pretty fully, and, in a few years, the fruit growers of this Province should receive from them a great deal of valuable information. We think the FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. work of these stations should not be confined to experiments in varieties alone. Careful experiments should be conducted with the diflferent fertilizers for a term of years from the time the trees or vines are planted. Also experiments in pruning, cultivation^ spraying, and, in fact, everything that would tend to lessen the cost of production of fruit. Through the patriotism of Mr. Anthony Copp, of Hamilton, the fruit growers of that section sent a collection of fruit to Her Majesty the Queen. Unfortunately it was not thought of early enough to send a good collection of summer fruit. Twenty -nine cases were forwarded to the Canadian High Commissioner, Sir Donald Smith, consisting of about fifteen varieties of apples, half-a-dozen of grapes, a few pears and quinces, and the following reply wan received : London, November 21. The (/'anadian High Commissioner received the following note from the Queen's Private Secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur J. Bigge, dated Windsor Castle : "I am commanded by the Queen to beg you to be good enough to arrange that Her Majesty's best tlianks be conveyed to those fruit growers in the neighborhood of Hamilton, Ontario, who kindly offered, through you, for Her Majesty's acceptance, a beautiful consignment of their year's crop, which the Queen is glad to hear has been unusually large and excellent in quality. The cases were received yesterday by the Master of the Household, and their contents were in excellent condition, and some of the fruit served at Her Majesty's table proved excellent." HORTICULTURAL REMINISCENCES. By C. E. Woolyerton, Grimsby. [This paper was read by*the Secretary, who stated that his father had been asked to read this paper because he was one of only two or three living representatives of the Association as first formed about the year 1860. and he was one of the constituent mem- bers at its organization.] Truths of revelation, facts in science and art, development of mind and matter, are the right of no particular class, but are designed to be free for all. There- fore, every man ought to gather and distribute what he can for the well-being of his fellows, and for the progress of his country. He should learn from the running river, and not from the stagnant pool, which breeds miasma in all directions ; from the merry rill, which gathers from many other* streams, meanders through the meadow, swells in the vale, turns the mill, and bears on its bosom the ships laden with commerce to the broad ocean. Thus good men have travelled and collected knowledge of laws and art to bring home, and show their own people how to use soil and climate to better advantage. Pope said : "The fur that warms the monarch warmed the bear," and how much more may it be said of Mother Earth that she warms and feeds the rich and poor. God, who planted the first garden on the virgin earth, seemed to select from the fields the trees and vines, indicating that horticulture was of a higher grade than agriculture. The proverb, " Prepare the cage before you catch the bird," is verified in that God prepared the garden before he gave man a wife. Solomon said, " I made me gardens and orchards," and he reigned in peace when every man sat under his own vine and fig tree, using the plowshare and pruning hook instead of the sword and spear, and it seems as though the people would be more happy than the Athenians who spent their time in inquiring " What news 1 " Each savage owns the forest, but has no garden. The sluggard sleeps and neglects his garden, while the thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher. The cultivated garden indicates civilized man ; here he may show a refined taste in fruit and flowers. England, by her position and sovereignity of the sea, has not only selected the best of all lands, but has also cultivated in peace the richest of them, and to UR she may well be called the Mother Country, while the German speaks ia similar terms of his " fatherland." FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOOIATION OF ONTARIO. In the time of the Revolution some sterling men called U. E. Loyalists, settled in ihe Niagara District. King George gave them land m the wilds of Oanada where nuts, plums and crab apples grew. They had read that one of the finest trees in Rhode Island sprang from a seed dropped in the grave of Roger Williams, so many tried the experiment of sowing apple seeds, but few apples of any size were produced, and the small ones were often gathered with the wooden scoop. About 1790 John Smith offered his right to 200 acres of land for a cow, but found no buyer ; about 1798 he sold it to Jonathan Woolverton, my grandfather, for 40 pounds of York currency, and the said Smith gave five natural apple trees to bind the bargain. About the year 1830 there came a man from England, about fifty years of a^e and weighing about fourteen stone, and he called himself Peasley, the Grafter. He carried with him scions which he said would bear pound apples, full sixteen ounces to the pound. When at work he took his stand on a wooden chair, clothed in a huge jacket with pockets like the pouches of the kangaroo, in one of which he carried wax and scions and in the other grafting tools. After grafting in our neighborhood, he returned to the Mother Country, and after six years came out again. I remember his joy when he found his word true and saw the pound apple which he said was the Gloria Mundi. I thought of old Santa Glaus with his grey whiskers and loud laugh: and "his little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly." He hailed from England, but his port and bearing were of the German order. He came out in the reign of George III,, and when he swore, it was " Py George," the then popular oath of the U. E. Loyalist : for the king gave them their farms, their government and their church : and that they might not fracture the third commandment, allowed them to swear by his name. He brought the Ribston Pippin, Pearmain, and English Russet. When Peasley 's Pearmain, Ribston and Gloria Mundi began to bear, I took a load to Hamilton and supplied that village where Gary kept hotel and Stinson the principal store. Dr. Beadle was selling trees from St. Catharines, and one Moore, a Canadian, brought a few pears and peaches from Rochester. Delos Beadle had graduated from the Grantham Academy and, I think, was studying law at Harvard. He afterwards took up his father's calling, and at his instigation the fruit growers met in the Chief Magistrates room in the Court House at St. Catharines. About 1857 A. M. Smith appeared on the scene. He had learned the nursery business with Mr. E. Moody, of Lockport. Mr. Moody came over for Canadian evergreen trees, he stopped at Grimsby to give us some advice about raising peaches, He praised our soil and said he had only one objection to living in Oanada and that