264 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Srpr., 1897. 
large quantities, recently returned from a visit to Tasmania, where they 
demonstrated their method in a highly successful manner. They claim that by 
their process eggs and fresh fruits can be carried from the Antipodes to 
England and other countries as general cargo in the hold of a vessel, without 
the aid of refrigeration, guaranteeing that the same will open out as fresh ag 
when packed and wholly unimpaired in quality. The fruit is coated with the 
solution, which is innocuous and transparent. It effects no alteration in the 
natural appearance of the fruit beyond giving it a little more glossy appear- 
ance. The natural gases of the fruit do not seem to be able to escape through 
the glaze composition. In fact, each variety of fruit is hermetically sealed. 
A gallon of the solution will preserve 50 cases of apples or oranges, lemons, 
pears, &e., or 40,000 eggs; and the cost is 35s. per gallon, or about 8d. per case. 
The analyst of the Technical College Laboratory, Sydney (Mr. W. A. Dixon), 
certifies that there is nothing deleterious or injurious in the solution, so that 
the fruit cannot be affected. When the skin is removed, the edible part is in 
its natural state. A few days ago we were shown some apples which were 
purchased in Sydney shops, treated with the solution on 6th March, and taken 
to Tasmania and exhibited at Huonville, New Norfolk, and Hobart, and they 
were perfectly firm. But the most surprising thing is that a cooking pear, 
grown by Mr. H. Sparks, Ermington (New South Wales), and coated with the 
solution on the 6th of January last, is still (1st July) in a thoroughly sound 
condition. Some ordinary white table grapes, treated by the process on the 
10th of May last, have kept splendidly ; in fact, they have the appearance and 
taste of freshly picked fruit. During the last few days, several delegates who 
attended the Intercolonial Fruitgrowers’ Conference at Brisbane, have visited 
Messrs. Parker and Warner’s manufacturing room at the Argyle Bond, and, 
after inspecting and tasting different varieties of fruit treated with the preser- 
vative, expressed their entire satisfaction with the method adopted. Messrs. 
‘Parker and Warner intend to buy some first-class oranges in the Paramatta 
district, and send them to London as ordinary cargo, in order to thoroughly 
prove the efficacy of their system. As far as we can judge, the preservative is 
destined to revolutionise the present costly and extremely unsatisfactory 
methods in the packing and transport of fruits to distant markets, and will 
eventually result in new markets being opened up, and an increase in trade of 
vast dimensions.” : 
In this connection we (Queensland Agricultural Journal) have been 
expecting to hear of some method of hermetically sealing fruits by coating 
them with some innocuous but impervious solution. Many years ago the editor 
of this journal made a voyage from Callao (Peru) to Leith. Before leaving 
Callao, a quantity of oranges and cherimoyas (custard apples) were preserved 
by first wrapping each fruit in oiled paper. They were then covered with linen 
cloth and light canvas and dipped in pitch, a coating of about an eighth of an 
inch being applied. The voyage home lasted about six months, and the last of 
the oranges was opened on arrival at Leith, when the fruit was found to be 
quite sound. The oranges were not stowed in cases, but hung up to the beams 
of some empty cabins. 
Further experiments will doubtless be made by the patentees, and we shall 
be pleased to be able to record successful results. 
THERE appears to be no end to the troubles of Californian fruitgrowers. In 
recent seasons of abundance the markets for most kinds of fruit have been so 
badly glutted that prices have been unremunerative. ‘This year, on the other 
hand, an early drought and cold north wind—at least in Northern California— 
have caused an amount of damage described in a report from a grower as 
“destructive, widespread, and irr:parable.” Pears are almost a failure, while 
cherries are shrivelled, and prunes have dropped off the trees wholesale. The 
weather has been also unfavourable of late to the farm crops. 
