March 1896.] 



FOEEIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



453 



EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



Fruit-preserving in the Crimea. 



In his report for the year 1895 on the district of the Taurida, 

 Mr. Murray, Her Majesty's Vice-Consnl at Sevastopol, states that 

 fruit preservation is quite a new industry in the Crimea, but that 

 notwithstanding the very short time it has existed, it has in- 

 creased so rapidly as to render it probable that it will not only 

 do away entirely with the imported article, but may itself 

 become an article of export, as, with the exception of oranges 

 and lemons, the Crimea produces every sort of fruit required, 

 and is capable of producing any quantity for which there may 

 be a demand. 



As early as 1840 attempts were made by the Government to 

 introduce the fruit-preserving industry, but until the railway 

 was opened in 1874, connecting the Crimea with the rest of 

 Russia, the cost of transport prevented fruit preserved in the 

 Crimea from competing favourably with that imported, whilst it 

 was out of the question to export fresh fruit for eating, so that 

 little was thought of fruit cultivation. 



As soon as the railway was completed, Moscow merchants 

 bought up large quantities of fruit, which they sent to Moscow, 

 partly for eating and partly for preserving ; but the difficulty 

 of transporting some of the more perishable sorts of fruit led 

 them to try preserving on the spot, and the attempt was such a 

 success that hardly any fresh fruit, except that for consumption 

 as such, is now sent away. 



The first trial was made in 1877 at Simferopol, by a well- 

 known Russian firm. For three years the fruit was preserved 

 without special machinery ; bat in 1880 the business had 

 grown so much that the firm sent to France for a skilled 

 manager, by whose advice steam apparatus for boiling, 

 drying, &c., was put up. In 1879, another well-known Moscow 

 firm set up a factory at Simferopol, also under foreign 

 superintendence ; and in 1884, a factory was set up more 

 especially for the so-called puree of tomatoes, which has 

 now become a Crimean speciality. Since then several smaller 

 factories have been started at Kertch, Simferopol, and other 

 places, which every year increase their output. 



At first, the price of fruit was very low, but it soon rose, and 

 although large gardens and orchards are continually being laid 

 out, the demand increases as fast as the supply, so that the 

 price is maintained, and there are gardens where 200?. to 250^. 

 is paid for the apricot crop alone. The fruit is sold on the trees 

 before it ripens and as soon as the amount can be estimated, so 

 that the purchaser takes all risks. 



