56 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



aid to the manufacture of a high-class article. The greatest difficulty, 

 perhaps, that the canner of soft fruits has to face is to secure sufficient 

 ripeness to meet the public taste without converting his goods into a 

 mush, and in the hot weather this is a practical impossibility, since 

 the fruit softens without coloring properly and without the production 

 of the needful amount of sugar. These difficulties have been overcome 

 in a large measure by the American factories, and the provision of 

 cool storage facilities by local firms, if commercially practicable, would 

 prove of great value to the grower as well as the manufacturer, since 

 the improvement in the quality of the article turned out would lead to 

 an increase in the demand. 



The difference in the seasons between Australia and the old world 

 which has led to the development of the apple export trade places any 

 project for the cold storage of this fruit, for the local market, on a 

 basis quite distinct from that which obtains in America, yet some 

 idea of the magnitude of the business in that country may not be 

 without interest. In the Year Book of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture for 1900, the origin and development of refrigeration 

 as applied to the 'fruit industry is traced. From this it appears that 

 it was not until 1889 that the first store, devoted mainly to fruit, was 

 opened for business in Chicago, and the success that followed the 

 earliest efforts resulted in the rapid utilization of the then existing 

 facilities in other centres, and the provision of an enormous amount of 

 new accommodation, so that in 1900 the cool storage space available 

 for fruit was estimated at 150,000,000 cubic feet. Stores have been 

 built wherever there was any reasonable prospect of financial suc- 

 cess, and those centres where apple production was a staple industry 

 were soon well equipped. _ An estimate made early in 1901 showed 

 that at that date there were no fewer than 600 establishments for the 

 cold storage of fruit and vegetables. Of the soft summer fruits, such 

 as peaches, plums, early pears, raspberries and strawberries, only 

 relatively small quantities are held, and then, but for a limited period, 

 as they deteriorate rapidly in quality and flavour eves, when they 

 retain their appearance. Pears, beginning with the Bartlett, are 

 largely stored and the quantity held (jf the later sorts is also con- 

 siderable. The favourites for the purpose are Anjou, Angoul^me, 

 Bosc, Clairgeau, Winter Nelis, and Easter Beurre, and these are 

 kept mitil the spring. But it is in regard to apples that the greatest 

 advantages have been reaped by the grower and the consumer, and 

 among the causes that have led to this result are the preference 

 for this fruit exhibited by most people, and the fact that apples retain 

 their condition and flavour better than any other fruit. This trade 

 has indeed assumed so much importance that statistics are collected 

 as a guide to dealers showing the amount of fruit held in store on 

 certain dates. The figures given below, furnished by the officials of 

 the National Apple Shippers' Association, will show the magnitude 

 of the business. 



