14 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



receive a tremendous impetus. Fruit culture is already being looked 

 upon as perhaps the most promising field for effort in agriculture. The 

 produce has only to be marketed in an up-to-date, businesslike manner 

 to render success certain and to resolve sanguine hopes into tangible 

 realities. 



Mr. Herbert Pantin : As exporters of box-boards, we find that 

 the number of small packages used in trade is continually increasing. 



In the tea trade, the pound packet has taken the place of the tea 

 chest ; bottled beer is rapidly killing the cask beer trade ; and everywhere 

 the idea seems to be for the manufacturer to produce a package which 

 can be handed direct to the consumer. By labelling the small package, 

 the manufacturer advertises his wares and works up a valuable goodwill. 



The retailer likes the system, because pilfering and the labour of 

 weighing and packing are avoided. 



Handling Fruit.— Quite apart from expense, everybody knows that 

 fruit suffers in quality every time it is handled. In certain colonies 

 where native labour is employed, there is a decided objection to fruit that 

 has been re-packed. 



Quite apart from the question of daintiness, there is the fear of 

 leprosy. The way fruit is sold in this country, especially in London, is a 

 matter of much surprise to strangers. 



During the last two years we have imported from the States some 

 hundreds of thousands of neat " berry-baskets." Strawberries packed in 

 these realised 2d, a lb. extra profit in Glasgow, Birmingham, and other 

 cities — the fruit being packed straight into the baskets arrived fresh and 

 clean. Now in London our " berry-baskets " ivere emptied out and the 

 f ruit was retailed by the pound in paper bags. 



Small Packages of one layer. — That fruit can be sold in this country 

 in small boxes is proved by the ready sale of Spanish Greengages in boxes 

 seven inches by six inches by three inches, and Italian Figs in similar 

 sizes. Our foreign correspondents recommend a one-layer package, so 

 as to avoid bruising and to allow the fruit to " breathe." 



Small Boxes for Pears. — In a box measuring ten and a half inches 

 by eight inches by three inches, a South African friend of ours put up 

 half a dozen Pears which sold in Johannesburg at Is. 3d., or over 2d. 

 each Pear. By printing on the tops of these boxes and by using wrapping 

 papers, the grower can advertise his fruit direct to the consumer. 



Wrapping Papers. — Up to the present time wrapping tissue papers 

 (which cost only 3s. per 1,000) seem to have been very little used in this 

 country. They can be had in various colours, and the 3s. includes 

 printing the grower's name and trade mark on each wrapper. The 

 appearance of a package with the various fruits wrapped is a great 

 contrast to the appearance of a box filled with unwrapped fruit. 



Trade Mark. — If a grower intends packing good fruit, it is worth his 

 while to register a trade mark ; this has already been done by one or two 

 British growers. 



Small Boxes for Apples.— I would suggest that even Apples might be 

 put up in small boxes. The Canadian and Australian fruit-growers must 

 pick in barrels and bushel boxes, because of the freight, but there seems 



