The Canadian Horticulturist. 



?45 



and it is a sufficient l)anier to turn l)est prices, W'e are not surprised 



cattle. Mr. Morden sells all his fruit therefore to find that he is an 



on the American side of the river, ardent advocate of Conniiercial 



where he claims that he can sfet tin,' Union. 



SEASONABLE HINTS FOR FRUIT GROWERS. 



OXIC }'ear ago, on page 195, vol- 

 ume xi., of this journal, we gave 

 our readers some information upon 

 the (]uickest methods of packing 

 apples for shipping to foreign mar- 

 kets, with an engraving of a conveni- 

 ent packing table, one of a handy crate 

 to be usetl in tlie orchard for bring- 

 ing apples into the packing house, 

 and making some reference also to a 

 Yankee invention for gathering 

 apples, an illustration of which has 

 been given on page 149 of the pres- 

 ent volume. Progress and improv- 

 ment being the motto of Canadian 

 fruit growers, we hope that a year's 

 experience has taught us something 

 worthy of mention in addition to 

 what we knew a year ago. 



FOR N'KAR MARKKTS, 



there is nothing gained as a rule 

 in gathering fruit of any kind before 

 it has attained its full beauty, and a 

 certain degree of ripeness. It is a 

 great temptation to do this when 

 prices are up, and a drop is feared, 

 but immature fruit is a drug in a 

 dealer's hands, and the shipper soon 

 receives word that no more is wanted. 

 Experience only, however, can tit a 

 man to judge just in what stage of 

 ripeness a fruit should be gathered. 

 The writer has, for some years, been 

 in the habit of growing summer 



apples for near city markets, and has 

 learned some lessons in this respect. 

 He has one hundred and twenty 

 bearing trees of Red Astracans, and 

 no kind has proved to be more re- 

 munerative when properly liandled. 

 Our practice is to go over each tree 

 about twice a week for about three 

 weeks, taking off the fruit as it ripens 

 and colors up. The Astracan, is a 

 beautiful apple, when it has its full 

 color, but to get it just in its prime of 

 excellence the trees must be gone 

 over very often. As fast as gathered 

 they are brought into the packing 

 liouse in a spring wagon, and assorted. 

 They are turned out upon an in- 

 clined packing table, and the extras, 

 or perfectl}- formed, highly colored 

 fruit, such as is suitable for table use 

 and dessert purposes, is packed very 

 carefully by itself in baskets, while 

 all the rest is put up in barrels. None 

 but the very finest will pay for the 

 trouble of putting up in baskets and 

 sending into market by express, the 

 rest will do much better in barrels. 

 We found that b\" carefullv keeping 

 our fruit up to sample we could get a 

 pretty constant price for it right 

 through the season, even when apples 

 were coming in abundantly. The\- 

 seemed to become known and sought 

 for in the market. 



