152 THE CANADIAN IIOllTICULTUlilST. 



Packages. — The old fashioned crate luis been entirely thrown 

 ;fiside as a .package for peaches. Baskets can now be had so cheap 

 that there is no object in using crates in point of economy ; and the 

 fruit commands better prices in baskets set off with colored gauze. 

 Indeed, many fruits that were once put up invariably in barrels are 

 now being sold in baskets, as for instance, pears, choice apples and 

 select onions. During the past season select Eed Astrachan Apples 

 have sold at sixty cents per basket. 



An excellent crate basket for berries has been invented in Grimsby. 

 It is a handle basket, holding twenty-four baskets, in three layers of 

 eight each, with the usual slats dividing them, and a cover. The 

 basket will cost about ten or twelve cents, and may be sold with the 

 fruit; the express -charges on the twenty-four quart wooden crate 

 being about as much as the price of the basket. The advantage is that 

 the crate-basket, besides being light to handle, can be reshipped from 

 central towns to points Mdiere wooden crates could not be sent for fear 

 of loss or long delayed return. 



DESIRABLE VARIETIES OF REACHES. 



The Amsden's June has not proved itself to be a desirable variety, 

 being no earlier than High's Early Canada and not so large. 



The Alexander and Early Canada have both been grown in large 

 quantities in the Grimsby section this season, and still the matter of • 

 distinction is difficult to solve. One grower says he sees the chief 

 difference in the period of ripening. The Early Canada comes in a 

 little the soonest, and ripens more unevenly than the Alexander, so 

 that it sometimes hangs on the trees a week longer than the latter. 

 This peach has on the whole proved itself well worthy of general 

 cultivation, and may be called the peach of its season. Though on 

 account of the very heavy crop it was this season smaller than usual, 

 yet it was plump and round and finely colored. K'o peach during the 

 whole season has been more remunerative. 



The River's Seedlings do not all come up to expectation, though 

 it is unfair to judge of them from such an excellent season of super- 

 abundance. 



The Beatrice w^as very small and much too soft for shipping well. 



The Early Louise was also small and lacking in flavor. 