was that then he could never be president of the United States. When our Association met at St. Catharines, we were twice surprised. First, at the knowledge of Judge Campbell and Delos Beadle about fruit, climate, and soil, and secondly, at our own ignorance of the fruit we had handled for a term of years. The genesis of our Association budded in St. Catharines. Judge Campbell was the first life member, but did not live to see it bloom. Delos Beadle was the Moses of our exodus, leading us out of our ignorance into the present fruit-bearing stage. The formal organization of our Association elected W. H. Mills, of Hamilton, as president. He was not of the mills of which it takes ten to make one cent, nor was he a wind mill to crack corn, but he honored the goddess Pomona by cultivating fruit and flowers, and at one of our meetings took us out to see how faithfully he raised the finest plums and pears by the sweat of his brow. Charles Arnold had rather a set countenance and appeared somewhat cross, and he believed in cross fertilization of fruit and grain, but his crossness was something like the chestnut burr, only on the outside, for we never had a more welcome visit than at his residence when he invited the Association to Paris. A. M. Smith and the writer were honored with a like visit at Grimsby, when we followed suit and invited the Association to our hearts and homes. I cannot forget the two who brought their wives to add to ihe sociability of the occasion, Mr. Holton and Mr. Hoskins, of Hamilton, it seemed at once to put a link in the chain of friendship which death alone could sever, ^n<^ ^hat '^nlv ^r^r a tim.c. FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. In conclusion I may say that I have had the honor of being a full private member of this Association all these years, and have seen with pleasure its rise and progress to its present character, and the assistance it received from such noblejmen as Rev. Mr. Burnett, Wm. Saunders, Judge Logie, P. C. Dempsey and others. And I wonder why I, who have done so little to advance the work, should still live at nearly four score, while these useful men, younger than I, have been called away. But we bless their names for their works which follow them, and we hope to meet " On the other side of Jordan In the sweet fields of Eden, Where the tree of life is blooming," where the eternal tree of life bears everlasting fruit, instead of temporary trees bearing perishable fruit only once a year. GARDENING IN RELATION TO CIVILIZATION. By Prof. Short, of Queen's University, Kingston. When I was asked to contribute a paper or address to this Association I felt, of course, extremely flattered, but I felt also that I had really nothing that was worth contributing to gentlemen who were so well acquainted with the practical aspects of gardening, fruit culture, and so on, and I was therefore at a loss to know on what subject I might address the Association; but being a lover of gardens and a reader of history and a student of civilization, I thought that possibly I migh^ select something which would enable me to approach you more in my own line. Therefore I thought that possibly I might throw some suggeistions before you of a historic nature, dealing w ith the relation of gardening to the progress of civilization. I may take as the text of my remarks the statement by that eminent philosopher, noted scientist, great statesman — and, I am sorry to add, great political boodler — Lord Bacon, once Chancellor of England. He said, in one of his inimitable essays : " God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is one of the purest of human pleasures. It refreshes the spirits of men, and without it, buildings and palaces would be but mere gross handiwork ; and a man shall ever see that when nations grow to civility and elegancy, man comes to build stately sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." And indeed the remainder of this essay is an extremely good illustration of this fact ; for while it expresses the science of the new development in gardening of the Elizabethan period, yet it does not express that perfection of gardening which the archi- tecture of that period expressed in the stately mansions which were then rising all over the fair British land. But although I shall return to that period as an extremely interest- ing one in the history of gardening, let me briefly refer to some of the earlier stages. Now, civilization is something which, in its origin, is shared by the few. The great mass of men in the early stages know little or nothing of the forces which are leading them on. They know only that which interests them immediately, but not the final outcome of that, nor the bearing of it on their future development. Only kings and princes, slave- masters and so on, know or have a glimmering of what is meant ; and those are the men in ancient times who build palaces, plant gardens, rear fancy animals, and in general lead the lines of civilization. Later on, when we find an aristocracy rising, we find these men surrounded by others who are equally interested in such things, and who become the patrons of art and the leaders of civilization ; and the great merchants and the great traders and politicians, and so on, come to be the leaders of humanity and carry on the progress of man. And then, of course, when we come down to our modern times, and begin to recognize what democracy means, and the spread of this thing abroad, these things come to be shared by the common man ; and it is one of the chief features of con- gratulation of our modern civilization that it has carried forth to the common man, to the ordinary citizen, the opportunities and privileges of civilization ; that he can now have a FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. garden of his own, especially on this side the Atlantic, and that he may rear in that garden things which would have been the despair of kings and princes in former centuries. We find from ancient history that the Persians were among the first to develop a great ■civilization, and they were among the first to develop gardening. I refer to the Persians in particular because from them western Europe, through Greece and Rome, obtained the chief flowers and fruits which were familiar in that part of the world from the time of the Persians down to almost the present century. England, as I shall point out after- wards, has been one of the leaders in developing the condition of horticulture, agriculture, and everything else, beyond that point. We read in Xenophon, for instance, that the great Cyrus in his journeyinsfs about was careful to have a paradise, that is, a garden, established at the various places where he made his permanent or semi-permanent resi- ^dences ; and those gardens were furnished with pears and plums and peaches and apricots and things of that kind, which came to be the favorite and permanent fruits of Europe. They were also supplied by the various kinds of vines and climbers, the rose, the violet, the iris, different kinds of