CO-OPERATION AMONG FRUIT GROWERS. 



THE ONLY HOPE OF REMEDY. 



AS Mr. Caston stated in his report, 

 strong representations have been 

 made by the committee to the officials 

 of the railways asking for a redress of the 

 grievances complained of, but so far with 

 little or no success. Our only hope seems 

 to be in the appointment of the promised 

 Railway Commission, whose powers will 

 enable it to rectify such abuses ; and to this 

 commission we will appeal as soon as it is 

 appointed. Our committee on this work 

 for 1904 consists of R. J. Graham, Belle- 

 ville ; H. W. Dawson, Toronto ; D. D. Wil- 

 son, Seaforth; W. L. Smith, Toronto; D. J. 

 AIcKinnon, Toronto, and J. M. Shuttle- 

 worth, Brantford. 



A STANDARD CANADIAN APPLE BOX. 



THE great scarcity of apple barrels dur- 

 ing this season has emphasized the 

 importance of the provinces agreeing upon 

 a standard box for use in shipping pples 

 and pears. Mr. Alex. McNeill, chief fruit 

 inspector, Ottawa, gave a chart showing the 

 various sizes of apple boxes in use in various 

 apple producing countries, and showed that 

 the one already most in favor had an inside 

 measurement of 10 x 1 1 x 20, or 2,200 cubic 

 inches. Mr. Wilson, of London, who has 

 given much time to uniformity in packing 

 boxes for all fruits, proposed a box measur- 

 ing inside \Q>yi x 10^ x 20^, or 2,218 

 cubic inches, an exact bushel. He advo- 

 cated this because it could also be used as a 

 crate for twenty-four standard strawberry 

 baskets, or eight standard grape baskets. 

 By adopting it there would be a possibility 

 of putting up all kinds of fruits grown in 

 Ontario in a uniform exterior case. The 

 committee favored the adoption of the 10 x 

 1 1x20 without the fractions, as the slight dif- 

 ference in size would be no hindrance to the 

 use of the Wilson case, should growers wish 

 it for making shipments of all fruits in a 

 uniform outside package. A box 9 x 12 x 18. 



which was about ^4 of a barrel, was advo- 

 cated by some, because women packers could 

 more easily handle it ; but on the other hand 

 it was urged that in exporting apples to the 

 United States the duty was 25 cents a box 

 supposed to be a bushel, and if it held less 

 the duty would still be the same. For cold 

 storage the charges are on the same basis. 

 The resolution presented by the committee 

 was therefore finally adopted, reading as 

 follows : 



" Your committee would recommend that 

 the Canadian apple box be one of which the 

 cubic contents is about one-third of the 

 Canadian commercial apple barrel, with in- 

 side dimensions as follows, 10 inches deep x 

 1 1 inches wide x 20 inches long ; and that 

 the Canadian pear box be one-half the ca- 

 pacity and half the depth of the apple box ; 

 and that the Secretary of this Association 

 communicate with the secretaries of the 

 Fruit Growers' Associations of other pro- 

 vinces in reference to uniformity in this 

 matter." 



NEW OR VALUABLE FRUITS. 



MORE WORK FOR THE FRUIT STATIONS. 



I THINK," said Mr. E. D. Smith, of 

 Winona, " that the stations would do 

 us a great favor if they could discover new 

 fruits of real value and introduce them. 

 The new varieties should be carefully tested, 

 and when one is found better than an exist- 

 ing variety, and of the same season, they 

 should introduce it to our notice. Just 

 now, for example, in peaches we need at 

 least two good shipping peaches. We have 

 one in the Elberta, but we need one of simi- 

 lar carrying quality, to come in earlier and 

 one later than that variety." 



" I think," said Mr. Alex. McNeill, of Ot- 

 tawa. " the stations should study to decrease 

 the number of varieties. We have already 

 too many kinds — many of them very infer- 

 ior, and planters should be warned against 



