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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
anges and grapefruit. Canada is abso¬ 
lutely a free trade country. There never 
has been a dollar or a penny of tariff on 
fruits entering that country. It would 
naturally seem that Europe would look 
to that as a tempting market. There is 
a place where 3,000,000 boxes are con¬ 
sumed ; why don’t they go there after that 
market ? 
Mr. Skinner: There are no steamship 
lines there. They are all connected with 
New York, Boston or Baltimore, and 
practically no steamships that go to their 
ports. 
Mr. Gillette: At the same time, the 
rate from Europe to New York is 25 
cents per box, and our freight rates from 
New York to Canada are practically lo¬ 
cal anyway; consequently European 
fruit going into New York can reach 
Canada just as cheap from a freight rate 
standpoint as the Florida fruit can. Now, 
then, that being the case, I fail to see 
why only 270,000 boxes went into Can¬ 
ada as against a balance of 3,000,000 
boxes from Florida and California. 
Another thing I would like to ask: At 
present oranges are selling at the rate 
of $5.00, $6.00 and $7.00 per box. It 
does not seem to make any difference 
what the price is in New York; it seems 
that would be the very time the foreign 
shipper would rush his fruit into the mar¬ 
ket, and if he won’t rush into that mar¬ 
ket to get the benefit of the high prices, 
why should he rush a world of fruit into 
it when the price is $2.00. 
Mr. Skinner: He does not have any 
fruit at this time of the year. It does not 
affect our Valenicas at all; it affects our 
fall fruit. 
Mr. Gillette: Well, that’s pretty bad. 
Mr. Skinner: That is what I say, Mr. 
Gillette; the more I go into it, the worse 
it looks. 
Mr. Gillette: That is why I am ask¬ 
ing. 
Mr. Hume: I think I can answer Mr. 
Gillette’s questions, if he wishes. I un¬ 
derstand Mr. Gillette’s suggestion in re¬ 
gard to it perfectly. I was scared, too, 
but I have gotten over it. While I am 
fighting as hard as I know how to fight, 
for everything we can get, I have a feel¬ 
ing in the back of my head that it will 
adjust itself, and adjust itself favorably. 
In regard to the suggestion with ref¬ 
erence to Canada; I think that is very 
largely covered by the remark of Mr. 
Skinner that there are no direct lines out 
of the Southern European ports into 
Canada and owing to the danger of ice 
and fog, the majority of the Canadian 
ports are not open in winter. It is easier 
for people in Canada to get their fruit 
out of the United States than out of Eu¬ 
rope. Up until this time they could 
probably, on the whole, secure it with 
the freight rates added out of New York 
port, nearly as reasonably as they could 
out of European ports. 
Answering your next question as to 
why the fruit is not coming in now, un¬ 
der the present price condition, the Span¬ 
ish crop, which is the most important 
thing we have to face, and which has 
been placed at about ten million boxes of 
fruit in certain reports I have seen, very 
greatly exceeds that amount. I stated, 
and I know whereof I speak, that the 
Spanish crop in amount equals the best 
that California and Forida in any one 
