Hi 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 191 2 



A Two-Two,Four-Five A Two-Two, Four-Four 



Pack. Seventy-two Pack. Sixty-four 



Apples. Apple*. 



with a special hoop iron, one-half inch 

 wide. The case is then stencilled with 

 the name of the orchard, the variety of 

 the apple, and the grade, "Fancy" or 

 "number one" as the case may be. Great 

 care must be taken to see that the paste- 

 board fillings, and the fruit after being 

 packed, come flush with the top of the 

 case and that there is no slackness. In 

 other words, the fillings must fit the 

 case exactly and have not more than a 

 quarter of an inch play any way. 



The fruit must not be squeezed into 

 the squares, nor yet be so slack in them 

 as to turn around. The fruit is placed 

 in the squares stems up. The packers 

 soon get accustomed and select the cor- 

 rect size of apple for each square readily. 

 A good and careful packer can pack 

 about twenty cases a day. I do not ask 

 them to do more, because the chief thing 

 is to select perfect fruit and fit them cor- 

 rectly into the squares. 



DIEECT SHIPMENTS 



The package is too costly to export 

 for sale on the open market. My trade 

 is shipping direct to the consumers, ei- 

 ther on orders from this side or on. or- 

 ders from the consumer on the other 

 side of the Atlantic. 



If shipped to the open market you do 

 not get compensation for the excellence 

 of the selection of the fruit or for the 

 expensive package. But private cus- 

 ■ tomers' orders increase from year to 

 year; for the fruit reaching the con- 

 sumer in such excellent condition is a 

 recommendation. Customers tell their 

 friends and thus the business grows 

 steadily. 



It takes time to establish such a busi- 

 ness, that is, a trade direct with the 

 high-class consumer. It is not a trade 

 that can ]x worked up in a day, or a 

 year, but like every other trade in a 

 soecialty, it is the excellence of the goods 

 that sells them. 



THE GENTRY LIKE IT 



La Fameuse, as a dessert apple, seems 

 to meet the requirements of the English 

 gentry. They use the Fameuse for the 

 fruit course at the dinner table and they 

 do not require a large apple. They pre- 

 fer the medium size, say two and a half 



inches in diameter to any other size. 

 They consider the Mcintosh Red too 

 large for the dessert table — and more- 

 over, the quality of the Fameuse is con- 

 sidered preferable. There is that rare 

 delicacy of skin, texture of flesh, and a 

 peculiar slightly saccharine flavor in the 

 Fameuse which no other apple of its 

 .season possesses. It is this that makes 

 it so popular with English people who 

 can afford to pay almost any price for 

 fruit which suits their palates. 



My advice to growers in districts 

 where the Fameuse attains its greatest 

 excellence is to plant more trees. The 

 Fameuse is a difficult tree to grow, its 

 constitution seems not so robust as in 

 days gone by — and Mcintosh is sup- 

 planting it ; but the day is not far dis- 

 tant when Mcintosh, which is being 

 produced in greater abundance every 

 year, is bound to enhance in price. 

 Therefore, it will be a very profitable 

 apple to grow in the future. 



Packing Fruit for the Western Market 



Robert Thompson, 



MV subject covers a large variety of 

 tree fruits as well as tomatoes. 

 I win therefore only try to give a 

 few of the points that have come under 

 my observation, and which have been 

 put in practice, during some twenty 

 years' shipping and packing. This in- 

 cludes the experience of looking after 

 the loading of one hundred and fifty cars 

 of fruit yearly, packed by various ship- 

 pers and by our company. 



The first point we must realize is that 

 while fruit may be well packed during 

 the warm months, that alone is not suffi- 

 cient. It should first be taken from the 

 orchard quickly to the cold storage, to 

 refrigerator cars, or to the coolest spot 

 available. If it is taken to a refrigerator 

 car, the cars must lie well iced and kept 

 so, and the bunkers should be full when 

 the cars start on their journey. The cars 

 must be fitted so that there will be a 

 . circulation of air through the fruit and 

 over the ice. The car or cars should 

 rarely be loaded to their full capacity 

 with soft fruits. 



St. Catharines, Ont. 



Plums have Ijeen found to carry well 

 if picked when they are about half col- 

 ored and then packed in small baskets 

 or fillers. We have had good success 

 with Burbanks, Bradshaws, and even 

 more tender varieties in six day trips. 



Peaches should be picked when full 

 grown and just nicely colored. They 

 are then firm. They can be wrapped 

 and packed in the California box, eight- 

 een and a half by eleven by four and 

 a half inches, or in the Georgia carrier. 

 Another way in which they carry fairly 

 well is to pack in six quart baskets, two 

 tiers unwrapped. The price for these is 

 not as good as for wrapped boxes. The 

 western market does not net more than 

 from three to four cents a pound, and if 

 this price can be obtained in Ontario I 

 would not advise anyone to ship west. 



Tomatoes should be gathered when 

 just red all over and firm to the touch. 

 They will then carry to perfection as far 

 as Winnipeg and Brandon. For more 

 distant points they will require to be 

 a trifle greener. The stems should be 



Packinf Frnit ia the Orchardt of Jghnton Bros., Forest, Oil. 



Th« Tfork is usually don© in the Packing Shed. Mr. D. Johnson, who stands 

 centre, is the president of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association. 



in the 



