500 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Mr. Peter Byrne, Ontario Government 

 Agent at Liverpool, writes concerning this 

 shipment, October 5th, 1900 : 



" Sir —The Hon. John Dryden having informed 

 me that you would like to hear from me regard- 

 ing the condition of your shipment of fruit on the 

 S. S. Commerce, I am glad to inform you that 

 I found it very good indeed. The fruit was very 

 cold, and some of it very ' sweaty ' when opened, 

 but otherwise it was all right, every case inspec- 

 ted being sound. 



" The Elberta peaches were rather green and 



Those shipped by D. J. McK. were to a consid- 

 erable extent damaged, having, perhaps, been 

 packed over ripe. Messrs. Fettit & Son's lot (two 

 grades) were in about the same condition, a good 

 many in some of the cases being bad, and others 

 being all right. Part were packed with wool and 

 paper, and part with paper and shavings. I am 

 inclined to think the wool packing is of doubtful 

 benefit 



"I find that some experienced fruit dealers here 

 have no fault to find with the present modes of 

 packing, and would suggest no alteration what- 

 ever. 



"Mr. Potter secured the temporary use of a fine 



Fig. 1955. Bushel Boxes of Apples, Half Bushel Boxes of Pears, and Packages of Grapes, 

 Packed for Export for Ontario Department of Agriculture. 



immature looking, and consequently less attrac- 

 tive than the Crawfords sent by Messrs. Pettit & 

 Son. Some of these had probably been a little 

 too ripe when picked, as a good many of them 

 were in various stages of decay when opened. 

 Whether the wool used in packing had anything 

 to do with it I could not say. But the majority of 

 the Crawfords were in perfect condition, and have 

 been much admired for their beautiful and attrac- 

 tive color. 



"Your case of tomatoes turned out sound but 

 very tender in the skin, and soft. It is well you 

 did not send any considerable quantity, as the 

 market is glutted with foreigners. 



"The pears sent by E. J. W. all turned out well. 



show window in Manchester for a display of the 

 fruit ; and I have done the same here. I brought 

 from Manchester a Wilson case with a careful 

 selection of pears, apples and peaches, but, find- 

 ing these were too few to be effective, I got four 

 half-cases from Mr, Shuttleworth, in Liverpool, 

 who is the consignee of the other shipment ex- 

 Commerce, and with their aid got a good and ef- 

 fective exhibit for the show window of the C. P. 

 R. offices. It is attracting an immense deal of 

 attention. I invited all the Press of the city to 

 come and inspect and taste the peaches, which, 

 being a great novelty here, form the most attrac- 

 tive part of the display. The great mass of the 

 people here actually think that they are grown 



