FRUIT TRANSPORTATION TO EUROPE. 



The following letter has been sent 

 by the Department of Agriculture, Ot- 

 tawa, to the several steamship com- 

 panies sailing from Montreal and Hali 

 fax: 



" Last season a lot of early varieties of ap- 

 ples were shipped from Western Ontario to 

 Great Britain. About one half of the quan- 

 tity was forwarded in cold storage, and the 

 remainder were sent as ordinary cargo. 



Those sent as ordinary cargo were reported 

 to have arrived all in good condition, and to 

 have sold at an average price of 18s. per bar- 

 rel. 



Those sent in cold storage were reported 

 to have been sold at an average price of 8s. 

 per barrel, and sixty-three per cent were re- 

 ported to have been landed in a "wet "or 

 " slack " condition. 



For the safe carriage of early varieties of 

 apples it seems necessary that they should be 

 carried at a temperature at or below 40° 

 Fahr. 



On examining the returns of twenty-nine 

 cargoes of apples last year, I find that the 

 same varieties of apples were sold at the same 

 time at jjrices showing as much as 8s. 6d. per 

 barrel of a difference between the apples 

 which were landed in good condition and the 



apples which were reported as been landed in 

 a " wet ' or " slack " condition. 



For the safe carriage of late fall and winter 

 apples, it seems desirable that they should be 

 so carried that they may be thoroughly ven- 

 tilated, so that the heat produced by the fruit 

 itself will be carried off. 



When apples or other fruits are kept at a 

 temperature above 40° degrees Fahr., they 

 continue to ripen or go towaids decay. That 

 process generates heat. The increased tem- 

 perature thus caused makes the fruit ripen 

 still faster. 



For the carriage of apples by your Line, 

 could you arrange to have the hold or holds 

 for apples thoroughly ventilated by an air 

 duct, leading to the bottom of the hold, and 

 by use of an electric fan or fans to suck the 

 warm air from the top ? 



During any particular warm weather on 

 the voyage, the ventilating ducts might be 

 used only during the evenings or nights, when 

 the air was cool. 



Our department is calling the attention of 

 growers and shippers of apples to the desira- 

 bility of packing the fruit in barrels or boxes 

 so constructed as to permit of ventilation 

 through each barrel or box, and packed tight 

 enough to hold each fruit firmly in place. 



Jas. W. Robertson, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture and Dairying, 



THE TRIUMPH PEACH. 



The earliest free stone variety. Frank 

 J. Fox, of Lowell, Mich., tells in 

 the Fenville HeraldhA's, experience 

 with this valuable yellow-flesh variety. 

 His neighbor planted trees several years 

 ago and has had them in bearing in his 

 orchard where the Triumph has dis- 

 tinguished itself as the most remarkable 

 of all early peaches. The trouble with 

 early peaches generally has been that 

 they are cling stones, and that they 

 rotted after being gathered, rendering it 

 impossible to ship them to market. The 

 Triumph has all the characteristics of 

 of the best late peacheS; being of large 

 size, good color, yellow flesh and stone 



almost entirely free, and has none of the 

 inclination to rot which the other early 

 peaches have. The Triumph in this 

 instance bore the second year from 

 planting. Mr. Fox's trees bore the first 

 year they were planted, but only to a 

 small extent. He was surprised at the 

 large size and fine appearance. The 

 Triumph ripens with Mr. Fox at the 

 same age as Alexander. Its flavor is 

 fine and the pit very small. The 

 peaches hang on ihe trees with great 

 tenacity. We are glad to get this 

 authentic report from a practical Mich- 

 igan fruit grower. — Green's Fruit Grower. 



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