562 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Technical discussions of commercial canning, preserving, &c, are mostly 

 confined to a few volumes such as the following : " Secrets of Canning," 

 by Ernest Schwab, published at Baltimore. Much information regarding 

 the handling of fruits on the Pacific coast will be found in Prof. Wickson's 

 volume " California Fruits and How to Grow Them," published by the 

 Pacific Kural Press, San Francisco, California. Many of the bulletins 

 and reports on various kinds of fruits published by the Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, also include notes on the preparation thereof 

 for market and for household use; and their Farmers' Bulletin, No. 203, 

 deals with " Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies," by Maria Parloa, 1904. 



Attention to Details. 



Two points that are most noticeable in Germany are the attention to 

 details and the great secrecy observed by the manufacturers as to their 

 trade processes. I visited no fewer than five factories with an application 

 to be allowed over the works ; at four I was greeted with either a firm 

 refusal or a statement that the proprietor was not at home. At the fifth 

 I was shown over — the warehouse department. 



Their attention to details manifests itself throughout every part of 

 their fruit industry. All sorts of fruit are always carefully gathered and 

 graded. Old newspaper is frequently used for lining the baskets and for 

 placing between the layers of fruit in the packing for transport. The 

 machines now on the market for the preparation of fruit and vegetables 

 for drying or other forms of preservation are innumerable and in great 

 variety. Some are labour-saving and accurate mechanical methods for 

 operations hitherto conducted by hand, and some are necessary for certain 

 applications of the produce. 



Another of the details in which the Germans excel is the method of 

 putting the goods on the market. Clear bottles, bright contents, attrac- 

 tive labels, all encourage their being purchased. They admittedly use and 

 teach the use of such colouring matters as sulphur and copper, and of 

 salicylic acid and other preservatives ; and the sale of fruit and vegetables 

 so treated in England has already led to several prosecutions in the London 

 police courts, so that the fruit for export here is now specially prepared. 

 Their factory system of buying up all the fresh produce of a district and 

 their efforts to reduce the number of varieties grown, so as to secure a 

 greater uniformity, have resulted in certain brands becoming recognised, 

 and one can then know exactly what one is buying on seeing the label, 

 bottle, or tin. 



But another point on which too much stress cannot possibly be laid is 

 the careful way in which the fruit is always graded and placed fruit by 

 fruit or piece by piece in the bottles or tins. 



Government Fruit Schools. 



The German growers are admittedly more favoured in some ways than 

 ourselves, but the difficulties and impediments to our ultimate success are 

 not such as should discourage a Britisher. The German Government 

 aids fruit-growing by State loans free of interest, by large expenditure on 

 Government Fruit Schools and peripatetic teachers, by Acts of Parliament 



