SUCCESSFUL EXPORT SHIPMENTS OF TENDER FRUITS. 



tinder glass, and are astonished, if not incredul- 

 ous, when they learn that they grow in the open 

 air like pears, apples, etc. 



"One of the wholesale salesmen in Manchester 

 entrusted with the disf>osal of your fruit, told me 

 that he had sold 20 cases of pears in an hour, and 

 every one of them was opened and found in prime 

 condition. The price was '^1.22 per half bushel 

 case. 



"This is a very abundant fruit year in this 

 country, and glutted markets have kept the prices 

 low. I will send you papers containing press 

 notices of our exhibit. If you are sending any 

 grapes with the next shipment, I intend to make 

 a public display of them also, and will urge Potter 

 to do the same in Manchester." 



The following' letter from Messrs. Potter 

 & Co., the consig-ees, is also of interest. It 

 is dated Manchester, October 6th, 1900 : 



"Sir, — The major portion of your Commerce 

 shipment has been sold, the Bartlett pears fetch- 

 ing from 97c. to f 1.22 a case, with some wasty 

 ones at 49c., and a few absolutely worthless. 

 These latter we think must have been against the 

 brine pipes and the temperature has been too 

 cold. 



"Tomatoes will not pay for sending; they are 

 too cheap hce. Your box fetched 61 c. The six- 

 teen cases of peaches have sold for $1.46 to $3.17 

 a case, but a very large proportion of the fruit 

 was bad. Details of all marks to follow. The 

 bushel cases of pears were too large and don't 

 sell well. 



"Peat moss will not do for packing. It does not 

 keep the fruit well and certainly looks badly when 

 cases are opened. Keep to the fine shavings and 

 paper. We enclose sample of paper the Califor- 

 nian pears are wrapped in and they carry splen- 

 didly. The wax paper also does well and is good 

 looking. 



" The peaches seem best packed without wad- 

 ding. The Elbertas are soundest but the Crawf ords 

 take much better ; they are so showy. Some fruit 

 has been picked too green to ripen. 



"The apples of course came splendidly. Please 

 send in future full details of marks, grade, variety 

 and size of package. We had great difficulty in 

 sorting out en quay. A good consignment arriv- 

 ing a couple of weeks before Xmas would do 

 splendidly we feel sure." 



Under date of October loth, Messrs. 

 Potter & Co. write : 



"Sir,— We cabled you to-day 'Net 105.' This 

 IS the approximate net proceeds of the 882 pack- 

 ages landed. The charges have not all come in 

 yet, but we do not think the actual result will vary 

 much from this figure. 



" We are sorry the result does not equal the 97c. 

 yon wanted to make the shipments pay, but you 

 have certainly made more by this fruit than any 

 other people in the market. More than this, you 

 have given the fruit a good standing and the pub- 

 lic like it and will ask for it again, so that the 

 result cannot be measured merely by the cash 

 return." 



The following is an extract from the 



"Journal of Commerce," Liverpool, dated 



October 8, 1900, — 



"The enterprise of our Canadian cousins has 

 for many years been a factor of considerable im- 

 portance in regard to the trade of this country, 

 for Canada has year by year been sending supplies 

 of various kinds in ever-increasing quantities. 

 For some years past attempts have been made 

 by Canadian fruit growers to find a market for 

 their surplus produce on this side of the Atlantic, 

 their efforts meeting with varying success, but at 

 last there is reason to think the time has come 

 when Canadian grown fruit will compete on ex- 

 ceedingly favorable terms with the home grown 

 article, and this not only in the hardier class, but 

 also in fruits of the most delicate description. 

 When the earlier shipments of fruit were made a 

 few years ago the result was almost sufficient to 

 give the project a death-blow, for the conditions 

 under which the produce was carried were not at 

 all such as to improve the fruit during its passage 

 across the Atlantic. The butter man of Montreal 

 required a temperature of 22 degrees for his pro- 

 duce, the beef exporter wanted 28 degrees, the 

 fruit could not do with anything under 36 degrees 

 nor much ubove 40 degrees. Consequently when 

 all these classes of goods were placed in the same 

 cold chamber on board the steamer, some portion 

 of the consignments had to suffer, and the fruit, 

 fared the worst of the lot, for when it was opened 

 on this side and exposed to the warm air of this 

 country, the tissues of the fruit burst and it wasted 

 away within 24 hours, the experiment thus ending 

 in failure. The matter was reported to the Can- 

 adian authorities, and after some further experi- 

 ments, through the efforts of Hon. Sydney Fisher, 

 the Dominion Minister of Agriculture, shipments 

 were made in steamers which provided the tem- 

 perature requisite for the proper carrying of fruit, 

 the produce being carried in a special chamber 

 cooled by the Linde system. The improvements 

 have, of course, been gradual, and success came 

 very slowly, but it is thought now that the general 

 principles under which fruit can be carried to the 

 best advantage are pretty well known, and that 

 only in minor details can the system be improved. 

 One of the important points connected with the 

 carriage of this class of produce is the necessity 

 for keeping it at a temperature which, while suf- 

 ficiently low, is not allowed to vary to any extent. 

 Considerable difficulty has been experienced on 

 this point, for the best-meaning engineer may 

 temporarily neglect this portion of his charge, 

 and the mischief is done, in most cases beyond 

 repair. A thermograph, or self-registering ther- 

 mometer, is now provided for each chamber fitted 

 for the carriage of fruit, and this provided a rec- 

 ord of the actual changes of temperature during 

 the voyage ; thus it can be seen at a glance 

 whether the fruit has been carried under proper 

 conditions or not. 



"A recent shipment of fruit by the Manchester 

 Commerce arrived in this country in the pink of 

 condition, and samples have for the past week 

 been exhibited at the office of Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, James street.. There passers-by were 



