399 
Fruit selling at 10s. a case of 40lbs. or 3d. per lb. would thus 
only leave to the grower 3s. 2d. net, which hardly paid the cost of 
growing. The average selling price, however, was 13s. to 15s., which 
proved a paying proposition, even when allowance was made for 
eulls and rejects, which found a market locally at a lower price. 
Since the war, freight has advanced from 72s. 6d. per ton of 
23 cases, or 3s, 2d. per case to 8s., while the cost of labour and of 
all requisites have so increased that all charges are fully double the 
pre-war cost, and it is more than ever a matter of first importance 
to only ship the best grades of fruit at the proper season. 
Bartlett pears should be sent at the end of January, and later 
varieties to follow. Apples, beginning with Jonathan, from the 
beginning to the middle of February. The early shipments pay 
well, even though the colour of the fruit may not be so good as the 
March shipments. Shipments after the end of April often bring 
lower prices, and it is not advisable to ship later, as the English. 
and French fruits are then on the market. 
Oranges, notably Washington navels, if landed in England be- 
tween August and the end of the year find a market ready to absorb 
large consignments, because during that period shipments from other 
countries, such as the East Indies, Florida, and California are not 
forthcoming. 
West Australian export grapes landed at European ports in 
April to June also find an empty market, and realise remunerative 
prices. 
Cost or Fruit Propucrion 
is governed by the capital cost of bringing the orchard or vineyard 
to productiveness, and must necessarily fluctuate with such factors 
as the quality of the land, the treatment it receives, the season ex- 
perienced, and the suitability of the kind of fruit grown. 
To arrive at the cost of a single case of fruit, a plan, adopted 
by Mr. G. Wickens of the Agricultural Department, is to first ascer- 
tain the cost of working an area of fruit land which can be man- 
aged by one man, and then divide the total cost by the number of 
cases obtained. 
Taking a 10-acre block as a convenient unit for basing calcu- 
lations, and provided the kinds are such as ripen in succession, 
one experienced man with necessary horses and implements is cap- 
able of supplying the labour required. 
The cost of good land, cleared, fenced, ploughed and subsoiled, 
planted with fruit trees or vines, manured and cultivated for three 
or four years, until the bearing stage is reached, would not be far 
short of £60 per acre or £600 for a 10-acre block. 
