2 l6 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



2. GRADING, PACKING AND MARKING. 



Grading is the most essential step to- 

 wards successful marketing of fruit. It is 

 particularly true of the British markets that 

 they are continually asking for large quan- 

 tities of fruit of one quality and of one 

 variety. The most serious complaint they 

 have to make against shipments from 

 Canada is that they are " irregular." It 

 should, therefore, be the object of a co- 

 operative association to place considerable 

 quantities of uniform grade and variety 

 upon the market. This they are in a posi- 

 tion to do, if all the members will send their 

 fruit to a common packing house, w^here it 

 can be impartially graded by experienced 

 hands. The brand which the association 

 has adopted will soon become well known as 

 being thoroughly reliable, and there will al- 

 most certainly be a demand far greater than 

 the members are able to supply. 



The PACKING of the fruit when graded 

 should be carefully looked after, especially 

 when shipments are sent to distant points. 

 All packages should be tight when com- 

 mencing their journey, and high class fruit 

 will carry best in boxes, the tender varieties 

 being wrapped individually in paper. 



Marking, if properly done, will be the 

 only introduction which a buyer will re- 

 quire. It should be so thoroughly reliable, 

 both as to variety and grade, that inspection 



will never be required — unless it is to ascer- 

 tain how the fruit has stood a long journey. 

 The marking should also include a clear and 

 attractive advertisement for the co-operative 

 association which is shipping the fruit. 

 Pencils and chalk should not be used for the 

 essential marks on any package of fruit; 

 either a well cut stencil or a large rubber 

 stamp should be employed. 



3- — MARKETING. 



Marketing is a word which covers two 

 operations, namely those of buying and of 

 selling. Dealing with the latter first, it will 

 be apparent that if the fruit of a number of 

 growers is judiciously distributed in mar- 

 kets where the demand is greatest, and If 

 accounts are kept by one manager for all, 

 there is likely to be a great advantage 

 gained and a great economy effected. 



A similar economy will result if all ma- 

 terial, such as poisons, packages, implements 

 and so on are purchased wholesale by the 

 manager and distributed to the members as 

 they may be required. 



Finally, a co-operative association can, 

 through its manager, obtain much more at- 

 tention and consideration from transp5rta- 

 tion companies, commission men and others 

 with whom they may have to deal, than 

 would be accorded to the members if 

 acting individually. " In Union is Strength." 



SaleM Gardens. — The city of Salem, 

 Mass., at least the old colonial city of Salem 

 that still remains, is semi-city and semi- 

 country. It knows nothing of lawns or even 

 of front gardens. The houses stand in un- 

 even lines on or near the street, with no sug- 

 gestion of nature about them until one passes 

 through to the rear. Then he finds himself 

 looking out upon a most ample and entranc- 

 ing old garden, surrounded by a high board 



fence extending back for hundreds of feet and 

 filled with fruit trees and old fashioned flower 

 beds wirh box borders. In the retirement of 

 one of these old gardens one is almost as se- 

 cluded and nature-begirt as in the woods and 

 fields of genuine country. But of all this 

 little is known by those who do not find 

 their way into these secluded spots. — Coun- 

 try Life in America. 



