448 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



barrels to the railway station. Now with the big 

 demard and high prices in the British raarket it 

 seems a ridiculously low price to oifer. As you 

 are well posted in the matter I want you to inform 

 me on the following particulars: i. What is the 

 cost of shipping a barrel of apples from Grimsby to 

 the British market including of course not only 

 freight but commission and other charges ? By a 

 barrel I mean whether they are shipped in bulk 

 in large quantities? 2. What prices are being 

 paid by buyers in your section of the country? 

 3. What do you think would be a fair price for 

 buyers to pay in the vicinity of St. Mary's, Ont., 

 which is our shipping station ? At present it locks 

 to me as if apple buyers have formed a combine 

 to gobble up all the profits which is to be got in the 

 apple business tnis year. 



The great mistake of our apple growers 

 generally is here evident. Depending upon 

 the travelling buyer, their apples waste while 

 waiting for him, until they are glad to accept 

 any offer. Then, barrels are so scarce and 

 so high priced, ranging from 40c. to 50c., 

 and so difficult to get in any quantity, that 

 buyers cannot operate, and immense quanti- 

 ties must either go to the evaporator or else 

 waste in the orchards. Apple growers 

 should secure their own barrels in advance, 

 and be prepared for such an emergency, for 

 then they could combine and ship when they 

 chose. As to prices, buyers never pay ac- 

 cording to the foreign values, but according 

 to the values in Canadian orchards ; and 

 $1.00 a barrel for the fruit is not an un- 

 common average price offered. 



Buyers in Western New York have, says 

 Country Gentleman, been paying $1.75 to 

 $2.25 for the run of apples on trees. In 

 Pennsylvania, according to a correspondent 

 of the same paper, as low as 85c. to $1 has 

 been offered. In West Virginia, according 

 to another correspondent, apples are dull, 

 with choicest at a dollar a barrel. 



This season apple growers might safely 

 take the risk which is now taken by apple 

 buyers, and export their own fruit in car 

 lots, and they would no doubt double the 

 net proceeds of their apple orchards. 



The freight on apples in barrels from 

 Grimsby to Glasgow is about $1.08 a barrel, 

 to which must be added landing charges, 



commission, etc. The commission charged 

 in Great Britain is about 5 per cent, of the 

 gross proceeds. 



LOW PKICES OFFERED FOR APPLES IN 

 SIMCOE COUNTY. 



Mr. Alexander Armstrong, Barrie, com- 

 plains of the low prices offered in Simcoe 

 county. "We have very few buyers," says 

 he, "to purchase our apples. I have some 

 very fine Colverts and Wealthys, and the 

 best offer I had for them was 65c. a barrel, 

 and now I have from 65 to 75 barrels of 

 Russets, Snows, and other winter varieties, 

 and am only offered 90c. for Snows and $1 

 for Russets." 



Of course, these are low prices for good 

 winter apples, in consideration of the prices 

 in foreign markets ; but, so long as winter 

 apples are only worth about $2 in our mar- 

 kets, and barrels are worth 45 cents, and 

 packing, freight and commission costs at 

 least 50 cents more, buyers cannot be ex- 

 pected to take the risks of shipment and of- 

 fer much more than $1 for the fruit. 



HOW^ TO PACK A BARREL OF APPLES FOR 

 EXPORT. 



WHY not each man pack his own ap- 

 ples, and unless he has a good of- 

 fer, why not combine with his neighbors and 

 make up a car lot for some responsible Brit- 

 ish apple house. Names of reliable whole- 

 sale houses in England, Scotland, Hamburg 

 and Antwerp will be cheerfully furnished by 

 the editor of this journal, who is Viimself ex- 

 porting two carloads a week to Glasgow, 

 Scotland. The following directions for 

 packing a barrel of apples have been sent in 

 by Mr. Eben James, of Toronto, and we 

 think them worth giving to our readers : 



' ' The rule most observed by the largest export 

 packers in Canada is to discard the old system of 

 leaving apples to sweat in the orchard, b3lieving 

 it is generally dttrimental to the keeping qualities, 

 and instead to pack as picked off the trees. As the 

 apples are picked they are placed on a canvas 

 table resembling a camp bed, the firsts and seconds 

 sorted out, and the culls discarded. 



