120 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the continent. It is owing to the system of selection which is fol- 

 lowed allowing buyers to reject any but the "tight packed" 

 packages which allows all England to become a buyer in this one 

 room. If compelled to take all of a mark, whether "tight," 

 "slack." or "wet," the out of town buyers would not buy at auc- 

 tion but would buy second handed where they could get only 

 such fruit as could be safely shipped to their inland markets. 

 With 250 buyers in one room ready to bid for such fruit as may 

 meet their wants, it is very evident that better prices will be real- 

 ized than if the bidding was confined to the comparativelv few 

 dealers in the city of Liverpool. It is true that the prices real- 

 ized are not always satisfactory to shippers but this is also true 

 of the fruit business in any market and the commission business 

 in other lines as well. I believe it can truthfully be said of Liv- 

 erpool that it has the best system for handling immense quanti- 

 ties of perishable merchandise of any market in the world. In 

 London, Glasgow and the other markets the trade is not so. con- 

 centrated and the demand is principally for local consumption. 



The question is often asked why England does not raise its 

 own supply of apples. The climate is such that it is impossible 

 to grow the varieties such as we have and such as are grown 

 there do not have the keeping quality of the American apple. 

 Theirs are green varieties and are usually well out of the markets 

 early in October. A year ago last fall the English crop was the 

 largest on record and very little demand was anticipated for 

 American fruit, but as soon as the good sound varieties appeared 

 there was at once an active demand which continued throughout 

 the season at comparatively high prices. 



The principal apple of commerce is beyond all question the 

 Baldwin, which is usually the standard of quotations. The 

 apples commanding the highest prices in England are the New- 

 town Pippins shipped from a small section in the Hudson River 

 Valley; these have at some seasons sold at over seventy shil- 

 lings, that is $17.00 to $18.00, and two years ago one shipper 

 received, net, clear of all expenses, over $1,400.00 for 200 barrels 

 of apples, part of which were seconds. Other varieties that 

 meet with a good demand as long as quantities are not excessive 

 are Ben Davis, Greenings and later in the season Russets. 



