THE FRUIT TRADE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XVII, Issue 875, 24 April 1891, Page 3

THE FRUIT TRADE.

y - ! (N. 25. Mail ) During the. ensuing session of Parliament a convention of dairy farmer's and representatives of dairy factories | it has been suggested should be held in Wellington, to discuss various tr.atterg in connection with the dairying in--dustry. A suggestion has been made that a convention of fruit-growers .should be held at the saint" time. The recent shipment of apples from Canter* bury having realised good paying prices | in that moat crucial of all markets, the open auction of Covent Garden, London, has created great interest amongst fruit-growers. The fact of colonial apples realising from 15s to 20s per case, at auction, is a great inducement to our fruit-growers to cultivate the English market. As we haVe often pointed out, there is an almost unlimited market for our fruit in England, from the act that we can deliver it there at a time when the English market is bare, and consequently pay-» ing prices can Vie obtained. About the middle of February fine* ripe peaches were, exhibited for sale on the windows of one of the leading fruiterers in the West End of London, These were largely bought up at sixpence each, retail. Upon inquiries being made it was found that they had come from £0 ith Africa. An enterprising settler there had an unusually line crop of peaches. The local market was so glutted, that his neighbors, who also had big crops, let their fruit rot on the trees, rather than go to the expense and trouble of gathering it. The one grower, however, set his wits to work. .He constructed light, yet strong wooden cases, with numerous divisions and partitions. He gathered his peaches at the right moment, packed each one in cotton wool, and shipped them on spec to Covent Garden, wh^ro they fetched over threepence each, wholesale. The. dealer could have sold hundreds if not thonsands of cases at the same price, for ripe peaches in February are a luxury in London, jand as a luxury largely sought after. ■ This South African settler made money i out of ln's experiment, and will doubtless devote all his attention to the London market. There is no secret about working up a fruit trade with England. The Tasmanians are striving tooth and nail to I cultivate the trade. We learn from a private letter that during the month of : March one firm in Tasmania shipped to . London 28,000 cases of apples. The only secret of the trade is this : Ship none but the best-keeping varieties — : principally the firm dessert apples. j Let them be picked at the right time — ■ 1 that is before they are actually ripe. , Tt is important that each apple be , hand-picked — not knocked off the trees ; in a lazy manner — but handled as care- ! fully as one would do eggs; so that i not the slightest bruise will occur. I Then each kind of apple should be I carefully graded, so that each apple in ; the box should be as near as possible I all of one size, shape, and color. Another important item is that each dase should have plainly branded upon ' it the name of the variety of the fruit, I the place at which it wps grown, the name of the grower, and the net and i gross weight of the box. Apples gathered and packed in the manner s'.'ggosted, and sent in the cool chamber should arrive as the fruit did recently from Canterbury — in a sound condition. The real secret in the export fruifc trade is — honest work, care and attention. There is no mystery about it. Any grower with common sense can find a market for all he can raiso in London. There is no fear of glutting the market at thai time of the year when our fruit I roaches England. London can absorb more apples then than the whole of tho Australasian Colonies can produce for a long time to come. Wh should like to see all these points fully discussed, and it strikes us that a conference of fruit-growers in Wellington during the coming session, in conjunction with dairy matters, might lead to tho opening up of a profitable and growing trade.