v ANNIJ Fruit Growers ■ ONTARIO 1911 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Brock University - University of Toronto Libraries http://archive.org/details/annualreportoffr1911frui FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Fruit Growers' Association OF ONTARIO 1911 (PUBLISHEDIBY'THE ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, TORONTO) PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE 'LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF^ONTARIO TORONTO : Printed by L.*K.f CAMERON, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty 19 12 Printed by WILLIAM BRIGGS, 29-37 Richmond Street West, TORONTO, To the Honourable Col. Sir John Morison Gibson, K.C.M.G., t!xj., etc., ete., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario. May it Please Your Honour : I have the honour to present the Forty-third Annual Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. Respectfully submitted, JAMES S. DUFF, Minister of Agriculture. Department of Agriculture, Toronto, 1912. [3] CONTENTS. Page. Officers, Directors, Representatives and Committees 5 Financial Statement 6 Annual Meeting 7 President's Address: D. Johnson 7 Committees 14 Report on New Fruits: W. T. Macoun 15 The Railroad Worm or Apple Maggot: W. A. Ross 19 Care of Neglected Orchards: W. F. Kydd 23 Orchard Methods that are Bringing Results: J. W. Crow 25 Federal Supervision of Insect Pests: Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt 33 The Care of the Peach Orchard: F. M. Clement 36 Ontario Peaches in Great Britain in 1911: C. A. Dorson 39 Ontario Peaches in Great Britain in 1911: A. C. Biggs 43 Fruit Growing in New Brunswick: A. G. Turney 45 Fruit Growing in Nova Scotia: W. T. Macoun 47 Fruit Growing in Quebec: Norman Jack 50 Fruit Growing in British Columbia: Harold Jones 54 Peach Diseases in Ontario: L. Caesar .*. 57 Handling Little Peaches and Yellows in New York Orchards: B. D. Van Buren. 59 Successful Handling of Leased Orchards: Dr. C. H. Riggs 66 Changes in Co-operative Methods: James E. Johnson 71 Resolutions 73 Fuller Fruit Statistics Necessary: A. W. Peart 75 Prize List at Ontario Horticultural Exhibition, 1911 78 Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. Officers for 1912: President D. Johnson, Forest Vice-President J. W. Smith, Winona. Secretary-Treasurer P. W. Hodgetts, Parliament Buildings, Toronto. Directors : Division No. 1. — Wm. Alford, Ottawa. 2.— C. W. Beaven, Prescott. 3. — W. H. Dempsey, Trenton. " 4. — Wm. Stainton, Oshawa. " 5. — W. J. Bragg, Bowmanville. " 6. — L. A. Hamilton, Lome Park. " 7. — J. W. Smith, Winona. " 8. — A. Onslow, Niagara-on-the-Lake. " 9. — Jos. Gilbertson, Simcoe. 10. — D. Johnson, Forest. 11.— R. R. Sloan, Porter's Hill. 12.— F. M. Lewis, Burford. " 13. — Adam Brown, Owen Sound. Ontario Agricultural College: Prof. J. W. Crow. Auditor: D. F. Cashman, Parliament Buildings, Toronto. Representatives to Fair Boards and Conventions: Canadian National: Robt. Thompson, St. Catharines. London: D. Johnson, Forest; C. W. Gurney, Paris. Ottawa: R. B. White, Ottawa; Harold Jones, Maitland. Ontario Horticultural Exhibition: Robt. Thompson, St. Catharines; J. E. Johnson, Simcoe; Elmer Lick, Oshawa; P. W. Hodgetts, Toronto. Committees : Transportation: A. Onslow, Niagara; L. A. Hamilton, Lome Park; Geo. French, Sarnia. Co-operation: J. E. Johnson, Simcoe; Elmer Lick, Oshawa; Robt. Thompson, St. Catharines; Adam Brown, Owen Sound; D. Johnson, Forest. New Fruits: Prof. H. L. Hutt, Guelph; W. T. Macoun, Ottawa; J. W. Crow, Guelph; A. D. Habkness, Jordan Harbor, and A. J. Logsdail, Ottawa. Historical: A. McNeill, Ottawa; L. Woolverton, Grimsby; Harold Jones, Maitland; W. T. Macoun, Ottawa; W. Dempsey, Trenton; R. B. Whyte, Ottawa. TREASURER'S REPORT, 1911, Receipts. Balance on hand, December 31, 1910 $1,519 83 Members' fees 355 10 Fbuit Show: Sale of fruit 457 09 Entry fees 129 45 Legislative grant 1,700 00 Interest 38 90 Miscellaneous 2 38 Total $4,202 25 Expenditures. Fbuit Show: Grants— A. P. McVannel, $21.50; S. E. Todd, $50.00; W. H. Gibson, $50.00; F. M. Clement, $50.00 $17150 Labor — As per E. T. Reed's statement 47 00 Transportation— Dominion Transport Co., $3.64; G.T.R., $40.80; Cana- dian Northern, $47.93; Shedden Forwarding Co., $7.92; S. Mcllroy, $16.50; Canadian Express Co., $58.27; Cuneo Fruit Co., $25.00; Dawson & Elliott, $10.43; F. W. Dawson, $1.45; J. H. Hurd, $6.25; D. Muir, $3.15; Manning Cold Storage, $176.86; Norfolk F. G. A., $35.58 433 78 Printing — Wm. Briggs 9 25 Judges' Expenses 10 00 Special Tickets 34 80 Incidentals— City of Toronto, $5.25; E. T. Reed, $14.32; Russill Hard- ware Co., $2.95; Firstbrook Box Co., $5.00 27 52 Annual Meeting: Lecturers' Expenses— Prof. Blair, $25.00; N. E. Jack, $25.15 $50 15 Delegates1 Expenses (1910) — W. J. Seymour, $4.50; Chas. Jackson, $6.65; St. Catharines, $16.95; 1911, Jas. E. Johnson, $47.75; A. W. Peart, $1.85; H. Jones, $8.20 85 90 Reporting— 1910, $85.00; 1911, $85.00, Geo. Angus 170 00 Advertising — Weekly Fruit Grower, 1910, $4.50; 1911, Weekly Sun, $5.60; Farmers' Advocate, $14.00; Farm and Dairy, $3.92; Canadian Farm, $4.20; McLean Pub. Co., $15.00; Wilson Pub. Co., $32.00; Weekly Fruit Grower, $8.00 87 22 Printing 30 00 Rent of hall, etc 34 40 Committees : D. Johnson, $41.90; Jas. E. Johnson, $27.40; F. M. Lewis, $11.25; H. Jones, $19.90; Jos. Gilbertson, $8.75; Wm. Alford, $15.00; A. W. Peart, $2.10; R. W. Grierson, $4.90; W. H. Stainton, $2.70; W. H. Bunting, $19.35 •. 153 25 Printing : Bryant Press, letterheads (Directors), envelopes, $42.00; J. Frank Osborne, large and small envelopes and stationery, $71.65 113 65 Periodicals : Horticultural Pub. Co 607 80 Postage: Mrs. Hubertus, stamps 50 00 Grant: J. W. Crow (for fruit packing school) 100 00 Miscellaneous : N. R. Butcher, copy express judgment, R. R. Commission, $3.00; Exchange, $1.40; Dominion of Canada Guarantee Co., $10.00; Miss McMaster, $15.00, postcards; E. D. Smith, fee, $10.00; G. C. Gripton, stamp, $1.50 40 90 Balance on hand December 31, 1911 1,945 13 Total $4,202 25 [6] Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, ANNUAL MEETING. The fifty-second annual meeting of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario was held in the Canadian Foresters' Hall, 22 College Street, Toronto, on the 15th and 16th of November, 1911. Mr. D. Johnson, Forest, the President, called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 15th. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. D. Johnson, Forest. Once again the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario have met in Convention to discuss subjects of weighty interest to the industry in which we are engaged. The progress that has been made in fruit growing in the Province of Ontario is due largely to the early members of this Association, who in years gone by worked out as best they could the problems and obstacles that confronted them. The changes that have taken place since then have been wide and varied and need not be mentioned now. The opening up of new markets such as Great Britain and Western Canada were in those days, I have no doubt, beyond their widest imagination. The lack of proper transportation facilities and consuming markets, I have no doubt, caused the early members of this Association to conclude that in the near future they would have supplied the demand, and that over-production would cause the profits to disappear. The fear of over-production has haunted the minds of many, as far back as I can remember, and, I believe, as far back as the oldest one present here can remember, the future has been more or less clouded by the fear of over-production. Take apples, for instance. Let us look back to the first days of this Associa- tion, over fifty years ago. At that time some of the early members had small orchards of a few acres, the fruit of which they sold to their neighbours by the bushel, at prices that would not for a moment be considered to-day. They were alive to the fact at that time that they had in their little orchard a profitable thing, but they were sure that their profits would disappear with the plantings of their neigh- bors and their little circle of customers would vanish away. What have been the results? Almost without knowing it the circle of trade has widended, the planting has increased, till thousands of acres of orchard adorn the Province in which millions of dollars are invested and tens of thousands of people are engaged. The circle of trade has passed the neighbors, the surrounding towr s, far beyond the limits of our Province, until our fruit has found its place in almost every quarter of the globe, and, instead of peddling our apples by the bushel, we are selling in car and train load lots, at prices far in advance of fifty years ago. m THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 It is true that the planting of orchards is going forward at a tremendous rate in Ontario. Scientific care is being applied, and I believe that the Province is on the threshold of a great awakening, and that in the next two or three years we will be producing twice as much fruit as we are now. The reason of this is due to the fact that in almost every part of the Province individuals have been taking an interest in their orchards, and have been receiving handsome returns for their time, labour and knowledge expended, with the result that these practical de- monstrations have caused others to exert themselves in the same direction, until so many have succeeded that the people there become enthusiastic and take up fruit growing with a vim that assures distinction for that particular district. In practically every part of the Province the awakening in fruit growing can be traced back to Government demonstrations or the work of some private individual who has in a greater or less degree allowed this light to shine among his neighbors. Such efforts cannot be too much encouraged, whether it be in- dividuals, co-operative associations or Government demonstrations. In view of these facts, why should we fear to push on increasing our planta- tions? It seems to me we are but playing on the threshold of our possibilities, and that the demand will increase with the production. We have in our own Western Provinces the best markets in the world. We rejoice in their success. As a farming community they can produce certain lines of farm produce to much greater ad- vantage than we can, but fruit is beyond their control. The near future will, no doubt, see millions of prosperous people living on the fertile plains of the West and North, who will readily pay the price for all the fruit that we can produce. It is gratifying to notice that fruit growing in Ontario is no longer confined to the farmer, who has other interests on his farm which take the greater part of his attention, but the formerly neglected orchard is<, in many cases, considered by far the most valuable part of his farm. Capitalists are also being attracted by the handsome profits and are taking it up with an enthusiasm that assures success. The Eastern Counties along Lake Ontario and certain parts of the St. Lawrence district are making wonderful progress in apple growing. Hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted during the last few years, and the necessary care in cultivation, spraying, pruning and fertilizing are being given to a much greater degree than formerly. In the Georgian Bay district, a great revival in the care of orchards has taken place, and while the planting is not so great as in some other sections, yet the output is fast increasing, owing to scientific treatment given the formerly neglected orchards. In the Southern part of the Province, especially Norfolk, great activity exists, and, under the able leadership of the Norfolk Fruit Growers' Association, whose affairs are guided by one of the ablest men the fruit industry of Ontario has ever known, has attracted attention and drawn to them- selves wide distinction. The Niagara district still holds the banner as a tender fruit growing district, their enormous production is the result of their energy and the success attained is a standing memorial to the ability of former members of this Association, as well as to many who are here to-day. Up in Lambton County, along the south shore of Lake Huron, we are trying to follow in their footsteps, and are laying the foundation of a fruit district that we believe is unsurpassed by any other in the Province. During the past season nearly 100,000 trees, principally peaches and apples, have been planted, with every assurance of success. The planting of next spring promises to surpass that of last 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 9 spring, and the care which they are giving these young orchards, together with the restoration of old orchards, promise great things for the future. I am fulJy convinced that peach growing in North Lambton is bound to be a success. It has long ago passed the experimental stage, as for over fifty years small orchards ihave thrived, with but little care. We are in exactly the same latitude. as St. Catharines, and have to the north and west of us the moderating effects of Lake Huron, just as they have Lake Ontario to the North of them. Root killing up there has never been known, and up to the present, as far as the most careful investigation will reveal, we are absolutely free from the San Jose Scale, Little Peach, or Yellows. It is gratifying to know that spraying has become a recognized necessity among the fruit growers of this Province, as, during the past season, I believe fully 100 per cent, more spraying has been done in Ontario than any previous year. The advantages of spraying are so apparent as to need no further comment, although I believe there is much yet to be learned about the action of Lime-Sulphur and Arsenate of Lead, under various climatic conditions. A new departure has come prominently before us during the season that is past, it being the leasing of neglected orchards by capitalists. Thousands of acres of orchard have been taken over by these companies, and in many cases are being given the best of care. This is being looked upon by some with a certain amount of suspicion and doubt of its success. Personally, I can only look upon it with favor, as we cannot deny the fact that most of these orchards were anything but a credit to their owners and would, no doubt, have continued so had they not been taken over by others who will give the required care. What we want in this Province is more specializing in fruit and not the half- hearted, haphazard methods employed by many of the farmers of Ontario. If the leasing of orchards is properly carried out there is no reason why it should not give a handsome profit to the leasee, while the orchard is being improved and in time returns to the owner greatly increased value. I have had some little experi- ence in this myself, and have always found it a most profitable investment. Every branch of fruit growing in Ontario is prospering to a degree never known before, a display of which is to be seen at the Ontario Horticultural Ex- hibition, in the St. Lawrence Arena of this city. The display of fruit there reflects great credit, not only on the fruit growers of Ontario, but on the officials of that show and particularly on our worthy secretary, who has always been unwearied in his efforts to promote the fruit growing industry of the Province. In view of this development throughout the Province, is it not opportune for us to ask ourselves what is the Government of Canada doing to develop the in- dustry that we all have at heart? We rejoice to know that in the new Government at Ottawa we have, in what I believe the most important place in the 'Cabinet, a fellow fruit grower as Minister of Agriculture. The Honorable Mr. Burrell is no stranger to the fruit growers of Ontario, as the progressive energy that he has dis- played in his orchards in British Columbia has won for him a high place in the estimation of Canadian fruit growers. We now look to him witli confidence to carry out many reforms that we would like to see brought about. I believe I voice the desire of the greater part of the fruit growers and shippers of Ontario when I say that we want the Inspection and Sales Act so changed as to give us inspection at point of shipment, and that there inspection shall be final. Personally, I have always been well used by the Fruit Division, and therefore have 10 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 no personal complaint to make : but, nevertheless, I wish to place myself on record as being absolutely opposed to the present administration of the Inspection and Sales Act. The worthy Chief of the Fruit Division and many of the Inspectors have been unwearied in their efforts to promote the fruit-growing industry, but, owing to the present system, they have not met with the success that we would like. I hope this Association will put through strong resolutions, and that, if necessary, these reso- lutions be carried to Ottawa by a strong deputation, asking that we be given in- spection at the point of shipment and that inspection there shall be final. That the appointment of fruit inspectors be taken outside of political rewards. That no inspectors be appointed but thoroughly qualified men, who have served at least one season as foreman of packers. That inspectors be appointed by a commission to be composed of men known for their experience and knowledge of the fruit business, and not for their political activity; also, that all inspectors should have uniformity of judgment, which I be- lieve can only be attained by their graduating from some school of packing such as the Short Course in Packing at the Ontario Agricultural College, and that they receive therefrom a certificate before they be considered by the Commission of Appointment. This may seem like a lot of red tape, but when we remember the fact that an inspector can largely make or break the reputation of any shipper, we cannot be too careful in their selection. Up to the present we are, I fear, very much at sea regarding the minimum size of leading varieties of apples and I would suggest that a committee, composed of well-known apple packers be appointed to consider the question and try and arrive at a definite conclusion. We are looking forward to the proposed Dominion Conference of Fruit Growers, to be held at Ottawa this winter, when we hope that much will be accom- plished that will tend to the advancement of the fruit growing industry. A session of this Convention will be devoted to subjects to be discussed at that time, and I trust that each subject will receive the consideration that it deserves. I would also like to see a resolution from this Association asking that the Canadian Government instruct their trade agents in British markets to cable, daily, the average price realized from sales of Ontario fruit and the conditions of the market in the leading cities'of that country. Those of us who have had experience in shipping to those markets know that the information that we now receive is not always what we desire. Then, again, there is the question of a Fruit Commissioner in the Depart- ment of Agriculture at Ottawa, instead of having that Department under the con- trol of the Dairy Commissioner. Surely the fruit industry 'has reached such propor- tions that we should have a Commissioner of our own, and, as the present Govern- ment has often urged such an appointment when in opposition, we naturally ex- pect them to carry out their promises now. I would also like to see legislation enacted regarding the control of insect pests and diseases of the tree, that would provide Provincial inspectors instead of local inspectors. This will, no doubt, come up later in our proceedings, and I trust will be given the attention it deserves. In conclusion, let me thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me in selecting me as your President, a distinction which I know I do not deserve, but one that I appreciate very much indeed. 1912 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 11 Mr. Hodgetts : One thing has been mentioned that I think you would like to discuss, and that is the matter of determining the standard sizes o' apples. There was a committee appointed a year ago when this suggestion was made. Mr. Wins- low, of British Columbia, claimed that in some varieties their apples were so much larger than ours that it was almost impossible to have a standard size fixed. The other Provinces, however, were all willing, but it was owing to the opposition of the British Columbia delegates that the Minister, when we were before him, allowed the matter to drop for the time being. The Chairman: I think British Columbia is opposed to a minimum sized apple. Mr. Johnson (Simcoe) : I would agree to Ontario having a definite sized apple, that is, for each variety. Take varieties such as the Northern Spy and the King and give them a size that will be standard, and the Baldwins will have another size and the Russets another size. I think it would be well to have these sizes defined, and I think it would also work out to the satisfaction of all the Pro- vinces, Nova Scotia as well. Mr. Thompson (St. Catharines) : If it could be worked out as Mr. Johnson says by taking the different varieties of apples and giving a standard size to each one, that would be all right. Let each one be a certain size all the way through. The Chairman: That won't work. Mr. Thompson : If we could take the small-sized apples it would be quite a help, because at the present time quite a number of packers do not really under- stand what is the size for No. 1 : they think they can call the apple No. 1, no matter what the size is. I think it would be practicable; I cannot see any reason why it should not be. The President : I think every packer in Ontario has a standard before him. It is a serious thing, and he ought to understand what is the proper size of all apples. Mr. E. D. Smith (Winona) : I remember some time ago, when the committee of this association was formed, that the matter was discussed then, and it was thought it was undertaking rather too much at the beginning, that it would be necessary to move step by step, but they agreed that it would be a very desirable thing when the proper time came. They were under the impression that the people of this country were interested in the apple industry, and for their sakes, as well as our own, I think that the time has come when we can with propriety ask the Government to define the proper sizes of the chief varieties of apples. I should think that a committee of this Association ought to fix this, and have it ready to present at Ottawa. Not only the Growers' Association but the Apple Shippers' Association should be conferred with. It is a matter of considerable moment and interest to them as to what these sizes are to be, and I quite agree that the time has come to take this matter up. A Member : I am from Montreal, and we have large quantities of apples from the Maritime Provinces, and their barrels hoi 1 about a peck less than our standard barrels. We are using the standard barrel, but they have a smaller barrel. They look more like wine barrels than apple barrels. We have to meet this competition, and we have some difficulty in doing so, as they can undersell us on account of the smaller size of their barrel. I think there should be a law fixing the one size for the whole Dominion. 