75 



carried 39,000 barrels, the largest cargo of apples ever 

 shipped and fruit was landed in fine condition. The 

 success of the Cunard steamers forced the other lines to 

 equip their boats with electric A'entilating apparatus, and 

 now nearly all the regular liners carry apples in very good 

 shape, and we get very few reports of "heated cargoes." 



Just here, I would like to say a few words about FREIG HT 

 RATES. As everyone knows, ocean freight rates are continu- 

 all}'' fluctuating, (or will fluctuate if there is no combination 

 of steamship lines), according to the amount of freight of- 

 fering. Since the absorption of the various steamship lines 

 by the International ]\Iercantile IMarine, the apple export 

 business seems to have been singled out by this gigantic 

 trust as a very profitable field for the working of their un- 

 lawful combination. At the time this company assumed 

 control, the rate on apples to Liverpool was 44e per barrel: 

 now it is 70c, an advance of about 60 per cent. This is a 

 much higher rate than what they charge for other cargo oc- 

 cupying similar space in their steamers. I will admit that 

 rates on all commodities are higher this season than last, 

 but it has been the policy of this company to raise the rate 

 on apples everj^ year, without regard to the condition of the 

 freight market. Not once has tbe rate been reduced, and 

 this season it was advanced 13c per barrel. It is safe to say 

 there will be no reduction, and possibly another advance, 

 unless shippers get together and charter outside steamers, 

 vrhich may be done in the fall of the year when apples are 

 moving in large quantities. 



AS TO THE USE OF THE MARKETS ABROAD, which 

 take a large portion of the New England crop, I can assure 

 you the prices of apples in the local markets would be very 

 much lower than they are, if it were not for the large quan- 

 tities shipped across the water. Our Massachusetts fruit, 

 suitable for foreign trade, is ready for shipment much in ad- 

 vance of that grown in any other state, and for the past 

 ten or twelve years, the Williams apple has been exported 

 in early August in moderate quantities, with good success, 



