with native species to improve performance of European vinifera grapes. Native American rootstocks proved to be the only way in which vinifera grapes could survive in phylloxera-infected soils. The 19th century crosses produced disease- resistant, productive new grape varieties but they lacked the familiar flavours of classic vinifera grapes. In the mid 20th century the European countries realized that by banning the growing of French- American hybrid vines (a.k.a direct- bearing hybrids) they could solve two problems: get rid of wine surplus and produce better wines. In spite of this setback, grape breeding continued throughout the 20th century. Breeders are still selecting for disease resistance, winter hardiness, finer flavour, and short season to enable grapes to be grown organically, and in regions that are typically too cold for grapes to survive.


The final chapters offer a roadmap to selecting new varieties that can be grown without sprays in all but the most extreme, short season cold regions. There are already many selections available that can be grown without sprays. There are also selections that can survive winter temperatures as low as -40C. Breeders such as Olmo, Munson, Swenson and a dozen others have selected cultivars suited to almost any set of growing conditions. Some are named, others sit in a repository, only identified by breeders number. When you want to try your hand at breeding, this book provides step by step instructions on selecting parents, collecting or obtaining pollen, fertilizing female plants, layering seeds, selecting progeny, testing for flavour, and testing for winter hardiness.


Looking Back By Wayne Wilson


K


elowna's Cultural District, like many other Cultural Districts in North America, has its genesis in the community's industrial core. This railway map from 1927 shows the range and mix of that industrial complex 60 years before the cultural trend moved in.


This wonderful map shows something of the density of the industrial works and the character of the road and rail linkages that kept the seasonal rhythms of the area alive. The rail lines on the right were part of the Canadian Pacific Railway's marshalling yards that allowed packed rail cars to be shunted to the CP wharf. From these yards a network of spur lines connected


packinghouses, canneries,


warehouses and other buildings to distant market and suppliers. For context, the Kelowna Growers


Exchange building at the corner of Water Street and Cawston Avenue is now the site of the Kelowna Art Gallery. The Dominion Growers building is now the location of the Rotary Centre for the Arts. The Associated Growers building at the top centre of the map is the Laurel Packinghouse - the very first designated heritage building in the City of Kelowna. Together, these facilities and others form the heart of the City's Cultural District - the entire area with its roots deeply embedded in agriculture and the tree fruit industry. A curious side note - urban redevelopment gets its start in many ways. Much of this land was freed up for urban redevelopment when a fire in the 1960s tore through much of the Cawston-Haynes-Water street corridor and levelled almost every building. In fact, the Laurel Packinghouse was the only building saved on the south side of Cawston Avenue during that devastating one-day fire. — Wayne Wilson is the former executive-director of the BC Orchard Industry Museum and the BC Wine Museum.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2016-17 21


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