2G0 



THE AGRICULTURAL NE^VS. 



Decembeu 6, 1902. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



ORANGES IN THE SALE ROOM. 



The following e.xtriict from Mr. W. Ciill's painphlct 

 on Jania'ivii Fruit in BrdisJi MurL-cts, duals with the 

 in.sjtection, and sale of the fruit after it ha.s reache<! it.s 

 market; — 



The fruit, which i;euerully takes from S to 10 <la3s on 

 tlie voyage from Spain, does not need to lie shipiied in cool 

 cliamliers hut goes forward the same as any other ordinary 

 freight, only in this instance, a .ste;inier will take her wliole 

 cargo in orange.s. These cargoes are invarialily handled hy a 

 broker who.se Imsine.ss it is to receive and inspect the 

 .shijinient, classify it, and tlieu advertise it to be put up for 

 .sale at public auction. E.xcept towards the close of the 

 season, the fruit rarely ever needs in.spection, .so perfect and 

 uniform is the condition in which it arrives. The 

 vvarehou.se men can gauge the e.xact state of tlie fruit 

 without hardly ever having to open a bo.x. This is due to 

 the systematic and regularly even p.icking, and the box being 

 composed of slats with sjiaces between, where the hand when 

 flat can be easily in.serted. It is quite possible to .see from 

 the exterior of the package the even rows of beautifully 

 graded fruit, with the wrapping uniform and intact, and the 

 whole bo.x and its contents perfectly symmetrical. The 

 advantage that such a case of fruit derives in thorough 

 ventilation, is at once apparent. After the cases are 

 warehoused they are then sorted out into consignments 

 corresponding to their re.spective .shi[ipers, each consignment 

 being inspected and cla.ssitied according to a scale, generally 

 of six degrees, which .splits the consignments U[) into various 

 odd lots of from one ca.se to thirty. A carefully jirepared list is 

 then printeil and all the lots numbered thereon, together 

 witli the shipper's name, his brand and specifications. 

 These lists are ilistriliuted among the buyers who attend 

 the sale, and the intending |)urchaser can easily sec at 

 a glance what gra<Ie or (piality of fruit he is buying, 

 although in the majority of instances he never sees 

 the actual fruit itself until it is delivered in his own ware- 

 lionse. At some auctions, a sample ca.se taken at random 

 from each lot is .sent up, opened and exhibited in the [lit of 

 tjie auction room, to show the general ap|iearance ; but 

 invariably tlie buyer is guided in his bidding by the marks 

 he sees on the broker's list. For the benefit of those who 

 at any time may receive the.se brokers' lists, — copies of which 

 with prices printed thereon are invariably forwarded by 

 mail to the .shijipers and growers, after a .sale is over — and 

 may l>e unable to interpret these remarks of classification, 



cent, of rot 



Some brokers use inste;id, the marks, ' C, CC, XC, X.' 

 There is also a cla.ss lower still, designated by the term 

 'wasty,' which mark att;iched to a case of oranges, is a sure 

 blow to its hopes of finding its way into any other hands but 

 tho.se of the curbstone hawker or .some old apple woman. 



EXPORTATION OF FRUIT. 



Iti our editorial ou pige li'-'J and elsewhere, wc 

 have repeatedly drawn attention to the damage done 

 to the West Indian fruit trade by tlie exportation of 

 fruit id" bad cpiality to foreign markets. Tlu' tiillowiug 

 notes from the Jamaica Gledncr of Xovember 12, 

 furnish additional evidence on the same point. The 

 statements are the result of the observations of Mr. W. 

 t'radwick, the Agricultural Instructor at Jamaica, 

 made during a recent visit to New York: — 



Mr. Ci-adwick has just returned from New York where 

 he made it his busine.ss to incpiire into the conditions of the 

 fruit market. A large (juantity of fruit wa.s coming in from 

 Jamaica, and he was amazed at what he saw. He secured 

 samples of tlu- fruit and brought these back with him. A 

 more despicalile a.ssortment of tropical fruit it would be hard 

 to imagine. Some of it is (juite inuecognizable. Grape fruit 

 whiidi is not grape fruit: a shapeless thing like an orange : a 

 wi/.ened [liece of skin which was a pool enough lime at it.>j 

 best : an object with a resemblance to a pomegranate : and 

 some other articles Mr. Cradwick shows. 



'fliu elt'ect of the fruit cargoes com|iosed largely of stuff 

 like this is disastrous. The fruit men from the cities who 

 come to look out for good fruit rofu.sc to have anything to do 

 with them, and when they arc sold <is Jamaica fruit an order 

 comes back not to send Jamaicii fruit in future. This is 

 liard on the shi[)per who comes along with good fruit, the 

 day after, and it practically amounts to one Jamaican 

 robbing another. Quality is the only thing the .salesmen 

 can disiio.se of. Quantity, and the worst kind of it, is what. 

 Jamaica insists on supplying. 