12 THE REPOitT OF THE No. 32 The President: What would you say ought to be the standard size for the whole Dominion? A Member : Why should they be privileged to use a smaller barrel than we do ? The President : Their barrel is what is known as the Nova Scotia barrel. Mr. E. D Smith : Their barrel is the legal barrel ; ours is larger than the law requires, but our people have stuck to it. It holds about a peck more but is known all over as the Canadian barrel, and we get more for it. We get more money for that peck of apples than we do for any other peck in the barrel. The extra price that it sells for is more than the value of the extra peck that is in it, for it is recognized as the big barrel. All the same, the Nova Scotia barrel is the legal standard. Of course any one can make the barrel he uses as much bigger as he likes, but I would like to see a uniform barrel for the whole Dominion. The President : I remember that this question was very thoroughly discussed at the Dominion Convention at Ottawa some years ago ; what we are speaking about now, however, is the minimum size of apples, not about the barrels. How would it do to take a vote on this suggestion; those who are in favour of a standard size for the apples to be packed in the Province of Ontario please raise their hands. (Hands raised.) I think on that show of hands the suggestion is approved. Mr. E. D. Smith : I would like to bring up a very important matter that has been referred to, but has never been carried out, and that is the matter of final inspection at the point of shipment. It has been a burning question between the Growers' Association and the officers of the Government for a number of years. The late Minister of Agriculture contended that it was too costly to have apples inspected at the point of shipment. I have always contended that it should be done regardless of the cost and that that inspection should be made at the request of anyone wanting it, and that no one wanting it should be entitled to it in regard to a smaller quantity than a carload lot. It is not intended that it should take the place of the present inspection. So far as smaller lots are concerned they could be inspected as they are now, but in addition to that, when any shipper has a carload of apples he should be able to obtain the services of a Government inspector, and he should inspect them sufficiently thoroughly so that he can reasonably stamp them as having been examined and as being of a certain standard. The objection has been made that you cannot possibly put the Government stamp on a car of apples unless you examine every barrel. The Government stamp on it would not bind anyone; he would inspect every tenth or twentieth barrel what- ever the committee of experts would deem essential to test the quality of the apples, and then the inspector would stamp these barrels that were examined and give a certificate to the shipper that a certain car of apples at a certain place on a certain date were duly examined by the Government inspector and that he passed them as so and so. On the strength of that certificate that man could sell that car of apples in England or anywhere else if the lot were guaranteed 'by the Government stamp; it would give him a standard to go by. If that sale were made, and the consignee received the car of apples he could not refuse it on the ground that it was not properly packed ; they might show that some of the other barrels that were not examined were not up to the mark, but the seller could say that it has been inspected by the Government inspector and has been passed, and on the strength of that you must take those apples and pay for them according to your contract. He could not crawl out of his bargain, because he found an odd barrel or two a 1912 FKUIT GKOWERS' ASSOCIATION. 13 little bit off. For that service I have always held that it would be fair and reasonable that the shipper pay $5 a car or 5 cents a barrel, or something like "that, which would in a large measure cover the expense of the inspection. It has been pointed out that to examine somewhere in the neighbourhood of two million barrels in this country in a year would be an almost impossible task. But there would only be a tenth or a fifth of that, for these are in carloads. In sending a car of apples to a commission market it is sold on its merits, it is not sold on inspection. I do not think that this would affect more than one- third of the apples in the Dominion, and it seems to me that it would increase the facilities for the sale of apples a great deal. At the present time we can scarcely sell a car- load of apples in England; they want to see them. I believe that every barrel could be sold and would be sold if there were a definite standard to which the purchaser in England would know whether the apples we proposed to ship were what he wanted or not. If you sent a car to England sold on a standard and an inspection there could not be any possible equivocation about it; the sale could be made just as easy as the sale of a car of wheat or any other commodity. Our present inspection is valuable and good as far as it goes, but I have always con- tended that we ought to go a step further. I think it would be only fair that at least half of the cost of this extra inspection should be defrayed by the shipper, and I do not think it would be found to be very heavy. The President : I entirely endorse what Mr. Smith has said. I have thought over this matter a great deal, and I think he is right. A Member : If you will listen to a man who is not a fruit grower, but who has spent a large amount of time in connection with fruit industry in California and elsewhere, I would like to say that I am very much pleased as a Canadian with this movement. I think it is a splendid idea. For the last twelve years I have been buying apples, and they have to come from Ontario, and this point under discussion has often arisen. I go down to the market and I see a sample of apples that suits me, and I say, "Can you give me five or six carloads guaranteed to be the same quality and size as the sample/' but they will not give any guarantee. You have to judge by the looks. That is a splendid idea. That is the idea that is carried on m British Columbia. These packages from there that I have seen apparently have been selected with the utmost care, and it is a delight to look at them and see how they are put up, and the care and pains the packers are taking to meet the demands of the public. I say that years ago in California I watched the people there, and I was amazed to see so much time spent over their apples. I was brought up on a farm where we used to pick them up and throw them all into the cellar in the most careless way, but I am glad to say that I find on coming back that things have developed in Ontario in this respect. I thoroughly believe that if some such plan were carried out that you would derive great benefit from it. Mr. L. A. Hamilton : My neighbour came to me the other day. He is a large apple grower in the County of Peel, and he told me that he had sold his apples in the orchard. I told him I thought that was a rather dangerous way on account of the culls, but he told me that he had got that all fixed for. Said he : " My arrnngement with the packer is that there are not going to be more than ten per cent, culls." (Laughter.) I found that that trick is being done all over our vicinity, a fixed amount of culls ; it is likely to mean that the apples are poorer, for a man is bound not to make more than that amount of culls. I know his apples, and they are not any better than mine; but I am satisfied that I could not pack 14 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 my apples properly and make any less than 33^ per cent, of culls; not so much on account of worms and scab, but the question of size is the great trouble. I have a lot of beautiful Spies, but I have had to stop shipping barrel after barrel. I have packed a lot of No. 2 apples, but I am really afraid to put them on the market lest I should be called down by some inspector. There is the difficulty I am con- fronted with. It is impossible for me to say that these apples come up to the size that the inspector may think they ought to come up to or not. I believe there ought to be some system by which these professional apple packers should have a lesson. I do not suppose you could apply it to the individual apple grower. These apples should be marked according to some standard size, and if there was some system producing uniformity in packing it would be a good thing. I believe if this were the case there would be a large increase in the apple trade all over, and personally I would be very willing to pay my share of the cost of the man coming to make inspections for me. I should have been delighted, indeed, to have paid the expenses of some Government official or other who would come and show me where I was not packing these apples according to the statute. I may be figuring in the police court, and may be fined $40 or $50 quite unwittingly. There is no question affecting the vital interests of the apple growers of Ontario as this question does. And now that we have an apple grower at the head of one of the most important departments of the Government service, I do not believe that we can urge too strongly that he should fix that statute so that we will definitely know what is a No. 1 apple and what is a No. 2 apple as regards size. The President : I am very glad to hear you express yourself in that way. We should certainly have a larger number of inspectors. We should have enough to see that there is no more of this arrangement you spoke of, for a fixed amount of culls. Then if they give the instruction, and there are those who will not learn, they will have to feel the application of the law. A Member: I can't agree with what has been said about the apples in the west. These packers who have agreed to ten per cent, can put them up as one, two or three. The trouble is that some of the merchants in the west have bought some that are right and some that are not right. Then they show him the ones that are right and they work these others in. The Ontario grower does not pack them in that way, and if in 50 or 100 packages there is one that is not according to the standard it is an injury to all the others. We want more inspectors so as to protect the 99 per cent, who are putting their goods up all right. I have seen apples from British Columbia passed as No. 1 which are not correct. We would hardly call them cider apples, and that does not carry out what our friend said. A Member: May I qualify my remark in this way: I would not guarantee from what I have observed that all the fruit that was well packed was properly marked; but that there was a large proportion that was beautifully packed, and the apples were all the same size. COMMITTEES. The following Committees were then appointed: Resolutions: Messrs. L. A. Hamilton, Lome Park; J. E. Johnson, Simcoe, and R. W. Grierson, Oshawa, appointed by the Chairman, and Messrs. W. C. McAinsh, J. L. Hilborn and E. D. Smith, elected by the convention. 1912 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 15 Nominations: Messrs. R. B. Whyte, Ottawa; ft. R. Sloan, Porter's Hill; and A. Onslow, Niagara, appointed by the Chairman, and Messrs. Robert Thomp- son, St. Catharines; C. H. Fisher, Queenston; and Adam Brown, Owen Sound, appointed by the Convention. REPORT ON NEW FRUITS. W. T. Macotjn, Dominion Horticulturist, Ottawa. The number of new fruits of merit which are introduced each year is quite small. This is fortunate, in that fruit growers are not tempted to grow a large number of varieties. Many of them grow too many already without undue tempta- tion. The time is coming, however, when there will be many new fruits of merit available for introduction, and there should be some plan worked out whereby the grower will be kept from planting any large number of trees or plants of a variety which has not been strongly recommended by some institution or society. The practice of co-operative societies buying fruit trees for their members is a good one, as in this way the number of varieties grown in a district is limited, and only those most suitable for the district are planted. The reason why a large number of varieties of merit will soon be available for introduction as that up to within quite recent years the development of new sorts by the Experiment Stations has been carried on in a very small way, and few things worthy of being grown in the best fruit districts have been originated. All this is changed, however, and fruit breeding is now an important part of the work of the Horticultural Department of a large proportion of the fifty odd Experiment Stations in the United States, and Canada also is doing, if not her share, at least doing something. Two States which are breeding fruits on a large scale are South Dakota and Minnesota. From South Dakota a number of new fruits have already been sent out and the Minnesota State Breeding Station, though organized but a few years ago, has originated some good things already. The New York Experi- ment Station is beginning to distribute new fruits, and has already sent out some new apples, raspberries, and strawberries. The standard varieties we have to-day are almost all of them chance seedlings from the thousands of seedlings which have sprung in America and Europe during the past one hundred years or more, and it is scarcely to be expected that anything as good will be obtained from the limited number grown by comparatively few institutions and individuals for the especial purpose of obtaining new varieties. Apples: The only really promising apple which has been received by your Committee during the past year is the Norfolk Beauty, sent in by Mr. J. E. Johnson, of Simcoe, Ont. In brief, this is somewhat like a very highly colored Tompkins King. The name Norfolk Beauty had already been taken for another variety, but so far as we know a description had not been published. 530. Norfolk Beauty (Strawberry King). — Large; roundish, ribbed; cavity open, shallow to medium, russeted; stem short, stout; basin medium to deep, medium width, wrinkled; calyx closed or party closed; color yellow, well washed and splashed with deep orange-red to dark red; predominant color deep orange-red to dark red; seeds few, above medium, acute, several abortive; dots moderately numerous ; yellow, distinct ; skin thick ; moderately tough ; flesh yellow, crisp, 16 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 louder, moderately juicy; core medium size, partly open; subacid, high, aromatic flavour; very good quality; season evidently November to February. Originated with Mr. John Winter, Port Ryerse, Norfolk County, from whom specimens were obtained, who writes tiiat it was bought for Strawberry King. Darker in colour than Tompkins King and flesh not quite so coarse, but a little juicier. Flavor much the same as King. On the whole this seems to be a better apple. Specimens received from J. E. Johnson, Simcoe, Out. Many new varieties of apples originated at the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, are now fruiting, some of which are of great promise. This year there have been 656 new varieties of fruit, and 276 have fruited for the first time. The total number of varieties originated at Ottawa which have fruited is 996. Some of these varieties have already been referred to by this Committee, but the following three named last year have not been. Rocket (Northern Spy Seedling). — Above medium size; roundish, conical; caviiv deep, medium width, stem short, stout; basin deep, narrow, slightly wrinkled; calyx partly open; color yellow, washed and splashed with crimson; predominant color, crimson; seeds, medium size, acute; dots moderately numerous,, yellow, distinct; bloom pinkish; skin moderately thick; moderately tough; flesh yellowish, crisp, tender, juicy; core medium; subacid, pleasant, sprightly flavor; quality good ; season November, probably to January or later. Glenton (Northern Spy Seedling). — Size above medium to large; roundish to oblate conic; cavity deep, open, russeted at base; stem medium length, stout; basin deep, medium width, wrinkled; calyx closed; color, yellow, well washed, almost covered with crimson; predominant color, crimson; seeds medium acute; dots small, moderately numerous, pale yellow distinct; skin moderately thick; moderately tender ; flesh yellowish with traces of red, tender, moderately juicy ; core medium ; subacid, pleasant flavor; quality good; season evidently October to late November. Resembles Spy a little in outward appearance, character, flesh, and flavor. Kim (Langford Beauty Seedling). — Medium size; roundish, regular; cavity narrow, medium depth, russeted; stem short, slender; basin deep, open, nearly smooth ; calyx open ; color, yellow, washed and splashed with crimson ; predominant color, crimson; seeds medium size, acute; dots few, white, distinct; bloom pinkish; skin moderately thick, tender; flesh white with traces of red, crisp, juicy; core medium; subacid, sprightly pleasant flavor; quality good; season December to late winter, probably. Resembles Langford Beauty a little in outward appearance. Quite promising. The following notes on the characteristics of the seedlings from certain parents should prove interesting: Characteristics of Apple Seedlings Originated in the Horticultural Division. Descriptions are taken of the seedling apples which are originated in the Horticultural Division, whether they are good, medium or poor. By doing this, it is possible to tell after a time what parent varieties are giving the largest proportion of promisng varieties, and what the least. It gives valuable information for future work in breeding apples, as showing what characteristics of the female parent are apparent or conspicuous in the seedlings. 1912 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 17 ► Fameuse Seedlings. It is generally supposed that seedlings of the Fameuse resemble the female parent in a marked degree. In this case the number of good Fameuse seedlings has been small, while a large proportion of the seedlings of Mcintosh, which is a seedling of Fameuse, have been good. Gano Seedlings. A large proportion of the seedlings resemble the female parent in regularity of form, in color in absence of flavor, and in having large seeds. A large proportion of the seedlings are winter apples like female parent. Golden Russet Seedlings. It is interesting to note that of 19 seedlings which have fruited none have russet skins. Nearly ninety-five per cent, are green or yellow apples. A comparatively small proportion have been propagated and none have been thought good enough to name. Langford Beauty Seedlings. A large proportion are handsome, fine-grained apples of the Fameuse type with a marked resemblance to the female parent or to Louise, a seedling of Fameuse. Lawver Seedlings. While twenty-five per cent, of the seedlings are late- keeping apples like the female parent, it is interesting to note that a large pro- portion have a season before December. Some of the Lawver seedlings show marked signs of Northern Spy blood, particularly in character of flesh and flavor. Both Lawver and Northern Spy are late-blooming sorts, and were not very far apart in the orchard in 1898. Mcintosh Red Seedlings. The Mcintosh is supposed to be a seedling of Fameuse, and has many Fameuse characteristics. Its seedlings have been much better than the Fameuse seedlings, over one-half of the Mcintosh seedlings being thought worthy of propagation, while less than a fourth of the Fameuse seedlings were propagated. Northern Spy Seedlings. Though self-sterile, and thus doubtless pollenized by some other variety or varieties, there has been a marked resemblance to the Northern Spy in a large proportion of the seedlings in outward appearance, flesh, and flavor, and in being late-keeping apples. Salome Seedlings. The Salome has given some good seedlings, though the •best are not from this variety. A large proportion of the seedlings bore a marked resemblance to Salome in outward appearance, flesh, and flavor. Shiawassee Beauty Seedlings. The Shiawassee is a seedling of Fameuse. A large proportion of its seedlings had fine grained, tender flesh, and were above medium to good in quality, but the percentage thought worth propagating was about the same as the Fameuse seedlings. Swayzie Seedlings. Only a small proportion of the seedlings resemble the parent in outward appearance, though a large percentage bear a marked resemblance to Swayzie in flav. The Swayzie is a small apple, but of the seedlings, over 78 per cent, were medium to large. Wealthy. There is a general resemblance to Wealthy in a large proportion of the seedlings, particularly in color, and the regular outline of the fruit and character of flesh and flavor. Plums: The most promising new plums brought to our attention is the Omaha, reported on and described by this Committee two years ago. It is a cross between an American and a Japanese plum and combines the quality of both. It is an early bearer and very hardy, and should prove extremely useful where the European and Japanese plums do not succeed. In some parts of Uhe country the 2 F.G. 1- THE REPOHT OF THE Xo. 32 native plums are more profitable to the grower than the European plums in the best fruit districts, and as there are great areas where none but this kind can be grown this type of plum should not be neglected. Some of Prof. Hansen's now hybrid plums fruited at Ottawa this year, includ- ing the Sapa. Tokeya, Kaga. The Kaga plum (Prunus Americana X Prunus Simoni) is an attractive looking plum. It should make a good shipping plum and appears hardier than most European and Japanese plums. The following des- cription was made of it. Kaga: Fruit somewhat heart-shaped; about the size of Lombard or larger, 1% x 1% inches; cavity deep, abrupt, medium width; suture a distinct line, very slightly depressed; dots numerous, yellow, distinct; bloom bluish; skin thick, tough; flesh greenish, yellow, firm, juicy; stone below medium size, roundish cling; quality above medium to good; flavor sweet, subacid, acid next to stone and skin, spicy, pear-like flavor. An attractive looking plum with many Japanese characteristics. It is highly perfumed. Peaks: Xo new pears of merit were brought under our notice this year. Peaches: Xo specimens of absolutely new peaches of great merit were re- ceived. The Oceana is one of the newer peaches of the Crawford type which is doing well in Ontario. A new peach which J. H. Hale is introducing should prove worth trying if it is all that it is claimed to be. He suggests the name Million Dollars for it. While Haleberta has also been suggested. He states that he has tested a thousand bearing trees of this for four years and in his own words: " Believe it is unquestionably the best yellow peach in America, as it has a com- bination of vigor of tree, hardier of fruit bud, enormous bearing qualities, with a clean skin without the fuzz, solid flesh of a clingstone and yet one of the most free to part from the pit. Then again it has extremely fine color and is 50 per cent, better in quality than Elberta, ripening five or six days before that variety which gives it a great hold in the market. It has another advantage of remaining on the trees solid and firm for more than a week, and if picked when first ripe is solid enough to pack m barrels. I am willing to stake my reputation on this as the one greatest peach in America. I call it the Million Dollar/' J. H. Hale. The Brackett peach tested in Georgia for the past six years is another prom- ising new peach. This peach is said to ripen just after Elberta ; is of good average size and has good carrying qualities. It is a yellow peach with a bright red check, and is said to be of good quality. The Sunbeam raspberry, one of Prof. Hansen's introductions, is proving very hardy and on this account is proving a useful new introduction for the Prairie provinces. The Herbert continues to do well. Among currants the Boskoop Giant currant is a promising one. Few good varieties of strawberries have been introduced in recent years, although many inferior ones are sent out each year. The splendid work the Fruit Experiment Station at Jordan Harbour, Ont., is doing in originating new varieties will be appreciated when some of their fine new sorts are introduced. Mr. Logsdail of this station has done much work in hybridizing strawberries, and it is the fruits originated by him to which I refer. 