ee, ee ee 
1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 411. 
EXPORT OF FRUIT. 
In the first week of last month the mail steamer “ Victoria ” left Adelaide with 
10,000 cases of apples, of which it is stated that only 80 cases were the produce 
of South Australia. Weekly mail boats have taken so far, 65,479 cases of 
apples for the London market, of which 55,696 cases came from Hobart, 7,981 
cases from Melbourne, and 1,802 cases only from Adelaide. Commenting on 
this small export of South Australian apples, the Adelaide Observer asks :— 
Why should South Australian shipments be considerably less than half the 
smallest consignment which has been made this year from Tasmania? Some 
allowance must, of course, be made for the larger production of the island 
colony, which has been longer at the exporting business, but even on this 
showing, our fruit is not going away as fast as it ought. It was estimated at 
the commencement of the season that Tasmania had an exportable surplus of 
apples for London of about 140,000 cases, while our own surplus was put down 
at about 14,000 cases, or, say, one-tenth. The weekly shipmenis, however, do 
not amount to anything like one-tenth. A large shipment of fruit has just 
been madefrom Port Adelaide by the Blue Anchor liner “ Narrung,” one of a 
fleet of steamers which have proved themselves eminently adapted for the 
carriage of fresh fruit, but unfortunately the sailings of these vessels take 
place at monthly intervals, and it is a great point that our produce should 
arrive on the London market weekly, if even in somewhat smaller quantities, 
especially as our competitors are largely represented. Shippers complain of 
difficulty experienced in securing space, and representatives of steamship lines 
retaliate that shippers exhibit a lack of confidence in refusing to engage ahead, 
but presumably the same thing is heard of in the other colonies. The arrival 
of the “Cuzco,” which took the first lot of apples, may be expected in the 
course of a day or two. Intimation of the opening prices will be awaited with 
a good deal of interest. During the month of January 303,058 bushels of 
fresh apples, of avalue of £90,514, arrived in the United Kingdom, as compared 
with 295,551 bushels in 1898 and 280,991 bushelsin 1897. During the fortnight 
_ which ended February 11, imports came to 178,992 bushels, as compared with 
89,252 bushels during the corresponding period of last year. At the time of 
the last mail leaving London, Californian apples were selling at from 4s. to 9s. 
per case. The year’s consignment of apples have been as follows :— 
Boat. ; Hobart. Melbourne. Adelaide 
Cases. Cases, Cases. 
Cuzco Reni: SHH LA0 Bree §,169 1,110 695 
ISTE OMe Pek tl ete 8,561 1,470 140 
Oruba ~¢ att Pr ay Exe be 5,180 1,691 240 
Barbarossa wh ret a re ze a ae 7) 
Ochanaia?hin es eeat RE Pe se, 9,009 1,681 122 
OPRIUZ pee 2 tte Gt oe ort ea Si a 15,030 750 500 
Narrung ... ot be rf Pe as ei! 303 : 4,154 
RV iGtOriaw (fs OPiS, ae te? eee ee 8,647 1,829 30 
‘ CARE OF IMPLEMENTS. 
Ava meeting of the Mount Compass Branch of the Adelaide Bureau of Agri- 
culture, held on 11th March, Mr. R. Cameron read a paper on general farming, 
and in the course of his remarks he suggested “ careful trials of all kinds of 
manures on rows side by side, say one or two rows with bonedust, one or two 
with super.,and so on. Next year vary the experiment by using nitrate of 
soda where bonedust was applied, and where super. was put on, try kainit, &c. 
In this way one could develop the latent fertility of the soil. Each man should 
keep a full record of all experiments, conditions prevailing at the time ; also 
all costs of seeds, manures applied, bags, tools, time devoted to each crop, &e. 
Tn time he would find out where any leaks occurred in the income returns. 
Implements, bags, and tools cost money, and to save labour is to save money. 
. 
