Читать книгу Fruit Ranching in British Columbia - John Thomas Bealby - Страница 17
ОглавлениеSpying Out the Land.
I spent a week inspecting fruit ranches on the shores of the west arm of Kootenay Lake, near Nelson, at prices ranging from $100 to $135 per acre, the ranches being all what are called "improved"—that is, each had a certain proportion of its acreage cleared and planted with trees of various ages, and a further proportion in different stages of clearing. Then I looked at a few unimproved fruit-lands, the prices, of course, ruling lower. It was one of these, situated near Bonnington Falls, in the Kootenay River, eleven miles below Nelson, that appealed to me most strongly. The soil was first-rate and of great depth. A large portion of the land was cleared in as far as big trees were concerned, and on the remainder the big timber-trees were all sold and the purchaser was busily engaged cutting them down and getting them out. The aspect, a gentle slope towards the south, well sheltered all round, was in every way excellent. Five to ten acres were ready for breaking and ploughing at once, and if this were done without delay a crop of some sort could be reaped the first year. The place was close to a railway station, through which three trains passed each way, to and from Nelson, every day—three times the usual number. There were two houses on the property ready to step into; also a large new stable and a big poultry-house. Then, to crown all, the price was reasonable. Nor does this exhaust the attractions of the place; and I use the word "attractions" advisedly, because the higher ground commanded one of the most striking and beautiful river scenes in British Columbia, and that is equivalent to ranking it among the loveliest pieces of landscape to be found in the world. As we stood at the edge of the bench-land, we had at our feet the two falls of the Kootenay River, with the flashing reaches that link the lower falls with a series of rapids which thread a group of rocky, tree-grown islets lower down.
The principal drawback to the place was that certain parts of the frontage next the Canadian Pacific Railway were very rocky and the ascent to the bench above was rather steep. This last objection could be overcome by making a road up the soft earthern face of the bench. As for the rock outcrops, they were seen at their worst from the railway. When you got up above, on to the land, they were only prominent in two places. The total amount of waste from this cause was probably about 6 per cent. of the whole, and there were scarcely any big boulders. Almost the entire area of the ranch would admit of being planted with fruit-trees. Of the total extent, there was less than 5 per cent. that could not be planted. The area amounted to over 300 acres.
Although I found here very many of the conditions I was looking for, I postponed making a decision until I had visited the Okanagan district, farther west. It was the Okanagan district which had done most to make British Columbia so widely and famously known as a producer of excellent fruit, and I wanted to see what the country was like. As it chanced, the opportunity presented itself to visit the valley in the company of the President and Secretary of the British Columbia Fruit Growers' Association. I seized it, and was thus enabled not only to see the Okanagan country under the best auspices, but also to gain access to localities which might possibly have been denied to a simple stranger unprovided with special credentials. Moreover, the two officials mentioned were to give a series of demonstrations in tree-planting, pruning, and spraying, and to advocate the formation of a Central Provincial Exchange as an agency for co-operative buying and selling—chiefly for selling.
The first locality at which we stopped was Kelowna, a bright little town, with an air of English neatness and prosperity, the well-built houses standing back in large gardens, and the streets being wide, while behind the town was a large expanse of farm land, intersected by fenced roads. We were driven on to a large fruit farm of some three hundred acres. But the trees were quite young, and had by no means reached the bearing stage. All the fruit land in that district was dependent upon irrigation; and somehow, although I was posted up in the advantages of irrigation as regards both the certainty of an annual crop and the heaviness of the yield, I had a prejudice in favour of unirrigated land. Nor did I see anything either at Kelowna, or at Summerland or Vernon, both of which places we visited during the course of the trip, to warrant me in disregarding the promptings of that prejudice. Besides, it was not altogether instinct that deterred me from buying in the Okanagan. The prices there ruled very much higher than they did in the Kootenays. This was only to be expected, as the country was older and the art of fruit-growing in every way more developed than in the Kootenays. The prices I was asked ranged from $200 (£40) an acre upwards. But then, I must admit that this was for land which required no clearing: it was already cleared and quite ready for the plough and for planting. On the other hand, there was an annual rent for water, a rent that would last in perpetuity. And what a heavy burden a tax of that nature may become upon agriculture I knew from painful experience in the region of my youth—the Fens of Lincolnshire.
AN OKANAGAN PEACH ORCHARD.
Summerland, some ninety miles farther south, on the west side of the Okanagan Lake, was in many respects an ideal place. There was not a single drinking saloon or store which could supply strong drink throughout the whole of the community. Such a thing as locking the house door was, I was assured, absolutely unknown. The ranchers had a most convincing air of prosperity, and were very hospitable. We were shown three or four of the ranches belonging to the most successful of these men, whose fruit had won medals at the Royal Horticultural Society's Colonial Exhibitions in London two years in succession. But the dust! April though it was, the roads were more than ankle-deep in soft, floury, silty dust, which rose in choking clouds in the wake of our chariot wheels.
At Vernon we witnessed a proof of the severity of even a British Columbia winter. The preceding winter had been one of unexampled rigour throughout the west of Canada, and in the Okanagan the thermometer had dropped to -28° Fahr. The consequence was that at Vernon some of the peach trees, in at least one small orchard, were killed down to the ground level. This again did not appeal to me, any more than did the dust of Summerland, especially as at Summerland itself, despite its name, we had seen other peach trees which had almost certainly been killed back to within a few inches of the ground by frost.
It was, as I have already said, my object to erect greenhouses and grow hothouse produce, including flowers. For this object none of these Okanagan towns appeared to me sufficiently favourable. In the first place, water is a sine quâ non of greenhouse work—water in unlimited quantities. It would not do to be restricted to the quantity that would be appropriated strictly to my acreage. In the next place, these towns were smaller than Nelson, and consequently were not likely to purchase so large a quantity of flowering plants and cut flowers. Thirdly, places on the Okanagan Lake had communication with the main line of the C.P.R. at Sicamous Junction on three days of the week only—the boat returning south on the other three days of the week. Now, however, there is a daily service.
For these various reasons, I would not settle in the Okanagan Valley; I would return to Nelson and the Kootenays. I did so, and after very little further delay I bought the Bonnington Falls ranch. I have been asked why I did not try to see more of British Columbia before making my selection. The answer is simple. From the inquiries which I had made at a distance before coming out I was pretty certain that there was a good opening at Nelson for the special line of business which I proposed to embark in. When I reached Nelson I found that my impression was correct. In other words, I knew precisely what I wanted, and, having found the thing that appeared to me to fulfil the essential requirements of the case, I did not see what object was to be gained by further search, especially as by making further search I should have lost that season, and with it practically a twelvemonth's work.
FRAME HOUSE, BONNINGTON FALLS RANCH.
BUILDINGS, BONNINGTON FALLS RANCH.
