JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 10, 1883. J 
375 
i 
10th 
Tn 
Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
11th 
P 
Manchester Spring Exhibition (five days). 
12th 
S 
Roval Botanic Society at 3.45 r.M. International Fisheries Ex- 
13 th 
Sun 
Whit-Sundat. [hibition, South Kensington. 
14th 
M 
Bank Holiday. 
15th 
TU 
16th 
W 
Royal Botanic Society’s Summer Show. 
AUSTRALIAN APPLES FOR THE BRITISH 
MARKET. 
N belialf of the Horticultural Society of 
Victoria I have the pleasure to send you 
several samples of Apples grown in their 
grounds at Melbourne, and shipped per 
mail steamer “ Siam ” the last week in 
February. The collection is an inter¬ 
esting one, inasmuch as it comprises several 
varieties, and was intended to be a ship¬ 
ment to ascertain, not only how far it was safe 
to forward fruit to this market, but also what 
sorts were the most suitable for long sea voyages. 
Our Agent General, Mr. Murray Smith, had a similar 
collection from the same Society, and I am glad to 
learn they have also arrived in sound condition. 
The fruit was packed in the ordinary hardwood cases 
of the colony. Each Apple was simply wrapped up 
in thin paper. The cases were placed on board the 
steamer at Melbourne on March 1st, and never touched 
till they were landed in London on April 20tli. This 
plan was adopted at the suggestion of Mr. C. Neilson, 
the Curator of the Horticultural Gardens, Melbourne, 
and faithfully carried out so that it should not be said 
exceptional pains were taken with the fruit during its 
transit. I leave the specimens sent you to speak for 
themselves. 
I presume it is well known in England that pomology 
in all its branches has of late years received much 
attention in our fine colony. The Society above men¬ 
tioned has, I think, about 130 varieties of Apples alone 
within its bounds, and these are yearly added to. 
Scions for grafting are sent out every season to country 
districts and to the neighbouring colonies, and at this 
present time the great question with private growers is 
where to find fresh outlets for the bounties of Provi¬ 
dence. Just before I left Melbourne a meeting of 
gardeners had taken place to discuss this matter; and 
as the production will increase more rapidly than the 
demand in our limited community, I trust this country 
will not refuse to accept the abundance of its colonial 
productions. 
I remember the time when all our fruits were im¬ 
ported from Tasmania, but uoav we not only supply 
ourselves, but export largely to New South Wales, 
South Australia, Queensland, and even New Zealand. 
It may be interesting to know that several localities 
have been found specially suited for English fruits, 
including Macedon, Healesville, Fernshaw, and the 
Gippsland districts, and I know of private enterprise 
having planted over 300 acres with fruit trees in one 
season. Raspberries and Strawberries are grown by 
the ton in such localities ; and in a few years we may 
see another district opened up between the railway to 
Gippsland and the sea comprising over one million 
acres of the finest land in the world, and with a climate 
every way adapted for bringing English fruits to per¬ 
fection. I shall be glad if you will, through the columns 
of your widely circulated journal, help forward this 
enterprise of our colony ; and may I hope that some of 
the depressed and overpeopled districts of Great Britain 
will send out some good honest hard-working families 
to take up our broad acres and make comfortable 
homesteads for themselves ?—W. L. Hutchinson. 
[We are obliged to Mr. Hutchinson for his interest¬ 
ing communication and for the samples of Apples to 
which it refers. This is the first consignment of Apples 
from the antipodes that we have seen, and we do 
not hesitate saying that we were surprised by the 
beautiful appearance and admirable condition of the 
fruit when it was placed before us. The soil and 
climate of Australia are evidently peculiarly adapted for 
the production of Apples of high-class quality; those 
before us, and which were exhibited at the evening 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society at Burling¬ 
ton House on Tuesday last, being such as will bear 
comparison with the finest examples grown in this 
country, and they are far above the average of the 
produce, whether European or American, that is sold 
in the markets at the present time. These Australian 
Apples are not only of large size according to the 
varieties—which, however, are not named, though some 
of them are recognisable—but in shape and contour 
leave nothing to be desired, while in the transparency 
of their skin and liveliness of colour they are remark¬ 
able. In the latter respect they remind us of the best 
samples of fruit grown in orchard houses. Some of 
them are extremely solid and heavy, and nearly all of 
them are without spot or blemish—in fact they are just 
in the condition that fruiterers like to see prominently 
in their windows. One or two of them are a little 
shrivelled, such as the fine specimens of Adams’ 
Pearmain, through having been gathered too soon— 
February, and they evidently ought to have been left 
on the trees till the middle of March. 
This suggestion to gather Apples in March may, for 
a moment, sound somewhat strange to English ears ; 
but the fact of the fruit maturing at that time in 
Australia is not without significance when the com¬ 
mercial aspect of the subject is considered. The 
supply of Apples in this country, including American 
importations, is, broadly speaking, from August to 
April, more or less of both months included, and from 
April to August there is no great bulk of fruit in the 
market. Now if Apples are so plentiful in Australia, 
they then can, like meat, be purchased at prices suffi¬ 
ciently low to enable them to be shipped to this country 
and sold at, or about, the prices that usually obtain 
here in April; the four now appleless months will be 
bridged over, and an all-the-year-round supply will be 
maintained. This, too, it is worthy of note, will be 
effected without prejudice to either British or American 
orchardists, for it is not until the supply of Apples from 
the northern hemisphere is exhausted that the anti¬ 
podean crops can reach this country ; and if these are 
gathered in February and March, the late varieties, as 
with us, may be expected to keep sound and fresh for 
at least four or five months. It is true the ripening 
No. 150 .—Vol. VI., Third Series. 
No. 1806 —Vol. LX X., Old Series. 
