96 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



Another most pressing grievance I would crave space to comment on, and 

 that is the disgraceful way the fruit growers are treated by the City of Toronto. 

 There is no market, or rather there is a series of little markets, where our 

 products are given away to any one who may happen to visit the place. At 

 Geddes Wharf, at the dock where the Garden City arrives, and various other 

 docks, and in a pokey shed in the Station. At any of these you are liable to 

 find your agents either endeavoring to sell your fruit, or some one else's, whilst at 

 the other places the fruit is trying to sell itself under a blazing sun ! I trust 

 some steps will be taken by the fruit growers to support the commission men 

 in their attempt to get this thing arranged differently. It is a serious drawback 

 to our industry and an indefensible expense to put upon our agents. I was 

 unfortunately not able to go to Brantford, and do not know, therefore, if this 

 subject was taken up or not. I had fully intended to lay both the want of a 

 Toronto Fruit Market and the desirability of the removal of the duty on machines 

 tor spraying, before the meeting. As to the apple export, no doubt the matter 

 will partially right itself, as the buyers have been badly nipped; but it will most 

 undoubtedly be at the cost of the apple producers next year, as the price in the 

 orchard is bound to be lower, especially if the United States has a crop, for 

 what would have happened if they had had a crop this year ? In the meantime, 

 as you will see from the enclosed cutting from The Times (London, Eng.), others 

 are up and doing, and our chances of a good market in March and April, in 

 England, are now dependant upon how many apples Tasmania and New Zealand 

 send. And why should their apples sell at an average of 10 per bushel box, 

 whilst ours seldom average much over 15 for a three bushel barrel? Surely we 

 have got something to learn in sending apples to Europe. 



The trade between Australasia and the mother country in respect to fruit is also 

 undergoing great developments, and, at the same time, helping, in the colonies at least, to 

 solve the problem as to how to keep the rural populations in the rural districts. It dates 

 back to 1SS5. the year of the Colonial Exhibition, of which it may be regarded as a prac- 

 tical outcome. Consignments of apples had previously been received heie from Australia 

 as ordinary cargo ; yet, though they sometimes arrived in fair condition and brought a fair 

 price, at other times they were found almost rotten, and did not realize enough to defray 

 the charges. At the Colonial Exhibition, however, there were shown some apples which, 

 brought over in cool chambers, were in absolutely perfect condition. This fact suggested 

 the possibility of a great trade in Australian apples, which would reach here at the end of 

 April or the beginning of May, and continue to arrive until the commencement of the 

 strawberry season, thus embracing a period of the year when there would be no other 

 apples on the English market. Arrangements were made accordingly, and some small 

 consignments were received in 1886. More came in 1887, and in 1889 a fair trade was 

 developed. In 1891, 130,000 boxes (each holding about a bushel, and weighing gross from 

 50 lbs. to 60 lbs.) came to hand, and the total for last season was about 200,000. For next 

 season the whole of the available space in the cool chambers of the steamers (some of 

 which load from iM.OOO to 30,000 boxes at a time) has been already contracted for. 

 Tasmania is the chief producer. The growers there have restricted themselves to about 

 seven or eight varieties, which are precisely the descriptions best fitted for a long journey 

 and for the requirements of the English market. The climate of Tasmania is perfect for 

 the growth of apples, which attain there a beauty and a flavor hardly to be surpassed. As 

 illustrating the great care taken to insure perfection of quality, it may be mentioned that 

 the orchards are visited from time to time by a Government inspector, who, if he should 

 rind that any tree has been attacked by moth, has the fruit taken off and destroyed. From 



