THE EXPORT OF POTATOES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1013, 31 July 1891, Page 23

THE EXPORT OF POTATOES.

(By an Expert.)

It has been pointed out on several occasions in this journal that there is a large and profitable trade to be done in exporting potatoes to the London market. But this export requires to be properly understood. At present the people in this Colony seem to have but a very foggy notion of how to proceed. I read in Monday’s N.Z. Times of Hew Zealand potatoes reaching London last week, and realising £4 per ton. People will at once say that export at these prices will not pay. Of course not. No one in his sober senses would think of sending old potatoes to London at a time when the market is almost glutted with new ones. It is perfectly ridiculous to send potatoes to London except at that time of the year when the market is prepared to receive them.

The opening for our potato trade is to send new potatoes at a time when nothing but old ones are procurable in London, and that is to commence about a fortnight before Christmas. In the Auckland, and probably in tho Taranaki districts, new potatoes can safely be lifted for export by the end of October, and skipped so as to reach London just before Christmas. I have bought new potatoes in Covent Garden market on December 18 th at one shilling per pound. I have seen them marked at higher prices than that, for I remember on. one occasion seeing in Mr Solomon’s shop in the market choice kidney potatoes packed in lib baskets, marked lialf-a crown per pound. I know from experience as a buyer that new potatoes from New Zealand at Christmas time would readily fetch from 3d to 6d per lb wholesale, or at the rate of £2B to £SO per ton. Of course, the cheaper they were sold the greater the sale. The first new potatoes to reach London (in quantity) this year (1891) were some imported from Jersey and G uernsey. My English correspondent, who keeps me constantly posted up in the details of the provision trade, informs me that tnese potatoes were of the kidney and early round variety, and in the Borough Market fetched wholesale Gd to 7d per lb, packed in 71b and 141 b baskets. This was on Saturday, April 18th, 1891. At the same time small round new potatoes, an inferior quality imported from Malta, were selling at £7 per ton. These were packed in bags, and had ‘ sweated ’ on the voyage. Prime old Scotch and English potatoes were selling on the same date at from 125 s to 155 s per ton. From an experience extending over many years I have scarcely ever known good new potatoes (in bulk) sold in London before the first week in April, and these were very early grown ones sent from the south of Spain. Then after that date new potatoes pour in by hundreds of tons from Algiers, Malta, the Cape Verde Islands, then Jersey, Guernsey, and the south of France. Later on came trainloads from Cornwall, the Scilly Islands, and warm spots in the South of England. To do a profitable trade with our potatoes they must reach London a week before Christmas in order to catch the Christmas trade. Prom then to the beginning of April we have a steady market without the fear of any opposition. But to ship potatoes to reach London after June has set in will be a losing game. There is no other country to compete against the colonies for new potatoes for the first four months in the year, after that half the world is sending potatoes to London. That potatoes can carry safely to London in cool chambers is an

established fact. The mistake that

has been made, and will probably be made, is to send them in bags. Potatoes sent for such a long distance to do any good must be packed in boxes. This is especially applicable to new potatoes.

The fact quoted above, that Jersey potatoes in baskets sold at Gd to 7d per lb, while Malta grown ones in bags sold at 1 40s perewt, isone of the many proofs that bagging is vuiiibtis to sea borne potatoes. Even in cool chambers they 4 sweat ’ if confined in bags. We cannot improve upon the Spanish method of packing potatoes. I have seen thousands of cases landed in the Borough and Tooley Street Markets after a delayed rough passage from the south of Spain—stowed not in cool chambers, be it understood, but in the ordinary hold of the vessel, with the hatches battened down by reason of bad weather, and yet these potatoes were in excellent marketable condition.

The Spanish potato box is about 4 feet G inches in length, 24 inches wide, and 1G inches deep, with a division in the centre of the length. The box is made of unplaned timber, and the pieces have a space of quite half an inch between those on the top, bottom, and sides. These spaces provide sufficient ventilation, for with tho air passing freely through the potatoes ‘ sweat ’ is less liable to occur. The bottom of the box is strewn with a few fronds of dry fern, and a layer of fern is laid on the top. If the potatoes are hand-packed, that is, placed in the box with due care and consideration, and a wisp of fern placed as a. wedge hero and there, and a good layer of fern on tho top before the lid is nailed down, it is next to impossible for the potatoes to get bruised or damaged. With careful packing potatoes sent in the manner I have described will carry with perfect safety to London. The Government might do something to encourage the potato trade. If they appoint a butter expert, the same man could see that potatoes were properly packed and shipped, and such boxes branded with an official mark, would be speedily recognised by London buyers. The fact of Government supervision and guarantee I hat the contents were in good condition ivlien shipped would create confidence in the trade. The same expert might with great advantage lecture in the potatogrowing districts on the best methods of preparing them for tlie distant market.

The local branch of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company (Limited) hand us the following extract from their London correspondence of Sth June. No doubt the information conveyed will be of interest to many farmers in the Wellington and tnrrounding districts : Most Suitable Time for Shipments to Arrive.—This depends upon our seasons and the quantity of good old English or Continental potatoes which are available at the commencement of the year. As long as these are plentiful the demand for new potatoes is very much restricted, especially if we have a cold, late spring. It is probable that under such circumstances importations from abroad would not sell until April or even May. On the other hand, if the stock of old potatoes are short or bad at the commencement of the year, the new ones might meet a ready market as early as February or March. During April and May of the current year good new kidneys and magnum bonums from Malta have sold at from Ll 6 to L2l per ton, and from the Canaries at from Ll 4 to L2I per and Condition. —The most suitable varieties are kidneys, or potatoes of a kidney shape such as magnum bonums, and they must arrive here in such condition that they can be described as “ new ” potatoes, otherwise they will not sell. The skins must be well set before shipping or they will not stand the voyage. Packing and shipping.—lt is difficult to give advice on these points, as we have no experience here as to how such produce will be affected by the long voyage. We may mention, however, that the most saleable packages arc boxes to contain from. half to threequarters of a cwt, each having a transverse partition in the centre, similar in make to those used for shipping apples to this market. The potatoes in each box should he sorted into two grades, according to size. It is the opinion of experts here that it is not desirable to wrap the potatoes in paper, or use any other packing material than the plain boxes; and they recommend that they should not he shipped in the cool chamber, but as ordinary cargo, great care being taken, however, to ensure their being placed in a part of the hold where they are not likely to become heated.