SAVE THE FRUIT. 



42 



accessible for many kinds of Ontario 

 fruits, which a few years ago were perforce 

 marketed at home. There is, also, a large 

 and a rapidly growing market in Manitoba 

 and the Northwest for the best fruit which 

 southern Ontario can produce. This mar- 

 ket is largely supplied by fruit from British 

 Columbia, Washington and Oregon States. 

 If, however, the facilities afforded by re- 

 frigeration are made use of this western 

 market can be cap<^ured for Ontario fruit. 



There are certain impediments in the way 

 of this undertaking. In the first place On- 

 tario fruits, while perhaps of better quality 

 than those produced along the northern Pa- 

 cific, do not ship so well and are rnore liable 

 to disease. The difference in climate ac- 

 counts for this, the very dry summer of the 

 coast producing a dry fruit and insuring 

 external dryness in picking and packing. 

 Ontario fruit is more juicy, and our uncer- 

 tain summer weather makes it difficult al- 

 ways to ship perfectly dry. Then, too, our 

 more humid seasons encourage all kinds of 

 disease from which the drier climate of the 

 coast is practically immune. 



These facts emphasize the necessity of 

 careful picking, selecting, and packing of 

 our fruit for export. The study of cold 

 storage as a means of preservation of fruit 

 has laid bare many of the deficiencies that 

 have prevented complete success in the On- 

 tario fruit business. Cold storage has 



brought to notice the difference between 

 good and bad fruit and good and bad pack- 

 ing. It has made it clearly manifest that 

 it pays to store and to ship only good fruit, 

 that it pays to select fruit of even size and 

 ripeness, that for tender fruits particularly 

 there is a critical time which is best for pick- 

 ing. A thorough knowledge of the results 

 of cold storage cannot fail to make the fruit 

 grower, if he regards his own interest, more 

 careful, more skilful, and, if possible, more 

 honest 



Cold storage is of particular importance 

 to the province of Ontario. We have large 

 quantities of perishable produce of high 

 quality, which, to find a profitable market 

 must be carried outside our own boundaries. 

 We have a short producing season, necessi- 

 tating the preservation by some means of 

 our products to be consumed during the 

 winter of forced inactivity. We have ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold, both conditions 

 necessitating well-insulated walls for stor- 

 age ; and, on account of our geographical 

 and political relations, we are at a great dis- 

 tance from our most important markets. 

 For all these reasons cold storage, both sta- 

 tionary and in transit, is of first importance 

 to Ontario, and only by taking advantage 

 of it can the producer realize all that he de- 

 serves for his products and the consumer 

 enjoy to the full the bounty given forth by 

 Ontario's soil. 



PUT FRUIT IN A STOREHOUSE 



A. m'neilIv, CHiEi^, Fruit division, Ottawa. 



Dl'RIXG a recent visit to the Brighton- 

 Colborne district I noted a very 

 large number of apple barrels remaining in 

 the orchards packed and piled, usually di- 

 rectly on the ground, occasionally resting 

 on a few boards or rails. The heavy rains 

 of the previous day thoroughly saturated 

 thousands of these barrels unprotected in 

 the orchards. Manv of them will remain 



there until they are dried out by the sun 

 and wind. This is not so harmful as 

 the old practice of piling the fruit itself on 

 the ground exposed to the inclemencies of 

 the weather. Nevertheless, it is a bad 

 practice and accounts for many of the slack 

 and wet barrels that afterwards appear in 

 the foreign markets. The quality of the 

 barrels now used is greatly improved. It 



