182 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a better colour, as they do not require so much ventilation as 

 softer fruit. 



I am fully convinced that the advantages I have shown would 

 induce the buyers to give more money for fruit carefully grp.ded 

 and packed in unchargeable boxes, and each grower would have 

 an opportunity of earning a name for packing which would half 

 sell his crop in the succeeding year. 



In grading we have very much to learn from the foreigner, 

 and it is most important. If fruit be sent to market unsorted the 

 buyer of best fruit cannot give full price, as the small is of no use 

 to him ; neither can the cheap buyer, because his trade does not 

 permit him to make full value of the best ; but if it be graded 

 each customer can have the size to suit his trade, and so the crop 

 would realize far more. The Orange-packers have screens that 

 every fruit is put through. For instance, in Florida the boxes 

 are uniform, and each box contains fruits that do not vary an 

 ounce, and every buyer knows without seeing it exactly what a 

 200 or a 150 box will be as regards size. This system of grading 

 and numbering is also practised by the French in packing Pears. 



The last suggestion I shall make is for the freer use of paper. 

 To see the immense quantity of good Pears and Apples spoiled in 

 England for lack of sufficient paper being used is perfectly heart- 

 breaking ; and yet paper is cheaper every year. When packed 

 in sieves there should be at least two thicknesses of stout paper 

 between the fruit and the basket, as well as between each layer, 

 and on the top. If I spoke all day I could not mention anything 

 more important, especially in packing Pears, than the free use of 

 paper. I will guarantee that every Apple and Pear at this show 

 came separately wrapped in paper, as well as gathered carefully 

 — not with the clothes-prop. And if necessary for a show, why 

 not to get them to the consumer, to reach whom they may have 

 to go, not one, but several railway journeys ? Every ream of 

 paper used would earn its value ten times over. The French use 

 old newspapers, which are much better protection than the thin 

 miserable stuff our growers mostly use ; and newspapers are 

 surely plentiful enough now. With a more liberal use of this, 

 and less of the damp packing so generally used, which causes the 

 fruit to rot more quickly, better prices would be made, especially 

 with soft fruit, such as Cherries and Currants. 



In conclusion, I will say that all fruit is the better for care in 



