BRITISH COLUMBIA 51

In the three years, 1902 to 1904 inclusive, the shipment of fruit by
express averaged 676 tons per annum. In the three years succeeding,
express shipments averaged 1,634 tons per annum, an increase of nearly
150 per cent. Large quantities of fruit are also sent out by freight. In
the four years commencing with 1902 and ending with 1905 the records
show the shipments by this means of transportation to have more than
doubled. Records of succeeding years show a very marked increase over
that period. A large part of the fruit which is grown in British Columbia
is consumed locally. The foregoing figures may seem small when compared
with those of older fruit growing countries, but they show conclusively
that the industry is making steady progress and there is every indication
of it becoming one of the province’s most important items in the near
uture.

The actual experience of many fruit growers is highly satisfactory
to them, and a temptation to every man who desires to make money
pleasantly to set up in the business. In the Okanagan District instances
have been known where the owners of the land have made a gross profit
of from $500 to $600 per acre. In the suburbs of Victoria, phenomenal
results have been obtained from the growth of strawberries. It is an
authenticated fact that in one year four acres of strawberries produced
28,126 pounds of fruit, which sold for $2,598.00 net, or $650 per acre. At
Lytton, grapes averaging four pounds to the bunch have been grown in
the open. Acherry tree at Penticton produced 800 pounds of fruit. These
cases are not exceptional or confined to any single district. Similar ones
have been cited from almost any part of the province. Apples and pears
produced from 8 to 15 tons per acre, according to variety, and the average
price is $30 to $50 per ton respectively. Fruit packing methods used are
similar to those in vogue on the California Coast, and are considered perfect
by experts. Careless or dishonest packing is not tolerated, and every in-
stance is carefully followed up and efforts made to punish the offenders.

PEACHES AND GRAPES.

Peaches are successfully grown in parts of Southern British Columbia,
more particularly in the Okanagan District, the eastern part of Kootenay
Lake, Nelson, Creston, Boundary, Arrow Lake Districts, and the West
Coast, and Vancouver Island in the western part. This industry gives
promise of becoming an important branch of fruit growing. In the Okana-
gan the orchards are tapidly increasing.

One advantage of peach growing is the fact that the trees come into
_ bearing earlier than apples, so that under favorable circumstances four-

year-old peach orchards will yield as high as $300 worth of fruit per acre.
FRUIT AWARDS.

British Columbia was successful in winning special attention in the
Horticultural Society’s show in London, England, during 1910. This
function is recognized as being the principal horticultural show in the world,
one in which every fruit growing district desires to exhibit, and the pro-
vince’s success there has proclaimed most unmistakably that its fruits are
second to none throughout the world. The first consignment was sent there
for competition in 1904, and gained the society’s gold medal and diploma.
Five years have since gone by, and British Columbia has maintained the
proud position she then attained.

During 1910 a carload of fruit, comprising close to eight hundred
boxes, left the province on the 16th of October for Liverpool. On arrival
there it was placed in cold storage and was drawn on as required for the
different shows. Amongst the more important awards were the society’s
gold medal of the Royal Horticultural Society of Vincent Square, West-