Victoria)! Fruit hi Loixloii. \b'y 



The Shipment per "Orestes" 



This steMiiicr arrived witli 4,o00 Victorian apples and ooO cases of 

 pears. I found, on inspection, that the a])ples, with the exception of 

 a variety called Gloi'ia Miindi, which had iiianv decayed fruits in thi' , 

 cases, a]i]ieared to be g'enerally ir. good condition. The Victorian 

 pears, like those in the Onnu:: were packed in apple cases, ami several 

 opened of the Capiauniont variety appeared to be either partly or 

 wholly rotten. Another variety, name unknown to nu\ was, however, 

 in sound condition. In the same chamber with the Victorian pears 

 were 800 trays oi- snudl cases, each containing one layer of Tasraanian 

 pears of the Bon Cure variety. These were in ])erfectly sound 

 condition, shewing conclusively the advantage of the latter .system of 

 packing for this fruit, which I have strongly recommended to Victorian 

 exporters for the past two years. The temperature of the chamber 

 had been kept at 8^< to 40 degrees. The fact that this system of 

 packing pears is the most suitable under all cii'cumstances cannot be 

 too widely known to Victorian growers and ex]iorters. 



The ))r)ces ])er case for Victorian fruit were as under : — 



Apvlks. 



Cleopatra 



Jonathan 



Munro's Favorite 



Esopus 



Five Crown . . 



Gloria Mundi 



Other Varieties 



The "Oceana" and "Suevic" Shipments. 



The Oceana shi])raent of fruit comprising 4,544 cases from 

 Melbourne, 14,oVi from Hobart and 1,200 from Adelaide, arrived and 

 discharged all in good condition. Included in the Victorian con- 

 signment were 170 cases of pears. These were carried in a separate 

 coni])artment temporarily bulkheaded off with one inch of pine boarding 

 in the large refrigerated cham1)er, and the temperature kept at ^)^^ 

 degrees, the apples in other part l)eing at 45 degrees. The pears,which 

 were of the ^'icar of Winkfield, Winter Nelis, Bosc and Calabash 

 varieties, were in large cases, the various shippers adopting different 

 methods of packing. iSome of the pears wrapped in paper were packed 

 in chaff', others in wood shavings, some simply in the paper wrapping, 

 and a few cases had the fruit in card-board cylinders. All, however, 

 were in sound condition, shewing, as with the India consignment, that 

 this fi-uit will carry well if placed in a sei)arate chamber to the ap])les 

 and the temperatuVe kept at :i6 or 88 degrees, and that no special 

 process is necessary to aid their preservation in transit. One pre- 

 caution, however, should be taken by exporters of pears, and that is 

 to reject any single fruit having a blemish, and to have it all handled 

 and packed carefully so that none of it is bruised. 



The apples, generally, were of a fine class, and freer from hitter 

 ])it than previous consignments. 



