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co-operative stores, and tiioy told mo they knew very little about Canadian goods. 

 The quantity of American goods there is very large. One of the gentlemen told me, 

 picking up a spotted and bruised apple, that that vras as good as they could get. 

 Why, if Canadian goods are as good as it is stated, cannot Canadians send thenx 

 home in decent shape? I have taken the liberty to speak of this, having but 

 recently returned from England. I do not know enough of apples to speak of sorts ; 

 but the vast majority of apples offered are sold as Ifewtown Pippins. There are as 

 many different sorts as there are on these tables sold as Newtown Pippins. Now, 

 I repeat, ifitpaysto pack oranges separately in paper and sell them for a half- 

 penny, it would pay us to get eight times that price by taking care that our apples 

 arrive in good shape. 



The President. — It has impressed me, as this discussion has progressed, that 

 one of the great difficulties of gettingfrait to England properly is that our packages 

 are too large. It strikes me, if the size of the packages were reduced by one-half, 

 and were square in shape, it would pay us better. 



Mr. Shepherd. — Kj experience has been very limited as compared with that of 

 the large shippers in Montreal. For three years past I have been shipping fine 

 table apples of the highest class, such as the Pameuse and Wealthy, which any 

 gentleman would care to have on his dinner table. I do not ship in barrels. I class 

 my apples as Al, and these are put into cases. These cases are such as were produced 

 by the Cochrane Patent Case Company some years ago. I think it was patented, 

 but I have manufactured boxes, not exactly like it, but which answer the purpose just 

 as well, and they are packed as eggs are packed, in the cases, with pieces of paste- 

 board, with twelve to sixteen dozen apples in a case. Last year I shipped, I think, 

 sixty or seventy cases of Pameuse and Wealthy that brought $3 a case in Montreal. 

 I think it pays to take special care in packing your fi-uit. We took the precaution 

 in some cases of wrapping each apple in tissue paper, and the reports I have 

 received of the condition in which the fruit arrived in England are very favourable. 

 I received a letter a little while ago from a gentleman, stating that the fi-uit would 

 be worth in Covent Garden, London, from three to six shillings a dozen. I shipped 

 on the order of the Montreal agent, and he shipped to his agent in London, who 

 sent back an answer to the agent in Montreal, and I saw the letter, in which the 

 London agent stated that that fruit would be six shillings a dozen in Covent Garden. 



Mr. Allan. — I believe the question of the package is an important one. I 

 think a two-bushel barrel would be large enough, and I think a one-bushel bai-rel 

 would pay better still. If our law, instead of requiring a three-bushel barrel, would 

 require a two-bushel barrel, or part of it, we would be in a better position for 

 shipping. The neater the package the better. A square package is not so good, in 

 my opinion, as the barrel package — that is, if you are going to fill it and make it 

 tight, and with a closed top. I would not approve of a box package. 



Mr. Shepherd. — Of course, in a compartment case there is no possible chance 

 of the fruit being disturbed at all. It is just like an egg case. There is no possible 

 chance of the fruit being moved about. Of course, it would not pay to pack these 

 cases, except with the highest quality of fruit, and mark the case A No. 1. 



Mr. Stare. — There is a difficulty of crushing in these pasteboard boxes. 

 During the summer of 1886 there were some apples sent to the Colonial Exhibition 

 packed in these boxes, and the result was very unsatisfactory indeed. We found 

 entire boxes in which the fruit had decayed, and the box was weakened and the 

 fruit was crushed together. Have you found much difficulty ? 



Mr. Shepherd. — I cannot say I have experienced anything of that kind. We 

 were particular in seeing that the case was secure, and that the apples just fitted in. 

 You must be careful that the apples fit the squares, and they must be just of the 

 exact size to fit the squares. That is why much time is taken up filling the cases. 

 If it were not for that you could fill the cases much quicker. There is another 

 advantage in it, for the reason that the purchaser knows there are no small ones in 

 it or no extra large ones. They can be perfectly well assured that the bottom layer 



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