TENDER FRUITS FOR TRANSPORTATION. 



Scriver mentioned a case of this sort -n 

 which he was particularly interested. A 

 car of Fameuse apples from Hemmingford, 

 Que., arrived at Winnipeg on Monday, Oct. 

 19th, and as this shipment was from his own 

 country, Mr. Scriver was particularly anx- 

 ious to see it unloaded before leaving for 

 Montreal on the following Saturday. How- 

 ever, there was was no sign of the car up to 

 Friday, when at his special request an en- 

 gine was sent out Saturday morning to the 

 yards at St. Boniface to bring the car into 

 the city. The engine returned with the in- 

 formation that the car could not be found. 

 Mr. Scriver left Winnipeg on Saturday at- 

 ternoon,before the arrival of the car, which 

 would certainly not be brought in until 

 Monday, making a week at least that these 

 tender apples had been lying in the yards. 



EASTERN APPLES IN WINNIPEG. 



Fruit Inspector Scriver says that the 

 quality of the XXX apples shipped to Win- 

 nipeg from the east has been, very good, and 

 merchants expressed themselves as well 

 pleased with this season's business. Apples 

 were selling at about $4.00 per barrel, with 

 fancy varieties still higher. Fancy Fa- 

 meuse, from Quebec, which are this year 

 exceptionally large and free from scab, were 

 in good demand at $6.00 and Ontario Snows 

 at $5.00. Retailers and consumers in both 

 city and country seemed to want only first- 

 class fruit, and were willing to pay for it. 

 The same could scarcely be said of the mid- 

 dlemen who naturally tried to buy in the 

 east at as low a figure as possible. Ex- 

 porters to the European markets are paying 

 as high as $2.25 per barrel, said Mr. Scriver, 

 and consequently Winnipeg buyers could 

 not get the best fruit at $1.85, which they 

 had been considering as about the limit n 

 price. 



There was some complaint in Winnipeg 

 that packers were filling the barrels too full, 

 with the result that the pressure in heading 

 bruised the tender fall varieties to such an 

 extent that many of the apples at the top 

 were found to be worthless on arrival. The 

 packers were evidently afraid of the barrels 

 going " slack," but they rather overdo their 

 precautions to prevent that undesirable con- 

 dition. 



In speaking of the apple trade in general, 

 Mr. Scriver mentioned that this year especi- 

 ally there is a good demand for XX apples, 

 and there would be a much greater call for 

 them if buyers could be sure of what they 

 were getting. At present this grade is very 

 uneven in quality, and it is a question if the 

 Fruit Marks Act should not more clearly de- 

 fine its characteristics. Some large pack- 

 ers are putting up XX fruit that is nearly 

 equal to XXX, and they find it a hardship 

 to compete with all sorts of culls, which may 

 now be legally marked XX. 



SHIPPING FRUIT IN BOXES. 



Fruit shipped in boxes or cases does not 

 always escape bruising, because there is fre- 

 quently considerable bulge to the tops, and 

 when the boxes are stacked up in the usual 

 way, bottoms downward, the weight of the 

 upper layers causes considerable pressure on 

 the fruit. More especially is this the case 

 when the boxes are not placed with sufficient 

 care to ensure that each rests on both pro- 

 tecting strips of the one below. It has been 

 suggested by the Fruit Division that it might 

 be better to place the boxes on the sides in 

 the car, as in that way there would be no 

 weight on the bulged portion. A firm of 

 fruit packers and exporters in Burlington, 

 Ont., is now testing this plan of shipping, 

 and the results of their investigations wi'l 

 be awaited with interest. 



