180 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



firmly, and not allow any room for oscillation, which damages 

 the fruit every time the package is moved. 



Where r we most need improvement is in the packing and 

 grading of Plums, Apples, and Pears, and I think the bushel and 

 half-bushel baskets must in time be superseded by boxes, to be 

 sold with the fruit. At present the bulk of growers wait until 

 the crop is ready, and then expect their salesmen to be prepared 

 with an unlimited number of baskets at a day's notice for each 

 crop, and it is a very rare event for a grower to give any idea 

 whether his crop will be a heavy one or not. This system is 

 becoming more and more impossible every year as orchards 

 increase. I think that growers ought themselves to be prepared, 

 according to the crop they are likely to ripen, with suitable 

 packages in which to market their fruit, and then we should not 

 hear of so much fruit being wasted whenever there is any great 

 quantity. In the case of Plums, I think that some other system 

 should be adopted in full seasons, such as drying or bottling, to 

 prevent the whole being put on the market in a few weeks, as at 

 present. It is unreasonable to imagine that it can all realise a 

 good price when it is forced upon the market in so short a space 

 of time. It often happens that by the time the trade in them 

 has been awakened they are already beginning to get over and 

 scarce. Growers should also study to have a succession of 

 popular varieties, so as to make the season as long as possible, 

 not earlier so much as later, to avoid clashing with the foreign 

 Plums. We are now (October 1), for instance, making 10s. per 

 bushel of Victorias, while the bulk were sold at 3s. All other 

 fruit-growing countries but ours are prepared with a system to 

 save part of the crop, and, as quantities increase amongst our- 

 selves, we too must study this question. I don't think the surplus 

 can ever be all profitably used in the shape of jam, but there are 

 surely other ways of keeping such fruit as Plums. 



I pass on now to packages for marketing, and I say that it is 

 impossible for salesmen to cope with the quantity, especially in 

 baskets, and I will endeavour to show the advantages of growers 

 finding their own unchargeable boxes. 



First, they would always be able to get sufficient at a few 

 days' notice for any crop they might have, so that no fruit need 

 be wasted on that account. A skilled basket-maker can only 

 make on an average eight bushel baskets a day, while boxes can 



