248 



Marketing of Fruit; 



[June, 



MARKETING OF FRUIT. 



H. V. Taylor, A.R.C.S., B.Sc, M.B.E., 



Deputy Controller of Hortl culture. 



In considering this subject it must not be forgotten that in the 

 early days the bulk of the fruit was grown in the vicinity where 

 it was needed and the transport was more or less limited to a 

 few miles. For this reason there sprang up many localised 

 industries in fruit growing near the populated areas. Questions 

 of grading and packing and the kind of packages necessary did 

 not weigh very heavily with the producer of the fruit, and he 

 used such packages as were convenient. The Kentish and 

 Middlesex men found that round baskets, hampers and half- 

 bushel baskets were the most convenient for trade with the 

 London shops, whereas Evesham fruit growers preferred to use 

 a square basket of the type now known as the Evesham pot. 

 Other districts used flats or barrels. All proved equally satis- 

 factory for the carrying on of this purely local business. 



In more recent times, with the advent of steam engines and 

 railways in the country, making the transport of fruit possible 

 over long distances, the limitations of districts suitable for the 

 production of fruit no longer obtained. Soil and climate then 

 became the more important factors, and where these were 

 suitable for the production of fruit the industry grew, and impor- 

 tant fruit growing areas Vv^ere developed in m.any parts of the 

 country. Even growers engaged in the cider industrj^ in the 

 West of England were attracted and turned their attention to 

 the possibility of the production of table fruit instead of cider 

 fruit. In spite of this development the supply of home grown 

 produce was seldom, or never, sufficient to meet the ever- 

 increasing demand for fruit by the urban dwellers and workers 

 of the large industrial centres. 



The introduction of powerful and fast ships made it possible 

 for growers so far away as Canada, South America, Australia 

 and Tasmania, to send to our markets certain varieties of fruit to 

 help to satisfy this demand, by supplying varieties which came on 

 to the markets after the bulk of the hom.e-grovrn fruit had been 

 consumed. 



Imported Fruit. — For shi-pment purposes grov/ers in other 

 countries soon discovered the futility of sending anything but 

 good class sound fruit, packed in such a manner as to reduce 

 the risk of bruising to a minimum. Thus they evolved the 

 system of grading and packing, and brought into use the wooden 



