September, 191 2 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



21 1 



pearance as the flat hoop does but it is 

 durable and answers the purpose well. 

 Some barrel makers use the flat hoop for 

 part of their output. 



This applies almost entirely to the 

 county of Kings, where large and up-to- 

 date factories are in operation. Second 

 grade material is used for potato barrels. 



The advancement in method in Nova 

 Scotia has been very marked in recent 



years, and yet we feel that the apple 

 growing industry is still in its infancy. 

 The next fifteen or twenty years will see 

 still greater improvement and advance- 

 ment. The country is capable of much 

 greater development, and the industry 

 needs improving in many ways before 

 it will be what it can be made. The 

 motto of the Nova Scotia fruit growers 

 is "advance." 



How Wc Pack the 'Famcusc" Apple for Export 



R. W. Shepherd, Como, Que. 



THE famous apple, celebrated as the 

 most delicious apple of its season, 

 and raised in the orchards of Que- 

 bec and eastern Ontario, seems to be 

 dying out. At least the areas of Fam- 

 euse orchards in the province of Quebec 

 have been much curtailed by the recent 

 development of building and real estate 

 boom in the vicinity of the city of Mon- 

 treal. Hundreds of acres of orchards, 

 principally planted with Fameuse, have 

 been sold within the last four or five 

 years for building lots. 



If the orchards that are being planted 

 out on the Island of Montreal contained 

 a greater proportion of trees of the Fam- 

 euse variety, there would be some hope 

 that our most famous dessert apple 

 might be retained, but, unfortunately, 

 most of the large orchards planted in 

 recent years contain a very small pro- 

 portion of that most delicious variety. 

 The Mcintosh Red, said to be a seed- 

 ling of the Fameuse has become popu- 

 lar with our growers. It is easier to 

 grow, it is a handsome variety, and it 

 has commanded high prices up to the 

 present. Therefore, it is being largely 

 planted. 



There is no variety that commands 

 such a high price as the Fameuse, when 



it is landed in England in good condi- 

 tion. I say "when landed in good con- 

 dition." That is the important point. 

 Everyone knows of what delicate texture 

 is the flesh of the Fameuse and how thin 

 the skin. Not much profit can be ex- 

 pected from shipping number one Fam- 

 euse to England in barrels. To be car- 

 ried in barrels all fruit rhust be pressed 

 tight, and the delicate Fameuse apple 

 will not stand that kind of treatment. 

 For years Montreal exporters of Fam- 

 euse in barrels have found that this ap- 

 ple is a "risky" variety to export. 

 Therefore it is necessary to adopt some 

 other package than the barrel. 



The Government box, twenty by 

 eleven by ten inches, does not carry this 

 fruit in as good a condition, for the 

 table of the rich, as is required. The 

 mere fact of tightening the box by the 

 "bulging sides" is too much pressure 

 on the fruit. Of course, wrapping each 

 specimen in paper improves matters, but 

 I have found, after thirty years' experi- 

 ence in exporting this delicate apple, that 

 the only sure and certain method is to 

 pack the fruit in the pasteboard com- 

 partment case, as shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration. 



Great care should be taken in picking 



the fruit. The insides of all the baskets 

 of the pickers should be lined with some 

 such material as burlap. The sorting 

 tables in the orchard should be covered 

 with canvas and the baskets of fruit 

 emptied carefully on them. An old 

 friend of mine always insisted upon his 

 pickers' hands being gloved, when pick- 

 ing Fameuse, in order to prevent any 

 possibility of bruising. The less handl- 

 ing the Fameuse apple gets before be- 

 ing placed in the export package the 

 better. Therefore, I always prefer to 

 pack my Fameuse in the compartment 

 case in the orchard. 



Until the compartment case was 

 adopted for transporting the highest 



^ 



A Two-One, Four-Five 



Pack. Forty-one 



Apples. 



A Two-One, Five-Five 



Pack. Forty-five 



Apples 



Packing Fameuse Apples for Export in Mr. Shepherd's Orchard at Como, Que. 



class of Fameuse apples to England, the 

 English people never obtained that su- 

 perb dessert apple in the condition in 

 which we know it. They had been ac- 

 customed to receive barrels of Fameuse 

 from friends, but always in a bruised 

 and damaged condition, and, therefore, 

 its reputation as a dessert apple did not 

 reach the pinnacle which it maintains 

 amongst those who receive them, an- 

 nually, in Government cases. If the 

 fruit is carefully handled and carefully 

 packed in these cases, the apples, as a 

 rule, reach the consumer in perfect con- 

 dition and even with the bloom on them. 



METHODS OF PACKING 



The apples are not wrapped in paper 

 but are selected on the packing table for 

 the sized squares in the three sizes of 

 cases which we use for the Fameuse, 

 viz. : 



A Case — Two and five-eighths inches 

 diameter of apple, contains one hundred 

 and ninety-six apples. 



D Case — Two and a half inches dia- 

 meter of apple, contains two hundred 

 and twenty-four apples. 



G Case — Two and three-eights inches 

 diameter of apple, contains two hundred 

 and fifty-two apples. 



A sheet of white paper is placed on 

 the bottom of the case, then a rack of 

 squares, then a pasteboard tray, and so 

 on. The top layer is covered with a 

 second sheet of white paper — which is 

 stencilled with the name of the orchard. 



After the cover is nailed on with two 

 w're nails, the corners are bound around 



