EXTENSION OF FRUIT GROWING.— 11 



Now knowing Ihis to be the condition 

 of apples very frequently on arrival, not 

 this year alone, but every year in the 

 past, can it be wondered that buyers 

 hesitated this year to pay over 50 cts. 

 per barrel, for the big crop of apples in 

 sight and their judgment has been 

 shown to have been correct. I doubt 

 if any man who has shipped forward 

 regularly has made over 50 cts. per bar- 

 rel out of the fruit, net on the ground, 

 but had there been no slacks and no 

 wasty apples on arrival 75 cts. would 

 have easily been realized in spite of the 

 freight rate to Britain 25 cts. per barrel 

 higher than we frequently have had in 

 previous years. Now see what this 

 means to the farmers of Canada, 75 cts. 

 per barrel for the enormous crop of this 

 year could have been doubtless $r,ooo,- 

 000 more than they have realized, and 

 would represent clear profit. The all 

 important question arises : can we have 

 safe transport ? I say decidedly yes ! it 

 is the easiest thing in the world, if pres- 

 sure can be brought upon the Steamship 

 Companies to put in air fans or air 

 pumps. All it requires to carry our 

 apples over in perfectly sound condition 

 is that the temperature of the hold of 

 the vessel where the apples are stored 

 shall be the same as the ocean air in 

 October and November. Wc know 

 very well that a barrel of apples put up 

 in September may lay in the orchard 

 exposed to sun and rain and a hundred 

 changes of temperature and still be 

 sound in November as the day it was 

 packed, barring premature ripening 

 caused by such rough exposure. Why 

 then should the same apples shipped, 

 fresh packed and stowed for ten days in 

 an equable and cool temperature of the 

 ocean, decay ? No sane person would 

 believe for an instant that they would, 

 how then does it come about ? In this 

 way — the excessive heat from the engines 



so heats the hold that even the compart- 

 ments containing the apples are so hot 

 that the apples in some cases become 

 cooked and in almost every instance 

 parts at least of the cargo are damaged, 

 and the whole lot of apples so advanced 

 in ripening that they cannot be held in 

 Britain for any length of time. If this 

 were necessary we would simply have to 

 put up with it, or send by the more cost- 

 ly cold storage, but it is not necessary 

 any one can see at a glance that pas- 

 senger steamers could not be run on this 

 happy go lucky principle, passengers 

 would soon kick if the hold gradually 

 got hotter and hotter as they neared the 

 other side until at last they had to under- 

 go the cooking process : and how do 

 they prevent this heating of the hold in 

 passenger steamships, why simply the 

 air fans, that can be run by about one 

 horse power, which conduct the cool air 

 from the outside down to any of the 

 decks and can be let on as required by 

 a tap, there is no more reason for cooking 

 our apples or injuring them in the 

 slightest degree in going across the 

 ocean, than there is in cooking them on 

 the cars between here and Montreal. 

 But the Steamship Companies will do 

 nothing until forced to do it by the 

 pressure of the votes of the people 

 through the Government, and this surely 

 will not much longer be delayed. Again, 

 had the safe transport been provided 

 our dealers would have long ago opened 

 up markets in not only Great Britain, 

 direct with the dealers and storekeepers 

 there, but with dealers in Germany and 

 other Continental countries where this 

 season every applegrown in Canada could 

 have been marketed at a good price. 



The illimitable North-West can force 

 us to the wall growing wheat, oats and 

 beef and ultimately when milking ma- 

 chines become perfected also in butter 

 and cheese, but apples they must buy 



