238 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



An Act rcHpccting the Packing of Oreen Fruits. 



All fruit shall be sold by measure or weight. 



When it is expedient for transportation pur- 

 poses, to use bauds, crates, boxes, baskets, or 

 other package, such shall be of uniform size of its 

 kind, and shall hold a specific quantity, whicl; 

 shall be stamped upon the package in such a 

 way as to be easily seen by the purchaser. 



Barrels containing apples, and pears or other 

 fruit shall be of such size as to contain two bus- 

 hels and one half-bushel. Baskets shall be of 

 such size as shall contain one and a half pecks. 



Boxes containing strawberries, raspberries, 

 blackberries, cherries, and other such fruit shall 

 contain one quart. Each measure shall be Im- 

 perial. 



Fruits sold by weight shall have the net 

 weight legibly stamped on the package. 



The name of the packer shall be stamped on 

 e\ ery package. 



All frviit shall be sound and healthy. 



Apples shall be sound and of uniform size 

 and kind. 



Any person selling, or offering for sale any 

 fruit in contravention of the provisions of this 

 Act, shall be liable, upon conviction before a 

 court of competent jurisdiction, to a fine of 

 twenty dollars and forfeiture of all the frtiit so 

 sold or offered for sale, for a first offence, and 

 $100 and forfeiture for a second offence, and so 

 on, for each offence. 



No doubt there is just ground for 

 such complaint as Mr. Fawcett makes, 

 on the part of consumers of fruit, and 

 the proposed Bill, with some amend- 

 ments, can do no harm. We do not, 

 however, see the necessity of making 

 an absolute size for any package, pro- 

 viding the number of busliels, pecks, 

 quarts or pounds is stamped upon it ; 

 tiie one would surely suilice without 

 the other. Nor should a size different 

 from that now generally used, be made 

 compulsive. The apple barrel now 

 used in Canada holds 2| bushels, and 

 nothing would be gained by making it 

 smaller. An imperial quart might be 

 a proper size for a basket to contain 

 strawberries, blackberries and cherries, 

 but it would certainly be too large for 

 raspberries. 



That all apples in a barrel should be 

 sound when offered in the market 

 would also be ultra vires so far as legis- 

 lation is concerned, for fruit leaving 

 the orchard in a sound condition might 

 be very much decayed by the time it 

 reaches its destination, especially when 

 shipped as ordinary freight. We have 

 shipped pears perfectly sound to Mont- 



real, and a week's delay upon the road 

 turned them to mush by the time they 

 reached that city. Neither should the 

 grower be prohibited from packing 

 more than one variety in a barrel, else 

 often a barrel of apples would be un- 

 marketable just for want of enough of 

 one sort to till it. 



That the package should be uniform 

 in size and quality with the face a ppear- 

 ance should, however, be insisted upon, 

 for deceptive packing is as hurtful to 

 the best interests of the grower, as it is 

 deceiving to the buver. 



Seedling Plum. 



103. I ENCLOSE to your address a small sample 

 of a seedling plum, raised by Mr. R. Topham, 

 of Elora. This is the fifth year of bearing, and 

 it has not showed any sign of Black Knot, Our- 

 culio, or any other disease the plum is liable to. 

 It is a strong, healthy tree and a good bearer, 

 and we would like your opinion of it. — W. Gat, 

 President Elora Horticultural Society. 



The plums came to hand in such bad 

 condition we can scarcely give a decided 

 opinion, or description of them ; but 

 aside from the good qualities mentioned 

 above we see nothing in the plum to 

 commend it. It is a comparatively 

 small green plum, smaller than Reine 

 Claude, and inferior in quality to it or 

 to Coe's Golden Drop, and a clingstone. 

 Possibly its immunity from Black Knot 

 and Curculio, and its productiveness 

 may commend it to planters. 



Protecting Grapes Fpom Frosts. 



QuESTiox No. 94 j-eferred to the 

 protection of grapes from September 

 frosts, and the following hint from the 

 Vermont Watchrnan may be of service : 

 " A friend in Northern New England 

 is very successful in growinggrapes, and 

 bringing them to full perfection, on the 

 south side of a tight fence. The vines 

 are trained upon wires attached to the 

 fence-posts. Early varieties (Moore's 

 Early, Delaware, Brighton, Salem, 

 Eumelan, Adirondack) are planted. 

 Frosts are not uncommon in September 



