850 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



quantities of fruit shipped, names of shippers, varieties of fruit, freight 

 charges, prices from some sales, extracts from letters reporting on pears, 

 peaches, tomatoes, grapes, and apples, with a report on shipments of 

 apples, the average prices received, etc. Some of the conclusions are 

 as follows : 



"The value of tender fruits in Great Britain depends chiefly upon their condition. 

 To insure the preservation of their condition at its best, it is necessary that a suita- 

 ble package should be used. It should be (1) strong enough to provide for safe 

 carriage, (2) so constructed as to provide for thorough ventilation, (3) cheap, and (4) 

 of a size convenient for handling. No one package is suitable for all kinds of fruit; 

 but the package for the carriage of every sort of fruit should meet these require- 

 ments. . . . Care should be taken in the handling of all tender fruits to prevent 

 bruising. The sorting and wrapping should be done in such a way as to involve the 

 least possible handling of the fruit. If the fruit can be cooled before it is sorted 

 and wrapped so much the less will be the risk of injury. The packing of the fruit 

 should be done in such a way as to keep it firm in the package. An excess of pack- 

 ing, in so far as that prevents circulation of air, is objectionable. Some kinds of 

 packing are liable to become moldy from the dampness caused by evaporation from 

 the fruit. Paper and excelsior packing are of that sort. . . . All tender or soft 

 varieties of fruit should be cooled as quickly after it is picked as is practicable. 

 For long keeping they should be cooled to a temperature between 36 and 40° F., as 

 warm fruit generates heat by the changes which proceed in it. . . . Packages con- 

 taining warm fruit should never be loaded close in a railway car in warm weather. 

 If a refrigerator car be used, well iced, the generation of heat in cases of warm fruit 

 will more than counterbalance the cooling power of the ice. The fruit will continue 

 to ripen anil decay will begin. . . . 



"Early ripening and soft varieties of apples should be packed in ventilated bar- 

 rels or boxes and sent in cold storage. Otherwise a large proportion of them are 

 likely to arrive in a slack and wet condition and to be sold for a price which can 

 entail only loss. . . . The later and lirmer varieties of apples can be shipped safely 

 if cooled below 50° F., packed in ventilated barrels, and carried in the holds of 

 steamships provided with air ducts for causing thorough ventilation. . . . Less 

 attention is paid in Great Britain to the variety of pears than to the soundness and 

 nice appearance of the fruit. Pears of a typical and regular shape are wanted and 

 from a medium to a large size. From the trial shipments it appears that a large 

 trade can be created at prices which will be remunerative to the growers here. . . . 

 Tender varieties of peaches, such as Crawfords, can be shipped with safety only 

 when the fruit is picked in a firm condition and cooled to a temperature of under 

 40° soon thereafter. . . . Tomatoes can be shipped safely. The price that may be 

 obtained regularly will depend so much on the supplies available from other coun- 

 tries that no safe estimate can be made. Those varieties which are of medium 

 size, smooth and regular in shape, solid, with .small seed cavities, sell for the high- 

 est prices. In the trial shipments last year tomatoes of small size were sold at 9s. 4<1. 

 per case, when tomatoes of large size at the same time sold for only 6s. 8d. per 

 case. . . . Fruit intended for Great. Britain should be picked when fully grown and 

 when beginning to change color. If provision has not been made for the carriage 

 of it in cold storage, the fruit should be picked and packed when of full size, but 

 while still a green color and well glazed. . . . Each tomato should be wrapped in 

 tissue paper or in a light, cheap grade of printer's paper. They should be carefully 

 packed stem end down, so that each one will be held firmly in place when the case 

 is closed. It is doubtful whether a profitable trade can be developed in the ship- 

 ment of plums from Canada. . . . From the quotations from letters of those to whom 

 Canadian grapes were shipped last season it is evident that there is not yet a 

 demand for them in Great Britain." 



