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- VICTORIA ILLUSTRATED. 43
advantage of the uninterrupted Pacific breezes, which carry with them warmth and other genial influences. On some of the benches of the
island many descriptions of fruit are already most successfully grown, and nowhere in the province can better fruit be found than in the
Cedar Hill District, in the vicinity of Saanich, in some portions of the Cowichan, Sooke and Comox Districts ; in Alberni, those who have
turned their attention in this direction have had their efforts amply rewarded, though their distance from market has been considerable of
a drawback. The displays made at the recent Victoria Exhibition were in the highest degree creditable, while those samples which were
taken from Vancouver Island to the eastern exhibitions were among the finest of the provincial specimens. Mr. O'Kell, who has a British
reputation as a judge of fruits, and who was appointed to collect the island contribution to the consignment of exhibits for the Ontario
and Quebec shows, reports that it would be difficult to excel any-where what he saw when he made his tour through some of the sections of
the island. The trees were, as it were, borne down with their weight of fruit, which, had it been judiciously thinned, would have ensured
still larger and better developed fruits. With a practical eye to business, he made it a point to secure of it as much as possible for
shipment to the Old Country, in the shape of a canned product. Less than twenty years ago, the fruit business of California was of no
greater dimensions than that of British Columbia ; yet, in 1890, it exceeded in amount no less a sum than upwards of nineteen million
dollars, the wheat and flour exports of the same year being about half a million dollars less. Large quantities of canned and fresh
fruits from British Columbia have already been sent to the East, where they have had a most favorable and welcome reception, one wholesaler
of Montreal, Mr. D. Lockerby, having expressed the opinion that he can handle at that point for local consumption and export as much as
can be supplied to him. Other gentlemen, similarly engaged, have ex-pressed their anxiety to enter into the same line of trade. Then, as
concerns local business, the quantity of California fruits that are annually brought in is not much less than $100,000 in value, upon which
an all-round duty of about 20 per cent. is paid. In consequence of the charges for freight, duty and handling, cherries are frequently
sold at as high as 25 cents per pound at retail, and strawberries in the vicinity of 50 cents, while an average price of 8 to 10 cents
would amply compensate the local producer. Existing prices at present very materially restrict the consumption, and, in consequence, there
are many people to whom what ought to be a material element of food in its season, still continues to be a luxury. Fruit growing by farmers
would be a material addition to their resources, while for the man who makes fruit growing on Vancouver Island a specialty, not less
than from $250 to $300 per acre can be cleared annually from an orchard which has reached its full bearing, while even from
a young plantation returns may be had which will more than cover the cost of working, and all the time the revenue will be increasing.
SALMON FISHERY.
The salmon fishery of British Columbia is something unique. Nowhere in the world are salmon found in such abundance, and nowhere does
catching and preserving them constitute so large and so important an industry. From time immemorial, salmon swarmed, at certain seasons
of the year, in the rivers, bays and inlets of the northern part of the Pacific coast. With the aborigines who were fish-eaters, the salmon
may be said to have been the staff of life. They caught great numbers of them, and cured them simply by drying them in the sun. No salt was
used. The fish were cut in thin strips, and these strips were exposed to the heat of the sun. The fish so
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
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