lilies, and a few other flowers ; but the range was extremely limited when compared with the enormous range of the present day. I need hardly refer to the contribution of Egypt, which was very considerab" e, towards the development of agriculture and horticulture, too, in the growth of flowers, because, so far as it seems to have had an influence in developing Europe, it came after the Romans had conquered it ; and although there was a good deal of fruit grown in many of the districts by the Phoenicians, still they do not seem, so far as any records we have or that I have been able to discover, at any rate, to have carried with them much of their gardening operations. The Greeks, who obtained most of their arts from the east, and who seem to have lieveloped gardening along the Persian line first, were very particular in arranging their gardens artistically. In other words, the Greeks put a polish on gardening as they did upon literature, art and philosophy, and brought it to a much higher perfection than it had ever enjoyed before ; and that they must have used forcing greenhouses or something of that kind, is quite evident from the fact that we find in commercial records of Greece that flowers such as violets were sold in abundance in the Athenian markets in mid- winter ; but just how they managed to produce them is not quite certain. When Rome came to swallow up Greece, and to sit at the feet of her Greek slaves for learning and knowledge and so on, Rome brought with them from Greece a knowledge of gardening ; and the Romans, in their own sumptuous and gorgeous manner, with the pillage of the world, you might say, at their feet, went into gardening on a extremely grand and extensive scale. They incorporated into it, for perhaps the first time, an extensive archi- tectural element, and a great feature of the Roman garden was its architecture, its fountains, its terraces up on the hills, the cascades, the immense plazas, stairways, balus- trades— and all of these ornamented with the most expensive and delicate and often artistic statuary. Some remnants of those ancient Roman gardens are still to be found. Up on the hills, where the wealthy Romans had their country houses, and — most astonish- ing of all — out over that malarial district around Rome, through which the Appian Way passes — a place which was originally an extensive and malarial and poisonous marsh, but which the Romans, from the remains which are discovered there to day, evidently con- verted into a suburb containing the richest, most expensive and elaborate palaces that the world has ever seen, in proportion to the ability and the extent of the people. These palaces were each surrounded by beautiful gardens ; and the Romans managed in some way to control the malarial features of that region, and to convert the rich alluvial tract into a garden capable of producing the finest fruits and the finest flowers. But the Romans, like a good many other people who become suddenly ricli — who are sent out, say, as poor governors to distant provinces and come home laden with spoils which were not all honestly obtained — went to work to expand these by means of their riches, and therefore there crept in a very extensive element of vulgarity, and the consequence was that they began to imitate nature, or rather, try to make nature imitate art. They built artificial mountains and artificial terraces, canals, and all sorts of things out on the plain territory, and thus led nature captive, as it were, after the ideal of human art. I hasten on now to the period succeeding Rome. It is an extremely interesting thing to go into the details of Roman garden and fruit growing, and so on ; but I want to refer to that 10 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOOIATION OF ONTARIO. which brings us most nearly to England, and that is the period of the next great develop- ment after the fall and decay of Rome That was obtained in what is known as the Renaissance : but the Renaisacence only brought to life again the fragments of Roman civilization which had been maintained in the monasteries awaiting the period of the decay of Rome and the beginning of an extensive civilization on the new basis. The church, the dignitaries of the church, and especially the monastic institutions, kept within, themselves these fragments of civilization, of literature, of science, of art, and so on, and among them the element of gardening ; for they retaired that method and system which was the science of the Romanc, and also spread over Europe the trees, shrubs and plants which the Romans had obtained from Greece, and the Greeks from the Persians Now, the Renaissance generally was simply a period in which the seeds — these fragments, these ideas that had been husbanded and kept — burst forth from the monasteries once more, were taken up by the common people, and extended with extreme rapidity over the country. But I should hardly say common people : they extended quite to the common people, because the masses did not change very much in this period, and that is one reason why it was so short-lived — this blossoming of the gardens of Italy during the Renaissance period, particularly those supported by the great houses of the Medici and others of those who lived around Florence and Pisa and Milan, and so on. Those were the wonder of the world : and in no respect did that remarkable development of art find a higher or more beautiful expression than in those magnificent gardens ; and one of the finest things about them was their extreme artistic effect — because some of them, in a somewhat dilapidated and fragmentary condition, remain to this day, and may be seen as^ exhibiting the finest features of artistic combination of architecture with gardening. From northern Italy this love for art and letters and statesmanship and so on, and with it gardening — though, as Bacon says, always after it, the finer, more delicate process^ apparently — swept over the western part of Europe ; was taken up by France first ; from France spread to the Low Countries ; then to Germany and to Spain, and so on — because Spain had really at an earlier time shared in the magnificence of Rome to a greater extent than the other countries of Europe ; and from France and Holland it passed to England, mainly at the time of the Tudors, and found its first magnificent expression in the reign of Elizabeth after the troubles which had attended the Reformation in England had calmed down. Before this period in England theie had been gardens; but they had been small affairs, confined to the castles within the moats, because although England began to expand in the time of the early Edwards beyond their castles a little, yet the Wars of the Roses and the troubles with France shut them up again, and the consequence was that nobility, civilization, letters and everything of that kind was walled in by those great castles, and placed in situations which were favorable for military defence rather than for the development of civilization. This is why it is that there was little