Some enquiries having been made at the Winter meeting of the Fruit Growers’ Association, in February last, regarding phosphates, the following facts may not be without interest.
Deposits of the richest description of this ore are found on the River du Lievre, which flows into the Ottawa river, 18 miles below Ottawa city. Scientific analysis has proved beyond doubt that these beds of phosphates are decidedly the richest ever mined in any quarter of the globe, ranging, as they do, from 85 to 95 per cent. The rocks bearing this mineral are traced through five townships, and though the area is scarcely yet known to a certainty, owing to the country not having yet been cleared up, and the localities being covered with moss, leaves, trees, shrubs, and soil; it is not improbable that it extends over many miles of territory, besides penetrating to a considerable depth into the earth’s crust. In many places the deposits are high up in the hills, the country about the section in which the phosphates are found being of a very uneven and broken nature. Already a number of enterprising individuals are engaged in getting out large quantities for shipment this Spring, and though this industry has been greatly retarded by reason of the small quantity of snow that has fallen during the Winter, yet it is expected that some four thousand tons will be delivered on the banks of the Ottawa or on the navigable waters of the Lievre, ready for shipment in barges, either to New York city or to Montreal, where it will be reshipped to Britain, France, Germany, and Spain. The price realized per ton is about $15, which varies according to the assay, when deposited on the wharf. In Liverpool or New York it is worth, in its crude state, from $28 to $32 per ton; and when manufactured into superphosphate, by treatment with sulphuric acid, it brings $50 per ton on this continent. This manure is principally used, on this side of the Atlantic, in the southern States, where the climate is of a humid nature; further north, or in Canada, it is stated it cannot be used with success, as our atmosphere is not sufficiently moist, and it would therefore lay inactive in the soil; should this apprehension prove to be correct, it can never come largely into use here until some means of irrigation is devised to dissolve it, so that it may be absorbed by the tender rootlets of young and growing plants. This fertilizer is principally used in England for turnips, and is drilled in with the seed. When applied to this crop it produces the most wonderful effects, stimulating the young plants to a rapid growth, thereby overcoming the ravages of the fly so destructive in its early stages.
The great rival to the Canada phosphate beds are those of South Carolina, which were opened ten years ago. I find by the United States, government returns, that in 1870 the sum of six millions of dollars was then invested by capitalists in working them, and the products from these mines have been shipped to Europe in large quantities. These phosphates are not nearly so pure as those on the Ottawa, yielding only 40 per cent., and as ours become better known in the old world, they will be the more sought after.
The Canadian phosphates supplied to the States are principally used there to mix with the poorer class received from South Carolina, which are manufactured into superphosphate at Brooklyn; the sulphuric acid used for treating the ores being that which has already done service in the coal oil refineries of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The margin is so great between the phosphate and the superphosphate, the former being worth $15, and the latter $50 per ton, that the question of manufacturing an article ready for use ought to be seriously taken into consideration by some of our capitalists. The refuse sulphuric acid could no doubt be very cheaply had from the London and Hamilton oil refineries, and it would only be a question whether it would be better to convey the acid to the phosphate or the phosphate to the acid, as the latter is not a very easy thing to handle. Should it be found necessary to manufacture the acid, it is understood there is any quantity of material for the purpose in the eastern townships, both as regards copper pyrites and sulphur beds; and if our deposits of phosphates turn out anything like what present indications would lead one to expect, at no distant day large manufactories, both of the acid and of the superphosphates will be established, most probably near Montreal, that being the most central point for operations.
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THE POMME GRISE, AND THE SWAYZIE POMME GRISE.
BY REV. R. BURNET, LONDON, ONT.
The former of these apples has a number of synonyms. From the peculiar tawny color of the skin, the French are in the habit of calling it “Pomme de Cuir.” English people, acquainted with its French name, call it “Gray Apple.” This designation suits its appearance exceedingly well, for it is singularly marked, and once known can never be forgotten. Its excellence in Canada cannot be called in question; unquestionably it is the finest dessert apple we have. It is of French origin, and holds the same relation to apples, as the Seckel does to pears. Its exceedingly marked peary flavor has recommended its cultivation wherever known. Several Summer apples are exquisite in their flavor, and of great beauty, but for modesty of look, and real genuine goodness, commend us to the Pomme Grise. Some find fault with its size; it is easy to find fault, in fact that is the commonest accomplishment of mankind. It bears prolifically, and this may in part account for its diminutive size. Great size and fruitfulness, seldom distinguish one variety of fruit. The tree is a strong grower, and requires no particular extra care. Its home, like that of the Fameuse or Snow Apple, is the isle of Montreal. It has taken kindly to its trans-atlantic location. Nor is this to be wondered at, Hamilton beach is on the parallel of Cape Finisterre, on the north-west of Spain, and should St. Malo and neighborhood prove to be the country of its birth, it is not to be wondered at that it suits the climate of eastern Canada. It takes kindly to the soil of Ontario, and luxuriates in the western peninsula, succeeding more especially in the neighborhood of Niagara and Grimsby. We have never seen them excelled as grown on the Niagara river. The Messrs. Brown, perhaps, raise as good Pomme Grise as are grown anywhere. Mr. George Leslie, Jr., Toronto, has shown fine samples grown in his grounds, and the same may be said of samples from various parts of Yonge street.
We are led in the same connection to speak of the Swayzie Pomme Grise, so named, we have been told, from Col. Swayzie, an inhabitant of the Niagara District. Beadle’s “Canadian Gardener” expresses the opinion that the apple originated on this farm. The original tree was blown down, the author says, during the Summer of 1870, and was standing in an irregular clump of apple trees, having the appearance of being the original seedling nursery, from which were raised the first apple trees planted out in orchard form on the farm. However this may be, we confidently affirm that this variety of apple is not as widely cultivated as it ought to be. To some tastes it is superior to its congener, the Pomme Grise. Certainly its flavor and delicacy go far to recommend it. It, too, might appropriately enough be called leather-skin, only it is of a lighter color than the Pomme Grise; sometimes with a blush on the cheek, and sometimes not, oftener with none. Both varieties are noble keepers, only fit for use about this season of the year. To those who have cultivated the varieties, and have plenty of them, it need not be said that they are as good for cooking as for dessert. Their dessert and cooking qualities are unexceptionable. The best mode, perhaps, to keep them is to store them in barrels, and only open when about to be used. Their long-keeping qualities commend them to dealers in fruit. We are not acquainted with any two other varieties more likely to give satisfaction to fruit growers than these. The F. G. A. of Ontario did well to disseminate the Swayzie Pomme Grise. It will find its way wherever tried, and prove a lasting comfort to the planter. We strongly advise fruit producers, especially the producers of apples, to largely plant winter varieties, as being profitable and satisfactory. Planting many varieties is like reading many books, apt to dissipate the energies. For Winter use, few varieties can compare with the Pomme Grise, Swayzie Pomme Grise, Golden Russet of western New York, Grimes’ Golden, Northern Spy, Esopus Spitzenburg, and Rhode Island Greening.
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