1912 FBUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 19 : . — -t Mr. Brodie: I would like to ask Mr. Macoun about the keeping quality of Macintosh Red. Mr. Macoun: I can say that the Macintosh Red is the best apple that we have in Canada. We have crossed it with the Lawver apple and have had Lawver apples of three different seasons in the cellar at one time. I know the one Mr. Brodie refers to; it is like the Macintosh, but it will keep much longer. It is a combination of the Lawver and the Macintosh. It just shows what you can do by keeping at it; you can get a combination of the different qualities you are after. There are of course some things that you cannot foresee; we did not foresee, for instance, that the Macintosh was of a weak constitution, and we did not foresee that in crossing the Macintosh with the Lawver nearly all the seedlings from that cross would be of weak constitution and weak growing trees. THE RAILROAD WORM OR APPLE MAGGOT. W. A. Ross, Jordan Harbour. The Railroad Worm or Apple Maggot is not as many suppose a new pest in Ontario. Its occurrence in the County of Lennox in 1895 was recorded by the late Dr. Fletcher in the Central Farm Report for 1896. Since then it has extended its range considerably and has gained in notoriety every year. I have now records of it having been found in the following counties : Prince Edward, Lennox, Hastings, Frontenac, Northumberland, Durham, Ontario, Wentworth, Lincoln, Welland and Norfolk. Fruit growers from the eastern counties are all more or less familiar with the work of this destructive pest. It is responsible for what are commonly called ( railroaded ' or ' woody ' apples. The flesh of such fruit is characterized by the presence of winding, brownish streaks, which are the burrows or tracks of tiny Railroad worms or maggots, which lead a parasite life within the fruit. These maggots are the larvae of a two-winged fly, whose handsome exterior somewhat belies its evil character. It is somewhat smaller than the house or typhoid fly, is of a general black color with yellowish head and legs, prominent greenish eyes and barred, picture wings (each wing is crossed by four dark bars). In the female there are four, in the male three white bands across the abdomen. Life History: The insect passes the winter as a pupa in the soil. (The pupa somewhat resembles a kernel of wheat). In eastern Ontario adult flies first begin to put in an appearance during the second and third weeks of July, and they con- tinue to emerge from the soil over a period of four or five weeks. The female by means of a sharp instrument — an ovipositor — punctures the skin of the apple and makes a minute, cylindrical passage in the flesh, into which the egg is laid. The egg puncture appears at first as a minute brown speck, but later on it becomes the centre of a small depression. The egg hatches in about six days' time and the young maggot, which at this stage is not visible to the naked eye, then proceeds to burrow here and there through the flesh of the apple. It may wander near the skin and work just beneath the cuticle, giving rise to those external grooves so commonly seen on infested spy apples. It is of great interest to know that the rate of growth of the larva keeps pace with the maturing of the fruit. When the maggot is full grown, the apple is almost invariably in an over-ripe to a rotten condition, 80 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 and is usually, of course, on the ground. The full grown larva leaves its apple abode and works its way into the soil to a depth ranging from ^2 inch to 2 inches and pupates there. (A few larvae may go deeper than this and others may pupate immediately beneath the decaying fruit). The insect then remains at this stage in the soil over winter, and emerges as a fly the following summer. Spread: The sluggish nature and stay-at-home tendencies of the fly make it a very poor migrant — it spreads very slowly on its own initiative. It may con- fine its attack to a single tree in an orchard for a few years before spreading to the neighbouring trees. As to how the insect has extended its range in this Province I can only offer theories. A considerable amount of Apple Maggot infested fruit is barreled and shipped. Maggots emerging from such fruit naturally pupate in the barrels, and so most probably the pest has been disseminated to a very large extent as pupae in barrels. Housewives may be held responsible for the introduction of the Railroad "Worm into some orchards in the following way: Infested apples are bought at the market, taken home, many of them on account of their 6 woody nature prove to be worthless and are thrown into the back yard and here they become a source of infection to the trees in the neighbourhood. I believe that strong winds may be instrumental in the spread of the pest, but I can only base this belief on purely circumstantial evidence, which evidence I have not time to give you now . Control: The most reliable remedial measure which I can yet offer you is the gathering and the destroying of the fallen fruit. Now this does not mean that drops have to be picked up every day. I am satisfied that if the summer apples are picked up twice every week, the fall apples every week and the later varieties once every two or three weeks that an infested orchard will be freed from this pest. I have found that a very high percentage of the larvae in early apples mature and leave the fruit, and also that an exceedingly high percentage of them in the winter varieties perish in the fruit; so my advice to all, who are troubled with this pest, is, attend very carefully to the destruction of summer and fall i drops/ (This work need not be commenced in the eastern counties until the second last week of July or so.) This control work can, of course, be done by keeping hogs, sheep or other stock in the orchard, but now, when evaporators are paying as much as from 40 to 60c. per hundred for ' drops,' even fallen apples are too valuable to be given to stock — pick them up and take them to the Evaporator. (I believe that the owners of evaporators are unconsciously doing a magnificent work in the control of this pest. Fruit growers are finding that this trade in c drops' and 'culls' is sufficiently remunerative to more than pay for the time and labor expended in picking up apples. The result is that thousands of infested apples, which otherwise would have propagated and spread the trouble are being destroyed every year. I have on different occasions gone into evaporators in Durham and Hastings and have found ( railroad' apples). Poultry: As I know from experience chickens are remarkably fond of the pupae; or in the case of a small infested orchard, it would be an excellent plan to cultivate the orchard and convert it into a poultry run. Cultivation : Shallow cultivation has often been recommended as a remedial measure. It was given a trial this year but did not give very satisfactory results ; however, I shall give it another trial before I lose faith in it altogether. Spraying: A certain investigator in the States puts forward the claim that he has had splendid success in controlling this pest with a sweetened, poisonous 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 21 spray mixture. However, I do not want to advocate spraying until it has been thoroughly tested. Mr. Caesar and myself hope to try several spray mixtures next year, and our success or failure in this connection will be found in the Railroad Worm Bulletin which Mr. Caesar hopes to publish next year. ' Varieties Attacked and Degree of Infestation : In regard to the varieties attacked and their degree of infestation I would say that Harvests, Sweets, Snows and Spies are probably the worst attacked in Ontario. I have listed over thirty varieties which I have found pest-ridden, and I am inclined to think that no variety is exempt from attack. Acid varieties are very much less subject to attack than sub-acid and sweet apples. The Orchards Infested: In my season's work I noticed that all infested orchards with which I came in contact were in that class known as the " Neglected. " This has also been Mr. Caesar's experience, so we are almost forced to the conclusion that in some way, unknown to us, good orchard practice keeps the Railroad Worm away. The President: What is the result of working by late fall plowing; will} it bury the pupae enough to keep it there ? Mr. Ross: No; late fall plowing could not possibly bury it deep enough. I have known it to be buried as deep as fifteen inches and come up again. A Member: Wouldn't the application of lime have some effect? Mr. Caesar : The application of lime might be of value if it were put on very thick, still I think that on the whole there is very little to be hoped for from the application of lime; so far as moth is concerned I do not think there is anything to be looked for there. A Member : What about salt ? Mr. Caesar: I do not think salt would do any good. The Department at Toronto has promised me a man, and we will have another season's work on it; it takes two years to find out results; we thought by next year that we could prove that we have destroyed it in one orchard which we have outside. It is almost all over this Province from Lennox to Welland. There is something, however, in the care of orchard. There seems to me to be something in this apart altogether from the cider factories which make it well worth a man's while to pick up his fallen fruit from the time they are a fair size, and I believe that any man with a little work can rid his orchard of them. Mr. Ross: Mr. Dempsey has been picking up drops regularly, and has been successful in getting rid of them. A Member : Won't it do with more cultivation ? Mr. Ross : I am not sure about that. Mr. Caesar : Mr. Dempsey has a nice orchard near the lake, and it has been affected, and there are others along the lake that have been affected; but there are a number a little bit back from the lake, and it has not gone there, showing how sluggish the creature is and how little inclined to fly. Mr. Dempsey undertook to get rid of it by destroying the trees ; there were only two trees in Mr. Dempsey' s and we detected another in Mr. Peck's, the only one. Prof. O'Kane was working on this for two years; he sprayed two or three badly infested ones thirteen times, using arsenate of lead, and found the sprayed trees had scarcely any perceptible difference. On the other hand, Mr. Ainsworth of Cornell is of the opinion that arsenate will destroy them. We don't want to say that arsenate of lead will destroy it, until we have another season at it. THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 — * Me. Brodie: Did you ever try turning hogs into the orchard? Mr. Ross: Yes; that will succeed if you have enough of them to eat them all up. Mi;. Ross: Alter all, the only apples you have to look after are the summer and fall drops. A Member: Are they ever in the small apples that drop off in June? Mb, Ross: No; they do not appear until July. Tin-: Secretary: Mr. Ross is going to work next year with Dr. Hewitt and I think the doctor can give us some information. Dr. Hewitt: The work which has been done is by no means worthless, but it is not so valuable as those results which come from repetition of that work. That work has to be repeated and repeated until we have either confirmation or con- tradiction of your previous results; then that work is more than trebly valuable for that reason : we hope to be able to continue that work and make further experiments in conjunction with our researches regarding the curculio. There are one or two points which have been raised in this paper. The first is that it has been found that the maggot pupates at varying depths from one and a half to more than six inches ; but if you turn the maggots under deeper than that you will find, I am pretty confident, that the flies will be able to emerge. I think that they can emerge from a greater depth, for this reason. Some time ago we made experiments with the house fly,. and we ascertained beyond doubt that it could and did emerge from a depth of six feet of sand, and even at this depth the fly was able to come up ; so I do not think we need look for much success from any process of burying. Mr. Ross also touched on the question of spraying with sweetened arsenic which he said had been practised in the States. No work has been done in this country as yet. In South Africa we have had a number of these flies; but I do not think it originated there; it really originated in Italy. A Mr. O'Mara in the employ of the South African Government tried sweetened arsenic and was able to control it very effectively. You take the arsenic and sweeten it with molasses or something of that sort; you do not spray the whole tree, you just spray the four sides just before the emerging of the flies, and the result is that the flies, When they come out, are at first attracted by this sweetened arsenic and eat the leaves that are poisoned before they deposit their maggots. We hope to obtain the same satisfactory results as our further investigations along that line will show. I do not think Mr. Ross mentioned this, that apart from the fact that we know that we have the greatest trouble in neglected orchards we have a number of these very flies inhabiting the native fruits. As long as you have quantities of native fruits growing in the neighbourhood of your orchards you will have great difficulty in controlling this pest. There is a difference of opinion as to the introduction of this fly into Canada. Some say that it was introduced into Canada; others do not think it was; they say it is a native of Canada, and it was in the native fruits. It simply shows the very wide character of the investigation that is required in dealing with pests of this character. A Member: This Railroad Worm is something that is going to be hard to get rid of. It has spread pretty well all over. You take it in a town, and nearly all the orchards are neglected. You cannot turn hogs into two or three trees; we cannot plow or cultivate it; consequently they are what you call neglected trees. Unless there is some way of picking up this fruit, and unless it was made com- pulsory, it would be almost impossible to get rid of it. It is not quite so bad 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 23 this year as it was last year. It has spread all over our town, and there are a great many orchards affected by it. If the grass is long in the orchard it is almost im- possible to pick the apples np. At that stage when the apples are on the tree they are hardly worth picking for evaporating. A Member : How does that sweetened arsenic answer on plums ? Dr. Hewitt: We have not carried on very much work in connection with the plum curculio. I do not think it would be any use to spray curculio with arsenic. The plum curculio sticks its proboscis into the fruit and therefore you would have to poison the fruit to really kill the curculio. This is just the same difficulty that we have with the aphis. THE CARE OF NEGLECTED ORCHARDS. W. F. Kydd, Simcoe. My work for the last two years has been looking after neglected orchards for the Ontario Government in the Georgian Bay district. Last year I was sent from Penetang, through Orillia, Barrie and clear across till I struck Walkerton, and with the: exception of three or four I did not see one that you could say had any care; some, of course, were better than others. In the County of Simcoe they have 12,000 acres of apple trees, and I think they won't average more than $25 an acre profit, and it would be a very simple thing for these men to average $100 an acre. We took several orchards, for instance one belonging to a man named Osborne. He never had more than $50 for his orchard per acre, and last year he had $225. There is another man named Hamilton; he had averaged $250; last year he re- ceived $510, and this year he has received so far $1,225 for the same orchard that he never got more than $250 for in previous years. (Applause.) I know of very few crops that will pay as well as an apple orchard. What, then, is needed to make these orchards pay? The first thing is manure. You can take these neglected orchards and you can prune and spray them from now till dooms- day, and you will never have anything worth while to show for your work. It takes all the life that there is in the ground to hear a crop this year, and there is nothing left to form a basis for a crop next year. The next thing is pruning. I know the best orchard districts in Ontario, and you can go through these well-cared for orchards and how many of these trees in these orchards will you say are thoroughly pruned? I remember one orchard in particular, and I do not know any trees anywhere that got as much pruning as these did; many thought we had cut them far too much; but I would not be at all afraid of any man thinning a tree too much; that is, the small stuff. Then, again, you must prune in time; you often hear men say that you must prune in June, but if it is small stuff I say prune it while you can. They tell us in our pruning that we must cut that little sprout off so close to the shoulder that there is no shoulder left. I know of nothing that is superior for this work than these long-handled pruners. I know with these that you leave a shoulder, but if you do not, how are you going to cut if off — it takes too much time. Only see that you prune enough. There is a light handled pruning saw, 24 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 and if you have not seen it I strongly advise you to get one; the blade is only about half an inch wide, and it will certainly cut through a stick quickly, and one beauty of it is that it will run a season without sharpening. Then, the next thing is spraying. Of course, you are agreed about spraying. There may be some of you who believe that you can get more apples without spray- ing, but you cannot get them free from scab, and I doubt very much if you can get them free from worms. 