444 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ceptions the fruit was placed in the car warm 

 on a clay when the temperature outside was 

 about 90 degrees. One carload was placed in 

 storage over night and cooled to 42 degrees. 

 The thermograph started at 4.5 degrees and 

 dropped the first day to 42 degrees and re- 

 mained there for 36 hours and then advanced 

 to 50 degrees for nearly two days, and finally 

 dropped to 42 degrees, where it remained until 

 the car was opened. Very good time has been 

 made by most of the cars, about five days be- 



ing the record. Five cars of different makes 

 were tested as refrigerators and five also as 

 ventilators. Three or four men have accom- 

 panied these cars. The last to go (on October 

 18) was Albert Pay, whose car arrived in Win- 

 nipeg October 23, or in less than five days. 

 When these men all return a meeting will be 

 called at the Cold Storage Company's office and 

 the railway men will be invited to attend, 

 when these men will present their reports. 



HINTS FROM A BRITISH IMPORTER 



During October Mr. .Joel Goodwin, one of 

 Manchester's leading fruit dealers, visited On- 

 tario and incidentally studied fruit conditions. 

 '• In Canada," said Mr. Goodwin to The Horti- 

 culturist, " only fruit that will ship well should 

 be grown. Colored fruit sells better than un- 

 colored. The Englishman wants something 

 showy and will take a variety that is highly 

 colored although the quality is not so good. It 

 seems to be a hard matter to teach Canadians 

 to pack properly. Many of the packages, 

 when they reach Great Britain, appear to have 

 been put up by persons who had never seen 

 packing done properly. The proper way is to 

 have some man who understands packing do it 

 all. There is no use trusting the average 

 farmer to do it. 



'• The greatest satisfaction is given by the 

 Canadian barreled fruit. The packing is done 

 better, and boxed goods do not sell so well on 

 our market. Two years ago when barrels 

 were scarce in Canada and boxes were sent it 

 was difficult to make sales. Many of the boxes 

 were weak and spread enough to allow the 

 fruit to become slack. Besides, barrels arrive 



in better condition, as their shape leaves space 

 between them for ventilation during transport. 

 Cold storage is necessary for the boxes and 

 that entails extra expense. 



" I usually get my supply of apples by con- 

 signment, but have had some sent direct from 

 the growers. The dealers are better informed 

 as to market conditions and understand the 

 business better than the average producer. 

 Selling fruit is a business distinct from grow- 

 ing, and as a rule the farmer is willing to sell 

 at a paying price if he has no risk to run. 



" Better steamship service is needed be- 

 tween Canadian ports and Manchester. Our 

 merchants could handle 15,000 or 20,000 bar- 

 rels a week if the steamers would bring them. 

 We must have a weekly service, and if the 

 Manchester lines cannot give it I may put on 

 some steamers myself. The very best boats, 

 fitted with cool chambers, are needed for the 

 apple trade. The steamship companies claim 

 that there is no money in carrying freight, but 

 if the best boats were put on more trade w^ould 

 result and then it would pay." 



More Cars Demanded 



Owing to the great scarcity of cars for hand- 

 ling the late crop of tender fruits and the bulk 

 of the apples, a meeting of the transportation 

 committee of the Ontario Fruit Growers' As- 

 sociation was held in the Grand Union Hotel, 

 Toronto, on October 16. Messrs. W. H. Bunt- 

 ing and Robt. Thompson, of St. Catharines; E. 

 D. Smith, of Winona; W. L. Smith, H. W. Daw- 

 son and P. W. Hodgetts, secretary of the Fruit 

 Growers' Association, discussed the situation. 

 Great losses have resulted to several shippers. 

 It was estimated that there would be 300,000 

 barrels awaiting shipment within three weeks, 

 and owing to the millers asking for cars to 

 bring wheat from the west for Ontario mills 

 the shortage in rolling stock was likely to be- 

 come serious. 



The committee considered that since fruit 

 was a perishable product and apple shippers 

 were paying a higher rate for their shipments 

 special efforts should be made to aid the fruit 

 men at this critical time. It was decided to 

 ask the Railway Commission to compel the 

 railways to give preference to the shipments 

 of apples until the congestion has been re- 

 lieved. A petition to this effect has been sent 

 to the commission. 



Packed When Green 



A. McNeill, chief, fruit division, 



OTTAWA. 



Mr. J. J. Philp, Dominion Fruit Inspector, 

 Winnipeg, notes the especially large quantity 

 of Fameuse apples arriving in bad condition, 

 and attributes this to the fact that these apples 

 have been packed on the green or somewhat 

 immature side. A large quantity of fruit has 

 arrived at its destination in a wasty condition 

 this year as the result of its being shipped 

 while yet immature. 



The idea that fruit must be packed green to 

 ship and keep well is so strongly intrenched in 

 the public mind that it will take much time and 

 patient teaching to eradicate this erroneous 

 impression. Scientific experiments, under- 

 taken for the purpose by the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington. D. C, have shown 

 that to keep and ship well, fruit must be just 

 mature but not over ripe. Green fruit spoils 

 as readily as over ripe fruit. Mr. Philp's re- 

 ference was specially to Snow apples. The 

 Fruit Division, Ottawa, gives it as the experi- 

 ence of its inspectors that these apples cannot 

 be shipped profitably in barrels. They must 

 be classed as a tender fruit, and the box is the 

 largest package that should be used for them. 