oppor- tunity for the development of gardening in England until the time of Elizabeth ; but in the time of Elizabeth the gardens and the houses and so on crept out from those moited castles and strong walls and began to spread over the beautiful valleys and hills and country of England : and in no part of the world could they have found, with the facili- ties then at hand, a more beautiful region in which to expand themselves. Now, the first development of that gardening in England of which this essay of Bacon's from which I first quoted is one of the finest expressions, is characterized by two features distin- guished by the sources from which they came. The people of Holland, according to their national proclivities, seem to have gone in for the cultivation of bulbs and bulbous flowers, in a somewhat formal manner, and everything was made after the fashion of tarts, mud pies and that soH of thing, and everything to this day has been characterized by extreme formality, dreadful in design, and unattractive in delicate matters, rather than presenting a broad and fine effect. In France we have another national characteristic expressing itself in their gardens — the love of display, of spread, of art in the formal rather than in the natural form, and the consequent development of architecture as an essential feature — the last crude expressions of which you have in the magnificent waste of lands in the Garden of Brussels — because there you have, as an English writer very well expresses it, an immense attempt to garden a whole township, as it were, and the consequence is that you lose all the effect which is obtained from this idea carried out FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. 11 on a small scale — as though a man were to attempt to build a cottage of the size of Windsor Castle. Well, Enoland took over these two features, because her commerce and inter- course were with France and with Holland : and the consequence is that the gardens of that period represent a sort of combination of those two elements : and also they run in two different lines, that is, some of them following the Holland idea, or the Dutch idea, and some of them following the Freach idea. Not, however, till the seventeenth century- did they begin to develop some of the ideas of their own, and then during the eighteenth century they began that conflict which is continuing to this day in England and AmeriCii — the conflict between the formal garden and the free garden, as they are called, 'itiia conflict comes down to the present time. Now, just a word or two about the nature of that, because that is perhaps the only prao a long way towards spoiling the appearance of the Louse. (Applause). The Secretary : I do not see why all our fruit growers particularly cannot make their surroundings very attractive, somewhat after the suggestions made V)y Prof. Short. They are always planting trees and orchards around their places, but too often they set ■them oil' one side and fence them in by themselves when they might be made an exten- sion of the surroundings of the house. They would form a good addition to Ihe house- yard, and the land and garden surrounding the house might gradually unite with the orchards which surround them, and not be shut off by those palings or tight board fences, we often see. FERTILIZATION OF FRUIT TREES, AND SOME CAUSES OF FAILURE". By Prof. Fowler, op Queen's University, Kingston. The professor first showed a model or diagram of flower, and described its parts, •calyx, corolla, stamens, anthers, pollen, pistil, ovary, etc. The stigma, he explained, is ^without epidermis and always moist, the only part of the organism which exposes living tissue. After describing its action and the effect upon it of external agents, he described •the process of fertilization, and said : To understand or explain the process of fertilization we must notice that the pollen grains of different plants are of different forms and of different sizes. So distinct are Saey that any one accustomed to examine them carefully can tell at a glance the kind of plant to which any specimens of pollen grains that may be presented to him belong. The girains may be smooth, rough, dotted, covered with prickles, ridges, etc., and they may be dry or moist, attached to each other, or light and separate. Each grain is covered with two coats or membranes, the outer coat being perforated with one or more pores or openings. In the pollen of wheat there is one pore, in the Evening Primrose there are three, and in some plants the number reachtis eight. When a pollen grain is placed in water, especially it" the water is sweetened, it swells by the absorption of the liquid ; its membranes expand and the internal one protrudes through pores in the outer one. (A diagram was shown in illustration). When one of those grains is placed on the moist surface of the stigma, it absorbs moisture and begins to expand , the interior membrane gradually pushes its way through one or two of the pores in the interior coating in the forms of delicate tubes which lengthen by degrees and penetrate the substance of the pistil. Each tube elongates and grows by absorbing nourishment for the pistil and insinuates itself into cellular tissue of the stj^le, and traversing its whole length, pene- trates the ovary and comes into contact with the ovules or young seeds. Each ovule possesses a small opening (the micropyle), through which the pollen tube passes till it reaches the embryo sac, into which its contents or a part of them containing germinative oells pass and produce the effect which is called fertilization. In many cases a few hours or days are sufficient for the pollen tube to reach the ovule, but in some plants months are required. Ihe ovule now acquires a new character and begins to grow. In some cases the ovules may grow and attain the size of seeds without being ferti- lized, but they have within them no living germ and are incapable of independent life and growth. Unless they receive the germinative cell from the pollen tube they soon withtr and die. This point I wish specially to emphasize, that without the action of the pollen, no seed would set and no fruit be produced. Our next point is how does the pollen reach the stigma? (The professor here illus trated the difficulty on the diagrams.) The botanists of the last century and the first sixty years of the present one held the belief that the adjustments in flowers possessing stamens and pistils were such on the whole as to secure the application of the pollen to the stamens of its own pistil. It was 14 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCTATIOX OF ONTARIO. acknowledt^ed that great difficulties were encountered when efforts were made to explain the process by which the pollen reached the stigma, but the fact that the two organs, stamens and pistils, existed in such close proximity, and the further fact that the stigmas were fertilized by the pollen generally, silenced all doubts about the matter. In 1862 the view that every flower was fertilized in its