TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



119 



the shipping of dried fruits unless accompanied by an inspector's cer- 

 tificate showing that the fruit has been properly graded according to 

 law. 



United States Consul-General Mason, stationed at Berlin, in a recent 

 report very ably called attention to our mode of packing fancy fruit on 

 tops of boxes and then filling in with rubbish. Let me briefly and 

 specifically quote his exact words, because they substantiate and 

 emphasize all I have already said: 



In respect to dried apricots, pears, and peaches, it may be said that the fruits from 

 the Pacific Coast dominate the control of the markets of continental Europe. Nothing 

 comparable with them in point of size, flavor, tenderness, and general excellency was 

 ever seen in Europe until they were imported. They established new standards of 

 excellence, and created a new market which, if the trade is properly managed, they 

 can hold in future against any competition. The higher grades of California prunes 

 are a revelation to European consumers, being not only cheaper than French prunes 

 of approximate quality, but of such excellence that they are sold in small, ready-made 

 packages, and eaten raw as sweetmeats, like candy or caramels. In a season when the 

 Bosnia prune crop should fail entirely, as sometimes happens, American prunes, even 

 of the smallest grades, would control the market of Germany. 



Is there any complaint as to dishonest packing or grading of dried fruits from the 

 United States, and what needs yet to be done to improve the trade and render it stable 

 and permanent? 



There has been to my knowledge more or less complaint in regard to packing and 

 assorting of American dried fruits. I never have investigated a case of this kind in 

 which the complaint did not prove to be fully sustained. I examined yesterday the 

 first box of dried apricots from this season's crop, which just arrived from one of the 

 foremost packing firms of California, a house whose brand on the packing case usually 

 is accepted as a guarantee of quality. On removing the lid the fruit appeared in neatly 

 arranged layers ; the pieces large, firm, and of uniform size and color; the dried flesh as 

 translucent as gelatin and of fine aromatic flavor. The box being turned over and the 

 bottom removed, a wholly different picture was revealed. There the fruit had been 

 loosely thrown in in pieces of all sizes, mainly small, irregular in shape, and of all 

 shades of color, from the golden brown to deep mahogany, many pieces showing by 

 their form that they had been saved from apricots which had been partially decayed. 

 All these were good enough to be eaten, but were not what the buyer ordered and paid 

 for, nor what the seller pretended to sell, and as the disappointed importer somewhat 

 bitterly remarked, "If this is what we get from a first-class exporter, who puts up his 

 own fruit, what may we expect from jobbers who gather up and export the miscellaneous 

 products of small packers and individual farmers?" 



The truth is, and may as well be stated with plainness, the dried fruit industry of 

 the Pacific Coast is not yet organized and managed as it should be to achieve the best 

 results and give its European export trade the permanence and stability which it 

 deserves and ought to attain. The fruit farmers of the Pacific Slope have before them 

 an unparalleled opportunity, but their fruit made a market abroad on its own merits 

 and not by virtue of any especially able or foresighted management. 



Complaints also have been made that old, left-over dried fruits from the previous 

 year have been steamed, repacked, and shipped to Europe as part of the new crop. To 

 what extent this charge is true, it would be difficult to say, but if it ever has been 

 done, or any other artifice practiced which is below the accepted standard that business 

 merits, all such methods should be stopped. 



Other consuls have from time to time reported the same thing, and 

 during my five years' tenure of office in the consular service I had 

 occasion to verify these criticisms. I have in my reports to the Depart- 

 ment several times called our packers' attention to these facts. 



