The Canadian Horticulturist. ioi 



provide a remedy for these ills, by a larger supply of cars and less delay in 

 the case of trains carrying perishable goods. It would be a great advantage, 

 for instance, if regular trains could be arranged to connect with steamships, 

 and thus make the most direct connection between the shipper and the 

 foreign markets. 



A very serious damage also resulted from the shunting of cars — some- 

 times barrels were even broken open by careless shunting ; but if not 

 broken open, the fruit was often very badly bruised. This could be reme- 

 died by the use of buffers on the freight cars, as is done in England. 



Great damage also resulted in the careless transfer of fruit from the cars 

 to the steamships, and this could surely be avoided. 



Accommodation on the steamships was a most important point. It is 

 almost impossible to get our fruit to a foreign market in anything like the 

 condition in which it is shipped. We want cool fresh air in the apartment 

 in which it is kept. Too often the atmosphere about the fruit on shipboard 

 is heated, and so tends to its rapid ripening and resultant decay. The 

 apartment itself, too, should be fresh and clean, for fruit very quickly takes 

 on a bad odor. On vessels which make a business of carrying cattle, it is 

 almost impossible to separate the cattle and the fruit as to prevent 

 damage to the latter. If we could have such accommodation as we require, 

 we might encourage our growers to enlarge their orchards, and we would 

 find that our summer and fall fruits were even more profitable than our 

 winter fruits. 



Bills of lading of carrying companies are of the most one-sided character 

 imaginable. They must have been invented in the time of Noah. The 

 poor shipper is at the disadvantage and has no remedy. A bill of lading, to 

 be fair, should, for example, give us a guaranteed count. The railway com- 

 pany will give a count for ten barrels, why not give a count for a carload ? 

 Invariably we find a shortage where there is no count given except the 

 shipper's, and in this way we have heavy losses. 



The sealing of railway cars is defective. The little button can be easily 

 broken, and a barrel of apples stolen during delays. 



Lastly, the rates should be lowered. The rates on a barrel of flour are 

 lower than on a barrel of apples. This should not be, for apples are a 

 cleaner freight to handle than flour. This is an unfair discrimination 

 against the fruit-grower. 



Now, we want the carrying companies to meet us in regard to our diffi- 

 culties under these and other heads, and, by their co-operation, help us to 

 extend our trade, and thus benefit all parties concerned. 



Mr. Watt, representing the Allan line of steamships, said there was one 

 thing in which this convention resembled every other, and that was that 

 each thought his own commodity the most important one in the world. In 

 carrying fruit there are special difficulties. The goods are so very perish- 



