396 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



confined chiefly to Baldwin, Spy, Ben Davis, 

 King-, Phoenix, Seek, Fameuse, Wealthy, 

 Fallawater, Mann, Swazie, Golden Russet, 

 Nonpariel, Grimes, Canada Red, Scot's 

 Red, Stark, Peck's Pleasant, Pewaukee, 

 Spitzenberg- and Drouard and Vicar pears. 

 Arrangements had not been completed in 

 time to make a selection from the crop of 

 last year for this exhibition, hence the 

 g-overnment had to take these fruits from 

 some packed in Montreal storage, and al- 

 though they are not by any means such as 

 we would select for this purpose, people 

 generally are delighted and astonished at 

 their excellent appearance, especially when 

 they read the printed notices "Canadian 

 fruit picked in Sept. and Oct., 1901, and 

 kept in cool air." Besides this display we 

 have four handsome octagonal shaped 

 stands covered with many specimens of 

 fruits and vegetables preserved in fluid, and 

 these are admired greatly. 



Our system of cold storage leaves little to 

 desire, and it is evident that all specimens 

 that were perfect when packed are still in a 

 good state of preservation, and even the 

 small, spotted and wormy specimens carried 

 well and most of them landed in the same 

 order as when packed. These of course 

 have been discarded as unfit for exhibition 

 and only the best specimens used. The 

 "Wilson" case was used, each specimen 

 being wrapped in tissue covered with light 

 brown paper. Greening, Ribston and Blue 

 Pearmain were quite unfit for the tables, 

 but of the list I name above we have fairly 

 good specimens under all the circumstances. 

 I look forward with interest for a selection 

 from this year's crop of all such as can be 

 used before closing day, and feel sure it will 

 pay to use every care in selecting and for- 

 warding. It is chiefly with such a display 

 that we can dispel the still too prevalent 

 idea the ordinary Britisher has of the cold- 

 ness of our climate, and this is certainly 



the only point that stands in the way of a 

 much larger emigration to our shores. 



I made several enquiries regarding the 

 eff'ect of our "Marks Act" upon the trade 

 and am pleased to hear that some at all 

 events have remarked an improvement in 

 packing. I have shown the act to many 

 dealers and all express themselves strongly 

 in favor of it, and state openly that if the 

 act is carried into full eff'ect it will do more 

 than anything else to establish confidence 

 between shipper and buyer. It will un- 9 

 doubtedly take time to do this as confidence 

 has been rudely shaken in the past, and 

 only persistence in honest packing can 

 place us where every honest shipper should 

 be. Possibly if boxes instead of barrels 

 were used we could regain confidence more 

 quickly. The Tasmanian apples are all 

 shipped in this way, and, although gener- 

 ally a softer fruit than ours, arrive in prime 

 condition. 



I find that harm is done by shippers send- 

 ing a variety of apple under diff"erent names. 

 The retailer here only knows a few kinds, 

 and does not attach much value to any out- 

 side of what he knows. It is therefore very 

 important that nomenclature should be 

 studied and that inspectors see most care- 

 fully to correctness in this respect so as to 

 accustom the buyers here to find varieties 

 properly classified from all sections of Can- 

 ada and from all shippers. It is only in 

 this way we can hope to establish a market 

 value for other kinds besides Baldwin, Spy, 

 Greening, King, etc. At present markets 

 here only recognise value in about seven or 

 eight varieties which come forward properly 

 named from all shippers. All others have 

 to take a secondary place or come in with 

 "culls." 



If time permits I shall examine all the 

 varieties coming into Britain from Tasmania 

 and give you the results of my humble judg- 

 ment in another letter. 



