88 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ing, which he did in a very instructive and interesting- 

 talk as follows: 



ENGLISH MARKETS AND HOW TO REACH 

 THEM. 



By Mr. A. S. Baker, Southampton, England. 



London is the largest market in the world, with the 

 largest consuming power of any city of equal population. 

 The Americans produce the finest class of fruits, yet you 

 are getting the lowest price of any people on earth, in the 

 best market the world has ever seen. Now, why is this so? 

 The reason is just this: Take, for example, the apple. 

 There is no apple like the American apple, with the excep- 

 tion of some few that come from Canada. Our best selling 

 apples in the English market are the apples that come from 

 Tasmania. We annually import $13,000,000 worth of apples 

 from there, besides those that come from the United States 

 and Canada. The Tasmania apples^sell in London at $3. 75 

 per bushel, while the very best price obtained for Ameri- 

 can or Canada apples is $3.25 per barrel. This is a very 

 great difference, and is due entirely to system of packing. 

 The packages used in the United States and Canada are so 

 unsuitable, so cumbersome. You ship your apples in bar- 

 rels. The Tasmanian apple cannot be considered a com- 

 petitor in any sense of the word — although we buy such an 

 enormous quantity — since in that part of the world the 

 season is just the reverse from yours here in the States — 

 August, and September being late winter months there. 

 When your fruit here in America is ready for market, 

 apple trees are in bloom in Tasmania. The apples from 

 Tasmania are put in the London market in perfect condi- 

 tion. They are a little dry, to "be sure, and lacking in 

 flavor, but this is due probably to the tropical climate 

 through which they have to pass, and yet in spite of all this 

 they bring, in the London market to-day, $3.75 per box. 

 Really, the fruit is not one-half as good in quality as yours 

 from the States, but it is carefully graded, of uniform size 

 and honestly packed in the size packages that the English- 