own pollen was completely disproved. It is low held that a few flowers are so fertilized, but that the great majority are cross-ferti- Aed. There are stiuctural arrangements in most flowers that abso'lutely prevent close fertilization. (1) As examples we have poplars, willows, etc., which have their stamens or male flowers on one tree, and their pistils or female flowers on another. This necessi- tates transference of the pollen from the one plant to the other, as without this no fruit or seed would be produced, (2) Again most of our forest trees, oaks, elms, birches, beFches, hickory, hazels, etc., have the male flowers on one part of the plant, and the female flowers on a different part. The Indian corn has the male tlowers at the summit of the stem and the female flowers near the base. (3) Again in very many plants the male flowers mature their pollen before the female flowers are in a receptive condition, or Ml the other hand the female flowers ripen first and the staminate a few days after. In each of these cases the pollen must be carried in some way from the stamenate flower where it is produced to the pistillate which is ready to receive it. With these difficulties in the way how can the plant be fertilized ? How can the pollen reach the stigma ? It is a case of do or die. Nature has secured the necessary agents for the work. Of these there are two which perform the greater part of it and \re constantly seen attending to the duties assigned them at the proper season. These are: (1) Winds; (2) Insects and birds. Broad lines of demarcation separate these two classes of plants. Those trusting to the wind to bring them the needful pollen require no alluring displays to attract the breezes. They have small and inconspicuous flowers, presenting no light or attractive colors ; they are destitute of fragrant odors and furnish no honey to reward the visits of insects. In further adaptation for transportation by the winds, the pollen is produced in immense quantities to allow for waste. The grains are also light so as to be carried by every gentle breeze, and dry and incoherent so as not to form heavy masses or to adhere to objects which might be encountered on its journey. The pistil-tips or stigmas of these plants are aho especially adapted to catching and hold- ing the grains of pollen blown upon them, as they are divided or branched into plumes or feathers and plentifully beset with hairs or bristles. The anthers also hang out to the air and wind only when just ready to discharge their pollen, and are suspended on sud- denly lengthened capillary, drooping filaments fluttering in the gentlest breeze. Most of our forest trees blossom in early spring when the weather is seldom calm and before the leaves are sufficiently developed to interfere with the scattering of the pollen. They are native to the country and adapted to its climate, and consequently they produce their flowers in the most favorable season to secure cross fertilization. All grains, such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, Indian corn and all our cultivated grasses are also wind-ferti- lized, but they are all foreigners and they have been introduced by man. They are natives to other latids and are adapted for a different climate and are here exposed to certain disadvantages. A few fine, calm, summer days occurring at the time when they are ready for fertilization will prevent the transportation of the pollen and the harvest will prove a failure. Again, a few foggy or rainy days at the same time will equally produce the same result. The rain will wet the grains of pollen and carry them down to the «round, where they soon perish. Near the sea coast where fogs and continued rains are frequent, wheat is a very uncertain crop. From these facts it is very easy to see that a field of wheat which is ready for fertilization during a few fine days with gentle breezes will yield an abundant harvest, while another alongside of it which is not ready till a few days later when damp or rainy weather is experienced may be a comparative failure. Complete failure, however, will seldom occur for the following reason : The process of fertilization begins at the base of the head of wheat and gradually extends upwards for several days before it is complete. In the meantime several changes of weather may occur and one part of the head may be fertilized and produce good grains, while the top or some other part may be completely empty. Another fact worthy of notice is that if FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO 15 two fields of wheat alongside of each other are ready for fertilization at the same time, the pollen may be carried from the one to the other by the wind, the one field will pro- duce pure grain, while the other may be largely crossed or hybridized. We now come to the most interesting part of our subject, which is to show the important duties performed by insects in the process of fertilization. All plants require ing their aid display certain attraction or hang out advertisements which mean " Uood entertainment for bees and butterflies free." But where free lunches are provided some advantnge is expected from the treat. The most prominent attractions are (!) Brilliant and varied colors, which render them conspicuous from a distance. All tlowers admired as beautiful for their red, white, blue, purple, violet, lilac or other colors, or for the varied colors arranged in lines or dots are intended to catch the eyes of the insects and secure their attention. Expanded color surfaces are conspicuous from a distance, white and yellow being often very noticeable in the twilight. The difi^erent colors are adapted to the apathetic tastes of different classes or species of bees, butterflies and other insects. (2) Odors of various kinds and in different degrees of intensity, are also allurements inviting the attention of insects. Some plants are only fragrant in the twilight when certain moths flutter round and visit them ; some emit the odor of decay- ing flesh and appeal successfully to the blue- bottle flies and similar carrion living insects. (3) The real attraction, however, is the nectar, the sweet liquid which most flowers produce. The bright colors c.nd the fragrance are merely the ad- vertisements announcing the presence of the feeding places. When the nectar is concealed in some deep and safe recess where wet cannot injure it, many plants have lines or dots upon some of their petals to point out where it may be found, and thus save their visitor's time. What advantage does the plant derive from its elaborate preparation for the furnishing of free entertainment 1 The answer is easily perceived. The insect carries the pollen to the spot where it is needed. The great law of vegetable life is "Get fertilized, cross fertilized if you can," and these are some of the means by which it is obeyed. (4) Another set of adaptations is conspicuous in these entomophiloua flowers. The grains of pollen are mostly moist or glutinous, or roughish or studded with projec- tions, or strung with