I02 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



that we use in sending- our fruit to England. Of course, the 

 greater part of our apples are shipped to the mother coun- 

 try. Very few of our apples have g^one to Boston. The 

 duty, when shipping apples into the United States, is almost 

 prohibitive, but when you are shy of Gravensteins we can 

 'usually send you something that is fully as good or better 

 than anything you are getting here. If you have not been 

 getting good respectable looking barrels, I don't know where 

 they could have come from. While we have not always been 

 able to get uniform packages, still there has not been much 

 trouble. We are using the flat hoops on our barrels now. 

 We have for many years been using round hoops. The 

 other presents a little better appearance and we find that it 

 is to our interest to have the best looking packages, especially 

 on shipments going" to London. 



I have found in shipping Japanese plums that to pack 

 them fifteen to twenty pounds to the box, and ship them as we 

 do ordinary plums, they will not bring as much in the market 

 as some of the purple plums. I decided a few^ years ago, if 

 I were to ship Japanese plums so that they would sell well. 

 I should have to adopt a diflr'erent package from that which 

 other men were shipping their plums in. I pack all of my 

 Japanese plums now in a five pound package similar to the Cal- 

 ifornian, twelve of which go to a crate. I am sure it enables 

 me to sell more fruit and to get better prices. Of course, 

 a g-ood deal of attention must be paid to the grading of the 

 fruit itself, as well as to the package. I thin the fruit on 

 the trees very carefully about the first of July. It is the 

 only way I can get them to grow sufficiently large to sell for 

 dessert, so that I can realize good prices. In that way I 

 have been able to get something- which is acceptable in the 

 market. Then, after having been careful in the grading of 

 the fruit, grown to a good size, I place it in these boxes in 

 two layers, four rows in each layer and six plums in each 

 row. I use paper in packing the fruit, which I think adds 

 to the appearance. The paper has a little printing on it 

 like this — 



