468 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



OCEAN COLD STORAGE NOT YET A SUCCESS. 



Bartletts Either Cooked or Frozen. 



i'RUIT growers generally will never 

 enter with confidence upon the ex- 

 port of tender fruits, such as Bart- 

 let pears and peaches, until the cold 

 storage service on shipboard is more satis- 

 tory, or else until the Government will guar- 

 antee us against loss in transport. We are 

 willing to risk the markets, but it is pro- 

 voking to have our fruits either frozen or 

 cooked, and no redress. 



A few of us at Grimsby, anxious that the 

 experiments so well undertaken should be 

 continued, forwarded at our own risk, to 

 Glasgow from Montreal on the 12th of Sep- 

 tember per Donaldson line 1,120 cases of 

 Bartlett pears, green and hard, and in 

 a condition in which we believe they 

 would carry on deck in the open air 

 in safety. Our surprise was great to 

 have a report from Thos. Russell, Glasgow, 

 the consignee, dated the 28th September, 

 to say that the whole shipment landed in 

 " in bad condition and over ripe,'' and had 

 to be sold at from 2s. to 5s. a case, and a 

 good many cases were " worthless " ; and 

 that some of the lots will barely cover the 

 freight. This is rather discouraging to pri- 

 vate enterprise, for 10 shillings is not un- 

 usual tor our half cases of pears in Glasgow 

 when they are carried at a proper tempera- 

 ture. 



While our shipment was kept at too 

 high a temperature on shipboard, both 

 while lying at Montreal and for the first 

 three days out, when it was at last goi down 

 to 40°, we noticed that the first experi- 

 mental shipment of Bartletts by the U. S. 

 government was injured by too low a tem- 

 perature, and some of the fruit frozen. 



The following account is from the Fruit- 

 man's Guide of New York city : 



The Guide's English mails this week brought 

 it interesting information concerning the sale of 

 the experimental shipment of American Bartletts 

 sent over in September to London under the au- 

 spices of the United States Government. As told 

 in the The Guide at the time the fruit was grown 

 near Barker, Niagara Co., N, Y., and was shipped 

 by F". M. Bradley, for himself and six others. It 

 was picked on September 2nd, packed September 

 3rd, and placed in the refrigerator in New York 

 on September 5th. It went by the Minneapolis, 

 which sailed on September 7th, and was sold at 

 Covent Garden by Garcia, Jacobs & Co. on Sep- 

 tember 1 8th, results in detail being as follows : 



I bbl. American Bartletts 38s. 



I bbl. American Bartletts 31s. 



8 half-boxes American Bartletts 4s. 



15 

 120 

 20 

 84 

 36 



6s. 



3s. 3d- 

 3S. 4*d. 

 4s. gd. 

 5S. 



12 boxes American Bartletts gs. 3d. 



25 boxes American Bartletts 6s. 3d. 



The two barrels brought an extraordinary high 

 price, 25s. being a good price in the London mar- 

 ket for this stock. Evidently the barrels con- 

 tained fine fruit, which arrived in perfect condi- 

 tion, and the barrel which fetched 38s. or $7.60 

 must have been remarkably fine indeed. But the 

 half-boxes show a great slump, and prices were 

 anything but good. Our correspondent informs 

 tjs that this was due to the fact that the pears in 

 the half-boxes arrived frozen, the chamber tem- 

 perature on the voyage across having evidently 

 been kept too low. 



However, it is just to find out through the school- 

 ing of experience such points as this that the ex- 

 periments are being made. The Government ex- 

 perts are making the shipments with this purpose 

 well in view — to find out the exact temperatures 

 best suited for the shipment of the different varie- 

 ties of fruit. It is safe to say that profiting by 

 experience, those in charge of the shipments will 

 have no more Bartlett pears arriving frozen on the 

 other side. Rome was not built in a day, and it 

 will be some time yet before the experts get things 

 down to such a fine point as to be able to gauge 

 the proper temperature for various kinds of fruits 

 with mathematical precision. But they are "get- 

 ting there just the same," and the American ex- 

 porter and the European receiver of fruits will yet 

 arise to call the men responsible for this much 

 needed display' of activity on the part of our Gov- 

 ernment "blessed." 



