Marketing Grapes. 



863. Sir,— Please let me know in this journal the best way to gather and sell 

 grapes ? J. G. , Cayuga, Ont. 



Grapes, like other fruits, need to be carefully handled to bring the best 

 prices. The vines need to be gone over- frequently during the ripening season, 

 gathering only those with full color, because grapes do not, like other fruits, 

 color after being gathered. The bunches should be cut off with a pair of 

 scissors, and so handled as not to disturb the bloom. Ordinary varieties may 

 be at once packed from the vines into the basket that is intended for sale. 

 Choice varieties should be gathered in shallow trays or baskets, in which they 

 should stand a day or two on shelves in the fruit house, and then re-packed. By 

 this treatment the stems will wilt and the bunches will then keep without 

 moulding, and pack more closely than when green. 



A desirable grape package for fancy fruit is one which can be packed from 

 the bottom against the cover ; but in the absence of such a package the ordi- 

 nary basket, such as is sold by all our basket factories, answers an excellent 

 purpose. For ordinary stock or for wine grapes the 15 or 20 lb. basket answers 

 well, but for choice grapes, especially the Rogers, which are intended for 

 dessert purposes, the eight or ten pound basket is best. A fine cover, with an 

 opening over which purple leno is stitched, is now made for these baskets, and for 

 cheapness and simplicity cannot be excelled. 



The price of grapes, as well as that of other fruits, is much lower than 

 formerly. If the grower can realise one cent and a half a pound net he is doing 

 very well now-a-days, and indeed with such productive varieties as the Concord 

 this price will pay him very well. 



Unless the grower has some regular customer, he must of course be con- 

 tent to consign his fruit to some reliable commission house, such as those 

 advertising in this journal, and be content to accept returns made by the sales- 

 man, which must not be expected to be always satisfactory. 



Tulips from Seed. 



§64* Sir, — How do you raise tulips from seed, and when should it be sown? Can 

 new varieties be produced in this way ? 



A Subscriber, Hamilton. 



Reply by H. L. Hutt, Horticulturist, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. 



It is the same with tulips as with all other plants ; new varieties are pro- 

 duced only from seed. The production of new varieties is very interesting, but 

 it requires patience. Seedling tulips have to be grown from five to seven years 



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