Miecellaneous. 



350 



[April 1908. 



necessary to bring before these growers, 

 who may be unaware of the new laws, 

 the principal points to be observed in 

 putting up their produce so as to con- 

 form with all requirments. 



In the endeavour to establish and 

 maintain a profitable oversea market for 

 the rapidly-increasing output of our Vic- 

 torian orchards, too much attention 

 cannot be given to the important item 

 of putting up fruit in an attractive and 

 honest manner. In advices received from 

 the United Kingdom, South Africa, and 

 other oversea markets, the one key-note 

 is invariably sounded : "Pack nothing but 

 the choicest fruit, grade evenly, pack full 

 cases and pack them honestly through- 

 out ; inferior, badly graded, diseased and 

 dishonestly packed fruit we do not want 

 at any price, as it gives us more trouble 

 than it is worth, injures the good re- 

 putation of other shipments and results 

 in loss to every one concerned." Growers 

 cannot give too much attention to this 

 important matter. It is obvious that it 

 costs just as much to pick, pack and 

 export inferior fruit as it does to handle 

 only the best. Against this labour the 

 grower often realises dead loss or bearly 

 sufficient profit to pay his expenses, to 

 say nothing of the bad reputation gained 

 — a reputation unfortunately shared by 

 other growers who have taken trouble 

 to put up only the best. It may be said 

 that nowadays with our Vegetation 

 Diseases Act, Fruit Cases Act, and 

 Commerce Act, it is impossible for any 

 but the choicest of fruits to be shipped 

 for export ; but, unfortunately, such is 

 not exactly correct. The grower may 

 put up fruit of an uneven size, or his 

 fruit may be too green or withered or 

 over-ripe, or packed in newspaper or 

 other inferior wrappers. Under certain 

 circumstances none of these faultscan be 

 dealt with under existing enactments, 

 but there is no doubt that fruit put tip 

 under such conditions will soon find its 

 proper level. Were it not for the damag- 

 ing effect of these inferior consignments 

 upon high-grade shipments we could 

 afford to ignore them. Happily ship- 

 ments of this sort are becoming rarer 

 every year as our knowledge of export 

 requirements advances. 



The necessity for our growers paying 

 attention to even the smallest points, so 

 that they may not be left behind in the 

 race, is becoming more apparent every 

 year. Although we have, so far, enjoyed 

 almost a monopoly of the Continental 

 markets as far as antipodean fruits are 

 concerned, the entry of such new com- 

 petitors as Cape Colony and Argentine 

 Republic should awaken in our growers 

 the determination to hold first place 

 for all time. The immense possibilities 



of the market before us are practically 

 undreamt of. Taking the United King- 

 dom alone, we find that out of the 

 immense quantity received there from 

 all parts of the world, Victoria contri- 

 butes only one case out of every thou- 

 and. The demand of the United King- 

 dom for foreign-grown fruit is ever on the 

 increase. That this is so is shown by the 

 following figures : — 



Years. Values. 



1845 £886,888 



1865 £3,185,984 



1885 £7,587,523 



1905 £9,983,119 



When it is remembered that the above 

 figures do not include the importations 

 into foregin countries some idea may 

 be gathered ot what may yet be done by 

 the growers of this State towards shar- 

 ing in this enormous trade. That our 

 opportunity is all tne more inviting is 

 shown by the fact that nearly the whole 

 of the supplies of the foreign-grown 

 fruit is drawn from the Northern 

 Hemisphere ; also that at the time of 

 the year when we are forwarding our 

 shipments the markets are compara- 

 tively bare. To grasp and to hold that 

 opportunity certain conditions must be 

 observed :— Economy in production, hon- 

 est packing of high-grade fruit, cheap 

 regular and invariable oversea carriage 

 and businesslike supervision and control 

 of output at each centre of distribution. 

 And not the least of these conditions 

 is :— Honest packing of high-grade fruits. 



Varieties. 



In selecting varieties for export it 

 will be better for the intending shipper 

 to confine himself to not more than five 

 or six varieties at most. It is preferable 

 to work up a reputation on two or three 

 standard varieties which are in constant 

 demand than to spend much time, effort 

 and cash in pushing varieties about 

 which little or nothing is known by the 

 trade or consumer. 



Passion Fruit. 



The recent successful landing of 

 passion-fruit at London should prompt 

 out growers to send more of this most 

 delicious fruit. Trade should commence 

 in a small way, with say, two or three 

 consignments in the first season. As 

 the fruit is not yet too well known in 

 the United Kingdom, it will require 

 writing up and pushing to work up 

 what is bound to become, in time, a big 

 business. Those experts who have 

 tasted our Victorian passion-fruit state 

 that they are unequalled for flavour, 

 size and appearance, and compare favour- 

 ably with any grown in any part of the 



