Gage Farm - 1887

In early September, 1887, a reporter for the Hamilton Spectator was ordered to travel beyond the city’s eastern boundary to visit the model fruit farm owned by Mr. R. R. Gage.

The orchard was located in Barton township on the Main street road, slightly west of where that road crossed the King street thoroughfare.

The residence of R. R. Gage, described as being “embowered in luxuriant and handsome shade trees,” was located south of the Main street road.  

Between the Gage home and the base of the escarpment lay the 100 acre market farm, devoted solely to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.

The management of that farm was entrusted by Mr. Gage to Mr. William Webb who was described by the man from the Spectator as being “a pleasant gentleman whose cheeks are as ruddy as those of his best Crawfords, and whose intimate acquaintance with the science of fruit culture is amply evidenced by the extraordinary crops that have matured under his skillful hand.”

The peach orchard on the Gage property was particularly notable.

Growing in light, sandy soil, the peach trees were planted in long aisles, with every tree burdened beyond its strength with peaches.”

The reporter was unwilling to be accused of exaggeration as to how big the peaches were : “the peaches are so large that the writer hesitates to give their diameters and circumferences in inches, lest he should be accused of a sad lack of veracity.”

Every limb of each peach tree at the Gage farm was held up by means of a forked stake. Without those stakes, the weight of the mature fruit would easily snap off the branches.

The reporter ended his impressions of the Gage farm with a description of what he saw as he began his trip back to the city in the evening when the sun was low in the western sky:

“The sunlight plays in the dark green of the peach trees with a light and shade effect which charms the artistic eye, while the ruddy fruit stand out boldly from the green masses, making a picture that could not very well have been surpassed in the original fruit garden of our first parents.”