threads so as not to be readily dispersed in the air, but to have some slight coherence as well as capability of adhering to the head and limbs or bodies of insects. The stigma is also fitted for the reception of the pollen by roughness, moisture or glutinosity. It is also worthy of notice that the bodies of insects are covered with hairs or bristles and rough excrescences, to which the pollen grains adhere till they come in contact with the stigma which is fitted to receive them. It is true that in the realm of nature that no one liveth to himself, not even an insect. A few examples of the need of insects at the proper time may illustrate their work and its value. Orchards and gardens may be a mass of blossom, but without the aid of nature's laborers few apples, strawberries or raspberries and absolutely no melons or cucumbers will be produced, however favorable the weather may be. For example Mr. Belt, the naturalist, tells us that in his garden at San Domingo, Nicaragua, he sowed some scarlet runner beans. The soil was good, the climate was favorable for bean life, and the scarlet runners grew and flourished, and finally blossomed abundantly, but there their career ended. They did not produce a single bean among them, simply because the right laborers were not at hand to give the requisite help to secure fertilization. The garden was a new one in the forest, the beans were foreigners and the species of bee who understood the wants of the scarlet runners was absent from the district. When clover was sowed in Australia and New Zealand at first no seed was pro- duced,— the busy bee was not there to fertilize the fliwer. Prof. Huxley used to say that the quantity of clover grown near London depended upon the number of old maidi. These venerable ladies kept cats, the cats wandered round and killed the mice, the mice destroyed the bees' nests and the young bees, and the bees fertilized the clover. Our t'ruit trees are dependent upon the bees and any agency which lessened their numbers would be felt in the harvest. Take another case. When the young gooseberries, or what should be ajooseberries, wither and drop in early spring, instead of swelling as they ought to do, it is not so much because they have been nipped, bat that the frost has kept 16 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. the bees at home. A few days too cold for the bees to pursue their labors when fruits are in blossom will often account for the failure of particular kinds. A few rainy days would produce the same effect. Strawberries are altogether dependent upon bees for the perfecting of their fruit. Each berry produces from 100 to 300 seeds, and every on& of these must be fertilized that fruit may become soft, fleshy and sweet. The hard spots sometimes found on strawberries with the number of little seeds crowded together are due simply to the fact that the ovules have not been fertilized, and have withered instead of growing. Apples are sometimes deformed on one side for a similar reason. Where birds are destroyed the insects increase to such an extent, and so many varieties of them seem to make their appearance, that they totally destroy the fruits in many places. For instance, Frederick the Great of Germany was a great lover of cherries. He had some very fine cherry trees, but he found that some birds were taking the cherries. He issued orders that all the birds should be destroyed, and the birds were destroyed in the whole neighborhood. Next year he had no cherries. The year follow- ing there was no fruit ; and he was compelled to acknowledge that the birds had got the- better of him altogether, and at great expense he succeeded in bringing back birds which kept the insects in check. When our little birds are being killed off the insects increase everywhere, and they will increase as long as birds are being destroyed. About thirty million birds are destroyed every *year in Europe in order to ornament ladies' bonnets- and hats. In the island of Sicily they destroy them in enormous numbers. When the small birds of Europe want to migrate to the southern climate of Africa during the winter, Sicily furnishes them a resting place on the way across the Mediterranean. They arrive there in immense flocks. The people in Sicily know about the day when they will arrive, and they have an ingenious way of hanging up hooks that are baited with insects to catch the swallow and little birds of that kind, the result being that in some parts of Ireland at one time it was impossible to raise crops owing to the number of insects that were being developed. In some parts of France it is the same way. However, they are getting over the destruction of birds now, and the crops are in many places better than they were. Down in the southern states of America most of the birds are killed ofi". In the island of Jamaica they killed them off altogether ; the result was that insects were brought there that were never known before. Some species of tick came over in cat*:le and not only destroyed the crops, but annoyed human beings exceedingly. (Applause.) Mr. HuGGARD (Whitby): Will pollen from the plum tree pollenize the pear tree? Prof. Fowler : I am not sufficiently acquainted with the practical part of the sub- ject, but I hardly think it would. If it would, the fruit would be a hybrid between the two. I think a good many of those trees will fertilize one another to a certain extent — plums and peaches and pears — and you can get a cross between them, but they don't amount to much. In a place in France the children have a region where they fertilize diflferent kinds of fruit trees that way, and they grow a very extraordinary kind of fruit. Different fruits would be on the same tree, because they fertilize from different kinds of trees — plum and apricot and so on. Mr. Morris : Can the " yellows " on a peach tree be carried from the pollen of that tree and infect a healthy tree by bees spreading the disease 1 Prof. Fowler : I do not think that the pollen would affect it at all. I do not think that any disease would be carried by the pollen, because the pollen is newly shed on the body of the bee. The pollen sticks to the body of the bee, and he gets it from the anther where it is produced, and he lays it down on the stigma of the next plant that he visits, and I do not think there is any carrying of disease in that way, though I cannot be positive. Mr. Morris : It is my firm belief that it is spreading in that way. Prof. Fowler : It would not be by means of the pollen ; it would be by the germs of the disease getting on to the bee from that plant. The Secretary : The question would be whether the little bacillus^ the^microbe, of that disease could exist in the pollen. FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. 