EXTENSION OF FRUIT GKOUJNG.~II. 



if they can find a profit in shipping this 

 fruit 3000 miles over roads that charge 

 very high freight rales and pay a duty 

 in addition, we ought to be able to 

 make a profit when in SMch close prox- 

 imity to the markets, with moderate 

 freight rates and no duty. I will an- 

 swer the question. We are poor packers 

 — California growers put up their fruit in 

 tasty packages, they send only choice 

 specimens, what they do with the sec- 

 onds and thirds I do not know, I pre- 

 sume they can or evaporate them or 

 make them into jam, but certain it is that 

 only choice fruit comes here and it at- 

 tracts the buyer and our fruit goes begg- 

 ing. I have heard merchants say that they 

 ceased buying our fruit altogether, they 

 could not depend upon getting it well 

 and honestly packed, and they handled 

 only California fruits. 



Now is not this our own fault ? There 

 are enormous quantities of these very 

 fruits we grow, viz.: peaches, pears, and 

 plums, etc , displacing the growth of our 

 own orchards, simply because we are try- 

 ing to dispose of every available speci- 

 men to the city consumer whether he 

 wants them or not. Better by far send 

 only the choice specimens to market and 

 feed these seconds and thirds to the hogs, 

 if we cannot find a market for them at 

 the factories. Let us make an effort to 

 regain our lost trade, for I tell you, fruit 

 growers here assembled, our home market 

 is slipping away from our hands by reason 

 of our gross neglect and supineness we 

 have a market in Canada for double the 

 fruit we can grow at present if we put it 

 up in an attractive form, and never, 

 never, cheat our customers by false 

 packing. Now before I close ; one 

 word about apples the king of all fruits, 

 for no matter how much we may praise 

 up this or that locality for other fruits, 

 apples are bound to be the great export- 

 able fruit of Canada, for not only can we 



grow them to a higher state of excellence 

 than any other country in the Northern 

 Hemisphere, but we also have a larger 

 area capable of producing regular crops 

 than any other country where fruit of 

 good enough quality to compete with 

 ours is grown. We have the fruit ; Great 

 Britian and the continent of Europe, 

 our own great Northwest, quite frequent- 

 ly the populous Western States wants 

 it. Here are surely the conditions of a 

 profitable trade : there is but one thing 

 lacking, that is safe and cheap transport- 

 ation facilities. It is of no avail to say 

 apples were too cheap this year, they 

 cannot be grown at prices current this 

 year. I well remember hearing older 

 men tell of the very low prices of grain 

 when this country was first settled and 

 yet later for fifty years prices averaged 

 much higher ; as soon as transportation 

 facilities were offered grain brought 

 good prices — so today grain in Manitoba 

 is cheaper than here because of the cost 

 of transportation to Europe. I contend 

 that every first class apple in Canada 

 could have been marketed in Europe 

 this year, and our growers have received 

 75 cts. per barrel net on the ground for 

 every barrel had we safe transport to 

 Europe, to say nothing of cheap trans- 

 port. Buyers of apples never have had 

 confidence to buy apples at their fair 

 market value, simply because they do 

 not know when they ship them over 

 whether they will arrive sound or whether 

 half the cargo will arrive cooked, and be 

 sold at any price obtainable for rotten 

 and nasty fruit. I have conversed with 

 numbers of gentlemen who have gone 

 over with their apples and they say there 

 is no doubt about our apples arriving as 

 stated by receivers on the other side. 

 They would not have believed it possible 

 for apples put up here sound as possible 

 to become ruined in two weeks on the 

 cars and in the hold of an ocean steamer. 



