IMNKAPPLK CULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 



experience of the big markets, not only of this country but 

 abroad, can realise how a few bad fruit in a consignment affects 

 the prices offered for the remainder. I do not mean the retail 

 prices, but those which the wholesale buyer is prepared to give. 

 The wholesale buyer argues that if some of a consignment have 

 gone wrong on the journey, he is in no position to judge whether 

 the remainder are going to keep for a few days, for all he 

 knows, they may be bruised and start going off as soon as they 

 become exposed. He therefore has to allow a big margin for 

 possible losses, with the result that the grower obtains the 

 minimum price. The system of placing fruit in a truck without 

 any packing material to prevent bruising, is against all the best 

 interests of the industry. 



1,700 DOZEN IN ONE TRUCK. 



That number has actually been placed in a truck and consigned 

 to Cape Town or Johannesburg! Can anyone imagine that the 

 lower layers of fruit arrived in good condition? Could half 

 of them arrive in decent condition? The whole system is just 

 playing into the hands of the coolie. Does your reputable man 

 go and wait for a market agent to sell these off in dozens? 

 and then have to go and buy a box to cart them away in ? No ! 

 The coolie, or the Malay with his dirty cart, is the man who 

 purchases these, and at rock bottom prices, for even he is not 

 going to pay a decent price for stuff which may go wrong in 

 a day or so. It is high time this method of shipment ceased. 

 With the establishment of canning factories, doubtless it will 

 do so, because it will pay the grower better to take that type 

 of fruit to the factory, rather than risk obtaining such prices 

 as he does under these conditions. Further, he is spoiling the 

 market for his good fruit. Growers must realise that a market 

 glutted with poor fruit has a very adverse effect on the prices 

 realised for good fruit. 



PROPER METHODS FOR LOCAL MARKETS. 



There is only one way to harvest and market a crop, ;ind 

 that is the right way. The fruit must be handled carefully, 

 not thrown into baskets, and then dumped into a cart; boxes 

 are better than baskets for gathering. I say advisedly gathering. 

 If the crop is being sent to a local market, cutting the stem is 

 not necessary, unless it is of very high quality, in which case 

 I should imagine the fruit would be intended for export. In 

 that case fruit for export should be cut with at least 3 to 4 inches 

 of stalk. The fruit sent to the local markets may be broken 

 off with a twisting motion, and each one should be carefully 

 placed in the big box and should not leave that box until they 

 arrive at the packing shed, the less handling the better. These 

 boxes will hold from two to three dozen fruit, according to size. 



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