Apple Growing in Tasmania. 745 



condition which favors him. Throughout the whole of the fruitgrow- 

 ing districts twining about among the hills there are navigable 

 streams, and it is along the banks of these that the orchards are 

 planted, and at various intervals small jetties may be seen running 

 out in the stream from which the cases of fruit are delivered to the 

 steamers and taken by them direct to the wharf at Hobart, where the 

 mail boats and other large ships are enabled to come to the wharf 

 and load. It is one of the sights of the country to see the enormous 

 stacks of cases delivered there for shipment. During my stay in the 

 city the China and Aberdeen were loading with 70,000 to 80,000 cases 

 each. The work proceeds in a steady and careful manner, and it is 

 quite clear that the shipping of apples is looked upon by steamship 

 companies as a trade worth catering for. 



Packing the Fruit. 



Along the river banks may be seen, here and there, large packing 

 sheds. The fruit is brought in from the orchard fresh from 

 the pickers, and packed by boys and girls on piece work and day 

 work, the price usually paid being Id. a case. Packers are supposed 

 to reject any defective or undersized fruit, but when we see the 

 system there of rushing the fruit in, it will be readily seen that grad- 

 ing does not receive much attention. A number of boys and girls 

 pride themselves on being able to do their 100 cases a day on an 

 average, but with some of the more careful shippers the number is 

 limited to 50 or 60. 



In passing through the packing sheds one cannot help regretting 

 that more care is not exercised in keeping up the standard of quality. 

 In most cases everything appears to give place to expedition in 

 working, no doubt this is important where so many thousands of 

 cases have to be prepared and shipped at a short notice. Stress is 

 laid on the fact that their apples are picked, packed and shipped 

 fresh from the trees. To many, the wisdom of this is questionable. 

 Their season of maturing being later than ours no doubt contributes 

 to this practice, as the shipping to the old world has to be completed 

 in April or early in May. Their choice fruit cannot be gathered 

 earlier. The system to my mind emphasises the importance of our 

 giving proper instruction in the general treatment of all export 

 fruits. The necessity for inspection is clearly shown by the some- 

 what careless system of shippers in the Tasmanian trade, which must 

 ultimately tell against thein when competition with other states 

 becomes more acute. 



The Tasmanian Case- 

 One of the great advantages which the Tasmanian apple shipper 

 has, is in the nature of the cases in which he ships his fruit. While 

 they do not look so well as those vised in Victoria, they are neverthe- 

 less much better for protecting the fruit, as the timber is stronger 

 and more rigid than the light wood cases made here. The cases are 

 made in the packing sheds from the ready sawn timber, and Id. each 



