CONFERENCE ON FRUIT GROWING. 



15 



to me no reason why really good English Apples should not be packed 

 even in quarter- bushel boxes. This would allow the system of " topping " 

 (so dear to the hearts of some of our growers) to be practised with success. 

 It is useless to try to catch the greengrocer with topped fruit, but it is 

 just possible that it might go down with the public — anyhow at first. 

 I bought a bushel box of English Apples (as advertised) last year. The 

 top layer was beautiful, and my servants (who ate them) were quite 

 enthusiastic about them. But I thought that the third and fourth rows, 

 left for my use, were of very poor quality. 



Export of British Fruit. — There is no reason why, in addition to 

 the home market, a good trade should not be done in British fruit abroad, 

 even to places it takes four weeks to reach by steamer. Fruit can be 

 carried at a temperature of forty degrees, and having this year sent over 

 fifty tons to various parts of the world, we know that it can occasionally 

 be sold at a profit, provided always it is carefully graded and packed, for 

 to ship anything but first-class produce a long distance is throwing money 

 away. 



Cooking Varieties. — The grower might also bring his name before 

 the public by enclosing recipes for cooking some of the varieties he sends 

 out. 



In conclusion, I hope you will pardon my reading two extracts from 

 letters rather unpleasant for English packers to listen to. 



Extract from a letter dated August 22, 1905. 



" Plums packed in Cold Store. — There were hardly any of these arrived 

 in good condition, the ivhole fault lay in the packing, and we are 

 surprised that anything but the ordinary plum-box was used. It is next 

 to impossible for twenty-three pounds of Plums thrown in a box to travel 

 thousands of miles and land in good order. When one goes it starts the 

 whole box. Fruit boxes of single layers only should be used, and each 

 Plum wrapped in a tissue wrapper with wood-wool at the top and bottom 

 of the box to save bruising or shaking." 



Extract from a letter dated August 30, 1905. 



" When our season comes round we will send your friend some sample 

 boxes of plums to show how they should be packed." 



The fruit must breathe, and should therefore be placed in one-layer 

 shallow boxes. 



Dr. Goethe (Darmstadt) was unable to be present, but sent a paper 

 to the Conference. In his paper he stated : 



The profits to be derived from the sale of fresh fruit depend very much 

 on large quantities of those fruits which are most appreciated and most 

 in demand being available for market. Small quantities of fruits of 

 several different varieties do not pay commercially. Everyone connected 

 with the business should be fully conversant with the details of the 

 trouble and care taken in gathering, sorting, and packing produce which 

 have been of so great benefit to the fruit industry of other countries. 



The following notes are arranged in the order in which the fruits 

 successively ripen. 



