NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



II 



to your merchant, and he, finding he has too 

 much fruit, pays a sub-commission to an- 

 other for assistance in the sale, at the 

 growers' loss : (3) Y'ou can sell to a jobber, 

 which is often quite satisfactory, and (4) You 

 can make retail sales all over the country. 

 This last is the best if you can manage it, 

 but it is a great deal of trouble, and you can- 

 not do it unless you have a great quantity of 

 fruit, and buy largely to fill your orders. 



A STANDARD APPLE BOX NEEDED 



I THINK, continued Mr. McKinnon, that 

 we need, not only a standard apple box 

 for export, but we also need legislation pre- 

 venting the use of the box for anything but 

 No. I fruit. 



To this Mr. Palmer objected, because, said 

 he, we never use barrels at all in British 

 Columbia, we ship everything in boxes. 

 Well then, said Mr. McKinnon, let it be il- 

 legal to use a box printed with red ink for 

 anything but No. i apples, and let black ink 

 be used for all cases containing ordinary 

 fruit. The matter of legislation on this point 

 was laid over for a year, but the report of a 

 committee on a standard box was adopted, 

 advising the use of California sizes for On- 

 tario fruit packages, as far as practicable ; 

 and also suggesting for 1903 the use of an 

 apple box, measuring 9 inches deep, 12 in- 

 ches wide, and 18 inches long. This box 

 was favored by Burlington and Grimsby 

 fruit growers, because it would hold ^ 

 of a barrel, an accepted size in foreign 

 markets. 



The Grimsby shippers complained that 

 they found themselves losing money by 

 using a box which measured ^ of a barrel, 

 when the price in Covent Garden was set 

 by the quarter barrel box. 



I know not whether British Columbia 

 fruit men will accept your proposed apple 

 box or not, said Mr. Palmer. They use 

 several sizes at present, but the Standard 

 apple box with them measures 10^ inches 

 deep, iTj/^ wide and 18 long; and the 



Special apple box for smaller sized apples, 

 measures 10 x 11 x 20. 



TENDER FRUITS SAFE IN PROPER COLD 

 STORAGE. 



GIVEN cold storage on land and sea 

 that will keep our fruit just above 

 the freezing point, it will doubtless be quite 

 safe to hold our fruit for a fixed price which 

 will fairly represent its real value, instead 

 of allowing it to be sold for a song because 

 of its perishability. 



"Yes," said Mr. Fisher of Burlington, 

 "there is a rub. Half the time we do not 

 get an evenly low temperature on ship 

 board. Our Burlington fruit growers sent 

 a car load of Bartlett pears to Manchester 

 this summer, on the Manchester Commerce, 

 and a large portion were spoiled on the 

 way. I got a copy of the thermograph 

 record, and it showed a variation all the 

 way from 68 to 30 ; ' cooked or frozen ' is 

 surely applicable to such conditions. Bart- 

 lett pears will not stand such extremes of 

 temperature." 



The writer reported that his shipments of 

 Bartletts this season to Glasgow by the 

 Donaldson line were carried in excellent 

 condition. Our confidence in a well regu- 

 lated cold storage was still farther increased 

 by an exhibit of Duchess apples on the 

 fruit tables by Mr. W. H. Bunting of St. 

 Catharines. The half cases, which had 

 been packed on the 4th of August and held 

 at about 40° F. for four months, were in 

 fair condition at the date of the meeting, 

 the 2nd of December. 



REPORTS OF EXPERIMENTERS. 



ON Tuesday morning Dr. Mills, Chair- 

 man of the Board of Control of our 

 Fruit Stations, took charge of the sessions, 

 and each experimenter was called upon to 

 give notes on the most desirable varieties of 

 his special fruit. There are now fourteen 

 fruit stations and the reports are becoming 

 more valuable each year. 



