The Canadian Horticulturist. 123 



of Liverpool, my attention was arrested by the great difference in the prices 

 obtained for different parts of the same shipment of fruit, and for the same 

 variety. These ranged from 4/9 to 22/3 per barrel. This great difference in 

 price was because of the difference in the condiiioft in which the fruit arrived at 

 the market, not in the inequality of the fruit. The lot was all of the same quality 

 but of several different varieties, and all must have been of excellent quality 

 originally, or the portion that was in good condition would not have sold for 23/3 

 per barrel. I therefore determined to examine this and several other sheets 

 critically. The following are the conclusions arrived at : — 



First — That individual shipments to Great Britain, containing the same 

 varieties, are equal in quality, and would sell at the same price if placed on the 

 docks in the same condition. 



Second — That the varying conditions of the fruit on its arrival at the docks 

 was owing to some defect in packing, injury in transit or other means unknown 

 to me. 



Third — The condition — not the quality — of each variety was classified under 

 several headings. 



Fourth — That all quantities arriving in first class condition, without regard 

 to variety, were tested under the first heading, those that were slightly injured 

 under the second. Those more injured, under the third, and so on down to 

 the worst. 



Fifth — That those arriving in fitst-class condition amounted to only 23 per 

 cent, of the whole. 



Sixth — That the price obtained for the remaining grades combined — about 

 77 per cent, of the whole — averaged about 4/6 per barrel less than the first 

 grade. 



Now, if every shipment of apples sent from Canada arrived in Great Britain 

 in like condition, it follows that the loss when spread over the shipments for the 

 whole season, is equal to 77 cents on every barrel exported. This certainly 

 accounts for a large portion of the original loss of $2.25 per barrel before referred 

 to. I fail to see any necessity for this loss, but I must leave the full solution of 

 this problem to those having practical experience in that line. 



It may be, and probably will be said, that this loss is unpreventable ; to 

 such a statement the answer is, that when the same rule is applied to the ship- 

 ments of apples from Boston and New York, as reported in the same sheets, it 

 is found that the loss is only about 24 per cent. Surely a Canadian should be 

 able to prepare and pack a barrel of apples as well as a Yankee. But judging 

 by these English sale sheets, he is a long way behind in his ability to handle 

 apples profitably. Doubtless this is the reason why shippers pay the growers a 

 nmch better price per barrel in New York State than here, notwithstanding that 

 their apples are inferior to ours in quality ; their barrels smaller, and that they 

 obtain for the same varieties a lower price in the English markets 



