THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



been sold, they have not realized enough to cover 

 expenses. In view of the partial and unjust 

 clause in the bill of lading referred to, I beg leave 

 to submit the following resolution : 



" Whereas the form of bill of lading now in 

 use, and given by the Furness line of steamers to 

 shippers of fruit by such steamships, contains as 

 part of the terms and conditions on which the 

 shipowners undertake the transportation of such 

 property the following provisions : 



" I St. That they shall not be liable for loss or 

 damage done to goods by sweating, insufficiency 

 of package in any respect, leakage, breakage of 

 any kind, pilferage, wastage, rattage, rain, spray, 

 rust, fire, heat, frost, decay of any kind, contact 

 with, smell or evaporation from any other goods, 

 or loss arising from inaccuracies in obliteration, 

 insufficiency of or absence of marks, numbers, 

 addresses or description of goods shipped, or in- 

 jury to wrappers, however caused ; 



' ' And whereas great loss has heretofore arisen 

 to shippers, causing their fruit to be sacrificed in 

 the markets ; and whereas great loss is likely to 

 arise by reason of breakage, pilferage, rattage, 

 rain, spray, heat and frost, and contact with smell 

 or evaporation from other goods, occuring during 

 the transportation of fruit and by injury done to 

 barrels while loading and unloading at the docks ; 



"And whereas the said Furness line of steamers 

 is in receipt of a subsidy from the government of 

 Canada ; 



"Therefore, resolved that this Fruit Growers' 

 Association, in annual session, assembled, petition 

 the government of Canada to regulate the terms 

 and conditions of such bills of lading so as to 

 make the ship owners liable to the shippers of fruit 

 for all damage done to goods by breakage, pilfer- 



age, rattage, rain, heat, spray, contact with, smell 

 and evaporation from any other goods occuring 

 during transportatian by such steamships, and by 

 injury done to barrels while loading or unloading 

 at the docks ; 



"And further resolved that a copy of these 

 regulations be forwarded to the Honorable, the 

 Minister of Agriculture for Canada." 



LETTER FROM ENGLISH FIRM. 



Dr. DeWitt presented a copy of a letter on this 

 matter from Nothard & Lowe, of London, as 

 follows : 



"Dear Sir, — We are continually receiving 

 letters from shippers complaining of the loss they 

 sustain through the low price obtained for slack, 

 open or half -filled barrels. Shippers appear to be 

 under the impression that we have only to make a 

 claim on the shipping agents or owners here in 

 London to have the maiter settled, and our claims 

 paid. We have been pushing these claims for 

 some years past, and fought one case some years 

 since on this very question and were beaten. 

 While apples are shipped on this lading, contain- 

 ing the clauses at present existing, we are power- 

 less to enforce claims, although we most sincerely 

 wish we could make the steamer pay these heavy 

 losses, 



"We would suggest that the Canadian high 

 commissioner here should be instructed by the 

 government in Ottawa to fight a test case in Lon- 

 don on this point, and this would solve the unsat- 

 isfactory state of things now existing. We hope 

 you will bring your influence to bear on this 

 matter. 



' ' Yours faithfully, 



"Nothard & Lowe." 



Pruning Pears. — Norman, in The Gar- 

 den, says, " Pears are amenable to close 

 pruning-. Under this system they continue 

 for many years in gfood health and bear regu- 

 larly. * * The pyramid is by far the best 

 for the open ground. I prune my trees to 

 form cordonated branches — that is, they have 

 a main stem in the centre w'\t\\ branches 

 starting from it. Many trees have as many 

 as fifty branches, some of which are twelve 

 feet long, so that I have as it were fifty single 

 cordon trees in one. Mostly the pruning 

 is done in August by shortening- the summer 

 side growth to within an inch of the base. 

 It is too common an error for spurs to be 

 over crowded; they require room to allow 

 the leaves to attain their fullest size, when 

 large well-ripened bloom buds will follow. 



It is better to err on the side of thinness 

 rather than for the spurs to be crowded." 



Melons in Italy. — U. S. Consul Hayden, 

 of Castellamare di Stabia, on December 12, 

 1899, says: " In this portion of Italy, musk- 

 melons at best are very inferior to the Ameri- 

 can fruit, lackingthe sweet flavor of ourmelon. 

 Strange to say, however, this same melon 

 when reserved for consumption in winter is 

 very acceptable. A custom exists here of 

 pulling the melon from the vine while green, 

 and hanging it up in the open air until winter, 

 when it is eaten. The melon becomes not 

 only far superior to the ripe fruit of summer, 

 but quite equal to the American product. If 

 this system could be adopted in the United 

 States, it might prove of value." 



