COMMERCIAL FRUIT GROWING. 



ite varieties are : Apples. Stark, Gano, Bald- 

 win and Wagener ; plums, Burbank ; pears, 

 mostly winter varieties. A numiter are prepar- 

 ing to spray this season for the first time. 

 PRINCE EDT^^ARD ISLAND. 

 Mr. A. E. Dewar, Charlottetown, P. E. I. : A 

 lot of trees were damaged by snow, otherwise 



they are in good condition. There are a few 

 complaints of damage by mice. Strawberries 

 promise well. The season is later than usual. 

 There is an increase in the area planted of fruit, 

 principally winter apples, with some plums and 

 a good many strawberries. More attention is 

 being given to spraying. 



The Standard Apple Box. 



THOS. BEALL, LINDSAY, ONT. 



On page 161 of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 for April I find an article headed "A Standard 

 Apple Box Adopted." I was pleased to learn 

 that its adoption was a certainty and hope that 

 the measurements given may be generally ac- 

 ceptable as a suitable apple box for market pur- 

 poses. I regret, therefore, to see erroi-s in the 

 first paragraph which may cause some uncer- 

 tainty about the measurements, and hope it may 

 be corrected at once so that no further cause for 

 discussion may remain. 



The errors referred to are contained in the 

 follo^v^ing quotation: " The standard size pro- 

 vided for is 10 X 11 X 22 inches inside measure, 

 or 2.200 cubic inches. It holds one bushel and 

 is equivalent to one-third of a barrel." Now, 

 the measurement given, 10 x 11 x 22 inches, 

 is 2,420 cubic inches, not 2.200 cubic inches, as 

 stated. Then again, if it is intended that the 

 box may be either 2,200 cubic inches (about 18 

 cubic inches less than a bushel), or may be the 

 measurements as given in the act, which gives 

 2,420 cubic inches, it is an error to say that " it 

 holds one bushel," for the first is less than a 

 bushel and the latter more. Our standard 

 bushel is a small fraction over 2,218 cubic 

 inches. 



As a rectangular box, although measuring an 

 exact bushel, can not contain a bu«hel of apples 

 because of the loss of space at the sides and in 

 the angles, it is well to have the box a little 

 larger, as has been done in this case to compen- 

 sate for that loss. A standard apple barrel con- 

 tains a shade over three bushels, and will hold 

 the contents of three such boxes of apples as 

 aibove referred to. I think, therefore, that the 

 box adopted ought to satisfy all parties con- 

 cerned and should no-t be changed. 



Note. — The error referred to by Mr. Beall oc- 

 curred in printing the figures 22 instead of 20. 

 The measurements of the box should have read 

 10 X 11 x 20 inches, inside measurement, or 2,200 

 cubic inches. — Editor. 



Cold Storage Buildings. 



The Pi-uit Division, Ottawa, has received an 

 interesting letter from Mr. Albert W. Swalm, 

 American Consul at Southampton, England, in 

 answer to enquiries with reference to the suc- 

 cess of the Southampton cold storage buildings 

 for fruit. Mr. Swalm asserts that the cold 

 storage houses have succeeded beyond expecta- 

 tions and it would seem as if soich fruits as the 

 Russet, Canada Red, Baldwin and Ben Da\'is 

 ocmld be kept almost indefinitely. He draws, 



however, attention to the fact that there was a 

 serious loss in storing bruised and scabby fruit 

 and windfalls. He could detect no great dif- 

 ference between the keeping qualities of the 

 American and Canadian apples. 



There was no attempt to store English apples, 

 T\ihich he asserts 'wiill not likely, under any cir- 

 cumstances, be usea for the winter markets. 

 They will go into consumption directly, although 

 many of theim are fair keepers and some very 

 fine in flavor. The English apple crop is not 

 likely to show an increase that will in any way 

 interfere with importations from America. The 

 most serious defect that was to be noted in the 

 cold storage stock was the want of care in the 

 selection and grading of the stock that was put 

 into cold storage. 



Working of the Fruit Marks Act. 



An account of the working of the fruit marks 

 Act was given to the Committee on Agriculture 

 at Ottawa recently by Mr. A. McNeill, chief of 

 the fruit division of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Ke reported that shippers of apples had 

 observed the law fairly well for the last two 

 years. Last year the apples of 811 shippers 

 were inspected, and 264 were found to have vio- 

 lated some section of the act, but as many of 

 these were careless rather than criminal, he 

 gave the figures in another form. Of this num- 

 ber 153 violated the section regarding marking, 

 and 170 violated the section regarding the grad- 

 ing of fruit, but of those only three violated it a 

 second time. Forty-six were found to have 

 faced barrels too highly, but only four commit- 

 ted the offence a second time. Therefore, Cana- 

 dian apple shippers had a high reputation for 

 honesty of packing. 



Mr. McNeill read an extract from a recent is- 

 sue of the Market Growers' Gazette, of London, 

 England, with quotations for imported apples. 

 After quoting various kinds of American apples, 

 it referred to Canadian apples as " Canadians, 

 all round, two shillings more." When, as year 

 before last, Canada shipped 1,500,000 ibarrels of 

 apples, the advantage of two shillings, or even 

 one shilling, a barrel was more than compensa- 

 tion for the slight cost of inspection. Now, 

 several of the states of the United States are 

 imitating our act, but Mr. McNeill doubted if 

 they would be successful, as they had not cen- 

 tralized federal pKjwer, as we have in Canada, to 

 make uniform laws and enforce them. 



Demonstrations in Spraying. 



With a view of demonstrating the effective- 

 ness of the preparations which have been recom- 

 mended for the control of the chief insect and 