17 Prof. Fowler : I hardly think it would, but I have not the practical knowledge to decide the question. Mr. BuRBELL (St. Catharines) : I understood you to say that the strawberries depend almost alto^^ ether on the bees 1 Prof. Fowler : Yes, different kinds of bees. Mr. Burrell : I keep bees, and I have noticed very few of the ordinary honey bee, and very few of the humble bee ever fertilizing. Do not a large number of those syrphua flies fertilize? Prof. Fowler : Yes. Mr. Burrell: I see Prof. Erwin Smith is beginning to doubt the bee theory although it is very plausible. Anyway, we know that yellows is on the increase, and it has been decided that the axe and the fire are the only ways of curing it. On hearing that story of Frederick the Great we will all regret that he hadn't a spray pump. Mr. Gaston (Craighurst) : I watched very closely one year and did not see a single honey bee fertilizing ; but I iDelieve the bee that fertilizes strawberries is one smaller than the honey bee — I do not know the name of it. Prof. Fowler : Strawberries are native to this country, and were here long before honey bees were here, so that it is a native bee that must fertiliza it. Mr. Caston : Yes, it is a native, but it is not what we call the wild humble bee nor the honey bee. It is a smaller insect that is very industrious, and that works all the time the blossoms are out. The Secretary : I think we are very happily situated on this occasion by holding our meeting in the vicinity of Queen's College. We are very much indebted, I am sure,, to the two gentlemen who have given us addresses, and we very much appreciate this one on cross-fertilization, because it is a line of study that we hope our more intelligent fruit growers will take up and pursue, because it is in this way that our new and valuable fruits are produced. In the history of horticulture in Canada there has been too much haphazard and chance work in the production of the excellent varieties that have origin- ated in Ontario, with very few exceptions. We are happy to say we have had some gentlemen who have done some good work in this line, and to them we are very much indebted. I refer more particularly to Mr. Charles Arnold, of Paris, who was the origi- nator of the Ontario — that beautiful and valuable commercial apple ; and to him we are also indebted for some other valuable hybrids in other lines. I may also refer to the late P. C. Dempsey, of Trenton, to whom we are indebted for some very valuable apples and pears — notably the Trenton apple, the Dempsey pear, and others. 1 am glad to know there are others who are pursuing this line to a certain extent, thought not so largely ss perhaps they should be. I am glad to say we have with us to-day a hydridist who is an enthusiast, although not in the line of fruit ; I refer to Mr. Groff of Simcoe, who has made a special study of the canna and the gladiolus, and who is very enthusi- astically devoting a large portion of his time to the production of new varieties of gla- dioli. Therefore I hope this very interesting and valuable paper of Prof, Fowler's may be the means of stimulating some member of our Association to do some practical work in the line of producing new fruits by cross-fertilization, by understanding more scien- tifically the methods of hybridization. It is very important, I am sure, that these should be produced. It is only recently that we learned how important it is that the blossom of one variety be feitilized by the pollen of another variety. We have only recently learned that some varieties of fruit will not produce much fruit unless they are fertilized by another tree ; and this is explaining the trouble with some of our barren orchards. We have large orchards of Northern Spy, for instance, that have not been producing, and possibly the reason is to be found in this fact, that the Northern Spy may not be able to fertilize its own blossoms. We have large orchards of Baldwins that have not been producing, and probably this is the reason ; it wants cross fertilization between the different var- ieties of apples. So with the different varieties of pears. It has been demonstrated that this is true with regard to pears ; some varieties have been artificially poUenated with 2 F.G. 18 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. their own pollen, and they would not produce fruit ; but when they were pollenated with ^another variety of pear they would produce excellent fruit. We will be very glad if people are stimulated to think out along this line and work out these problems. Mr. Gropf : I am sure it is very kind of the Secretary to refer to my work, but there is really nothing for me to add. I would like to say, in referenee to the queries that have been put, that they show how limitless is the field for study and observation in natural things, and how great is the opportunity of any of the members who are here to have it said of them, as has been said of the late Mr. Fuller, " He learned from the open book of Nature, and the universities learned from him." (Applause.) Mr. Race : I would like to ask Prof. Fowler or Mr. Groff if any hybridizer has actually seen the bee conveyirg the pollen — that is, if they have ever seen the bee or •other insect loaded with pollen and conveying it from one flower to another 1 I notice from a German writer that that theory has been very severely attacked. This writer says that the only service they perform is by the use of* their wings as a fan to distribute pollen in times of calm, when the wind is not doing that service, and that they have never yet been seen loaded with pollen. The same writer says it cannot possibly be, without a current of wind, distributed a very great distance by those insects. Prof. Fowler ; 1 think there are a good many thousands of observations recorded. For instance, Baldwin, in his work on cross-fertilization, expressly tells us that he examined the bees themselves, that is, caught the different insects, examined them, and found the pollen of certain flowers on them. (Hear, hear). He has seen those insects going from one flower to another, and has written down a good deal about it ; and Baldwin was an exceedingly careful observer — very few men have been more careful. Of course, he might be mistaken sometimes in conclusions. There is another book, by Mueller, on cross fertilization, where he gives lists of the insects that he has seen, and the plants on which he has seen them, and the plants on which they arrive carrying the pollen. It is a large volume, filled with observations that he has devoted a number of years of his life to. There is a little popular book — which is tiot quite so reliable, however — namely, Grant Allen, on the " Colors of Flo veers," showing the value of the colors to secure fertilization by means of insects. Then every work on botany, if it is of any size, has a few chapters devoted to fertilization. Both Baldwin and Mueller refer to a large number of others for special observations. There is a little book called " Spraying of Plants," publibhed by McMillan & Co., in New York, that gives the names of the insects that affect the plants, and the plants that are fertilized, and goes on with all kinds of spraying that have ever been used in the world from the old Persian times down to the present. I think those works show conclusively — at least, I have perfect faith in those writers that have devoted years of attention to the subject — that they have seen the bees going from one plant to another ; and a special point is that if a bee sets out to visit any kind of flowers, he sticks to that special species the whole day. Bees have been watched by the hour going from one plant to the other, but he always goes to a plant of the same kind as the one that he has set to. In that way he fertilizes every plant as he goes along. If he went from one plant to a different one, of course his labor would be all in vain so far as fertilization is conccerned. (Applause). Mr. Groff : From my limited observation the theory I have formed is that the bee carries the pollen, but that the pollen is mixed on the stamen and not on the stigma, and what we call natural fertilization takes place by the contact of the pollen and the stigma. It is not transferred to the stigma by the bee. Mr. Race : Of course I was not heterodox myself, only I wanted to see what these professors had to say on that question ; I saw that it had been attacked. Prof. Short : When visiting a few years ago at my brother-in-law's fruit farm at Winona I happened to be there at the time when the grapes were in blossom, and he remarked that quite a number of valuable grapes often did not mature well in the bunches. I asked him to show me those — I think several varieties of Moore's Early and Worden and several varieties of the Rogers, and so on, were pointed out. On examination I found that the stamens on those particular varieties were extremely small, slight and FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. 19 feeble, that they contained a very small quantity of pollen, that the stem of them was short, and that they did not apparently contain much. I spent about half a day observing the matter in order to make sure that this was not the stamen in the second stages of decay. Then I went to some of the other varieties that were said to almost always bunch well, and observed that the stamens there were strong and almost always longer than the stigmas. The bees then would naturally carry more pollen and fertilize more readily in the case of those that had strong blossoms ; in the case of the others, not so. My idea was that if these could be assisted artificially by taking a feather duster, working it industriously over the strong flowers, and then striking it over the weaker ones, possibly it might help the matter. I did so, and at the end of the season my brother-in-law reported that that particular part of the vineyard had bunched ever so much better than the rest. (Applause). Mr. Morris : The foxtail is better than a feather dustet. That is what is used in the fertilization of tomatoes under ajlass. Mr. Orr : And in hot houses for grapes. Mr. Pattison (Grimsby) : Would it not answer just as well in the matter of grapes to plant a variety with strong stamens in close juxtaposition, say alternate rows, to those that have weak ones 1 Prof. Short : I think that would be a good idea. Mr. Orr : That is what we do. Mr. Pattison : I have found in my own vineyard that several Roger varieties, if planted la alternate rows, or alternately in the rows, with a variety such as the Concord or Niagara, will bunch very much better than if planted in blocks by themselves. COMMITTEES. The President appointed the following committees : Fruit — Messrs. Race, Wellington and Hutt. Abominations — Geo. Fisher and Mr. Race. Programme — Executive Committee. Resolutions— A, M. Smith, Mr. Beall and Mr. Orr. New Fruits — Messrs. John Craig, H. L. Hutt and the Secretary. The following three gentlemen were nominated by the meeting to be added to the Nominating Committee named by the President : Mr. W. H. Derapsey on motion of Mr. Wellington; Mr. W. M. Orr; on motion of Mr. Race ; Mr. Scarff on motion of Mr. A. M. Smith. Mr. Wellington, on behalf of the Committee on Fruit, asked that larger accommo- dation be provided for the display, and this was arranged for. PACKING FRUIT FOR EXPORT. The Shcrktart : I notice a gentleman present who is a prominent member of the Montreal Fruit Growers' Association, who can bring us greetings of that Society, and who i3 very intelligent on the subject of fruih shipping to Great Britain, and he cannot be here to morrow. It would be very unfortunate for us to lose the opportunity of hearing from this gentleman. I refer to Mr. R. W. Shepherd, of Oomo, Que., near Montreal, 20 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. Mr. Shepherd was received with applause. He said; I am quite taken by surprise. I was kindly invited by your Secretary to attend your meeting ; but I came as a listener^ and came to learn. We have wonderful respect for your Society. Within the last two years we have formed a Provincial Society — the Fruit Growing and Pomological Society of the Province of Quebec, taking as our guide entirely your Ontario Society, which haa been so successful that we try to imitate you in everything. (Hear, hear), I regret that Mr. Brodie of Montreal, and Mr. Dunlop the secretary, were not able to accompany me the latter having been sent by the Commissioner of Agriculture for Quebec, to investigate the evaporating industry of New York State — which shows how our Province is t^oing ahead. Mr. Woolverton has asked me to say something about packing. Well, that is a very big subject. I regret that I was not able to bring one of my cases that I have been using for fifteen years for exporting apples to England and the other side. It is a very convenient case, holding 196 apples, arranged in four layers, each apple being placed in a pasteboard compartment precisely as eggs are packed in cases. I believe there is a large market in London particularly for the Fameuse — you call it the Snow apple. I have seen what you call Snows about Hamilton ; I think it is only a degenerate Fameuse, as far as I can understand ; but I have seen as fine Fameuse grown about Owen bound and Morrisburg, as I ever saw in the Province of Quebec. The best way to export table apples of first quality, is to pack them in boxes — not always in compartment })Qxes and there should be no chance of them being bruised. I have tried this year packing them without compartments — packing them in tissue paper in layers, and the interstices packed with paper. The Army and Navy stores reported that they arrived in very good condition. The Fameuse is the apple which the Londoners wish to get. Thev seem to find it an extremely fine-flavored apple. I have sent at least half a dozen varieties of red apples which are considered good table apples, but they always ask for Fameuse. Now, it seems to me that there is a good future, particularly in the Province of Quebec, for the fruit growers to cultivate Fameuse ; and in this section too, along the St. Lawrence, they can grow Fameuse, can't they ? Mr. Boulter : Yes. Mr. Shepherd : I think high prices can always be obtained for first- class fruit packed in a first-class way. We in Quebec are better situated for shipping Duchess ta En