482 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



about 6,000 barrels of Nova Scotia apples 

 on September 22rLd in splendid condition. 

 Although landed in good condition, some of 

 the soft varieties went off very rapidly. The 

 trade makes some objections to receiving 

 varieties such as Astrachans, as they 

 claim that these injure the reputation 

 of Canadian apples. This emphasizes the 

 fact that fall varieties should be picked early 

 and shipped in boxes rather than barrels if 

 satisfactory returns are to be expected. 



Mr. Driscoll also reports the arrival on 

 the S. S. lona of 1424 barrels of apples and 

 46 boxes of pears. The apples were cf 

 many varieties, and arrived in satisfactory 

 condition, but the pears were very inferior, 

 and both consignees would prefer not to re- 

 ceive such shipments. 



In his bulletin on the " Export Pear 

 Trade," which may be had free of charge on 

 application to Mr. MacKinnon, of the de- 

 partment, at Ottawa, Mr. MacKinnon has 

 summarized as follows : " The exporter of 

 pears must never loose sight of the fact that 

 in the British markets he has to compete 

 with the best fruits in the world; that the 

 French exporters have attained almost to 

 perfection in their system of grading and 

 packing, that the Californian exporters place 

 upon the market annually thousands of cases 

 filled with practically perfect fruit, of larger 

 size and excellent appearance; and that, 

 therefore, only the most rigid exclusive 

 grading will result in the selection of such 

 Canadian pears as will win a place in the es- 

 teem of the public in competition with the 

 shipments already familiar to them. One 



further fact is of the importance, namely, 

 that pears are sold individually or by the 

 dozen, after passing through the hands of 

 the importer and wholesaler ; that each indi- 

 vidual pear which comes from Canada is 

 scrutinized first by the retailer, before being 

 placed on show, and then by the consumer 

 when it is purchased. The presence of a 

 few pears in unsatisfactory condition re- 

 duces the retailer's profit, and as a conse- 

 quence renders him less anxious to repeat 

 orders for fruit from the same source. The 

 Canadian exporter shduld therefore, i. 

 Grade carefully so as to have only one size 

 in a package, and to exclude rigidly all 

 under-sized or defective fruits. 2. Pack 

 carefully in uniform packages plainly 

 marked with the name and address of the 

 shipper, the variety and grade of the fruit, 

 and the word ' Canada " always occupying a 

 prominent position." 



FRUIT damage;d in loading. 



Fruit Inspector P. J. Carey, writing of his 

 observations at the port of Montreal, reports 

 to the Fruit Division that shippers make a 

 great mistake in holding off shipping until 

 the last moment, with the result that often 

 the half or more of the entire shipment of 

 handled, even from the cars, after 8 o'clock 

 the last night of loading. When this is the 

 case it is impossible to handle otherwise than 

 roughly, consequently the fruit is often dam- 

 aged more by the handling the last night 

 loading on the ship than it is the rest of the 

 week. 



Question iprawer 



CUTTING BACK PEACH TREES. 



Sir, — When should peach trees be pruned or 

 cut back. 



John Thompson, Cowal, Elgin Co., Ont. 



The usual time for pruning the peach tree 

 is in spring, just before the growth starts. 



This is the best time if the vigor of the tree 

 is the chief consideration. If, however, the 

 object is to thin the fruit for the current 

 year and develop fruit buds for the year fol- 

 lowing, the cutting back may be done in 

 June, when the young fruit has set. 



