CONFERENCE ON FRUIT-GROWING. 



65 



direct to retailers at any hour of the day. By this means the packing 

 of the business into a few early morning hours would be modified. 

 Stuff coming into the market late in the day might go at once to the re- 

 tailer without having to wait until next morning's market. The retailer 

 would be led to adopt a less cautious policy and would handle a greater 

 bulk of stuff. If the use of the telephone became general among growers, 

 it would enable the salesman to keep in touch and advise them as to 

 forwarding produce. A grading and packing expert might be sent by the 

 salesman to instruct and advise the back numbers among his clients. 



But for the grower the spirit of the times is shouting that salvation 

 lies only in combination and co-operation. He that hath ears to 

 hear, let him hear. 



The Chairman then called upon Mr. F. Smith for his paper on 



Varieties for Market and for Private Gardens. 



I have been asked to give you a list of the useful varieties of fruit 

 to plant, in order to increase the home-grown supplies. I can strongly 

 recommend from personal experience the varieties I shall name as 

 reliable market sorts. Intending planters must not trust blindly to 

 any given list of varieties, but find out those which do well in their 

 own particular districts and make them their main crop. Some of the 

 varieties I recommend may not be suited to all soils. 



I will begin with kitchen apples, which must be large in order to 

 please the cook and the many who say with the miners that they 

 want something big enough to put a bit of crust round. The trees 

 should be free croppers, and the least susceptible to disease. I think 

 the best are as follows : — ' Early Victoria/ ' Grenadier,' ' Stirling 

 Castle ' (this objects to sprays containing sulphur), ' Lord Derby,' 

 ' Lane's Prince Albert ' (best as a dwarf), ' Norfolk Beauty,' ' Bramley's 

 Seedling,' ' Newton Wonder ' (this will not stand sulphur in any form) . 



I now come to dessert apples. There is a large field here for the 

 hybridizer, because we have very few commercial apples which have 

 quality, colour, and a good constitution. Our raisers of new apples 

 cannot get away from ' Cox's Orange ' as one parent, but it is far too 

 delicate. What is badly wanted is something to compete with 

 American apples from December to the end of March, when Australian 

 fruit comes in, and I believe this can be got if our specialists will 

 give it their attention. The varieties I recommend are ' Gladstone/ 

 a very old variety from Warwickshire, which does best on ' Paradise 

 Stock.' I had grafts of this forty years ago from a tree about one 

 hundred years old. Then there is ' Beauty of Bath ' (on ' Paradise '), 

 also ' Worcester,' ' Rival,' ' Allington,' and ' James Grieve.' 



With regard to pears I would mention ' Fertility,' ' Doctor Jules 

 Guyot,' ' Conference ' j and ' Windsor Wonder ' for grafting on any 

 variety that does not succeed. It is a fairly good stewing pear, 

 and a great cropper. 



VOL. XLV. F 



