ee 
July 1, 1909 
oe os 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Another View of “The Briars.” 
ooo 
Interesting Orchard Notes. 
The orange season is Low in full swing. 
There is a ready demand for good shy 
and prices are firm. 
te el vl 
The Queensland banana growers have 
decided to ask the Federal Government to 
raise the duty on Fijian bananas from 
Is, to 28, per contal. It is stated that 
Unless a greater measure of protection is 
granted the Queensland industry will 
decline, » 
aie gemals iat 
Any doubt that may haye existed con- 
Cerning the keeping qualities of grapes 
for the export trade has now vanished, for 
Numerous experiments have almost. in- 
Variably shown that, -when carefully 
Packed and stored, the fruit, after several 
Months’ storage, opens up in an anal 
State of preservation. — 
Sorte at ge bah 
Owing to the shortage in the’ local 
Suppliés, apples in the Adelaide markets 
are fetching twice the , price they are. in 
Victoria, which accounts for the large 
Consignment Victorian dealers are sending 
to this State, Tasmanian growers are 
8lso benefiting by the shortage here by 
forwarding quantities of the fruit for our 
consumption. 
Hae sins partic) 
The apple crop in South Australia this 
season was a very light one, and, as the 
space ordered in the oversea vesse's for 
export purposes had to be filled, much 
fruit which could have easily been dis- 
posed of in the local market was shipped 
away. Growers would have been better 
off on this occasion had they been able to 
retain their apples for the local market, 
which is now very firm. 
tee te tetene 
Recently the South Australian Fruit- 
growers discussed the question of glutted 
fruit markets, Mr. Percival said that 
last year many thousands, of bushels of 
plums were allowed to rot on the trees, on 
account. of the: unremunerative prices, 
while this year the jam makers would 
give almost any price for: pluins, ‘There 
should surely be’ soine means of pre: 
yenting such waste; the surplus of one 
. season should. be, carried over - to. the 
next. Generally speaking, at least once 
every three years, plums. were in short 
_supply, anid prices-high; so that there did 
not appear to be much risk in pulping the 
fruit. There seemed to bea lack of energy 
on the part of those interested, and if 
this waste could not be prevented by 
private enterprise he would fayor moving 
to ask the Government to take it up. 
Mr. Summers gaid the same applied to. 
apricots. 
Rbtedia oteaedien 
Under the South Australian Fruit Cases. 
Act the use of old kerosene tin cases is. 
prohibited, The growers and packers 
state that this means to them a loss of 
£5,000. Mr. BE. M. Taylor, a fruit in. 
spector, says that it is high time that the- 
traffic in these old boxes was stopped, 
many of them being so travel-stained and 
dirty as to be unfit to contain fruit in- 
tended for human food. Let us study 
the consumer, ‘he continues, and give him 
his fruit in a clean, new case of stardard 
size,,. This will slightly add to the growers’ 
cost of packing, but the consumer is. not 
likely to be affected, and :the dealer can 
well afford to lose his much-cherished old. 
kerosene caso, 'as, be the fruit high or low 
in price, , the middleman generally comes. 
out on top, . It is safe to say that all the 
larger growers in South Australia. 
(concludes. Mr. Taylor) will hail with 
pleasure the adoption of the new standard 
cage. 
