The Canadian Horticultun^^, 



Floral Edition * vi IJK 



=^ 



^/^z 



Vol. XXXIX 



PETERBORO, JUNE, 1916 



No. 6"~" 



Some Phases of Packing and Marketing Basket Fruit' 



By P. J. Carey, of the Dominion Fruit Division, Toronto 



WITH the fruit grower and fruit 

 handler there is always some- 



thing new. Each year brings 

 its lessons and calls for some new lines 

 of action on the part of the growers in 

 order to combat what seems to be an 

 ever-increasing trouble along the dif- 

 ferent lines of fruit handling. It would 

 seem, then, as necessary to preach the 

 gospel of good practice from time to 

 time to the grower as it is to hear the 

 Sunday sermon. It was easy in the old 

 days for the lecturer to impress his 

 audience. There were scores of theor- 

 ies advanced fresh and untried, many 

 of which have since been exploded. 

 Speakers in addressing meetings in 

 those days had a habit of saying pleas- 

 ing things to the growers in the differ- 

 ent sections, and the meetings used to 

 turn into a sort of a mutual admiration 

 society. 



A different audience faces the speak- 

 er now-a-days. He feels that every 

 word he utters is under fire, and may 

 receive sharp criticism. The time has 

 arrived now for plain talk, and I in- 

 tend to say plain things. 



^Extract from an address delivered in the 

 Niag-ara Peninsula. 



The subject I am discussing is a large 

 one, and I will touch only what strikes 

 me as the most important points. First, 

 I intend to deal with inspection work 

 for a short time. While not a fruit in- 

 spector, my duties are still not far re- 

 moved from that work, and I take a 

 hand in it when necessary. 



Most growers may think that we 

 should have made greater headway 

 along the line of better packing of 

 fruit. There were betv/een twenty and 

 thirty prosecutions on basket fruit last 

 season mostly in the Niagara peninsula. 

 This, oi course, was in the overfacing of 

 baskets, and I may s.-iy, that many of 

 the cases were very pronounced. 



Every grower is vitally interested in 

 this matter of faulty packing. It has 

 the most damaging effect on the trade. 

 The consumer who has purchased a 

 fraudulently packed package of fruit is 

 never very ready to believe that there 

 is such a thing as an honest fruit- 

 grower, and is loud in proclaiming the 

 misdemeanor to the whole community. 

 In some cases he will overdraw the pic- 

 ture. 



Now, as all the cases of violation in 

 small fruit are in over-facing, and, of 



course, in having a fraudulent complex- 

 ion, it has a much more damaging effect 

 than in the matter of apples in barrels 

 and boxes. As in the latter, it is large- 

 ly a question of grading which often 

 may be met by the packer setting up 

 that it was accidental or owing to a 

 lack of judgment as to what constitutes 

 the grade called for. 



In the case of apples when below 

 grade fruit may still be useful, while 

 in the case of small fruits, where they 

 are largely used from the hand, when a 

 package contains a large percentage of 

 trash it is rendered almost useless. In 

 the case of small fruits the violation is 

 much more readily detected and 'conse- 

 quently more damaging to the trade. 



As regards the relative degrees of 

 gravity of the two characters of vio- 

 lations "below grade" and "over fac- 

 ing." The first named might be acci- 

 dental or due to a lack of knowledge. 

 It leaves a hope that l.he accused may 

 still be honest, but whoi we find in- 

 ferior to useless fruit systematically 

 placed in a basket witn a layer of beau- 

 tiful specimens on top, it is hard to 

 make out a case for the defence. 



NoAv, I -would not like to say that all 



■niat this crop of strawberries was a money-maker may be surmised b y a Klanoe at It. Grown by W. H. Rodgers, Northumberland county Ont 



Photo courtesy R. M. Kellog-g Co. 