1 know a man who does not spray and there is no scab, but every third apple has a worm in it. Then, as to cultivation. If I had come before you three months ago I would have said it was almost a stern necessity to cultivate; but I won't go as far as that now, for one of the finest crops of apples I have seen this year had not been cultivated for years ; but he had manured it most thoroughly and kept his branches very low. There may be some of you present who have read a bulletin published by the New York State people at Geneva, speaking of a fertilized orchard. That bulletin certainly proves that in their case they got no results whatever by fertilizing an orchard; there the trees that got nothing had just as big a crop as those that were fertilized. But if you go into the thing, what did they start with — first rate agricultural land that had been in a high state of cultivation, and then they planted their trees there, and the land in all its previous history had been getting richer and not poorer. They analyzed that land and they found that there was nitrogen enough in it for 280 years and enough potash for 100 years, and of course, when you have land like that, you do not need these things. You men that are growing apples in Ontario, don't think that you can do that sort of thing. I believe that in any kind of ground that you should plant clover or cowpeas, and you have got to fertilize your orchard to get "big crops. Now, I know one orchard that has not been without a big crop year after year, because they have been feeding and fattening hogs, and the land is so rich that you could not hardly help but grow fruit. There are certain men that I have met in Ontario that do not believe much in pruning: there are some men who, to look at their trees, believe in pruning them all to poles. I know of lots of orchards where you cannot find an apple within fourteen or fifteen feet of the ground. But that is not the way to prune to ensure a good crop of apples. Now, there is one kind of pruning I like, and that is to thin the outside of our trees. It is a simple thing to stand on the inside at the trunk, and to cut up as high as you can reach, but it is quite a labour to get up and cut on the out- side. These high trees that we have so many of I would recommend you to cut some off the tops, and be careful to prune these sprouts in the proper place, and it won't be long till you have apple branches appearing again where they should never have been cut off and filling up the vacant spaces. Now, about this cultivation. I think it very much depends in what locality this cultivation is carried on. In the north we stop cultivation in the last of June; further south, you can go on later. I think in a year like this it won't very much matter. Now, care in handling of this fruit. I believe that on the whole we are not careful in the handling of our fruit, not half careful enough. It is often marked and bruised before it goes into the barrel. This year we tried to get a few apples 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 25 to bring to the Toronto show, and we gave instructions for them to be more than careful in the handling of them. We found, in spite of this, that most of the Spies, were bruised, and most of that was entirely due to the careless handling of the pickers. I think the time has come that we should box more of our fruit. Take our fine apples; we certainly should box more of them. The Mac- intosh Red is an apple that is being planted largely in Western Ontario, and I have come to the conclusion that it should never see a barrel. I believe it ought always to be boxed, and I am glad to see so many well packed boxes. A year or two ago there were very few boxes packed; but now it seems to me it would be a strange thing if there was any country under the sun could put upon the markets of this or any other country any finer or better packed fruit than we are able to do now — than we have in our show. There is just one more point I want to make. We want, if possible, to put a good deal more honour into our apple barrels or apple boxes than we have put in the past. I met a man in the Walker House the other day, and we got into con- versation. He asked me if we were putting up any better apples here than we used to. It appears he had given some association an order for a few barrels of apples, and he had given them particular instructions that the apples were to be good all through, as good in the middle as at the ends. He said that both ends of the barrels were all right, but they were very poor in the middle. There is nothing that has advanced in Ontario by leaps and bounds like the apple industry. More spray pumps have been used this year than were ever used before. If you will take the list of exhibits that we have and examine them you will come to the conclusion, as I have, that we need not fear the world if we will only put our intelligence into it. There is lots of money in it. ORCHARD METHODS THAT ARE BRINGING RESULTS. Prof. J. W. Crow, O.A.C., Guelph. It seems that these two subjects are nearly similar. I was very glad when I heard Mr. Kydd speak, for he drew my attention to one of the points which I had in mind to offer to you at this time. I was asked to present to you some of the results of the orchard survey work which has been carried on for the last three years by the Provincial Department of Agriculture. We have made a series of careful ob- servations of orchards in the Lake Huron district, in the Niagara district, in a portion of the county of Prince Edward, and also in the county of Simcoe, and have placed good reliable men in these districts who have made what is practic- ally a house to house canvass of these localities, and have secured a certain in- formation as to their actual condition and prosperity or otherwise of the orchard industry. I may also say to you that the material prepared by these men will be issued shortly by the Department of Agriculture, and any of you who may desire to read it can procure it from the Department. I find that I cannot give you to-day a complete review of the work of the orchard survey men, but there are one or two things I would like especially to bring out. The question of the fertilization of the orchard is one that I had in mind. I meet this question almost every day. I was asked about it this morning *6 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 by a man who found his fruit crops less than a year ago, whether or not I thought it would be advisable for him to use in his orchard potash or phosphate of soda. His orchard is in probably only a fair state of cultivation; I know it has not been for several years in a high state of cultivation. There seems to be some reason, I do not know why, that a man keeps putting that question off until he finds that his orchard is not producing the results that he thinks it ought to pro- duce. Our Professor of Chemistry received the other day a box of soil, several pounds, taken from an orchard, and there was a letter accompanying giving us some information and asking this same question, as to what he could apply to this soil that would make it produce year after year large crops of perfect apples. Of course, no professor can tell you exactly what it requires, for the simple reason that he cannot form an accurate estimate of the quantities of each one of the things that the trees need to have. It is true that he may be able to say that there is potash enough to last 170 years, but if the trees cannot use it, it is of no value to them; there may be phosphoric acid enough to last 150 years, but the trees cannot use it now; the chemist does not know and he cannot tell. It is safe to say that in order to have large fruit in good condition, there must be large quantities of plant food in the air or in soluble form. We do not realize yet what is possible through cultivation in the direction of liberating these sup- plies of plant food for the use of the trees. A couple of weeks ago I was in an orchard composed of good agricultural soil, somewhere between a clay loam and a clay, but the quantity of the fertilizers that have been applied there have been applied to no advantage; they have not paid, and it has been done at a loss. There has been a large amount of excellent fertilizers applied to many orchards, but I believe that all above a certain quantity have not been productive of results. I have a copy of a bulletin I received recently from an experimental station in New Hampshire. They took charge at that New Hamsphire station of an orchard of 700 trees, and divided them into ten plots and have treated them differently in regard to fertilization and cultivation. They find that the method of treatment which gives the best results is cul- tivation in the early part of the season. They sow crimson clover and turn that in early in the spring, and that method has given good results. In fact, it has given better results than with fertilizers in addition, although I do not know why that should be; but, at any rate, they got their best results with thorough clean cultivation with a cover crop added. Regarding the actual fertilizer constituents there is, first of all, nitrogen. It is entirely possible to supply all the nitrogen that the trees need in the form of cover crops, such as, for instance, the crimson clover. I am perfectly satisfied that there are numerous orchards in this Province that receive too much barn- yard manure. As regards the other constituents, potash and phosphoric acid, I wish to make a positive statement, because I have so often to answer this question. Men who have been growing fruit for years will ask about the use of commercial phosphorus. In some cases I know their orchards are neglected with regard to cultivation, prob- ably standing in 6od, and except for fertilizers had little attention. The first thing to do is to cultivate your orchard thoroughly. I think that 99 per cent, of us do not realize what efficient orchard cultivation means; we have got spraying down to a much finer point in this Province than we have orchard cultivation. Orchard cultivation must be done at the right time, and done well. 1912 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 87 _ — ___ __ , — \ It is a very simple matter to spend a lot of money in commercial phosphorus and other things of that nature ; it takes money to buy them, and if you are not going to get any increased return there is of course no use and no sense in using them. The first thing to do is to give your orchard the best cultivation possible ; and after that, if it is not in efficiency what we think it ought to be, consider the fertilizer question. Now, nitrogen produces, as you all know, an abundance of leafy growth, if present in excess; it produces green fruit and a late ripening of the fruit. I have seen this in numerous cases following an application of large quantities of stable manure. 1 believe that in ordinary soil five tons to the acre per year is abundance; I know orchards that receive ten tons, and some receive even more, and my private opinion is that these extra tons were wasted. This is in line with some experiments that were conducted some years ago to measure the effects of differing quantities of manure. The results of cultivation stood at 108, those of a normal application being valued at 10,0, and the results of an excess ap- plication also being valued at 100. From this we conclude that the excess quantity did not produce any extra result, and was therefore wasted. This is the result of fifteen years' careful experiments, and shows the extreme value of thorough cultivation, and that there is no value in an excess of manure. Proper cultivation of the soil is one of the means of liberating the chemicals in the soil; there are other means that do this, and one of these is under drainage. The apple soils of the province range from a very light sand to a heavy clay, but the bulk are loam soils. I find in the county of Northumberland a great many of the fruit growers have told me that their soil is heavy clay loam, some with a large per- centage of sand, and a great many of them run from sand to sandy loam, and the sand soils, the sandy loams and the clay loams are giving the best results in that county. When apples are grown on the heavier soils these are apt to bind, and this gives rise to the necessity for underdrainage. It was found- that wherever an orchard stood with part of the trees in a low spot there was a decided difference in the appearance of the trees. It is well known, of course, that winter injury strikes the low places first. It is well known that under-drainage is an important matter in agriculture and in the care of trees, and our fruit growers are beginning to learn more and more of the importance of it. On these clay loam soils any one would almost be able to see that under-drainage would be required unless there is a very decided slope. And I certainly feel like recommending under-drainage unless there is a good slope. That always would not be the case, for there are clay soils that are underlaid by gravel and under-drainage is not necessary there. When you put in a drain — and it should be three or four feet down — you keep that soil in first-class condition, and you prevent it puddling and getting hard; you let the trees get all there is for them to get and you keep that soil fertile and rich, and by that draining the roots of the trees can probably go down a foot, eighteen inches or two feet; if you give the roots a chance they will go to a great depth to provide themselves with what they need if the conditions are right, and they can secure large quantities of plant food, and the roots will extend a great distance from side to side and will also go down. There is another method of securing the liberation of this invaluable plant food, and that is the ordinary farm practice of fall plowing. Fall plowing is re- commended for fruit crops as well as for other crops, and I do not know exactly what I should say regarding it. I notice that in certain parts of the Province, especially in the county of Norfolk, fall plowing is practised every year. Of course, THE REPOfiT OF THE No. 32 the idea is that the soil is finely pulverized by frost and the plant food is thereby liberated, and the trees get a larger supply of it than they otherwise would. There is one other point in connection with fall plowing. You can get better results if the cultivation of the orchard is begun as early in spring as possible, as soon as the land is in first-class condition. I do not mean to say that the apple orchard should wait until you can get to it after the rest of the spring work is done, I mean that it should be done just as soon as the orchard soil is fit to work. We have not been able any year to get our orchard plowed as early as I should like. We have been anywh re from one week to five weeks behind, and I can see that it would be a great benefit to the trees, and I believe it should be culti- vated as early in the spring as possible. Mr. J. H. Hale, the veteran peach grower, states that the first month's culti- vation is more important than any other cultivation that you can do. If you can cultivate the first month, do so, and if you have only one month in which you can cultivate let it be the first month in the spring. Begin to cultivate as early as the soil will work; that is when the good work is done. Fall plowing is better from the winter standpoint, and I would like to see fall plowing practised so that spring cultivation could start when it ought to start. I have very frequently heard it said that fall plowed land freezes to a greater depth than if it were not plowed. I think that is a mistake. I know a number of men, to whom I have mentioned the matter, think that fall plowed land does not freeze as deeply as if it were not plowed, for the simple reason that opening up that soil lets in more or less air into the top layer and air is the best insulator you can have, and it does not seem to me that the roots of the trees will suffer as much on fall plowed land. The only thing is that fall plowed land does not hold the snow, and I can see that in an orchard where the wind gets a fair sweep at it it would be very much better to have a cover crop on there. But where an orchard is protected by windbreaks from any extra sweep of the wind I would not be at all alarmed about fall plowing. When you want to get on that land in the spring it is soft, and you cannot draw the load that you otherwise would. I find that in New York State they are using a type of waggon which they say is very successful for that particular case, which they call a handy waggon; it has a solid wooden wheel 12 inches wide. The widest I have seen here is about six inches, and a six inch tire on a wheel is a pretty heavy article for him to draw, for it sinks down under and the earth closes up over the the top of it and it has to be dragged out. I think the height of the wheet is only 20 or 22 inches. They say that on wet, soft land in the early spring it is very successful, for being solid the dirt does not get on top of it. I am glad to have been able to present to you these points on orchard cultiva- tion, and I will try to give any further information that I can. The President: What kind of cultivation do you use or advise? Prof. Crow: In an ordinary orchard you might use the ordinary tools. In a low-headed orchard there are certain special types of orchard implements which are required. We used to use a spading harrow specially built for orchard work and which we lil d very much indeed. We formerly used a gang plow. For getting under low headed trees they are not satisfactory; there it is best to use the extension type of harrow. These are very largely used and they will plow four feet wide and work six feet away from the off horse. It will 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 29 work the ground easily at that distance and will do it very satisfactorily, and it will throw the earth either towards the trees or away from them. We use them in working round the trees. Mk. Smith : But if your trees are full grown that will only reach half way ? Prof. Crow : Yes, but it is still better than the gang plough. A Member : These full grown trees that you cannot reach, what would you do with them; what method of cultivation would you adopt to get under them? Prof Crow : How large are your trees ? A Member : Thirty-five or forty feet apart and they reach pretty near together. You cannot get completely up to them even with an extension disc. Prof. Crow : What height are the trees headed to ? A Member: About three feet. The branches of these low headed trees come closer to the ground. Prof. Crow : If you are starting an orchard and wish to have the heads low, you can train them in such a way that they will interfere with cultivation scarcely at all. I have seen an orchard fifteen years old where cultivation was carried on right up to the trunk of the tree. A Member: How close to the tree? Prof. Crow: A foot at least. We fall plowed our own orchard at Guelph last week. I have investigated the matter of fall plowing, and I have taken the question with our Professor of Soil Physics, and with our Professor of Chemistry, and with every fruit grower I could meet who had an opinion on the matter, and the only objection I could find that fall plowed land might not hold the snow. Out side of that, if your orchard is not fully exposed to the wind I do not know any reason why it should not be all right. Don't understand me as recommending fall plowing. I am merely suggesting it, and I should certainly like to see it tried. Fall plowing in an old orchard might do an injury, although it might have been injured just the. same if it had been plowed in the spring. I certainly do think that the question of fall plowing is worth taking up, apart from the question of getting on the land early in the spring. Mr. Dickinson : In a well protected orchard would you recommend fall plow- ing in preference to leaving a cover crop — would you leave that or would you plow? Prof. Crow: What locality are you in? Mr. Dickinson: Wenworth County, and the soil is clay loam. Prof. Crow : I would fall plow. When the ground is covered with a cover crop I am quite satisfied that from the standpoint of frost protection that it does as much good when it is plowed in, except that it does not hold the snow; frost is kept out of the ground by anything which insulates and prevents the passage of heat from the soil. Anything which prevents the loss of heat keeps that soil warm, and does not let it freeze down. Simply plowing the soil loosens up the top layer four inches and works into that top layer a quantity of air. The cover crop plowed in is just the same. It permits the passage of air into the soil, and has all the effect of an insulator, except that it does not hold the snow. I have no hesitation in saying that a cover crop is just as good under the ground as it is on top. Mr. Dickinson : If you protect your orchard you will not have trouble with the snow blowing off. A very small percentage of apples blow off. I sold my orchard to a man who packs it and sells it, and he has to take that chance. They 30 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 quite overrun my estimate, and they did that in 6pite of the winds that blow on it in two directions; but. as I told you, we have it pretty well protected. Prof. Crow : I have heard several men say that there was a very slight loss from heavy winds due to the protection. That has been well tested last season; we have had winds such as have not been experienced for years, and the orchards in some situations lost pretty near half the crop. It is a matter of dollars and cents, and the tree is injured not only by the actual quantity of apples which may be blown off, but in other ways. I have seen the tips of the leaves burned crisp and brown from a strong wind in a hot day in summer, and this injury, not only from the loss of the apples, means that the leaf-area is reduced perhaps one-half, and this must be a very serious injury to the tree. It may seem a far cry from windbreaks to fall plowing and the proper cultivation of orchard soils, but they are all essential. Dr. Riggs: I have an orchard of about 375 trees, mostly Baldwins. "We did some fall plowing, about half of it, and we found that those that we plowed early in the season are good and those that were plowed in the fall are not so good. Prof. Crow: "What cultivation was given this season? Dr. Riggs : They were cultivated this season. Prof. Crow : About what time ? Dr. Riggs: As early as we could. I could not tell just when it was. It was shortly after the first spraying. The whole orchard received the same treatment, and half of it was plowed late in the fall, and the apple were very, very small. You eould notice the line of difference between them. Prof. Crow : Are you satisfied that the orchard had high class cultivation this season Dr. Riggs : It is the same orchard that I wrote you about. Prof. Crow: Yes, I remember. Dr. Riggs: The whole orchard received the same treatment throughout, and it had been fertilized the same way, and yet a lot of this fruit was hardly fit to pick. A Member : How deep did you plow ? Perhaps you cut your feeder roots by plowing too deeply. Prof. Crow: There is one point that I think some of these gentlemen have in mind. In spring plowing you do not plow so deeply as you do in the fall, because the land is not dry. Probably you plowed deeper in the fall than you did in the spring. A Member: Is water a good conductor of heat? Prof. Crow: No, water is not. A Member: "Would moisture held by the fall plowing have a tendency to pre- vent frost going into the soil? Prof. Crow: You notice that the land that is least affected by frost is the low spots, where the land is wet. A Member : I noticed that. Prof. Crow: "Water is warmer and harder to freeze than the soil is. Had this orchard been cultivated in previous years or not? A Member: It was in a very fair state of cultivation; you said it was good. Another Member: I saw the orchard spoken of. I saw it this summer, and my impression was that it had not been cultivated very much. Apparently it was 1912 FEUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 31 injured by plowing; part of it was not plowed till early in the spring. There was quite a lot of apples on what was plowed in the fall; but I could see at the time that it looked as if plowing late in the fall had been the means of causing injury by last winter's severe frost— that there had been winter injury. Prof. Crow: Do I understand you to say that it was fall plowed? A Member: The bloom had set very heavily and the apples looked good till they were the size of walnuts, but there were more apples on the unplowed por- tion than on the plowed. Prof. Crow: Mr. Smith brings up the question of danger to trees because of late plowing. There certainly is danger in fall plowing; but if the plowing is done so late in the season that there is no danger of starting a second growth I do not think there would be. In November or the last week in October I should think it would be entirely impossible to start trees growing by cultivating them. A Member: I plowed a young orchard — at least, it was about fifteen years old — and it seems to me that that makes the best cover crop that you can put on. It prevents freezing, and you get good results. Mr. E. D. Smith : Is it not possible that the fall plowing was done too deep ? A Member: I did all my work in the fall, and I think it is the best time. I will guarantee that the frost will not penetrate into the fall plowed ground as far as it will into the ground that is not plowed. I have tested that. I took a crowbar and tested it. I found four inches of frost in ground that was fall plowed and eight inches on ground that was not plowed, and if the fruit growers here will only test that I think they will find that I am right. I remember once digging a drain, and we used to loosen up with the shovel every night before we quit the surface of the ground for sixteen or eighteen rods, as far as we were likely to dig the next day and leave the loose earth on it, and all we had to do in the morning was to shovel this off and go right on. A Member : I think this question of fall plowing is a very important one. In our section we have tried fall plowing very thoroughly, and we have found that there are very many great advantages in it, and we cannot see so far that there are disadvantages. We find that you can get on the land very much sooner in the spring, and in the dry season it is very beneficial to have the land well fall plowed. Mr. Robertson : Does Prof. Crow think there is any great advantage in wind- breaks except in exposed locations? Prof. Crow: What is your objection, Mr. Robertson? Mr. Robertson: I have one apple tree, so I cannot speak for them, but I have cherries. I notice we gather better fruit where the wind blows through and they bear best where the wind is not cut off. I sprayed with a stiff compound of arsenate of lead, and I had more apples hanging on my one apple tree, and no fungus disease, and they hung later through these wind storms than any my neigh- bours had. Prof. Crow : How far apart are your trees ? Mr. Robertson : About 20 feet. Prof. Crow : I am very glad you mentioned that. Where the trees are close together and there is none too good a circulation of air, you are apt to have fungus diseases like the brown rot. Cherries rot very quickly, and the mildew on grapes is along the same line, and all these diseases flourish best where there is no move- ment of air. Still, I would not say that a wind-break would be a disadvantage in this case; you are growing cherries and not apples. 