26 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



1887, brought over $6.00 per barrel. The reverse of the picture is not so en- 

 couraging to shippers. The lowest prices paid during the same period were as 

 follows : April 1885, $1.50, (an exception) ; November 1887, $2.50; Novem- 

 ber, 1888, $3.00 ; January 1889, $1.50 ; November 1890, $3.00. It is of 

 course understood that there are not net prices, but the selling prices in Liver- 

 pool market. 



It is gratifying to notice, however, that the export trade in apples is constant- 

 ly extending, and the average returns are such as to encourage the commercial 

 orchardist to take the best of care of his orchard, and put up his fruit in such a 

 way as to command the confidence of the English buyer. 



GOOD STRAWBERRIES. 



Mr. E. p. Powell, writing m the R. N. Y., says he has tested a great many 

 varieties of strawberries and concludes that no one is likely to go astray with the 

 following list : i, Bubach ; 2, Cumberland ; 3, Haverland ; 4, Sharpless. His- 

 soil is a strong clay. 



NEW FEATURES AT FAIRS. 



Mr. a. a. Crozier, gives in the same journal some hints of new departures iiv, 

 the management of fairs. He proposes that prizes be offered for such items as 

 the following : i. New fruit produced by hybridising ; 2. Display of wild fruits 

 in greatest number and variety ; 3. Sample of wild fruit, showing improvement 

 by cultivation ; 4. Exhibit showing benefits of treatment for apple scab; 5.. 

 Collection properly named, of living branches of ten deciduous trees, by a boy 

 or girl under twenty ; 6. Best essay on some branch of Horticulture by a boy or 

 girl under sixteen ; 7. Largest collection of apples classified in order of merit ;. 

 8. Exhibit showing the modifications of fruits or vegetables by soil or climate. 



INGENUITY PAYS. 



A LITTLE ingenuity and good taste often pays well in the preparing of fruit for 

 market. A New York state grower is reputed to have received about half a cent 

 each for his Bubach strawberries, by putting them up in paste board trays such 

 as grocers use for lard and butter, 28 berries in each. He had them sold or^ 

 commission and netted about half a cent for each berry. 



The writer has, during the past season, netted about twelve cents a quart for 

 raspberries when others were only getting about ten, by putting them up in pint 

 boxes. This was not done through a commission agent, but through a retail 

 merchant who found the pints just the thing for his trade. Several lots were 

 sent to a Toronto commission agent, but he objected to handle a new size 

 package not yet known to the retail trade, and sold them at exactly half the price 

 of quarts. Of course this was a loss to the shipper, for the package is more ex- 

 pensive. But rightly handled, it would pay to use pints for raspberries, for they 

 carry the fruit better, and retail at higher prices in proportion than the quarts. 



