The morning call., 1892-05-15
CALIFORNIA FRUIT.
7ag Question Of Reaching The English
Market.
Fresh end Dried Fruits-Rapid Transit and
Cool storage-Fruits in The Eng
lish Markets
written for The MORNING CALL

"What think you Of the prospect of send
,nz fresh fruit from California to EDgland?"
said n representative of THE CALL to a
mariner in one of our largest commission
houses.
The gentleman thus addressed hal a mo-
raent Of leisure to answer this and other
0aesli0us. 1T IS an experiment." he re-
marked. land We must wait TO see what
comes Of If. Some of our dried fruits are
.av In the English market, and the expert
eaee 5 hopeful, bat not for everything we
send For instance, dried peaches have not
taken very well. So far we have not sent
70 England any fresh fruit except few fine
navel oranges. OF course, Florida oranges
have been shipped 10 England in great
.uantides, but it is a very different thing 10
send fresh fruit to England from California.
Heretofore we have had high rates and a
vast amount Of time consumed on the
Quincy. Now there is a possibility of saw
.aE five or SIX days in reaching Chicago and
NeW York. and that is all in cur favor 1t
@ question what we can do IN The time at
uur disposal.
some fruits may not bear the Journey
well. Cherries are difficult 10 preserve;
hey are often in bad condition when they
arrive in New York, and if they left New
York IN good condition, they might have
6eterioTated by the time they reached Lon
don. COnSignmentSOf fresh grapes, | have
no doubt, will be tried this year; in fact, all
sorts OF fruit viii be tried until We find out
what we can do. There would be good
market for our pears if they could be deiy-
cred IN a sound state. The ruling price for
grapes here Is SO TO SIS or $50 a ton. and
If we could get 10 10 l. cents per pound for
Muscats, TOkays. Black Hamburg. or other
varieties ia London, there ought 10 be a
good profit 20 the grower. The Chicago
ahead for this business Ia Chicago the
agents undertake TO forward 10 New York
any fruit which Is in good condition, and
the New 0Tk agents say they have con-
neCtlOns IN London, and tBat they viii for
ward cOnSignmentS whenever the state OF
the market warrants this being done. Some
If the large growers here may send con-
signments direct on their own account, but
tie bulk of the fruit would be sent to Chi-
C8EO or New York agents, who could de-
eide whether the quality was sufficiently
good 10 warrant further shipment Iuter-
mediate inspection is almost necessary.
Railway rates have been the bugbear thus
lar. but with faster schedule time the way
seems 10 be open 10 do more business"
THE MABKET IL ENGLAND.
The English market is absorbent in a
Tecudar degree Of all food products, and
fruit IS one Of those products in which
the native supply Is very deficient. Even
the growth OF apples aid pears, which the
country could produce IN abundance, is
neglected save in a few districts. The
apples OF DeY0nshire and Worcestershire
are in great part used for alternating, and
sre of little value for the table. The pears
commonly seen in the markets are OF in
feriOr varieties, and none are comparable to
the Duchesse Of France or the Bartlett Of
California. Leaving canned pears cut OF
the reckoning, ii may be said that most
OF the good pears come from France. OF
cherries, there is an uncertain native sup
ply, but imports IN great quantity come
from Holland and France. Berries are also
uncertain. In some years the English
straw beTry, which Is usually OF SuDerlatiVe
quality, can be had at thTeepence or four
pence per quart; at other times, owing 20
scarcity, the price may be doubled or
trebied, RaspbeTTles. curTants - black,
white and red-and cherries are shipped
daily by steamer from the Dutch
ports. and also from Hamburg, to
GTimsby, Hull, Ieith and London,
and but for these foreign supplies The mar
ket would be very scantiiy accommodated.
Fresh figs are only seen on the tables OF
the rich, and grapes Of fine quality are too
dear TO be bought by the masses, and the
vast majority Of the people know nothing OF
their taste. Pineapples from the West
Indies are cheap enough, but the wealthy
have magnificent dollhouse specimens, as
we'll as melons, which, strange 10 say, are
scarce as peaches at poor mans dinner
The mainstay Of the poor In fruit consists
Of oranges, apples. pears. plums, cherries,
fgS and dates, the latter both hand-Tlcked
and compressed into thick cakes By far
the greater part OF this fruit comes from
abroad. No oranges are grown ID the cOuiI-
Try at all. except as botanical specimens in
Conservatives. Bananas are Of compare
lively recent introduction, aud cost too
much 10 be universally appreciated.
THE ENGLISH TARIFF.
The customs tariff of the United Kingdom
laws duties only upon IS classes Of imports,
as follows: Beer playing-cards, cbicory.
choral hydrate, chlOTOf0Tm, cocoa, coffee,
collection, ether i0dyde OF ethyl, dried fruit,
naphtha OF 0Xmethyiic alcohol, soap in
which spirit has been used. spirits of var-
Gus kinds, tea, tobacco, yarnish and wine.
Unfortunately II this very limited list dried
fruit is included. There Is a duty of 2
shilliugs per 112 pounds on curra1ts, aud Of
Z shillIngs per 10 pounds on figs, fig cake,
piuMS, prunes aud TaiSlns. Practically this
IS q duty Of nearly 2 cents per pound on
several Of the dried fruits California can
supply. and IL Is 4 very serious one when
high rates for transportation are added.
But it Is not duty which VIII be imposed
forever. AS thereYeHue becomes redundant
this impOst may any year disappear, ana
very likely 1t viii soon go, as the fruits
enumerated are largely used by the masses.
But while our raiSins pruuCs and figs are
ale ted by this tariff, there is happily no
duty upon oranges. peaches, apricOts,
grapes Ur pears, whether preserved or IN
The fresh state, and IN due time we ought to
ind p ready market for all we can send to
the United Kingdom.
LUXURIEs ~ FRUIT.
Peaches and apricots sell at any price 10
England. from a penny to sixpence or half
a crown each. The wealthy viii pay ANY
sun for their Injuries; the masses who
make a market for the exporter cannot. II
is doubtful whether California can send
these fruits across the continent and across
he nd r-ef "a no n
the refTigeratOrs service on land as good as
il is at sea. II the way from New >aland
thousands Of boxes OF apples now reach
England in a condition quite as fresh as
when plueked, and the success of this enter
prise depends wholly upon good refrigeTat-
ing apparatus kept In opera ton throughout
the voyage. All the good Atlantic steamers
have refrigerator OF the most efficient type
and large chambers with the temperature
kent below freezing point would be at the
service of the fruit-shipDer 10 the coolest
weather. That IS better than the
ice service without machinery on land.
There ought to be no insuTmOuntable
difficulty in getting Bartlett pears
if each pear sells at from cents 10 or 10
cents the grower should have some margin
Of profit. DuehesSe pears are usually Cd
each at the cheapest, and may even COM
mand shilling or sd. The Bartlett is a
better pear, and y hen II gets to market " I'LL
have no trouble in defeating the Duehesse
or any other Of the pear family in Europe.
The English public are familiar with the
canned specimens Of the Bartlett, but even
the most enthusiastic Californian viii admit
there is considerable difference between
fresh and preserved fruit. But TO reach the
English masses pears would require to be
much cheaper. The common varieties to
be seen in shops in the autumn do mol sell
at more than 10 & cents per pound, and
these viii have the preference Of the masses
because Of cheapness.
ORANGES.
Oranges are always abundant and cheap
IN England. They come from every orange
growing country on earth, and prices range,
according 10 size aid nualitY. FINN z cant 10