FRUIT TRADE WITH THE WEST 



303 



Winnipeg should be a great shipping cen- 

 tre for Ontario fruits of all kinds. Straw- 

 berries are sold there by a commission firm 

 at 18 cents a box. These berries come, we 

 are informed, -from Oregon. Berries from 

 Ontario could be sold in Winnipeg with 

 handsome profit at 10 cents a box. But be- 

 fore this can be done an opening must be 

 made in the market against the active oppo- 

 sition of the aforementioned commission 

 firm, a proper car must be found to carry the 



berries thither, and the railway companies 

 must be induced to build and to use this car. 

 What is true of berries is true of most 

 other Ontario fruits ; there should be an 

 ever-increasing market in the west. Co- 

 operation and patience in establishing the 

 market, a little experimenting on cars for 

 shipping, and a deal of suasion towards the 

 railway companies, are necessary to the ac- 

 complishment of this important object. 



FRUIT TRADE WITH THE WEST IN A CRITICAL 



CONDITION. 



THE Fruit Division, Ottawa, gives out 

 the following statement: Numer- 

 ous requests have been received 

 from Alanitoba and the Northwest Terri- 

 tories for Ontario fruit of the best quality, 

 put up in neat and attractive packages of the 

 sort that western dealers prefer to handle. 

 There are immense possibilities in this west- 

 ern trade for the Ontario fruit growers, but 

 up-to-date methods of packing and shipping 

 will have to be adopted at once, or the whole 

 of this great and growing business will be 

 captured by the Americans. 



Fruit Inspector Philp, of Winnipeg, writes 

 that matters have come to a critical stage, 

 and that unless Ontario now makes a deter- 

 mined bid for the trade the market will be 

 occupied almost exclusively by fruit from 

 California, Oregon and British Columbia. 

 In the case of apples, even Kansas and Mis- 

 souri are likely to be strong competitors. 

 According to Mr. Philp, the packages 

 wanted in the Winnipeg market are the fol- 

 lowing: Early apples, the bushel box; 

 pears, the half box, holding twenty pounds 

 of wrapped fruit; peaches and plums, the 

 crate holding four boxes, similar to those 

 used by California shippers, and which are 

 well known in all Canadian markets. 



It is very important that Ontario shippers 

 should realize the critical stage at which this 

 trade has arrived, and that they should make 

 a united effort to capture the western mar- 

 ket, not only by perfecting the details of 

 their own end of the business, but by taking 

 up the matter of transportation with the ex- 

 press and railway companies in order to se- 

 cure if possible a better and quicker service 

 to Winnipeg. At present fruit is frequent- 

 ly forwarded by express from Toronto to 

 Winnipeg via Smith's Falls, and even via 

 Montreal, to connect with the through 

 trains. The result is that the fruit is on the 

 road from 18 to 24 hours longer than it 

 would be if sent via North Bay, and conse- 

 quently it does not arrive in Winnipeg in the 

 best condition. If the carrying companies 

 can be convinced that Ontario growers are 

 prepared to maintain a steady shipment of 

 fruit in modern packages, and not merely 

 to send west the fruit that the east does not 

 want, put up in all sorts of antiquated 

 shapes, there is little doubt that adequate 

 service will be provided at a rate which will 

 compare favorably with that now enjoyed 

 by Oregon and California shippers. 



