County. Thus began an
industry that had a slow advance for some fifteen years, but from 1880
spread rapidly, until the manufacture of cheese in factories became one
of the leading provincial industries. The system followed is a slight
modification of the Cheddar system, which takes its name from one of the
most beautiful vales in the west of England. Its rapid progress has been
due to the following circumstances: Ontario, with her rich grasses,
clear skies, and clean springs and streams, is well adapted to dairying;
large numbers of her farmers came from dairy districts in the mother
country; the co-operative method of manufacture tends to produce a
marketable article that can be shipped and that improves with proper
storage; Great Britain has proved a fine market for such an article; and
the industry has for over thirty years received the special help and
careful supervision and direction of the provincial and Dominion
governments.

During this period we note the voluntary organization of the Ontario
Fruit-Growers' Association, a fact which alone would suggest that the
production of fruit must have been making progress. The early French
settlers along the Detroit River had planted pear trees or grown them
from seed, and a few of these sturdy, stalwart trees, over a century
old, still stand and bear some fruit. Mrs Simcoe, in her _Journal_, July
2, 1793, states: 'We have thirty large May Duke cherry trees behind the
house and three standard peach trees which supplied us last Autumn for
tarts and desserts during six weeks, besides the numbers the young men
eat.' This was at Niagara. The records of the agricultural exhibitions
indicate that there was a gradual extension of fruit-growing.
Importations of new varieties were made, Rochester, in New York State,
apparently being the chief place from which nursery stock was obtained.
Here and there through the province gentlemen having some leisure and
the skill to experiment were beginning to take an interest in their
gardens and to produce new varieties. On January 19, 1859, a few persons
met in the board-room of the Mechanics' Hall at Hamilton and organized a
fruit-growers' association for Upper Canada. Judge Campbell was elected
president; Dr Hurlbert, first vice-president; George Leslie, second
vice-president; Arthur Harvey, secretary. The members of this
association introduced new varieties and reported on their success. They
were particularly active in producing such ne