DISHONEST APPLE PACKING. 



Sir,— In your article on " Packing Apples 

 for Export " in March number, you go out of 

 your way to recommend legislation to hamper 

 the apple growers of this country. You 

 advocate a size test for apples of all varieties, 

 putting Snows, Russets and Spitzenberc, 

 etc., iu the same category as Spys and Bald- 

 wins, which you must admit is impracticable. 

 W. F. Fl.SHER, Burlington. 



Our article on this subject was not 

 intended as final by any means, but 

 simply to invite discussion from our 

 readers. That something is necessary 

 is evident from the heterogeneous col- 

 lection of grades and sizes now being 

 shipped by Canadian fruit growers. It 

 will surely not hamper- our growers to 

 impose such legislation as will tend to 

 bring about some uniformity and system 

 in packing our apples and other fruits, 

 so that foreign buyers may buy Cana- 

 dian stock with greater confidence, and 

 consequently at higher prices. 



Of what use will it be for A and B to 

 grade their apples to a uniform size in 

 the barrels, and send all that will pass 

 through a 2 1^'^ inch hole as " Seconds ' 

 to the evaporator, or to thecider mill, if C 

 and D wi/l persist in facing up the heads 

 of their barrels with 3 inch apples, and in 

 hiding, beneath the two top layers, apples 

 of all sizes, from 3 inches down to i^ 

 inches. C and D may possibly get as 

 good sale for their car as A and B, tut 

 the buyers who are robbed will class A, 

 B, C and D all together as Canadian 

 rogues, and give them a wide berth 

 next season, and all will suffer for the 

 dishonesty of one or two. Now, it is not 

 simply the interest of two or three, but 

 the interest of the thousands of honest 

 apple growers in Canada which we wish 

 to champion. And have we not a right 

 to insist on honest packing, and in- 

 sist upon mspection and confiscation 

 of dishonest packages, just as much as 

 in the case of short weight loaves of 

 bread. We grow in Canada the finest 



apples in the world, both in color and 

 in flavor, and the markets of the world 

 are just opening to us ; they want all our 

 apples, and will pay top prices if we will 

 but assure them that they are uniform 

 in size and No. i in quality. 



Perhaps somebody may say inspection 

 is not necessary — it is impracticable — 

 let every man ship his own apples under 

 his own name, and all will come out 

 right. Indeed : Will it ? We beg to 

 differ. The steamer Castilian, which 

 was wrecked the other day off Yarmouth, 

 N.S„ carried 6,500 barrels of Choice 

 Canadi.an Apples, packed for the 

 British market, the heads of the barrels 

 were decorated with XXX, and with the 

 names of the shippers. These apples 

 were saved and sold in Yarmouth, wet 

 apples bring $1 per b^rel, dry $3, and 

 some of the readers of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist there are taking notes 

 as these are opened, and are reporting to 

 us the honest and the dishonest shippers; 

 but we mercifully suppress the names. 

 Mr. Chas. E. Brown, of Yarmouth, an 

 honored life member of our Association, 

 sends us six samples from a barrel of 

 Phienix apples marked XXX ! ! and we 

 have photographed their exact size, that 

 all may see whether an inspector is need- 

 ed or not. (Fig. 1589) Not one of these 

 apples are even two inches in diameter, 

 and we maintain that no apples, not even 

 Fameuse apples, should be marked grade 

 No. I, which are below 2^^ inches in 

 diameter Crabs, Lady apples, etc., are 

 not in competition and need not have 

 the regular grade mark, and the same 

 may be said of even small sized Fameuse, 

 or Swazie Pommegrise. Our Burling- 

 ton correspondent objects to Spitzen- 

 berg, Snow and Russet coming under 

 these grades, but if he will take the 

 trouble to measure these apples he 



177 