32 THE REPOfiT OF THE No. 32 A Member : 1 think we ought to realize that orchards ought to be planted much further apart than we have been in the habit of doing. A Member : Is there any pronounced difference so far as bloom is concerned between trees that are fall plowed and trees that are not. Prof. Crow : I do not think there is much difference. If they are too much protected you will find it will do harm. There are situations, without any doubt, where a windbreak would be advisable and there are some where you do not want it. One essential with regard to an apple orchard is that you have a movement of air through each branch. If you have an orchard that stands in a low spot you want all the movement of air that you can get, but you do not pick out such a spot to put your orchard on; it ought to be on the high land or on a slope. In some cases it is necessary to cut away a part of the windbreak to allow a circula- tion of air. You want something that will just moderate its force, rather than check it entirely. There are some cases where you want only a fairjy slight wind- break; other cases where you want all you can get. You can use hardwood trees that shed their leaves in the winter. Mr. Dempsey: As far as I can ascertain any one that plowed in our district came out with the trees nearly all dead. Prof. Crow : You are thinking of the winter of 1903 and 1904. I cannot give you that information; you had a better chance than I had of observing on that point. A Member: Doesn't that arise from the orchards being cultivated too late? I know a man in Peterborough County who cultivated his orchard through Octo- ber and it was scarcely any wonder that he lost his trees. Mr. Dempsey: We required to cultivate a little later in 1903. A Member: You had peculiar conditions in that fall. I would be scared to death to plow in my orchard in the fall; I would not do it for anybody. A Member: I plow my orchard in the fall. I am in Durham County, it was remarkable for late growth. I had quite a number of trees injured where the snow blew off. Any other winter they came through all right. I am about four miles from the lake. Mr. J. W. Smith: There is a question that I would like to ask. I under- stood you to say that you plowed late in the fall, but the snow blows off? A Member: That is right. Mr. J. W. Smith : Do they freeze in the top or in the roots. If they froze in the tops it would not be the fall plowing that would have that effect, it would be the summer cultivation that was too late. A Member: I remember well when a great many of my trees were lost; they were all root killed ; the trees blossomed all right in the spring. 1 have always used lots of manure in the fall, and they blossomed beautifully, but they died from root killing. Unless you have a cover crop this will be so. Nobody would ever think of leaving their land bare. 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 33 FEDERAL SUPERVISION OF INSECT PESTS. Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, Ottawa. This is done in three ways, by legislation, by investigation, and by education. These are the three branches of the work which we have to do, but I shall only be able to deal with the first of these to-day, namely, what can be done by legislation. As many of you know we had in Canada up to 1910 a law known as the San Jose Scale Act, in which fumigating stations were established in different ports of entry and as a certain class of nursery stock came through these ports it was treated and fumigated with hydrocyanic acid so as to kill all the insects which happened to be on it. I think that the value of that legislation is very great and we got good results from it, because, although I think the act was introduced in 1898 the San Jose Scale had already got into Canada, still it never spread to any extent sub- sequent to that date. Where the scale has been introduced into Canada since that date the cases are few and far between compared with the condition of things prior to that legislation. After that we were confronted with a more serious menace; it is all very well to legislate against one pest, but when you understand that practically fifty per cent, are pests which have been introduced from other countries you will see the danger we run. Canada being a new country and opening up rapidly will likely import large quantities of nursery stock and consequently in the interests of the fruit growers and nursery men and florists it was necessary to protect ourselves against all pests. In 1909 we discovered that there was danger that the Brown Tailed Moth and the Gypsy Moth would be introduced into Canada, and those of you who have been in the New England States and have seen their ravages, need no words of mine to know what a great danger this would be. For some time action was taken against them, but owing to what must be considered a rather short sighted policy on the part of the State officials that action was discontinued. Con- sequently the Gypsy Moth spread from an area of two or three hundred square miles to an area of three thousand square miles in a very short time. Now, when you understand that the State of Massachuetts alone has spent over a million dollars a year in an attempt to drive these two insects out you will realise the importance of the prevention of their introduction into this country. We discovered one of these insects, the Brown Tailed Moth, in a shipment which came from France. It spins a small web at the end of a twig, and in these it hibernates; some of these webs contain from 150 to 300, and in some sections where the pest has now established itself we found some of these winter nests con- taining over 1,800 caterpillars,, which enables you to realise the danger of having these winter nests brought into Canada from Europe. We had no power to inspect nursery stock. In 1910 the Destructive Insect Pest Act was passed, and this gave us power to inspect and fumigate nursery stock the same as was given in the old San Jose Scale Act, also to inspect stock from Europe, Japan and the eastern States, where it is already prevalent, and also gave us the power which we had not before of entering places for inspection. It°also provided for compensation to the importers of the stock for any stock which had to be destroyed in order to carry out the provisions of this act, for in the case of European stock the best and safest policy is to burn up the whole case. In the following year, 1910 we were empowered to carry on that inspection, and we inspected some 2% million plants and discovered 310 nests of the Brown 3 f.g: 31 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 Tailed Moth. We took up the matter with the French nursery men who were exporting this stock with the result that the French government have instituted a form of nursery inspection. Nevertheless, we cannot rely on Government inspection on the other side, because we have found that stock coining from Belgium bearing the inspector's certificate had in it nests of the Brown Tailed Moth; we have found ten nests in a case bearing this certificate. This last season we inspected over four million plants, and this year, I am sorry to say that we have the first record of the intro- duction of the Gypsy Moth, for in a shipment of azaleas from Belgium we found three pupae of the Gypsy Moth. Any one who is importing nursery stock has to go through certain forms. When they are importing that stock they have to send me a notice within five days after despatching that order that they have placed that order and giving me the details. Then when that stock is shipped the importer sends me another report, and in that way we can trace up any shipment of stock that comes into Canada. By arrangement with the Customs collectors we are informed of the stock coming in, and in that way we make arrangements for our inspectors to inspect it. The inspector then goes to the importer and the importer is not permitted to unpack that stock except in the presence of the inspector. I am glad to say that in the carrying out of the provisions of this Act wherever these regulations have been complied with, that the whole work has gone on very smoothly, and the whole thing works as simply as clockwork. We have had no difficulty at all with the importers. Difficulties which have arisen have arisen through the importers not notifying us, and going on to unpack the stock without an inspector being present. I remember a shipment which was imported from Belgium and the importer immediately unpacked it and re-shipped it to different points in Ontario, without any inspection of it having been made. Of course, he claimed that the inspector would not have arrived in time and the stock would be spoiled, which was quite untrue, for when we finally traced these shipments up and inspected them, we found some of them which had not been unpacked for two days after they had been received and they were in a perfectly fresh condition. That is the way we carry on this inspection, and that is the way we endeavour to have this imported stock free from these insects, the Brown Tailed Moth and the Gypsy Moth. Of course you are well acquainted with fumigating work, and this work is now carried on in a great many sections of the country. The Brown Tailed Moth is found in Nova Scotia, and in 1907 they started killing the winter nests during the winter. Last year the Dominion Government took over the work, and now we carry on this work in co-operation with the Provincial Government. They supply an equal number of men to what we do, and through the winter we go through the whole country, especially King's county, Annapolis, and Yarmouth counties, and scour the whole country for the nests of the Brown Tailed Moth. Last year we destroyed about five thousand nests, of which a large number contained over 1,000 caterpillars, and one contained over 1,850. In a great many instances these nests are found in the wild bush, and we endeavour to prevent the insect establishing itself in the bush. This last year we found it in New Brunswick; there were about 100 nests in Charlotte county adjoining Maine. In addition to this method there is another way and we are endeavouring this other method. The reason why the Brown Tailed Moth and the Gypsy Moth spread so rapidly when they were introduced into this country is that when they came they left their natural enemies behind. In 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 35 _ ___ 1 their native localities they are controlled largely by means of their parasites, and whenever there is an increase in the moth there is also an enormous increase in the number of parasites, and thus they are kept under control. When they came here, however, they left their native parasites behind except in a few cases where the native insects have accommodated themselves to conditions here. The only method which the authorities of the United States have adopted is the importing of parasites from the countries from which these pests were introduced. They have arranged with the foreign countries to do this, and in the importation of parasitic material are spending about $100,000 a year, and they hope that these parasites will gradually regain their natural control as in the countries from which they came. In New Brunswick we hope to adopt some similar plan. It is not very abundant in New Brunswick. It has spread in large numbers down the coast of maine, and what we wish to do is to establish the European parasites of the Brown Tailed Moth and the Gypsy Moth in New Brunswick before the insect gets there in very large numbers. We mean to get these parasites which we hope to establish there with our native insects, and when these pests come they will find their parasites there and they will be in a better position to establish some kind of control than if they were not there at all. We have about come to the limit of artificial methods of insect control, and we are going to see if we cannot aid nature in obtaining control by natural methods. We wish to do this before the pest becomes very extensive and it is only a normal condition which we wish to establish. As you see the work which we are doing in no way interferes with or conflicts with the work which the Provincial Government here are carrying on. We leave the work of inspecting of orchards entirely to the Piovincial Governments. They deal with these insects that have come in; we try to prevent them coming in. But of course, we are ready to step in and aid the Provincial Governments in anyway we can. This gives you some idea of the nature of the work we are intending to do in this respect. As the President said this morning we also intend to start out on a new venture in carrying out investigation work through this Province; we have already an office in Ontario and there we intend to establish a station for carrying on investigation as to the apple maggot and the curculio, which occur in the Province. We shall make our work the study of insect pests and their means of control, and will publish the results of our work from time to time among the fruit growers of the Province. The President: Have you found a parasite that will control the codling worm Dr. Hewitt: There was one discovered in California, and an attempt was made to import it into South Africa. Mr. Caesar : Very occasionally you will find a parasite. I have found a fly in the pupae of the codling moth, but these are rare. There is also sometimes the larvae of a little black beetle. The President : Can you do anything to encourage them. • Mr. Caesar : No. By spraying we can control the codling moth. 36 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 THE CAKE OF THE PEACH ORCHARD. F. M. Clement, Dutton. 1 feel that the most difficult task of the day has been assigned to me when I am asked to talk on the Peach before the fathers of the industry. I suggested, when requested to speak on this topic, that one of our Niagara Peninsula growers be asked to take it up, but evidently they were all otherwise engaged. It was my privilege in the summer of 1910, in company with Mr. King, now of the U. S. Department of Entomology, Washington, to complete the Orchard Survey work of the Niagara Peninsula, which was started the previous summer by W. D. Jackson, now District Representative of the Department of Agriculture at Carp, Ont. In all Mr. King and I visited about eight hundred and seventy-five fruit farms and -obtained as clear a working knowledge of them as the owners felt inclined to give us. Sometimes we were received very cordially and were assisted a great deal with the work, at other times the growers were indifferent and apparently felt that we were imposing on their time and patience. However, we saw a great many orchards and collected a great deal of useful information, which has, to a large extent, been carefully written up and will be available to the growers very shortly. It is generally supposed that the only sections of the Province that can grow peaches commercialy, profitably, are the Leamington and Niagara Districts, but such is not the case. Lambton County is fact coming to the front and has in com- mercial orchards now, at least 250,000 trees of various ages. Norfolk County has quite a large acreage, and all along the shore of Lake Erie, on the sand ridges some excellent orchards are to be found. At Sparta, a few miles south-east of St. Thomas, is an orchard equal to the best in Ontario, and I believe in the near future those sections that are now known only as names will be close competitors of the old established districts, especially in the markets of Western Ontario. The greatest drawback to the newer districts is the lack of knowledge and experience in the industry. The prospective planter must depend implicitly on the instructions of the agent. But I am glad to say that in most cases they get a very good grade of trees. There came under my notice this summer an orchard, planted this spring, where the prospective fruit grower ha{ BIS} 11,297 9,247 4,768 o ,10/ 5,080 Yell. \ 8'410\3,430L.P./ 4.20% 3.10% 0.90 (of 1%) 0.60 (of 1%) 0.70 (of 1%) 0.65 (of 1%) 2.70% 1.86% 0.94 (of 1%) 1.49% 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 In 1908 the territory under inspection was increased to about five times the previous areas, containing four times the number of peach trees. A large section of this new was in bad con- dition from Yellows and Little Peach. This work was taken up first eighteen or twenty miles east of Youngstown in a section along the Niagara Kiver, and the reason this section was taken is because it is the big peach growing section in our state. There was a good deal of interest aroused in that section at one time regarding the question of controlling the Yellows and the Little Peach, which was just coming up at that time about ten years ago. I was ordered to take up that work and started out. I knew what the Yellows was, but I was not any more familiar with the disease than many another fruit grower that had not paid any great amount of attention to it at that time. In 1902 that work commenced and that year we inspected about 40 orchards containing about 62,000 trees, and we found that 2,633 had this disease or about 4.2 per cent., and the diseased trees were to be taken out. These were the only Yellow trees. I did not know the Little Peach at that time, and of course did not take any account of it. That year our law was amended so as to include the Little Peach. In 1893 we looked over some 40 orchards containing some 64,000 trees, 2,005, or 3-1 per cent, were taken out. I may say that I recall one orchard, and when we went there the first year we marked four or five trees in every row, and because of sympathy we excepted fifteen or twenty trees that shewed slight signs of Yellows or Little Peach. That was a source of contamination, and all around every one of these trees was a heavy circle of diseased trees. But that brings up another question, namely that of contagious diseases in orchards. In 1904 we increased the number to about fifty orchards and found 829 diseased trees or only about 8-10ths of one per cent. A Member : How many inspections of an orchard do you make in a year ? Mr. VanBuren: These orchards were inspected twice, and as soon as the territory was gone over once the second inspection was begun. The second inspec- tion was not complete; we had not men enough. These orchards which were not 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 61 inspected twice this year, were those in the Lake Shore region which were not bad, and those in which the growers are taking every precaution. Every peach tree in the territory is supposed to be inspected. Inspection begins about a week or ten days before first peaches ripen, usually from July 20th to August 1st. All diseased trees are plainly marked with a hatchet, and a written notice is served upon owners or lessee of premises ordering that trees found diseased be destroyed within ten days after date. This work is carried out under the direc- tion of the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture, and if the findings of his agents are disputed a protest must' be made to said Commissioner in writing within three days of date of service, said protest to act as a stay of proceedings