THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



will be done in a month. Last year in the 

 north-east she had a very heavy crop, indeed, 

 and in one district the Bellefleurs were reck- 

 oned by the thousands of tons. This year 

 there are none. 



Germany has a few apples, but not enough 

 for her requirements. She will be an im- 

 porter this year. 



The outlook of England and the Continent 

 is much worse than it was two years ago. At 

 the time it was calculated you could send 

 3,000,000 barrels, and we made the statement 

 that if the fruit was shipped in proper order 

 we could take them in England and the con- 

 tinent. It is true that owing to a lot of fall 

 fruit arriving in 1 ad condition prices were 

 very low before Christmas, but afterwards 

 higher prices prevailed, and the season finished 

 up well. That season you shipped 2.919,- 

 846 barrels. Last year the total only amount- 

 ed to 913,996 barrels, particularly those 

 arriving here after Christmas. Looking at 

 the various figures we find that 360,000 of 

 these were shipped from New York, the bulk 

 from Western States, which we are told this 

 year are very bad, and they will be buyers 

 for home consumption instead tf export. 

 Boston sent 176,000 odd, Montreal and Port- 

 land about 300,000 and Nova Scotia about 

 83,000. 



According to my information we think the 

 crops this year can be put as follows : 



Nova Scotia, if all reports are true, her 

 exports will reach in the neighborhood of 

 200,000 barrels. 



Montreal and the remaining Canadian ports 

 should have about 450,000 barrels. 



Boston and New York may be near 450,000. 



If these figures are at all correct, you will 

 have for export this year about 200,000 bar- 

 rels more thau last year ; and we say prices 

 here will rule quite as good as last year as 

 the conditions this side are much worse than 

 last. 



Philadelphia. — Messrs. E. B. Redfield & 

 &o., 405 New Market St , write under date 

 11th October: "Choice solid crab apples 

 scarce and wanted $4 to $5 per ban el. Fancy 

 Maiden Blush, Snows, Gravensteins firm at 

 $3 50 to $4. Other choice fall red apples sell 

 well also." 



NoFthwestern Fruit Market. 



While Canadian fruit-growers have been 

 assiduously cultivating the British market, 

 they seem to have, to some extent lost sight 

 of the possibilities of trade afforded by the 

 Northwest Territories, where tender fruits 

 cannot be grown Latterly, however, the 

 fruit-growers of the Niagara district have 

 given some attention to the North* est mar- 

 ket, and they hope by the adoption of the 

 proper methods of selection and shipment to 

 avail themselves of the large and constantly 

 increasing demand of that portion of the coun- 

 try, which has been met almost entirely by the 

 importation of California fruits. Prof. Rob- 



ertson, though busily occupied in promoting 

 Canada's export trade in natural products, 

 has not been unmindful of the necessities of 

 the west or of the opportunities in this direc- 

 tion of Ontario fruit-growers. He says that 

 there are three essentials to a profitable trade 

 in fruit between Ontario and the Northwest. 

 One is the sorting and selection of "fruit, so 

 that the consumer will receive good quality 

 throughout in condition, size, and, as far as 

 practicable, in shape. There is a great risk 

 in handling the more tender varieties of Can- 

 adian fruits, because if their liability to spoil 

 quickly after they are received. The natural 

 life of these fruits can be doubled and even 

 trebled if they are cooled before they are put 

 on the railway cars. This treatment retards 

 ripening and thus prevents decay. If they 

 are put in a hot railway car immediately after 

 being picked and after transportation placed 

 in cold storage their life will have by that 

 time almost terminated, with the result that 

 there is pecuniary loss to the dealer and dis- 

 satisfaction with the householder. The actual 

 loss of fruit from decay is tremendous. It is 

 not a matter of so much importance to the 

 fruitgrower, as is the loss occasioned by the 

 diminution in the consunrptive demand from 

 the dissatisfaction of those who have purchas- 

 ed fruit and found it partly spoiled, which is 

 followed by the breaking down and the keep- 

 down of prices through the feeling of retail 

 merchants and consumers that the risk is too 

 great to handle and to purchase fruit in large 

 quantities. Caieful selecting and proper cool- 

 ing at the point of shipment would obviate 

 these difficulties. The department, with the 

 view of encouraging the Northwest fruit 

 trade, has been urging fruit-growers to use 

 for all fruits intended for distant maikets in 

 Canada ventilated packages, as far as practi- 

 cable, to cool fruit before it is packed, and to 

 use only refrigerator cars for its carriage. 

 The fruit growers about St. Catharines have 

 put up a large icehouse for cooling their fruit 

 before it is dispatched from the station, and 

 they are now going into the Northwest trade. 

 Hitherto their returns have been usatisfac- 

 tory from this source, because of the neglect 

 of the precautions which Prof. Robertson 

 says it is necessary for them to take. Winni- 

 peg dealers have entertained rather a poor 

 opinion of Ontario fruits, and have preferred 

 the California article, because the California 

 growers have adopted these precautionary 

 measures. Another consideration is that 

 while California fruit is inferior in flavor and 

 in quality of the flesh, it is of coarser fibre 

 and does not spoil so readily. The possibil- 

 ities of the the Northwest fruit market are 

 very great, and with a constantly growing 

 population the consumptive demand is bound 

 to increase. — Toronto Globe. 



Liverpool Market. 



Messrs. Woodall & Co., Liverpool, write 

 under date October Ist, as follows : " Since 

 the commencement of the season 49,580 bar- 



446 



