SHIPPING FRUIT TO THE NORTHWEST 



E. U. SMITH, M. P., WIXO.NA, OM". 



ONE of the main requisites for success 

 in shipping fruit to the Northwest 

 is to get good shipping varieties. 



In peaches we have nothing until the 

 Elberta is ready. It is as perfect as one 

 can well expect to get a peach, but the tree 

 is defective in that the foliage is weak, be- 

 ing more subject to curl leaf than any 

 variety. Growers are, in consequence, loth 

 to plant it largely. 



There is no other variety until the late 

 peaches come on, and they are rather too 

 late. Shippers require four or five Elber- 

 tas at diflPerent seasons, commencing as 

 early as our earliest and covering the season 

 till Smocks come in. The trees should be 

 perfect as well as the fruit. 



In plums we require a kind that will keep 

 well. There is a great difference in the 

 varieties we already have, but even our best 

 are not good enough to compete at all with 

 the long keeping California plums. 



Our best sorts are Emerald, Burbarik, 

 Purple Egg, Shropshire, Damson, Fillem- 

 berg-, German Prune and Reine Claude, in 

 order of ripening. These do not cover even 

 half the season of plums, and are not good 



enough themselves. They are, however, 

 much superior to most sorts for shipping, 

 and are all good plums. 



There are no good all round grapes. The 

 Concord is lacking in shipping quality. As 

 they are usually picked a large part of them 

 are split, and these mould on the journey. 

 Even if carefully picked there is sure to be 

 a considerable proportion damaged before 

 they reach the consumers in the Northwest. 

 ALI, HAVE DEFECTS. 



The Niagara is similar in shipping quali- 

 ties. There are good shippers, such as 

 Vergennes, Agawam, Rogers 4, Rogers 43, 

 Rogers 44, and many others, but all have 

 other defects, and so I might go on over all 

 our fruits. 



Here is certainly room for a vast amount 

 of experimenting, hybridizing, and efforts 

 in the line of producing new varieties in 

 every way possible. One perfect shipping 

 sort would be worth hundreds of thousands 

 of dollars to Ontario for that great and 

 growing northwest market. The opening 

 is ready for a large experimental fruit farm 

 in the Niagara district and the work cut out 

 for it at once. 



Securing Material for Packages — As 



yet 1 have experienced little difficulty ob- 

 taining the necessary material for packages 

 in which to market my fruit. I have ?n 

 idea, however, that it will be well to hold 

 some elm in waiting until my orchard, 

 which is young, gives its first returns of any 

 consequence. I can get the material sawed 

 and make my own barrels in winter. The 

 box is the best package for fruit, but before 

 it will be practical to make them here the 

 labor problem must be solved. — (E. H. Hut- 

 ton, Easton's Corners, Ont. 



Ready to Co-operate. — I have held meet- 

 ings in 20 places this spring to discuss co- 

 operation in the handling and shipping of 

 fruit, and I think there will be a number of 

 associations formeu this season for this 

 purpose. There is nothing that is creating 

 so much interest among farmers and grow- 

 ers as co-operation, and the time is ripe for 

 a great movement in that direction. — (A. E. 

 Sherrington, Walkerton, Ont. 



It gives me pleasure to renew my subscrip- 

 tion to the Canadian Horticulturist for another 

 year. — (J. B. Bruce, O'Kanagan, B. C. 



