EXHIBITION OF SOUTH AFRICAN FRUIT. 



'245 



Melons. — Some large round yellow fruits were sent by Mr. Naidco, 

 which looked very good, but I did not taste them. They were too large 

 to find a ready market, I fancy. Some long green water-melons came 

 from Mr. Sategan. They were too large to find a ready market, I am 

 sure. We English like our melons small. 



Onions. — These were excellent and left nothing to be desired. But is 

 it possible to sell them at a profit against the far cheaper labour of Spain 

 and Portugal ? 



Dried Fruits &c. 



Apricots. — -It was too late to have them fresh — they were shown in a 

 dried state and looked most inviting — but judging only from those I have 

 tasted from California I cannot think dried apricots are ever going to 

 make a market. They seem to lose all flavour in the double process of 

 drying and then stewing again. 



Peaches. — These also were shown dried, and w^hat I say cf apricots I 

 say of peaches, with this difference : the dried peaches lack the colour 

 and appearance of the apricots, but retain a trifle more of their natural 

 flavour. 



Plums. — The dried plums were excellent. Tough skins, but that is 

 a necessity if they are to dry well and retain their flavour, as these dis- 

 tinctly had. In my opinion they were quite equal to the best Californian 

 plums and should command an equal price. But here is a point I cannot 

 understand. We have been told over and over again that none of our 

 English plums will grow at the Cape — only the Japan plums — but these 

 dried plums were never made from Japanese varieties, I am quite certain. 

 Where, then, did they come from ? And if they were grown at the Cape, 

 why not other English varieties as well ? Surely it is worth the trying. 



Baisins. — A large box of what we ordinarily call sultanas was shown, 

 and very good they were, only that every single raisin had its strig 

 attached, whereas, though strigs are not absolutely -unknown among the 

 sultanas from the Eastern Mediterranean, they are decidedly the excep- 

 tion. I noticed they were cleaner than the ordinary sultanas, and had it 

 not been for the strigs I should have preferred them ; but, as it was, not 

 only would the labour of picking them out from the dried fruit be great, 

 but nearly a quarter of the weight would be strigs, so that in a pound 

 weight you would only get three-quarters of a pound of actual fruit. 



Currants. — I cannot say any. good word for these. They were very 

 dry, flavourless, and full of pips. 



Bottled Fruits and Jains. — It is an axiom in bottling fruits that the 

 stronger-flavoured fruits turn out far better than the more delicate ones. 

 The Japan plums, therefore, are eminently unsuitable ones for bottling or 

 for jam— after the necessary cooking the little flavour they once had is all 

 gone. The bottled apricots were very fine ; I have never tasted better. 

 My doubt is whether it can be possible for the Cape, with its dear labour, 

 to compete in such things with Spain and Portugal, where the fruits grow 

 equally well, and labour is not half the cost. 



Tobacco. — I cannot believe that any of the ordinary Beer tobaccoes will 

 ever find a sale in this country — unless it be fcr fumigating purposes. 

 But the Ehodesian Turkish and Virginian are equal to any I have ever 