until decided by the Commissioner himself or through authorized agents. I might state that we have never had a protest within the legal time limit, and trees marked have always been taken out except in some instances where overlooked. In some instances because of red tape and lack of help trees ordered destroyed in late summer have not been taken out until following spring, and then sometimes under protest. This work is being done by our inspectors who are regularly employed by the year in nursery, orchard and shipment inspection work. We have temporarily employed some men living in the territory under inspection, they being familiar with the two troubles looked for. We find it very hard to find extra men with the tact and knowledge necessary, as men who know these troubles are apt to be successful peach growers who can not afford to spend their time at the price we can pay. In 1908 the total area was increased about five times by the annexing of adjoining territory. Number of orchards increased from sixty to four hundred and sixty-six and total trees from 115,100 to 418,529. In the area annexed were many orchards badly diseased and in some instances almost all the trees in individual orchards were found diseased and ordered destroyed. This brought up the total percentage to 2.7 per cent., which decreased in 1909 to 1.86 per cent, 191U, to 94 per cent. The past season we have our first real increase in percentage of diseased trees found since this work commenced. The same territory inspected last year gives an increase from 94 per cent, last year or in 1910 to 1.49 per cent, this past season of 1911. This is hard to account for. The territory has not been under my personal supervision the past two years, but I believe the work has been thorough. Trees were marked closer, however, this year, as our men are becoming more expert, and this may account in part for increased percentage. Previous to last year we served notice to destroy within fifteen days, and it was generally understood that we would only insist upon their removal before blossoming next spring. We believe that this is a mistake, and we are ' now serving notice ordering removal within ten days and as soon as possible after final inspection will send a man around to see if marked trees have been removed, and if he reports not, we shall put the matter in the hands of the Attorney- General for prosecution. In large orchards our men take two rows at a time, inspecting carefully all suspicious trees and marking them plainly at once if found diseased. Hale, the Connecticut peach king, three years ago visited the section, looked through many of the orchards, and said he would not have believed that there was a section in the north so free from these two diseases, if 'he had not actually had the chance personally to go through the large orchards and had seen hardly a diseased tree. We have done nothing as yet relative to the finding and destroying of trees effected with these troubles in the nursery. We have not been sure in the past than an affected tree can often, if ever, be detected in the nursery row at one year 62 THE REPOPT OF THE No. 32 old. Evidence is apparently accumulating that some times trees may be budded from a tainted strain, and this may be an important line for investigation and work in the future. Peach growers of Ontario must, and I believe do, realize the importance of these trouble?. I have studied it in the peach-growing sections of the east for the past ten years, and you cannot find a successful commercial peach grower to-day who was producing peaches ten years ago who does not follow the practice of cutting- out diseased trees as soon as found. Our three or four largest and most successful growers take no chances, and often use the ax upon trees that our inspectors would not dare mark, believing they can well sacrifice a few healthy, but suspicious, trees rather than take the chance of allowing a diseased tree to stand for a year or two scattering its contamination in its unknown way. We have three classes of inspectors, the first comes in through the civil service and they receive $60 a month, and they have a chance of promotion up to $1,500 a year, and without any question we have got men who are worth that. A Member : How many inspectors have you now ? Mr. VanBtjren: We have four or five getting $1,500; three getting $1,320; six or eight at $1,200; one at $1,000 and six or eight at $720. Prof. Black says that he is going to go out this winter and will continue in- vestigations as to contaminated strains. He says that he is beginning to believe that he can tell a diseased tree in the nursery stock. Mr. Caesar : I think that is the only way to do ; we tried the same thing. Mr. VanBuren: That was Graham's object. Graham declared that Yellows could be traced in the nursery, and he proved it so conclusively that one nurseryman took out his entire stock and had it destroyed. I might give you the figures of two or three orchards. Here is the Folger orchard of about 6,000 trees. This man cut down trees at the first intimation; he did not wait for us. We looked over these 6,000 trees and found two trees diseased last year; the year previous we found the same number. There was another orchard that had about 3,000 trees, and had the same kind of care, .and in 1908 we found six trees, 1909, nine trees; in 1910 six trees, and in 1911, eight trees. That is in an orchard of 3,000 trees, where the man is very careful to cut away at the first intimation of any trouble. Here is another orchard of about 2,500 trees. In 1908 we found six trees; in 1909 two, in 1910 two, and in 1911, we found seven. We have a large number of orchards right along in that section where the most thorough cutting has been followed for the last ten years, and where the percentage of diseased trees in some instances has never been more than one-quarter of one per cent. I know of one orchard where this has run down to one tree in a thousand. I have seen that man cut down yellow trees that were affected only with spot. I told him I was sure they were not diseased, and he said, " All right, I will leave them another year." I came up there four days later and I noticed the trees were all down. He said, " I had my experience ; I lost a whole orchard once by leaving in some trees, and you bet I don't do it again." Mr. Caesar: Can you tell the people here anything about the results in any other district before they started to treat Yellows? Mr. VanBuren: They lost their whole orchards. Wallace Ward is the second largest peach grower in New York State. I marked half of one orchard that year, and he said : " I have had my lesson ; I will see that nothing of that kind ever occurs again." Many of these growers had their orchards affected with Yellows to the extent of 60 or 70 per cent. I remember one orchard that I have noticed 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 63 for years up near LaSalle. I took the matter up with him several years ago, when he had the same thing in his orchard,, and he thought he could control it by fertiliz- ing and pruning; but it was a failure, and he cut it down. On this same piece of ground an orchard has been set out again. They are not excessive fertilizers over there, but they are following good spraying methods. Mr. Fleming : Does the State pay any compensation ? Mr. VanBuren : I do not know why they should. It is a source of contagion, and is no value to the man, and I do not believe that that should be the policy of the State or Government. The tree is worthless. I think the Government might, perhaps, be asked to pay for trees that are destroyed on suspicion; but I would say: Do not pay him at all if the tree is clearly diseased; and there is no doubt about it, for you are doing the man a kindness, even if he does not appreciate it. There is one point that the yellow sprouts always have a very strong upward tendency, and this should be very carefully looked for in diagnosing a case of Little Peach or Yellows. It is a characteristic symptom. In winters where there has been severe root injury, I have seen symptoms following these winters somewhat like those of Little Peach and Yellows, and I think that has followed where there has been fall plowing, and where there has been no cover crop of any thickness. We have had more or less trouble, and there have been a good many trees that have been killed and a good many of these trees have puzzled the best inspectors I have ever had, and I have been often puzzled about it myself. I have seen orchards where the ordinary fruit grower looking at it from the road would think it was all right, and upon close examination you would see that it was infested with the mite. A Member: I have been growing peaches for about 25 years, and at the present time I have about 7,000 trees. I cut out this year from fifteen to twenty, and I do not think there is one case of Little Peach in it, and not over half a dozen of this disease that is called the Yellows. Some of them were trees that had spent themselves, old trees. I contend that every fruit grower who intends to stay in the business should be his own inspector. If he is not, he should get out of the busi- ness, not only for his own interest but for the interests of his neighbors. I do not know a great deal about many of these diseases mentioned, but I do not think that any inspector can go into my orchard and point out many trees that ought to be taken out. Mr. VanBuren : I agree with that man, and appreciate the stand he takes. A Member : If you are a little doubtful, take the tree out. Every man should be his own inspector. Mr. VanBuren : That is what is generally followed by the best fruit growers in New York State. Some of them pride themselves on the fact that when we go through their orchards we cannot find a diseased tree that we can mark. Mr. Caesar also said that no young man, unless he has been thoroughly experienced as a fruit grower, ought to go out alone; he must go out with an experienced man. If he lacks experience he must not go out alone, for if there is a doubtful tree he is going to pass it by. .If two go together the inexperienced man can pick out the doubtful trees, and the other one can coach him and much better results are attained. I will say that even under the civil service examinations our recruits are largely bright young men who have worked up in some of the agricultural colleges. "We get some who are first-rate, and some, of course, who are useless, and we have had to get" rid of them. If they are not good we do not advance them. One good man is worth two or three poor ones. 64 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 32 I believe this is a question of the utmost importance to a commercial fruit growing section. I doubt whether it wiM ever mean as much for the individual grower. Some of the worst cases of Yellows I have ever seen have been in sections which are not commercial fruit growing sections, where the individual farmer had ten or fifteen trees and every tree infested with Yellows. As far as I am concerned [ would just as soon let these people go, for it is too much trouble to look after them. A Member: Is there any danger of carrying the disease by pruning? Mr. VanBueen : I have heard people say that there was but I doubt it. Prun- ing is usually done in the winter time, and I never heard a man say that this had been the case. I have generally thought that the contamination was carried during the summer time. I have got nothing to base my conclusion on, but I just think that is how it is done. A Member: I have heard the statement made by prominent peach growers that it is just a question of fertilizing and cultivation. Have you noticed that this makes any difference? Mr. YanBuren- : No, I have not observed that. The man who practises good cultivation and is a good fertilizer is the man who takes the trees out, and whose trees are generally free from disease. I know in some sections of Delaware and Maryland they did not cut out their trees very well, the consequence was they lost all their orchards. A Member: I remember that Dr. Dugger once paid me a visit. I showed him my orchard and he was surprised at it ; he said that he did not see how the soil could contain any more humus than it had. Mr. Caesar : Conclusive experiments were made by Dr. Irvine Smith. Some 645 trees were tested with good fertiliser, and every tree that went through the test died. In another case 2,638 trees out of 3,800 died from the Yellows in spite of the best fertilizing that we could do. It could not be the fault of the soil, for we had good soil, and the most careful and favorable methods of applying the fertilizers. A Member: Is any one kind more liable to this disease than another? A threat many of the nurserymen are getting their pits from the canning factories. Mr. VanBuren: I used to say when I first went to work that the Early Crawford was more inclined to it, and I thought that the Smock was almost immune. Then I found that the Smock had it, too ; and now I do not think that there is any one kind that is any more liable to have it han another. Every tree will show the disease by the time it has stood three years in the orchard, and a large number show it in the second year; perhaps all, I think during the second year. A Member : Do the trees nearest the diseased tree take the disease quicker ? Mr. YanBuren: Yes. We found one orchard where the man had removed three trees that had Yellows. Eight around each of these trees there was a ring of trees that wrere diseased. I have seen a good many of them and there is no question in my mind that the diseased trees are more likely to give it to others that are near than those that are a long disance away. A Member : Is it possible for the honey bee to carry this disease from one tree to another? Mr. VanBuren : I think a good deal of the honey bee. I do not know that I am just ready to blame them. I understand there is nothing to support it. I firmly believe that there is investigation work now in progress which is going to show what this disease is and how it spreads. Some people" believe it has been caused by certain weather conditions, such as very hot winds or extreme drought. I 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 65 do not believe that. I think it is more likely to be caused by winter injury. I believe it is quite possible that it is carried by pollen. Mr. Caesar : Black is quite opposed to the idea that it is carried by the bee. If it were carried by the bee every tree in the orchard would be infected. Mr. VanBuren: I am not an experimenter or a scientist, but I have had lines of thought that careful scientific investigation would be worth while. I believe it is being put into practice at the present time, and I hope with some results. A Member: You are speaking about an old orchard — taking it out and setting it over again. Do you think it would be better to wait a while ? Mr. VanBuren: I have seen a Yellow tree taken out and a new one put in, and I have never seen these trees go with the Yellows in any larger proportion than the other trees. All the same in the case of trees cut out on account of Yellows I think I would wait a few years. Mr. Armstrong: Yellows and Little Peach originate in my opinion with an insect or a fungus. It just comes in the same way as blood poisoning. A man gets a little scratch on his hand, and there is a little opening for the disease. I imagine I know the insect. I was after him for a description and I could not get it. It comes of a large family. I have known it for thirty years. I was on his track a good while ago. I had the idea some years ago, but hesitated to fasten the trouble on it. I did not want to accuse it as guilty before I had a little more information. It naturally likes lamb better than mutton, and he goes for the young trees, but you find him in the old orchard as well. Mr. VanBuren : I agree with the gentleman that it may be closely allied to blood poisoning, or something of that kind. I do not know that an affected tree is much more likely to develop Yellows or Little Peach ; if he knows a case of it he knows more than anybody else that I know. As to the question whether any one variety is more susceptible than another: Some years ago before we had any Yellows we set out a quantity of trees, and in due time in two or three places Yellows crept out, and there were no Yellows anywhere else about, and it must have been in the strain so far as I know. Other trees may not be contaminated. It may attack eight or ten different trees, and only one of these trees may develop Yellows, yet a certain proportion may have been con- taminated. I do not know that we have anything to show us that Yellows spreads from any particular tree in the nursery. FINANCIAL REPORT. The annual financial report was read by the Secretary, Mr. Hodgetts, and on motion of Mr. Harkness, seconded by Mr. Dewar, was duly adopted. 5 F.G. 66 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 32 SUCCESSFUL HANDLING OF LEASED OECHAEDS. Dr. C. H. Biggs, Cared-For Orchard Company, Toronto. I had intended when asked upon this subject merely to give yon a few remarks upon it, and upon the different headings that I considered necessary from the commercial side of it; but the more I thought upon the subject the more I found out that it was necessary to enlarge upon that little paper which I first had in mind. So what I have prepared will merely touch on the different subjects, and afterwards perhaps there may be some things that I can tell you, for I assume that we are all interested and that we will all gain by discussion. Any statistics quoted are as examples or illustrations of an argument, not as accurate records of actual facts. Naturally there are many points to be considered in the selection of orchards for successful commercial treatment such as: — Their geographical positions, con- venience of transport to market, the facilities for obtaining labour when required, the care of access and egress to and from their official centre, water supply, the class of fruit that several orchards bear, the total number of trees to be secured. With regard to the transport conveniences, if the roads are good the distance to the nearest railway station or steamer wharf does not require to be greatly taken into account ; but if the roads are bad, it is absolutely necessary to be close to your means of distribution. Suitable orchards for operating on should be selected in a district which has been well proved, and not subject to late and early frosts. In such districts the conveniences extended by transport companies and other companies allied with the fruit trade are well worth considering, and are greater than could be obtained in a district not so well known. The labor question being of so much importance in the picking season, a district must be thoroughly investigated as to the likelihood of obtaining resident labor, or of keeping imported labor until the crop is safely disposed of. When orchards are scattered and at long distances from one another, the time lost in handling plants and instruments is a serious charge on revenue, while the greater difficulty experienced in overseeing is likely to make a large abstract loss, which at the season's end may prove to be a very real one. The plantations should all be chosen so that they can be operated, from a central point, where labor, plants and management are resident. Class of Fruit. — The class of fruit should be carefully looked into, as to whether they are all suited for the same treatment, how their crop-picking season may be synonymous, allowing of their being picked in the shortest time, and so leaving the greatest period for careful selection, packing and distribution with the minimum amounts of labor. Number of Trees. — Spraying and other machines whose capacity is known, or can be estimated, enter largely into the successful determination of how much land can be profitably worked. Leases should be secured for orchards in such pro- portion, that the plant can be worked to its fullest capacity. Once a judicious selection has been made and the necessary leases secured, the treatment and care of them calls for attention, and depending on the intensity of culture, — is the quality of the fruit. A careful review of the condition of the trees will lead to discrimination as to the amount of scraping, pruning, etc., requiring to 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 67 be done, and men should be looked for capable of giving the best results in such operations. These men should be given a definite number of trees to look after with further remuneration to their wages, according to the results shown when the crop is gathered in. In scraping, the points to be aimed at are absolute removal of all loose pieces of bark, fungus, and other projections about the trunk and limbs, likely, if left on, to give lodgment to insect life, such would prove disastrous to the tree and the fruit, later on, and would prevent spraying operations from being fully effective. Fruit growers in general are fairly unanimous as to the last methods of prun- ing, being the removal of centre shoots not required to form fruit-bearing limbs, and all wood not likely to give fruit-bearing surface on the outside of the tree. That is to say, it seems to be the consensus of opinion that trees should be pruned so that their foliage is in the nature of a dome or half ball, with the top considerably thinned, allowing the maximum amount of air and light to get to the fruit. This shape also enables the fruit to form in the most suitable position for spraying and other operations to reach it in the most desired manner. Great care should be exercised in the saving of the weeping ends of the outer limbs, as they are great fruit producers, and receive the greatest support to protect the fruit from being removed by wind storms. There is much divergence of opinion regarding the proper time to spray, the number of spraying applications, and the composition of the most suitable liquid likely to give the best results. Contrary to general practice by spraying with a strong solution of lime-sulphur and arsenate of lead just previous to the bud formation, the ravages of the Bud Moth are generally checked, and the prevention of San Jase Scale very effective. The Bud Moth is present before the foliage commences to come on the tree. It deposits its eggs just after the formation of the bud. The worm then eating its way through, brings about the malformation of the fruit, which gradually becomes more accentuated as the apples increase in size. The early