The Canadian Horticulturist. 47 



FRUITS FOR EUROPE. 



ROBABLY England offers the best possible market for American 

 fruits if they can be shipped there in proper condition, and at an 

 expense not so great as to absorb all profits. Comparatively few 

 fruits of any kind are raised there, except in the gardens of the 

 wealthy, and the markets are supplied with a limited number of 

 apples, pears, peaches and apricots by a few professional fruit 

 growers. The English public like fruits as well as the American, but the supply 

 has never been large enough to satisfy the demand. Some of the smaller fruits, 

 such as strawberries, gooseberries, currants and raspberries are raised by all of 

 the poor farmers, and they supply the market pretty well. But outside of these 

 small berries, the English markets seldom display for sale the great varieties of 

 fruits so commonly raised in America. 



Australia has lately entered the market to supply England with fruits, and 

 fast steamers are engaged in carrying apples from that island to the home 

 country. With the steady growth of Australian horticulture, it will be only a 

 short time before large quantities of other fruits will be sent to England, 

 Horticulture has developed faster in the former country than the population, 

 and the growers have to seek foreign markets to dispose of their goods. 

 Americans have been slow to avail themselves of markets outside of their own 

 towns and cities. This has been partly due to the large home consumption of 

 fruits. Our towns and cities have absorbed most of the crops in the past, and 

 growers had no reason to go elsewhere to effect profitable sales. But we are 

 rapidly reaching a time when the markets will have to be enlarged, or fruit 

 culture restricted. In nearly every fruit growing region the surplus of goods is 

 increasing rapidly, and even the canning and evaporating factories cannot use 

 up all that are raised. 



The question naturally arises, What can we do to increase the demand ? 

 The answer to this question was satisfactorily made years ago when apples were 

 first exported successfully. Since then our shipments of apples to Europe has 

 been enormous, and the trade has been placed on a secure foundation. There 

 is no experiment about the matter. American and Canadian apples shipped to 

 Europe command prices sufficiently satisfactory to the growers and shippers to 

 induce them to continue the practice. During the last few winters several 

 attempts were made to ship Florida oranges to Europe in the same way. The 

 results were not entirely satisfactory, but when the methods of packing and 

 shipping are better understood, there is no doubt but our orange shipments will 

 be nearly as large as our present export trade in apples. 



Our pears and peaches have been exported only in a very limited way, and 

 yet the market is as good for these abroad as it is for apples. American pears, 

 peaches, plums and grapes are the finest in the worid, and the English con- 

 sumers would be ready buyers if they could be shipped there in the proper 



