196 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Handling Apples for Export^ 



K. AV. ShepKerd, Montreal, Que. 



IN Quebec the leading and most prof- 

 itable apples arc Fameusc, Mcin- 

 tosh Red and other highly colored 

 and highly flavored varieties that are 

 of delicate texture. They are too deli- 

 cate to be handled in a blundering, slip- 

 shod fashion, if the best prices are to be 

 realized. The way the finest p-ameuse 

 apples are handled from the time they 

 are picked until they are shipped, would 

 cause one to think the fruit was as hard 

 as a Ben Davis or Lawver, instead of 

 being an apple with the thinnest of 

 skins and the most delicate texture of 

 flesh. 



The picker's baskets should be lined 

 with burlap or something similar, and 

 the pickers should be taught to handle 

 the fruit like eggs. Packing tables with 

 coverings of canvas, instead of boards, 

 should always be used and the full 

 baskets emptied carefully. The sort- 

 ing and packing is best done in the or- 

 chard, as by that means the fruit gets 

 less handHng and is less knocked about. 

 There are occasions when it is expedient 

 to put fruit intended for boxes into 

 barrels (with a little hay or straw in the 

 bottom of each barrel) and the barrels 

 can be carried in a spring wagon to the 

 fruit house to be packed in boxes the 

 next day or on wet days. The best 

 plan is to put Fameuse apples in the 

 export packages as soon as possible 

 after picking. 



When the packing is done, it is ad- 

 visable to store the packages without 

 delay in some cool place for a week or 

 10 days. My plan is to put all packages, 

 whether cases, boxes, or barrels, in cold 

 storage for a few days before shipping. 

 This is one of the principal essentials to 

 successful and profitable exportation of 

 the finest Quebec apples. Frequently 

 we have warm days in the month of 

 October, when the thermometer runs 

 70 to 75 degrees. How can apples 

 reach the other side of the Atlantic in 

 good order if they are picked and packed 

 in a temperature of 70 degrees, kept in 

 a warm shed for a week or two, and 

 then put into the warm holds of vessels 

 to be kept there for 10 or 12 days? If 

 the fruit is thoroughly cooled before 

 shipping, it will arrive at the EngUsh 

 market in fine condition. 



It is most important that the fruit 

 should be in good condition when it 

 leaves. It costs money to put it in 

 cold storage, but it pays to do so. It 

 pays to do it most years even with No. 

 2 Fameuse packed in barrels. I have 

 proved it repeatedly. Last season No. 

 2 Fameuse and Wealthv, sent to Que- 

 bec market, realized $2.00 a barrel; 

 but the same fruit, after having been 



*A paper read at the annual convention of 

 the Pomological and Fruit Growing Society of 

 the Province of Quebec, held last December. 



10 days in cold-storage and shipped to 

 Glasgow realized 15 to 16 shillings a 

 barrel, which is equal, after paying all 

 expenses, to $1.10 to $1.25 over the net 

 prices on the Quebec market. Hun- 

 dreds of barrels of No. 2 Fameuse were 

 shipped last season from Montreal to 

 England and Scotland to be sold at three 

 to six shillings a barrel. This is shown 

 by the market reports. This great loss 

 was caused by the fruit being carelessly 

 handled, carelessly packed and shipped 

 in a heated condition. The fact that 

 prices on the other side are high, as they 

 were the past season, is no reason why 

 blunders should be made in this foolish 

 fashion. Nothing but loss can follow 

 such practice, whereas, if a little more 

 care and intelligence were exercised, the 

 results would have been a handsome 

 profit. 



The use of cold-storage prior to ship- 

 ping apples is not advocated because I 



pack a barrel of No. 2 apples as a bar- 

 rel of No. 1. Canadians use great in- 

 telligence in handling and packing 

 bacon, cheese and butter, but, with few 

 exceptions, the same careful attention 

 is not paid to our apples. 



The Shepherd Apple Case 



am interested, either directly or in- 

 directly, in any cold-storage company, 

 butbecauseof practical experience, which 

 has shown the advantages derived from 

 thoroughly cooling fruit before sending 

 it to England. With apples of hard 

 texture (winter apples) this precaution 

 is not so necessary. Many large ex- 

 porters say that the trouble and expense 

 is too great and that in many cases it is 

 utterly impracticable. My experience 

 has proved that apples cannot be 

 shipped year after year without the 

 shipper noticing the advantages de- 

 rived when fruit arrives on the other 

 side in good condition. The commission 

 men soon let you know if the barrels are 

 wet, slack or damaged in any way. 



Wet condition is caused by shipping 

 the fruit in a heated state; slackness 

 may arise from bad packing or because 

 of some of the fruit becoming bad, 

 causing a shrinkage, which makes the 

 fruit move in the barrel. Apples that 

 are not handpicked and sound should 

 not be shipped in a No. 2 barrel; in 

 fact, as much care should be taken to 



Rodt Prvining Fruit Trees 



There are times when root pruning is 

 of value in the successful culture of 

 fruit. When the trees are growing lux- 

 uriantly and producing wood at the ' 

 expense of fruit, the practice of root 

 pruning will tend to check growth and 

 promote fruitfulness. The operation is 

 not difficult, nor dangerous when rightly 

 done, but the beginner should start on a 

 small scale or employ an experienced • 

 man to do the work for him. 



The operation consists in digging a 

 trench around the trees at a distance of 

 three to eight feet, according to the size 

 of the trees, and chopping off most of 

 the large roots. Good judgment is re- 

 quired in the work. Too much mutila- 

 tion of the roots might give disappointing 

 results. Enough should be done, how- 

 ever, to check vitality. The trench 

 should be refilled, and, if convenient, 

 with poorer soil than was taken out. 



The best time for root pruning is in 

 August. It may be done earlier in the 

 season, but the object of root pruning — 

 the change from wood buds to fruit buds 

 — is effected better at this time than 

 any other. Root pruning may be prac- 

 tised, also, on trees, even shrubs and 

 bushes that are susceptible to frost and 

 winter injury. By checking the growth, 

 they will endure severe weather without 

 iniurv. 



Prune Raspberries in August 



W. G. Home, Clarkson Ont. 



The raspberry, when planted on well- 

 adapted soil, is, perhaps, as remunera- 

 tive as any fruit we grow. With ordin- 

 ary cultivation, and manuring every 

 second year, a patch, once established, 

 may stand twenty years or more. I 

 have one that has been picked 16 years 

 and this year it is fruiting as well as 

 ever. 



Many growers neglect their raspberry 

 patches. After the crop has been gath- 

 ered the bushes are left often without 

 care until the next spring. , On this 

 year's canes is borne next year's crop. 

 Cleaning out the old canes only when 

 convenient is not good practice. The 

 old canes should be pruned out as soon 

 as possible after the picking. They are 

 far easier to cut at that time and it is 

 better for the new cane. 



Topping off the canes had better be 

 done in the spring than early fall. 

 Young shoots that grow from fall top- 

 ping generally winter-kill. Raspberries 

 are being planted more and more each 

 year. The best all-round variety is 

 the Cuthbert. 



