NOTES A.\'D CLMMENTS. 



all. But that prince of Canadian apples, 

 the Spy, Avhich was a failure last year, is 

 this year large and clean, and will be a most 

 valuable export apple. 



BOXLNG CHOICE APPLES. 



JUST now it is quite a fad with horticul- 

 tural journals to eulogize the box 

 packing for apples as far better than the 

 barrel, and we fear many will be misled by 

 the advice. The box is all right for extra 

 choice stock, and for that only ; but, if grow- 

 ers generally were to adopt it. and pack 

 into it all classes of apples, it would be a 

 serious mistake. Ordinary stock sells for 

 most money in a large package, such as the 

 Jbarrel, and it is only the fancy stock that 

 brings more money in a small package. We 

 have been using the bushel box for years 

 for choice high colored Spy and King ap- 

 ples ; and, while we have in some cases re- 

 ceived exceptionally high prices, our sales 

 have at other times been very disappointing, 

 so that on the whole, counting the extra cost 

 of assorting, grading, sizing and wrapping 

 in tissue paper, we are not so very much 

 ahead. Still, we shall persevere in putting 

 up fancy stock in boxes, and have just or- 

 dered 2,000 for the season of 1903. 



SIZES OF BOXES. 



UNFORTUNATELY for the trade. 

 Canadian fruit growers have not yet 

 agreed upon a uniform sized box for ap- 

 ples, and various sizes have been under ex- 

 periment. In our early shipments we used 

 a box with eight strong trays, w^hich proved 

 much too cumbersome and expensive. Then 

 for apples we used a plain box, measuring 

 2 feet X I X I, holding a good heaping 

 bushel. But finding that the Tasmania 

 apples come to the English market in a box 

 holding about forty pounds, we have 

 adopted a box holding nearly the same 

 quantity, but much more neatly made. The 

 dimensions of this box are 9 x 12 x 18. 



This size was recommended by a committee 

 of our association at Walkerton last Decem- 

 ber as worthy of general trial during the year 

 1903, after which we will be in a better 

 position to decide upon a permanent one. 



PROSPECTS OF A FRENCH MARKET FOR 

 OUR APPLES. 



WHEN in Covent Garden market. 

 London, England, w^e were in- 

 formed by Mr. Garcia that a large part of 

 his immense apple sales were made to 

 French customers, and so important was 

 this feature of his trade that he was now ar- 

 ranging to have a special branch of the 

 firm of Garcia, Jacob & Co. opened in the 

 city of Paris. No doubt the exhibit of 

 Canadian fruit made at the Paris exposition 

 has created a market for our finer fruits, 

 which we ought not to let pass into other 

 hands. We have just received a letter, 

 first addressed to Mr. R. W. Shepherd, of 

 ^Montreal, which emphasises the importance 

 of the present opportunity. It comes from 

 Mr. Anatole Poindron, Canadian commer- 

 cial agent at Paris, Avho says that Mr. Bar- 

 bier, 3 and 5 Rue Gombourt, Paris, is the 

 largest importer of fine table fruits in Pans, 

 for which excellent prices are obtainable. 

 *' In fact," says he, " color, quality, size and 

 perfect appearance are more in question 

 than cheapness," 



THE TREE PROTECTOR. 



1' HE Daily Telegraph, Berlin, has the 

 following article on The Tree Pro- 

 tector, which has been widely sold to fruit 

 men during the past few years. We shall 

 be glad to hear from others who have given 

 it a trial : 



Various inventions have been put on the 

 market during the past few years for the pro- 

 tection of fruit while growing upon the trees. 

 A device, consisting of a piece of galvanized 

 sheet iron several inches wide, lined with felt, 

 and saturated with some sort of insecticide 

 has come into general use in many sections of 

 the country. This piece of iron is cut the pro- 

 per length to encircle the trunk of the tree, the 