and thorough spraying with the added arsenic prevents the presence of the pest to a very considerable extent. A spray of this same strength and composition applied in mid summer, contrary to past practice, does not destroy or impair the foliage in any way, as it is generally supposed. It is recommended after a thorough trial, as giving surprising results. This application forms a skin on the fruit which prevents all pests from obtaining encouragement, keeps off the San Jose Scale, and enhances the quality to an appreciable extent. While no definite determination of how San Jose Scale becomes disseminated has been formed, it is thought that useless trees infested with it should be destroyed in the common interests. Inspectors are too lenient regarding the presence of this scale, and could do much to check it by bringing about the destruction of worthless trees, where it is present. The strong spray advocated in midsummer, preferably about the middle of July, improves the keeping qualities of fruit to such an extent that apples kept in a warm place for seven weeks show only a slight shrivelling up, but no sign of decay. It brings the color of the fruit to perfection when allowed to ripen on the trees, and in the case of Greenings in particular, makes them almost indistinguishable from the Newtown Pippin. THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 It is believed that for size, shape, color, and keeping quality, the Greening can be made as marketable as the Newtown Pippin, with this treatment. It is hardly necessary to state that a weak spray should be used on the tender growth of wood and foliage, just after the blossom leaves fall. It appears that a fourth spraying with strong lime, and sulphur, omitting the arsenate of lead, applied late in August tends to bring out the colour and thereby give greater selling qualities to the fruit. The leaves of the tree retain their vivid colour and strength for a much longer period, showing a healthier state and condition, certain to prove beneficial in the following season. When the fruit is sufficiently advanced thorough thinning should be carried out. This can hardly be done too thoroughly, and on it the size of the fruit obtained chiefly depends. A very heavy thinning may be undertaken and yet the apples remaining may be too numerous for them to arrive at their highest state of perfection. The thinning can hardly be too liberal, and will well reward the time and expenditure on it by the excellent quality obtained in the resulting fruit. In fact no orchard can be brought to a successful commercial issue unless this be done. As careful thinning insures an annual crop and much choice fruit. Supply of water should be so arranged that it is most accessible to the greatest number of trees, and a boiling plant erected nearby, if home-boiled spray is to be used. Cement cisterns holding enough water for the season's use should be built. Handling the crop in the picking season presents many difficulties, but it is believed to be the most economical to house the workers in camp, situated in the unit of trees being dealt with at the time. When the work is complete in the particular group chosen the camp is removed bodily to the next group of trees to be worked. At the same time it may be remarked that the camp cook or some other member of the gang should be chosen for his abilities in entertaining, more especially in the case of Italian or other foreign labour. One with a large repertoire of songs, with ability to accompany his own or others on some instrument during the evening, does much to add to the gaiety and good fellowship which results in good work, and gives a good return for a little extra remuneration. The difficulty experienced in getting the crop picked might be considerably alleviated, were the orchards sown in clover, cut and left under the trees to prevent falling fruit from being marked and bruised. This, if allowed to rot, will form a good manure, when assisted by acid phosphates and potash. When apples fall into mud, and lie for a short time, though not marked, the part of the skin submerged becomes soft, and allows decay to set in very rapidly. To take care of wind fallen fruit, and all apples not strictly classed as firsts or fancy, the erection of an evaporating plant should prove a very sound investment. It is be- lieved that no other fruit than fancy, and firsts, should be packed for shipment. There is a decided objection to seconds, and the price falls off in much greater proportion than the quality would warrant. The evaporating plant could only be operated by large concerns, but a com- pany formed in fruit bearing districts should earn substantial dividends, and the attention of orchard ists is called to the profitable results certain to be attained by the erection of a co-operative plant. 1912 FEUIT GEOWEES' ASSOCIATION. 69 Close and scientific observation and experiment is called for in the fruit growing industry. The results of primary experiment, generally leads to a more continuous work on these lines, by the remarkable object lesson each departure brings forth to the observer. My difficulty has been to limit my remarks to a reasonable length, and con- sequently much has not been touched upon which could profitably be enlarged. I will be glad to reply to any question to trie best of my ability. The President : What strength did you use the lime-sulphur ? Dr. Eiggs: As strong as we could get it through the nozzle, but on the tender foliage about 35 or 40 to 1. When once the sap is getting out of the leaves you can put on as strong a spray as you can get through the nozzle. That can be in July or August, late in the season, 100 sulphur to 50 of lime is our ordinary mixture, and we put in water at the rate of five or six to one and we have no burning. We had about 10 to 20 trees that were badly infested with San Jose Scale. The owner of the trees told us that he did not care what he did with them, we could destroy them or we could cut them down or do anything we liked; so we came to the conclusion that we had better kill them with kindness. We found they did not appear to surfer, and we applied some more. We were down in the Niagara district and we kept at it, and we found no indication of the scale on our fruit. We tried 100 sulphur and 100 lime, and we found that we simply had more sludge to handle. Our trees were inspected by both Dominion and Provincial Inspectors, and they said that our trees certainly looked like rough cast houses, but when they had wiped the lime off they found no burning of the foliage. The President : Were your results any better than those who applied 1 to 35. Dr. Eiggs : Yes. At first they looked very bad, but this lime-sulphur seemed to bring out a better color, and after it had washed off some they looked very well. The President: You think you got better results by applying 1 to 6 in August or July than by using 1 to 35? Dr. Eiggs: We were after the San Jose Scale and 1 to 35 would have been no good; we needed a strong solution. We applied it broadcast, and it did not do any harm to the apples, and we know they came out with a better color. A Member: Have you used commercial lime-sulphur? Dr. Eiggs : I believe we had two barrels. I do not know what the strength of commercial lime-sulphur is, I have no objection to it; I would not hesitate at all to put it on my trees. I would venture just the same as I would in winter any time after July. A Member: Have you any record of the specific gravity? Dr. Eiggs : My superintendent did the testing. I never took the tests myself. A Member : What did the hydrometer read on his tests. Dr. Eiggs: Mr. Thomson can tell you better than I can. Mr. Thomson: I cannot say about the August spray; I was up after it had been sprayed, before it came into bloom, and it turned out to be the best orchard they had. As far as the strength of it is concerned, making it as they make it, 112 pounds of sulphur to 60 pounds of lime boiled to make a barrel of concentrated spray; when it has settled the clear liquid shows a specific gravity of .24. Do not get that confused with the concentrated ; if you were taking Beaume it would be .28 ; as a rule what you get from the concentrated commercial is Beaume, .32. and in specific gravity would be hardly .28, so a specific gravity THE REPOJRT OF THE No. 32 of .24 would be a good deal higher than Beaume. Until the time when the leaves come out fairly well I think a barrel should be diluted to make six; there has never been a case known of any tree being injured at that stage where it has been sprayed at that strength. We did not care for looks, we have to spray to keep our trees and to keep the San Jose scale out of the orchard. A Membek : It is a well known fact that if the commercial lime sulphur is u'sed any stronger than 1 to 35 it will burn the foliage, and if we used it at the strength at which we use it in the winter we would certainly have burning. I do not think this should be allowed to go at this stage, because some people might be under a wrong impression. Dr. Riggs: You will readily understand that I am only referring to fall spraying. I am giving you what we applied, 100 pounds of sulphur and 50 pounds of lime, and it produced the result that we wanted to attain. If we could spray our trees in midsummer when you find the scale present in that way, then you might be afraid of losing your fruit. I lost a good deal of fruit this year by not knowing what I knew later. If I had known in time I would have had my fruit sprayed wdth the strong solution. A Member: How many barrels did you make? De. Riggs : It depends upon what time you use it. In August we used 7 to 1. It adds to the selling qualities of your fruit; as far as testing it for keeping qualities it is almost impossible to give you an idea of that. I kept some in a warm place and it merely shrivelled; it did not rot. We used arsenate of lead for the bud moth. I would put it on later only this spray being so heavy gets on the fruit. A Membeb: What difference was there when you sprayed with the weaker solution; what difference was there in the color of the fruit? Dr. Riggs: We found it a much deeeper color; the more we put on the better color we found, and if we spray the trees again I would certainly put it on for that effect. It certainly discourages all kinds of pests. A Member : Did you spray anything else ? - Dr. Riggs: I sprayed pears as well, and there was no burning effect. A Member: I have sprayed pears and plums 1 to 35 and there was some burning. Dr. Riggs: The foliage must be fully developed; until then you have very tender shoots and I would expect burning. I would not advise any one to use that until the foliage had got fully developed. Mr. Thompson : Apples can stand a stronger strength than pears or peaches. I am not prepared to say that you could put it on them at the strength the doctor says. I think you could possibly try some that way; do not spray them all that way. We have now this actual statement that it does not burn. When we were spray- ing our trees he said that we could use it a good deal stronger than we did; we used it about as high as one to 20 or 25, and we have the statement that the later spray might be a good deal stronger. I would not like to try it except on a few trees to see. At a later stage of the foliage, if the foliage were healthy it would stand a stronger solution. Dr. Riggs: I may say that I know of one orchard that was sprayed with commercial lime-sulphur; I noticed that it was put on fully winter strength right in the blossoms and it had burned the leaves, but the apples matured and they had lots of apples in the orchard though it had burned the leaves. 1912 FEUIT GEOWEES' ASSOCIATION. 71 A Member: We used it as strong as 1 to 17 just immediately after the blossoms had fallen but I would be afraid to recommend using that strength. Dr. Eiggs: Not at that time. The President : The doctor has been opening up a new line of thought, something that will be greatly interesting to us, and perhaps next season we will give it a trial. The next item on the programme is the Dominion Conference of Fruit Growers, which as you know was suggested by the Department of Agriculture at Ottawa. About five years ago we had a similar meeting and representatives from the various provinces met there and discussed very important questions, and we be- lieve we can bring about a certain amount of legislation. It is proposed to hold this Dominion Conference some time in February. There are a great many questions which we would like to see settled at that time, and there are a great many things which should be taken up at that conference, and we should discuss them here freely this afternoon. CHANGES IN CO-OPEEATIVE METHODS. James E. Johnson, Simcoe. I do not know how my name came to be attached to this subject otherwise than I had a talk with Mr. Hodgetts our secretary, and secured from him some suggestions as to how co-operation could be benefited at the present time. I offered a few suggestions to him, and for that reason my name was placed on the programme at the present time. As probably you all well know, I had the management of an association since 1906. We started in with 17 members, and at the present time we have 535, so you see that our growth has been exceedingly large. The problem that we are face to face with to-day is as to how this can be benefited. I am free to say that I believe that our association has grown faster than our educational work has, and I believe education to be the first and most important thing before you can start an association properly. You can see by going through the .St. Lawrence arena that the educational work has not been carried on, and you will find that many of these exhibits have been aided by these co-operative associations and it seems to me that there should be re-organiza- tion in the case of a great many of these associations in the Province of Ontario. I am only here to start the discussion, and if any of you can offer any suggestions I am sure we will be only too glad to have them. The first thing is what constitutes a first-class working member? What should that member be? You see how we have grown in the past few years, but when we first started, we used to go round and coax them in; and we did this the next year also, and I may say that in the past two years we have not done that at all, but still we have been growing very rapidly. Any member who would come and say he wanted to join our association we would take in. We have been taking them in that way, and I believe — in fact T can say — that we have members who are not beneficial from lack of education. It is education along these fruit lines that they are lacking, and that is something that every member of every association ought to have. 72 THE REPORT OF THE No. 32 Now, there are many ways in which this rule is departed from. In the first place I may say that when we started our association we found that we were going to encounter some little opposition. The apple buyers went around and they cer- tainly did all they could to discourage the members from joining our association. They tried to induce them not to sell their apples through the association. But I believe now that you will find a number of apple buyers through the Province of Ontario who will say that the association has been a great benefit to the trade throughout the Province. The growers themselves can pick these apples cheaper than the buyers can. We probably have some who own orchards and who are not in the association who are doing all they can in some underhand way to hurt the association by starting some unfounded rumor. I may say to them that the associations are a great benefit. Why are the associations a benefit to them? Because the association un- doubtedly benefits those who are in it, and whatever benefits those who are mem- bers of the association also benefits those who are outside the association. I am only too glad to impart any information that I have to the members of the association, as well as to any that feel the need of information along the lines of its work. In the purchase of spraying materials we have a certain line of merchants who trade with our association, and they likewise sell to our association. Before the starting of our association in Norfolk county, I venture to say that probably they never saw it in carload lots and probably one barrel would supply our county prior to 1906. I say this to the merchants that they are benefited also by this association for if our work is carried on properly that our growers will receive more money to spend and our merchants will be benefited in that way. Our members are in need of educational work, and the question is how are we going to get it. Our Department of Agriculture has been doing a great deal of good, and I believe they can do a great deal more, and we should feel encouraged by what has already been done to go on still further, and to give greater assistance in the way of educational work than we have hitherto done. The kind of members we want are the ones who will live up strictly to the rules, who will at all times stand back of the association and be loyal to it, and this is what is needed in all the associations in the Province of Ontario. The question is how can we deal with these harmful reports which may be sent out and are .harmful to our associations. I believe that every association should have an investigating committee to investigate any stories that may be sent out, and report on them. Perhaps some of you may think that this would be a great deal of work, but I believe you will find out that the investigating committee will not have as much to do as you would think, for I believe that you would find that fewer of these reports would be spread around, if it was known that they would be thoroughly investigated. You will find that it is much easier to tear down the good work of an association than it is to build it up, and that is a matter that each one of us should consider. Co-operation, I understand, has been carried on successfully in Europe;, particularly in England, 'Scotland, Denmark, and Germany, and would it not be well for our Government to send a man there, not for a month or two months, but for six months to study their co-operative methods, say, such a man as our secretary, who would go there for that length of time and grasp their ideas, to spend six months between now and the time of our next X912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 73 annual meeting, and be here to take up a whole session to give us the results of his trip. I believe it would be of great interest to us as fruit growers in this Province of Ontario. I wish to say a word of warning to those of you who are thinking of starting associations. Don't try to get your association too large. You can be sure of real growth if only those join who are deserving members. Avoid those who are not likely to recognize what the rules are, or who do not appreciate the fact that it is a business that they are carrying on. I think, too, that we do not meet nearly often enough. I find that many of the associations in the old country meet every fortnight, and I believe that it would be a great benefit for our members to get together and discuss these things far oftener than they do at present. Don't try to build up a large association too quickly. I believe it would be better to have a small association, and for one salesman to go out selling for several of the small associations, than it is to have a large association with a salesman. You all know that the varieties in different sections vary; in some parts of our county we have quite a lot of men who have what we would term undesirable varieties. If this association was divided these small orchards could be sold to some buyer according to the varieties which they had there to sell, and at the present time, in order to get any satisfaction at all, it practically means that we have to sell our fruit in a lump. I approve of the smaller associations. RESOLUTIONS. The following resolutions were submitted, discussed and carried: (1) " That a committee of this association be appointed to procure the latest information in regard to the best methods of packages, and that the result be reported to the Board of Directors of this Association and the recommendation of the Board be published." (2) "That the Ontario Government be requested to provide a shoTt course at the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, for fruit inspectors and fruit packers, and in the counties, as far as practicable, a similar short course for fruit packers, granting certificates for each. Also to extend the work of county instructors which is resulting in great benefit wherever in operation, to other counties until the whole province is covered." (3) " That th-e railway companies be interviewed by the Transportation Committee, requesting them to improve all refrig-erator cars that are old and de- fective, as many cars are very inefficient as refrigerators on account of the doors not being tight. "Also provide at Port Arthur, Fort William and Westport suitable accom- modation, to protect apples from frost when unloaded from the boats until refrig- erator cars are provided, in freezing weather, and that th-e railway companies be asked to guarantee refrigerators there, and not as now refuse to guarantee any pro- tection after November 1st." U THE REPOUT oV THE No. 32 (4) " That the Ontario Government be requested to send a capable man to Europe to study co-operative methods amongst agriculturists, and to make an ex- haustive study of market conditions of fruit and report to the Government." (5) "That the Dominion Government be requested to have daily market prices of fruit by cable from all trade agents in large centres in Europe, and pub- lished in leading daily papers in fruit growing provinces." (6) "That this Association in convention urge upon the Canadian Minister of Agriculture, to appoint a commission composed of fruit growers or dealers in each of the fruit growing provinces well known for their knowledge and experience in the fruit business, whose duty it shall be to examine and recommend for appoint- ment fruit inspectors and instructors." (7) " That the Dominion Government be requested to have the forms on which legalized sizes of fruit baskets are made issued to the manufacturers, so that all shall be of uniform shape and size." (8) "That the Association endorse the recommendations of Prof. Caesar re- garding the appointment of inspectors under the Fruit Pests' Act, and that a copy of his recommendations