€30 Journal of Agriculture. [10 Oct., 1908. 



the inferior line of fruit realizes more than the better one. Reliable 

 -authorities state that such a contingency often occurs during the sales in 

 Covent Garden. Were an impartial agent present, well acquainted with 

 the merits of the fruit sold under the different brands, to act conjointlv 

 in the interests of the various exporters, this agent could, in instances 

 where he thought that a line of fruit was being sacrificed, ordex such line 

 to be passed in. He could then endeavour to profitably dis|^x>se of it either 

 by cool-storing until a rise took place in the market or by disposing of 

 it himself to the retailers direct ; or, if necessity arose, by sending it to 

 another market. An instance of the benefits arising from the latter cour.se 

 may he quoted in connexion with a consignment of fruit shipped last year 

 from the Leongatha Labour Colony. The .agent who had charge of the 

 sale of this consignment, not being satisfied with the price offered in 

 London, shipped it to Glasgow and received a substantial advance on the 

 London price. His efforts in this direction were rewarded by the realiza- 

 tion of a handsome profit. It is an established fact that goods of any 

 description seldom, if ever, bring their full value when put up for public 

 auction. 



One prominent grower and exporter, writing to the press, assumes that 

 "there is a possibility of a commission agent being a dealer as well." 

 This is an open question, but if such be the case it would certainly be 

 to the advantage of the agent to obtain low prices. However, there 

 appears almost certain ground for believing that our fruits were not given 

 fair treatment in the European markets this year. 



Other reasons quoted have been the stringency of the money market, 

 the unfavourable English season, the inferior quality of the fruit shipped, 

 the high charges for freight, inferior packing and grading, and the 

 quantity of foreign apples on the market. Regarding the first of these, 

 it is well known that during the recent financial crisis in the United 

 States large sums in gold were shipped from England to the States, thus 

 causing a tightness in the money market which would be felt as severely 

 in the fruit-trading world as elsewhere. Concerning the second reason, 

 the temperature in Great Britain underwent many surprising fluctuations 

 during the months of April, May and June. With the miserably cold 

 conditions that succeeded the warm weather of the Easter holidays there 

 was little; demand for fruit of any kind. These were followed by the 

 warm days of the early summer, causing a rapid ripening of strawberries, 

 ■cherries and other soft fruits of the northern hemispheie. The third 

 cause, viz., the; inferior quality of the fruit shipped is, unfortunately, 

 -only too true, and may, perhaps, be quoted as the principal reason for 

 the lowness of the prices obtained. This inferior condition was partly 

 due to the fact that the shortage of the season's crop was so marked that 

 there was very little prime fruit to select to fill space which had 

 been booked weeks ahead ; hence growers were compelled to send the best 

 of a generally poor lot which, although inferior in size, appearance and 

 general quality, were not actually diseased and could not, therefore, be 

 rejected by the inspectors. Owing, perhaps, to the effort put forth by 

 the trees in producing' last year's abnormally heavy crop, the cells of the 

 fruit would be lacking in vigour and .render them more susceptible to 

 premature decay and deterioration. The assertion that a healthy organism 

 will resist disease and decay more successfully than an immature and 

 unhealthy one applies with equal force to the vegetable organism as much 

 as it applies to the animal organism. This emphasizes what has already 



