264 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, 1907 



follow the employment of buying and 

 selling apples. This business is largely 

 speculative as usually conducted. The 

 buying is done comparatively early 

 in the season, before the volume of 

 the crop or the market values can be 

 estimated with any degree of certainty. 

 Under such circumstances it is easy 

 to see that sanguine buyers are fre- 

 quently tempted to pay higher prices 

 than the markets ultimately justify. 

 When the time for marketing comes, 

 the temptation is almost irresistible 

 to so pack and mark these apples that 

 the buyer can finish the transaction 

 without serious loss. This is done by 

 overfacing and overgrading. It will 

 be readily understood that dealers of 

 this unscrupulous type are not seriously 

 in favor of any restrictions being placed 

 upon their actioi s. 



On the other hand, many of our 

 merchants, and the best of them, look 

 forward to the apple business as a per- 

 manent feature of their work, and so 

 conduct it that they may continue in 

 it from year to year. Such men do 

 not find it necessary to secure a profit 

 on each particular deal, but are willing 

 in this, as in other commercial trans- 

 actions, to average up the business of 

 the season, and are satisfied if out of a 

 large number of contracts the balance 

 is upon the right side for them. They 

 are, therefore, not tempted to prac- 

 tise the arts of the buyer who is in the 

 apple business in such a wa}- that he 

 must secure practically a profit upon 

 each transaction. Of course, there are 

 a large number of itinerant buyers who 

 have no status whatever in the country 

 and who are willing to do anything in 

 order to make a profit, having no repu- 

 tation to sustain. The last two classes 

 of buyers are not friendly to the Fruit 

 Marks Act. 



THE ACT IN FOREIGN LANDS 



The reception of the Act in foreign 

 countries has been even more enthus- 

 iastic than in Canada itself, inasmuch 

 as the law with reference to the' export 

 trade is more effectively enforced than 

 for the local trade. The following ex- 

 tract is from the London, England, 

 Fruit Grower, dated February 11, 1904: 



"The United States Consul in Edin- 

 burgh records the fact that Canadian 

 apple imports are gaining a very strong 

 position in the Scotch markets, in some 

 cases supplanting the United States 

 supplies. Mr. Fleming states that the 

 system of inspection adopted in Can- 

 ada and subsequently renewed at the 

 British ports, has served as a guarantee 

 to the buyers of Canadian apples, and 

 has in this way proved useful to seller 

 and purchaser." 



Extract from letter of Thomas Rus- 

 sell, fruit dealer, Glasgow, Scotland: 

 "In reference to the packing of apples 

 in barrels there can be no doubt the 



passing of the Fruit Marks Act, 1901, 

 has had a most beneficial effect in 

 improving the grading and marking 

 of the fruit." 



Extract from an interview with Mr. 

 Dermis, a broker of Covent Garden, 

 London, Eng. : "I think the Act is a 

 very great advantage, and if the trade 

 on each side cooperate with the Fruit 

 Department, I am sure it will be to 

 the benefit of all concerned. There 

 has undoubtedly been a vast improve- 

 ment in the packing and grading." 



SOME ADVANTAGES 



It might be remarked here that the 

 advantage accruing to the Canadian 

 grower does not consist simply in the 

 consciousness that he has .not cheated 

 anyone, either in the marking or pack- 

 ing of his apples. In fact, the Fruit 

 Marks^Act is in no sense of the word 

 an attempt to make people honest by 

 legislation; but, though it does not 

 do this, it certainly does make them 

 "act as though they were honest," 

 as one of your college professors said 

 when writing to me regarding the Act. 

 The advantages accruing to the buyers 

 of apples are evident. They are fairly 

 sure that they are getting exactly 

 what they have paid for. The advan- 

 tages to the Canadian grower appear 

 in the strongest light in the market 

 reports of Great Britain. 



In recent years, since the passing 

 of the Fruit Marks Act, trade journals, 

 and the brokers who furnish market 

 reports, distinguish between Canadian 

 apples and American apples. This can 

 be seen in the case of the quotations 

 furnished by Woodall & Company and 

 James Adam & Son, Liverpool. A 

 comparison of their reports for the 

 season will show that Canadian apples 

 now range about two shillings higher 

 on the average than American apples; 

 the difference being higher on some 

 varieties than on others. It would 

 not, however, be correct to credit the 

 whole of this increased price to the 

 Fruit Marks Act. In keeping quali- 

 ties, at least, it is generally conceded 

 that frequently the Canadian apple has 

 somewhat the advantage and, too, the 

 Canadian barrel is larger than the Am- 

 erican; but the combined fact of the 

 quality of the fruit and the size of the 

 barrel still leaves a large margin that 

 can only be accounted for by the 

 uniform marking and packing that 

 comes as the result of the enforcement 

 of the Canadian Fruit Marks Act. 



INSPIRES CONFIDENCE 



That such excellent results can be 

 secured with so small a staff is natur- ' 

 ally a matter of surprise. The explan- 

 ation lies largely in the fact that the 

 great majority of the apple growers 

 and apple packers prefer to pack and 

 mark as prescribed by the Fruit Marks 

 Act because it is the simplest and 



most direct method of securing a per- 

 fect understanding between the buyer 

 and the seller. If the buyer wishes to 

 look at the fruit, the face shows the 

 quahty of the whole barrel. If he does 

 not wish to examine the fruit, the 

 marking upon the outside will indicate 

 with a fair degree of definiteness and 

 accuracy the kind and quality of the 

 fruit included in the barrel. 



Due allowance being made for the 

 honesty and straightforwardness of the 

 Canadian apple packers, it is still 

 found necessary to use the utmost dis- 

 cretion in distributing the time of the 

 very few inspectors detailed for this 

 work. The chief reliance is placed 

 upon inspection at export points. A 

 very large proportion of the fruit is 

 shipped from the three ports, Mon- 

 treal, St. John and Halifax. The in- 

 spectors are, therefore, concentrated 

 at these points, the size of the staff at 

 each port varying according to the 

 volume of trade going forward at any 

 particular time. 



THE UNCERTAIN PROTECTS 



In addition to this work, one or two 

 travelling inspectors in each province 

 are detailed to work in the fruit dis- 

 tricts in such a way that any of the 

 large packers are liable, at any time, 

 to be visited by an inspector; and, 

 though these visits are not likely to 

 be made more than once or twice in a 

 season, yet special information, which 

 the inspectors may receive, results in 

 closer attention to any particular packer 

 who may need it. But, whether the 

 inspectors are working in the orchards 

 or packing houses or at the port of 

 export, it is not the actual number of 

 packages which they inspect that forms 

 the safeguard so much as the fact that 

 the packers throughout the whole Do- 

 minion know that there is always the 

 possibility that their fruit may be 

 opened and examined. 



INSTRUCTION 



Incidentally the travelling inspectors 

 give a great deal of information with 

 reference to grading and packing in 

 the course of their visits from orchard 

 to orchard, and from packing house 

 to packing house. Not infrequently 

 meetings are called where packers are 

 numerous, and a special effort is made 

 to secure uniformity in grading as 

 well as the highest excellence in pack- 

 ing. Advantage is taken of such meet- 

 ings as fall fairs and general meetings 

 of farmers in fruit districts to give 

 special instruction in grading and pack- 

 ing. The speakers at farmers' insti- 

 tute meetings are supplied by the de- 

 partment of agriculture with special 

 literature regarding the apple trade, 

 and copies of the Fruit Marks Act are 

 distributed as widely as possible among 

 growers and packers. 