and this resolution be forwarded to the Minister of Agri- culture; and that a committee of five be appointed by this association to confer with the Minister upon the details, the following to be the committee: Messrs. E. D. Smith, R. Thompson, A. Onslow, E. E. Adams, of Leamington, and W. Fisher, of Burlington." (9)" That the Government of Canada be asked to amend the Fruit Marks' Act, so as to establish a minimum size for each grade of apples of each variety and more closely define the grades. (10) " That the Government of Canada be asked to amend the Inspection and Sales Act so as to provide; — First, for trained and qualified inspectors in much greater numbers than at present. Second, that on the request of a packer or shipper a competent inspector be sent to inspect carload lots of apples at point of shipment, and a certificate of the result of such inspection be given to the packer or shipper, stating when and where said car was inspected and stamping each barrel of the carload so inspected." (11) " That we wish to impress upon the Ontario Government that every effort be made at the fruit experiment station at Jordan, to propagate improved varieties of the various fruits from seedlings obtained by hybridizing, as there is in all plants abundant room for varieties of merit much superior to any that we have. We cannot impress too strongly upon the Department of Agriculture of Ontario the extreme importance of such work, and the great opportunities in it to add to the wealth of the province." (12) "That this Association wishes to congratulate the Hon. the Premier of this dominion, on his selection of Hon. Martin Burrell as Minister of Agriculture of Canada, believing that no choice could have been made from the members of the house that would have been so satisfactory to the fruit growers of the country, and 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 75 trust that this is a recognition, also of the vast and rapidly growing importance of the fruit growing industry, which we hope will receive even greater consideration at the hands of the Government than heretofore. And we also wish to congratulate Mr. Burrell upon his selection as the first commercial fruit grower to occupy what we consider, one of the most important positions in the Cabinet of Canada/5 (12) "That the standard pear box be 8 in. x 11 in. x 20 in. inside measure- ment and that a half box be 4 in. x 11 in. x 20 in., inside measurement." FULLER FRUIT STATISTICS NECESSARY. A. W. Peart, Burlington. The subject for discussion which I am asked to say something about is con- nected with the forthcoming fruit conference at Ottawa. At the time of the con- ference in Ottawa in 1906, I prepared, from various sources, a set of figures bearing upon the question of the fruit industry in the Dominion and the various Provinces. My figures at that time were drawn from various sources, and I think were con- sidered by the practical fruit men there to be of some value to the fruit industry in the Dominion and in the Provinces. I wish to say that since that time the value of fruit statistics became of some importance. I know that these figures were used in the Agricultural Colleges both of the Province of Ontario and the Province of Quebec, and I know that public men in addressing meetings when they required to use statistics in reference to the fruit industry used these. I understand that they were the first set of figures that were ever presented in Canada on that subject, and I was as careful with these figures as I could possibly be. Now, I believe that the thought this meeting is to get some conception of how these figures might be improved upon at the approaching conference. At the last Dominion Conference I moved the following resolution regarding the compiling of statistics. " That the delegates to this conference from the several provinces petition, their respective governments to collect, classify and publish, henceforth in detail in their annual reports the statistics bearing on fruits." Now, I am pleased to say that so far as the Government of this Province is concerned it has in a great measure compiled with our request. By comparing the report of 1906 with that of 1909 you will see there is a difference. In the 1906 report there are two columns regarding fruit, one devoted to orchard and the other devoted to grapes. In the last report issued in 1909, which I have received there are four columns, for large fruits, small fruits, vineyard and garden. There is an advance, and I think that advance should be recognized and appreciated by this Association. At the approaching Dominion Conference I propose if I can get what I con- sider suitable information, to revise the figures submitted at the last conference. I have written to Mr. Blue asking him to send me a copy of the last census in so far as it relates to the fruit industry, but I got' a letter from him that he would not be able to furnish that information for some time yet. In the report submitted then I omitted grapes. Apples, pears, and all the fruits were mentioned and dealt with ; HEPOKT OF THE No. 32 up to that time the grapes were omitted, but after I get a copy of the census of 1911 the grapes are going to be set forth, and I propose to incorporate them with the other statistics in the report to the approaching Dominion Conference. 1 wisli to submit the following resolution bearing on the statistics of this province. " That tins association appreciates the advance made by the Department of Agriculture in giving in greater detail statistics of the fruit industry of Ontario, as shown by a comparison of those of 1906 and 1910 respectively." At the present time we have the acreage of the orchard, but we would like to have the acreage of apples alone, and the objects aimed at by this resolution will have the effect of giving us better statistics for fruit industry for the Province of Ontario, and in fact for the Dominion of Canada, and I hope to be able, if the infor- mation I need can be procured, to incorporate them in a report for the approaching Dominion Conference. The resolution above referred to was seconded by Mr. Gilbertson and carried. The President: There is just one more subject to discuss and that is the matter of the Provincial Show. I am very much inclined to doubt if Ontario can develop a decent Horticultural Show, it has increased over 100 per cent, better than last season. I think that next year we will put up a display of fruit which will do us a great deal of credit. Mr.. Hodge tts is very anxious that you should express yourselves most fully on this matter of a Provincial show. Me. Todd: I suppose if we got into a National Fruit Show that our fruits would be put in competition with the rest of the Dominion. The question for us to consider is whether we have learned to walk well enough yet to be able, to go into competition and run in the race with them. We undoubtedly have the fruit, I think there is no question of that, and I think it is merely a matter of packing. Have we mastered that sufficiently to go into it and compete with the rest? Shall we make it a Provincial show or would it be better to have a national show? If the latter is not possible, would it be wise, then, to disturb the development of our Provincial show unless the national show would become an annual affair. I am afraid that I am not sufficiently familiar with that question to be able to answer that intelligently, and I suppose these are the questions that are before us. Mb. Hamilton : I am not very much inclined to support it. We are doing very well as we are now, and the conditions under which we are growing fruit are so dissimilar from the conditions under which fruit is grown in other parts of the Dominion, ;and there; is always the danger that the 'public will be carried away rather by color than by quality. I do not believe specially in regard to winter apples that they are in it with us with regard to the quality; but fitness is not so easily apparent to the general public, and I am just afraid that perhaps we might not do as well as we should like if we were brought into sharp competition with the fruits that are grown on the Pacific coast. We are doing so well developing this industry in Ontario that we hardly have the time to give attention to a national show. If you go into the national show and have one next year, I think you will find that the people on the western coast will see that this show is a peripatetic thing and that it should travel about the different parts of the Dominion. I think it is plain that we should go on as we are; we are doing very well. We should keep on growing until we develop into full manhood, and I believe that the time is soon coming when we will be able to hold our own, and more than our own, in conn- petition with the apple growing industry in the rest of the Dominion and the western coast. 1912 FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 77 Mr. Thompson: I cannot qnite agree with Mr. Hamilton that we cannot compete with them. It is a good deal different from fruit growers competing in an association. Many a one comes to an association, and the second or third prize is not worth much more than the apples. You cannot hope to get apple growers here in Ontario to select a lot of apples and send them out like that. Have we the means necessary to float a big national show ? I do not think we have. We are improving and we want to keep on. We want to urge our directors of the National Exhibition in September, to treat us better. If our association would pay a little more attention to this, and possibly put up a little more money, we will have a show here in Ontario that will equal any national show that could be held anywhere else. If we could look forward to that being made an annual event here, and improved year after year, I think we might do a very great deal for the fruit industry in Ontario, and a good deal more than we could possibly do by having a national show. Mr. Hodgetts: I wanted this matter brought up this afternoon. Our friends in British Columbia have written wanting to know what we are gomg to do. My idea is to proceed along present lines, and see what can be done with our Canadian National Exhibition. You can readily understand that there is plenty of room for us to grow. I believe that we are making very good progress, and there is certainly a remarkable improvement over our show of eight years ago, which you remember was held in the Granite Rink. If we can get an increased grant from the Provincial Government — and I think that the time is ripe now that they will be ready to help us out — I have no doubt that we can get together just as creditable a display of apples as they can at Vancouver or anywhere else, and I see no reason why it should not be an annual matter and of great importance to fruit growers. I do not see any reason why we cannot go ahead and have just as big a show as they had out there last year, and have it every year, and have far more satisfactory finan- cial conditions than they had at Denver or at Spokane. Mr. Caston : I believe we are making such satisfactory progress that I think we ought to be content to go on as we are doing now. We ought to make an exhibit in the section where we expect to sell our goods, such as the Old Country. I think it would be very desirable that we should make a fine exhibit of all we produce in Ontario in the section where we propose to sell our goods. The President: I think the general feeling is that we shall not have a National Apple Show, but instead that we shall go on and develop our Provincial Show until we make ourselves famous. Then it is just possible that we cannot pack our fruit just as nicely as our British Columbia friends do. Their fruit was quite attractive, and the whole thing was excellently got up. PRIZE LIST AT ONTARIO HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION, 1911. APPLES. ExroRT Varieties. — Barrels Ready for Shipment. Baldwin: 1st, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros., Simcoe; 2nd, J. D. Remmer, Pickering; 3rd, Norfolk F. G. A., Simcoe. Ben Davis: 1st, J. 0. Duke, Ruthven; 2nd, Sidney Trevail, Taunton; 3rd, Wm. Dyer, Columbus. Golden Russet: 1st, F. M. Lewis, Brant Fruit Growers' Association, Burford; 2nd, W. B. Guy, Oshawa; 3rd, Isaac Huggins, Oshawa. Greening (R. I.): 1st, R. T. Michael, Brooklin; 2nd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 3rd, Isaac Huggins. King: 1st, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 2nd, Norfolk F. G. A.; 3rd, M. Crawforth, Whitby. Spy: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, P. C. Dempsey, Trenton; 3rd, F. M. Lewis, Burford. Stark: 1st, W. H. Stainton, Oshawa; 2nd, Geo. R. Hare, Grafton. Any other variety: 1st, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 2nd, Norfolk F. G. A.; 3rd, Isaac Rush, Norwich. Export Varieties. — Boxes Ready for Shipment. — (Fruit univrapped.) Alexander: 1st, W. G. Watson, Dixie; 2nd, P. C. Dempsey. Baldwin: 1st. Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 2nd, R. Thompson, St. Catharines; 3rd, W. H. Bunting, St. Catharines. Cranberry: 1st, Wm. Dyer; 2nd, P. C. Dempsey. Famev.se: 1st, W. G. Watson, Dixie; 2nd, W. H. Dempey; 3rd, Geo. Goring, St. Cath- arines. Golden Russet: 1st, W. L. Hamilton, Collingwood; 2nd, R. Stork, Columbus; 3rd, Isaac Huggins. Greening (R. I.): 1st, W. L. Hamilton; 2nd, W. H. Bunting; 3rd, Isaac Huggins. King: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 3rd, Wentworth F. G. A., Hamilton. Melntosh: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, Jos. Baker, Whitby; 3rd, W. G. Robertson, Iroquois. Spy: 1st, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 2nd, R. Stork; 3rd, Thos. Stainton. Export Varieties. — Boxes Ready for Shipment. — (Fruit wrapped.) Fameuse: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, W. H. Bunting; 3rd, J. B. Guthrey, Dixie. Gravenstein: 1st, W. H. Stevenson, Oshawa; 2nd, Elmer Lick, Oshawa; 3rd, S. Snowden, Bowmanville. King: 1st, Wentworth F. G. A.; 2nd, W. H. Bunting; 3rd, W. G. Watson. Mcintosh: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, Jos. Baker; 3rd, The Biggs Fruit & Produce Co., Burlington. Spy: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, W. G. Watson; 3rd, Wentworth F. G. A. Wealthy: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey; 3rd, W. H. Stevenson. Domestic Varieties. — Barrels Ready for Shipment. Blenheim: 1st, R. W. Grierson, Oshawa. Gravenstein: 1st, Elmer Lick. Ontario: 1st, P. C. Dempsey; 2nd, John Watson, Seagrave. Tolman: 1st, W. H. Westney, Pickering ; 2nd, G. B. Moihersill, Oshawa ; 3rd, Wentworth F. G. A. Roxoury Russet: 1st, Isaac Rush. Any other variety: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 3rd, B. J. Palmer, New Durham. Domestic Varieties. — Boxes Ready for Shipment. — (Fruit unwrapped.) Baxter: 1st, Isaac Huggins. Blenheim: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, F. W. Dawson, Brampton. Gravenstein: 1st, S. Snowden; 2nd, Elmer Lick; 3rd, D. Whyte, Bendale. Ontario: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, John Watson; 3rd, Wm. Dyer. Rioston: 1st, W. L. Hamilton; 2nd, Geo. Bannister, Collingwood; 3rd, W. G. Watson. St. Lawrence: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, E. Lick. Wolf River: 1st, Isaac Huggins; 2nd, C. L. Stephens, Orillia. Any other variety: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 3rd, Geo. Goring. 78 1912 FKUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 79 Standaed Winter Varieties. — 5 Boxes of Each. Baldwin: 1st, Wentworth F. G. A.; 2nd, Norfolk F. G. A. Greening: 1st, F. G. Stewart; 2nd, Norfolk F. G. A. Spy: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, W. F. Bradley, Georgetown. Standard Winter Vatieties. — 10 Boxes of Each. — (Fruit wrapped.) Fameuse: 1st, F. W. Dawson. Mcintosh: 1st, J. G. Michael. 1st, W. H. Stainton; 2nd, Lawson & Fairhead, Blenheim. Standard Winter Varieties. — 20 Boxes. — (Fruit unwrapped.) Spy: J. D. Remmer, Pickering; 2nd, Milton Fruit Growers' Association, Milton. Best Box Apples on Exhibition in any Section. James E. Johnson & Bros., with box of Spy. Dessert Varieties. — Plates of Five. Fameuse: 1st, W. H. Bunting; 2nd, Geo. Goring; 3rd, W. L. Hamilton. Golden Russet: 1st, W. H. Watson; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey; 3rd, Isaac Huggins. Gravenstein: 1st, R. R. Waddle; 2nd, Wentworth F. G. A.; 3rd, W. H. Stevenson. King: 1st, W. L. Hamilton; 2nd, W. G. Watson; 3rd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros. Mcintosh: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, The Biggs Fruit & Produce Co.; 3rd, W. L. Hamilton. Wealthy: list, John D. McDonald, Cornwall; 2nd, W. G. Watson; 3rd, J. B. Guthrey. Spy: 1st, W. L. Hamilton; 2nd, Norfolk F. G. A.; 3rd, V. G. Hector, Erindale. Spitzcnourg: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, Wentworth F. G. A.; 3rd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros. Any other variety: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, Lawson & Fairhead; 3rd, W. G. Watson. Cooking Varieties. — Plates of Five. Alexander: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, John D. McDonald; 3rd, P. C. Dempsey. Baldwin: 1st, Wentworth F. G. A.; 2nd, Cared For Fruit Co., Toronto; 3rd, Jos. Picket, Dixie. Blenheim: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey; 3rd, J. G. Brown, Humber Bay. Cayuga: 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, F. M. Lewis, Brant Fruit Growers. Greening (R. I.): 1st, W. L. Hamilton; 2nd, F. G. Stewart, Homer; 3rd, R. Thomp- son. King: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, Jas. E. Johnson & Bros.; 3rd, P. A. Fisher, Bur- lington. Rioston: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, W. L. Hamilton; 3rd, E. W. Moyle, Langstaff. Spy: 1st, W. L. Hamilton; V. G. Hector; 3rd, W. G. Watson. Any other variety: 1st, J. 0. Duke; 2nd, John D. McDonald; 3rd, V. G. Hector. Standard Winter Varieties. — 10 Plates of 5 Specimens Each. Baldwin: 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, Wentworth F. G. A.; 3rd, W. G. Watson. Greening: 1st, F. G. Stewart; 2nd, Geo. Goring; 3rd, W. H. Bunting. King: 1st, Norfolk F. G. A.; 2nd, W. F. Watson; 3rd, Wentworth F. G. A. Spy: 1st, W. F. Watson; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey; 3rd, V. G. Hector. Cones of Fruit. Ben Davis: 1st, Sidney Trevail; 2nd, W. L. Hamilton; 3rd, Wm. Dyer. Baldwin: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, P. C. Dempsey; 3rd, P. A. Fisher. Blenheim: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, R. W. Grierson; 3rd, J. G. Brown. Gravenstein: 1st, J. B. Guthrey; 2nd, D. Whyte; 3rd, E. Lick. Fallawater: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, W. H. Stevenson; 3rd, P. C. Dempsey. Fameuse: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, F. M. Lewis, Brant F. G. A.; 3rd, J. B. Guthrey. King: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, F. M. Lewis, Brant F. G. A.; 3rd, Hugh Pugh, Whitevale. Mcintosh: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, W. G. Robertson; 3rd, Jos. Baker. Ontario: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, W. H. Westney; 3rd, Wm. Dyer. Spy: 1st, W. G. Watson; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey; 3rd, Isaac Rush. Wolf River: 1st, John D. McDonald; 2nd, D. Whyte; 3rd, Isaac Huggins. REPORT FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. No/ 32 PEARS.— Plates of Five. Anjou: J. B. Guthrey; 2nd, R. Thompson. Bosc: 1st, P. A. Fisher. Clairgeau: 1st, Alex. Glass, St. Catharines; 2nd, J. B. Guthrey. Duchess: 1st, C. F. Holcroft, Oakville; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Kieffer: 1st, Geo. Goring; 2nd, Alex. Glass. Lawrence: 1st, Alex. Glass. IV inter Nelis: 1st, Alex. Glass; 2nd, P. A. Fisher. Any other variety: 1st, W. M. Robson, Lindsay; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Export Varieties. — Boxes Ready for Shipment. — (Fruit wrapped.) Anjou: 1st, G. A. Robertson; 2nd, F. G. Stewart; 3rd, R. Thompson. Clairgeau: 1st, J. B. Guthrey. Duchess: 1st, G. A. Robertson; 2nd, F. G. Stewart; 3rd, R. Thompson. Kieffer: 1st, F. G. Stewart; 2nd, R. Thompson; 3rd, W. H. Bunting. Lawrence: 1st, F G. Stewart; 2nd, R. Thompson. GRAPES. Agawam (3 bunches) : 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Concord (3 bunches): 1st, F. G. Stewart; 2nd, R. Thompson. Lindley (3 bunches): 1st, F. G. Stewart; 2nd, R. Thompson. Niagara (3 bunches) : 1st, Geo. Goring; 2nd, W. H. Bunting. Vergennes (3 bunches): 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, W. H. Bunting. Wilder: 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, Geo. Goring. Any other desirable variety: 1st, W. H. Bunting; 2nd, R. Thompson. Black Grapes (9 lb. basket) : 1st, Geo. Goring; 2nd, R. Thompson. Red Grapes (9 lb. basket) : list, Geo. Goring; 2nd, R. Thomipson. White Grapes (9 lb. basket) : 1st, W. H. Bunting; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Black Grapes (fancy package) : 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Red Grapes (fancy package): 1st, F. G. S'tewart; 2nd, R. Thompson. White Grapes (fancy package) : 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, F. G. iSltewart. COLLECTIONS. Exhibits of fruits in commercial packages (60 sq. ft.): 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, F. G. Stewart. Display of apples, noi in commercial packages (60 sq. ft.) : 1st, W. G. Watson. Box or Barrel Brands. 1st, W. H. Stevenson; 2nd, Norfolk F.G.A.; 3rd, Oshawa F.G.A. PACKING. Commercial package, unwrapped apples, any variety, 75% to be given for package, grading and packing and 25% for variety and quality of fruit. All entries must grade No. 1, according to the Inspection and Sales Act: 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, Wentworth F.G.A. Commercial package, wrapped apples, any variety, 7'5% to be given for package, grading and packing, and 25% for variety and quality of fruits. All entries must grade No. 1, according to the Inspection and Sales Act: 1st, R. Thompson; 2nd, Wentworth F.G.A. SPECIMEN APPLES' OF STANDARD VARIETIES. Baldwin: 1st, Norfolk F.G.A.; 2nd, R. R. Waddle, Hamilton. Fameuse: 1st, W. G. Watson, Dixie; 2nd, R. R. Waddle, Hamilton. Greening (R.I.): 1st, F. G. Stewart, Homer; 2nd, G. A. Robertson, St. Catharines. King: 1st, P. C. Dempsey, Trenton; 2nd, Norfolk F.G.A. Mcintosh Red: 1st, Biggs Fruit & Produce Co., Burlington; 2nd, L. A. Pariesien, Summertown. Spy: 1st, W. F. Bradley, Georgetown; 2nd, W. G. Watson. Wolf River: 1st, D. Whyte, Bendale; 2nd, John D. McDonald, Cornwall. SPCL S3 3SH.C ci F7S3 'f mm mM mM &&$%■