APPLES IN ENGLAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 29 December 1924, Page 3

APPLES IN ENGLAND

MR ATTWOOD REVIEWS PAST SEASON . Writing under date 13th November, the Post’s London correspondent says that during this past year New Zealand apples have averaged 2s per case more than any other imported apple. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have been supplied direct this year,, and according to Mr 'l'. W. Attwood, who was responsible for the retail trade done at Wembley, some, of the highest praise received has been from representative men, growers and exporters visiting the Exhibition from Canada, the United .•States, and Australia, and in some cases, these were competitors.

Although packing and grading have reached a fairly "high standard this year, Mr Attwood, who is now thoroughly conversant with the conditions on this side, considers there is room for still further improvement. , The fact that Air Attwood lias been far the largest buyer of New Zealand apples this year, and that he, has seen practically every case unpacked that came into the New Zealand pavilion has put him in a peculiarly advantageous position to study many problems. As all the legislation ever enacted or contemplated cannot prevent a certain amount of rough handling once thei case leaves the grower or shipper, the growers’ object should he to pack the produce in such a way as to ensure safe arrival whatever the handling may be during transport. It is very seldom that any parcel is uniformly well packed, and should the buyer be shown a badly packed case lie promptly assesses the whole parcel accordingly. So far as cases are concerned Mr Attwood is of opinion that California, leads the way with a bulged box, wire bound, in which the apples are merely wrapped in paper. No other packing material is used. Some of these packs Mr Attwood examined gild .he failed to find aity trace, of dainiigejJeithor by packing' or transport. , 1 “There is something positively uncanny,” he says, “in the superiority of these packs compared with any of the next best reaching the English markets. If we Inquire why it is we are beaten to some extent in this packing business, the answer would seem to lie, not so much in the larger and better equipped packing sheds, as in the more careful handling generally and the actual packing itself being in the, hands of trained packers only. The London market does not require large sized dessert apples—2jin. and 2i,in. are myst in demand—and except for Cox’s, Cleos, and Jonathans, 2|in. should be strictly adhered to as a minimum size, wit'll a maximum of 2|in. for all dessert varieties. The advantage of marking the “size” instead of the “counts” has again been raised by some of the brokers, , and although United .States .and Canada mark by “counts,” the Australian States all mark their cases with ; the size and so or.. Merchants who handle New Zealand apples prefer the Australian method. CON’S AND DELICIOUS All reasonable care seems to have been taken in the packing of Cox’s this season, but several of the shipments were in bad condition on arrival. Mr Attwood maintains that the damage is done through the fruit not being properly pre-cooled. Cox’s are packed during, the hottest month, and if given to the ship at orchard temperature about three weeks would elapse before the. temperature of the fruit all through the chamber is reduced to 34 degrees. This is too slow a process for a tender variety like this. The fruit requires to be precooled and kept cool at the earliest'possible moment after packing, and at no point must the fruit be allowed to rise in temperature if it is to reach the London market in the right condition. Some sound Cox’s from the Corinthic and Cornwall shipments were kept in tho show case at Wembley at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahr. for nearly three months. The Delicious variety js likely to he second only in popularity to the Cox’s. Tin’s last season, however, the specimens of this variety were too large in many cases. There was also a tendency to overripencss, and a dry and floury Delicious is hardly worth eating. Quite a number, however, were fairly right and the colour was really good all through After theso had been sqjd in small quantities at Wembley, there was a general demand for them by the case orders which it was not wise to fill because of the overripe and wasty condition of tho fruit, '