1 Jury, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 161 
deal of the profit in fruit lies in the appearance of the case. A buyer is always 
suspicious of a bad case. You may think it is of no moment, but I know 
of fruit packed in nice clean cases that realised fully 1s. a case more 
than similar fruit packed in inferior cases. In connection with my duties 
as inspector, thousands of cases of fruit pass through my hands; and I can 
tell you that I am quite in accord with my friends of the market in their cry 
for better cases and better packing. It is heartbreaking to a man to have 
to sell badly packed fruit. With regard to the standard fruit case: I think 
we shall agree upon a standard size of case when we agree upon the nomen- 
elature of fruit. When Mr. Johnson mentioned 700 oranges in a case in the 
home market, the statement was received with apparent surprise Ina copy 
of the Liverpool Produce Markets Review, which I have before me, I see 
references to 420 and 714 Valentix oranges in a case. You get them 
there as low as 7s. 6d. for 130. I just mention this to show what you will have 
to contront when you send your fruit across the globe. There is a limited 
demand and a limited period during which you can make the high prices 
mentioned by Mr. Benson. I donot know whether you could send bananas 
to Liverpool or not, but I see they sell there at from 6s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. 
a bunch. 3 
Mr. A. T, Coomper (Bundaberg) : There have been a great many varie- 
ties of oranges shown this afternoon by Mr. Johnson, and I would just like to 
mention that the Mediterranean Sweet has not been a success with me in 
this district. I simply say that for the information of those present. Mr. 
Johnson speaks about planting 120 orange-trees to the acre. To plant 120 
trees to the acre, in my experience, would be a mistake. It would be too close, 
and fifty trees to the acre would probably be better. I think it is always best 
to plant on the square, so that you can get your horses to work the ground at 
a cheap rate. I have with me a new mandarin that I did not discover until a 
few days ago. It is the first time the tree has borne, and I would like to 
introduce it to the Conference. For carrying qualities I do not think there is 
anything that could beat it. I have been engaged in the commerce of fruit 
as a buyer, and have often got cases from all parts of the world. My idea is 
that the Italian case is very suitable for export, and it has proved so by the 
way the lemons arrive here. Of course, as Mr. Benson has remarked, the 
lemons are properly cured before they are packed. Some years ago I used to 
take a delight in taking citrus fruit to shows. I used to pull my oranges two 
or three weeks beforehand, wipe them every day, and their appearance on the 
day of the show generally managed to secure me the prize. 
Mr. J. Rose, Junr. (Woombye): I am glad my paper was well received. 
With regard to what Mr. Corrie said about manuring, [ may state that only 
about two weeks ago I had a visit from Mr. Smith, of Geebung, and he said 
that with all the manure used in the Zillmere district there were no pines there 
that looked so well as mine. 
Mr. W. P. Cooxsrey (Brisbane): I have to thank the gentlemen present 
for the courtesy they extended to me during the reading of my paper. My 
friend, Mr. Rose, gave us a very good paper on pineapple culture, but I have 
yet to learn that it takes eighteen months for a pineapple to bear fruit. Of 
course it might on the North Coast line, but it is not so with us about Brisbane. 
I favour the style of case for oranges mentioned in my paper read at the 
Warwick Conference. I do not think you could have a case for oranges better 
than the case used by the Messina people in sending their oranges to Australia, 
They are all pretty well airtight. All the fruit are, practically, hermetically 
sealed in with paper, and they arrive here in splendid condition. Mr. Corrie 
wished I had put in something about olives and nuts in my paper. Olives and 
nuts—nuts more especially—are well known to everybody. Isampled a pickled 
olive last night after dinner, but I do not think we would care much about it 
asafruit. A gentleman said the best mode of treating citrus trees was by 
cyanide. It might be, but I have in my mind’s eve an orchard, and a very 
extensive one, where cyanide is not known. Yet they have no scale there. 
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