II. OBSERVATIONS AT THE SHIPPING POINT. 

 Bv Prok. H. L. Hutt, Horticulturist, Ontario Agricultural College. 



(1) The Fruit. Among" the objects of this shipment, one was to 

 place on the Winnipeg market some of the choicest fruit that Ontario 

 could produce, in the hope of helping to open a trade for Ontario growers 

 in the great Northwest. 



The accompanying tables give in a condensed form most of the par- 

 ticulars regarding the class, variety, grade, and condition of the fruit 

 shipped. While much of the fruit in each car was first-class, or graded 

 XXX, some of it, as the records show, fell much below that grade, and 

 certainly would not have been shipped if sufficient first-class fruit had 

 been obtainable at the time. The growers were handicapped in this re- 

 spect to some extent by the unusual 'ateness of the season, and also by 

 the light crop of some classes of fruit, particularly of the peaches and 

 plums, which w^e were especially desirv)us of including in the shipment. 



Fig. 3. — Some Ontario Apple Boxes : 



1. Dimensions, 9 in. x 12 ^ in. x 19 in ; capacity, 2137 cubic inches. 



2. Dimensions, 9 in. x 13 in', x 18 in. ; capacity, 2106 cubic inches. 



3. Dimensions, 9| in. x 14 in. x 20^ in. ; capacity, 2764 cubic inches. 



4. Dimensions, 10 in. x 10 in. x 22J in. ; capacity, 222-5 cubic inches. 



5. Dimensions, 11 in. x Hi, in. x 22i in. ; capacity, 2784 cubic inches. 



The standard size (not shown), 10 in. x 11 in. x 20 in. ; capacity, 2200 cubic 

 inches. 



Another reason that much of the fruit was not of a kind to tempt the 

 buyer was because it was picked too green. A general impression seemed 

 to be in the minds of many of the shippers that none but green, hard 

 fruit, particularly of peaches, piums, and pears, would carry safely to the 

 Winnipeg market- This was, of course, a point upon which no reliable 

 information was at hand, and one of the valuable lessons afforded by thi,^ 

 experiment is that our finer fruit, such as peaches, plums, and pears, 

 should at the time of shipment be well matured, well colored, and not to'": 

 firm to be quite ripe, or at least mellow, by the time it is placed on th^ 

 market. 



The peaches in these shipments that were hard and firm when shipper 

 reached the Winnipeg market without any perceptible change, while those 



