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matter stands, I can only advise our friends to be very care- 

 ful and avoid sending apples from districts where they know 

 the San Jose Scale is prevailing, and rather ship such stock 

 to the United Kingdom. Hamburg is a good market for 

 really prime apples, in good condition, and shippers who 

 want to send there, must take more care in selecting, than 

 v/hen shipping to Great Britian. Within the last three 

 years, shipments to Hamburg have trebled in volume, owing 

 largely to the jiusli and enterprise of the German Fruit 

 Merchants. One firm, in particular, has chartered steamers 

 and purchased cargoes for same, loading them at Portland, 

 Maine. This season, the shipments to Hamburg from that 

 port, will run up to about 50,000 barrels. In order to reach 

 the German market, Boston shipments have to be sent via 

 Liverpool, at heavy expense and much extra handling. 

 However, this will all be changed when the Hamburg Amer- 

 ican Line service is inaugurated here, next summer, Avheri 

 shipments will be made direct. 



TO RETURN to the manner in which apples Avere han- 

 dled in the early '80 's. At that time, steamship rates were 

 high, being $1.00 and even $1.25 per barrel, and the service 

 was slow, some boats taking fifteen or eighteen days to make 

 the passage to Liverpool. At times, sailing vesels, carrying 

 3,000 to 5,000 barrels, at about 50c per barrel, were em- 

 ployed, but this manner of transportation did not prove sat- 

 isfactory, for in some cases, the vessels were so long in mak- 

 ing the passage, that cargoes were landed in a wasty condi- 

 tion, sometimes not selling for enough to pay charges. 



Along in the 90 's large shipments of apples were made 

 from Boston, and there was considerable competition be- 

 tween the various Liverpool lines, for the business, and much 

 improvement was made in the manner of loading and stow- 

 age. At the suggestion of the Liverpool fruit merchants, 

 the Cunard Line equipped two of their steamers with elec- 

 tric fans to ventilate the holds where apples were stowed, 

 with the result that these steamers became very popular 

 with apple shippers. In 1902, the "Ivernia" of this line. 



