Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-19
FRUITS NQsE
FROM AFEyA.


in sufficient quantities tUNfke the
price low is the latest devVT 1Jhent of
refrigerator transportatiothlLH Hereto
fore the only peaches, Hllhs and
pears available in winter RIFe been
such as have been kept irNJild stor-
age from the previous seasN Aor have
been grown in hot houses. Whatever
may be possible in Cuba andbur own
island of Porto Rico, certain iNis that
nothing has yet been done. ANsmall
quantity of these fruits has been COM
ing from South Africa for the last two
years, but the supply was so small
and the demand for fresh fruits of
that character so large, that prices
have been far beyond the reach of the
average consumer.
William Pickstone, representing
the Exporters Association of South
Africa, was in New York late in De-
ccmber and perfected these arrange
ments for the handling of these fruits
upon a liberal scale in this country.
He appointed Steinhardt & Kelley,
the best known fancy fruit wholesal-
ers in New York, as the American
agents of the association and liberal
shipments will begin Immediately.
Previously only about 200 pack
ages per season have been shipped to
New York. This season no less than
5000 packages will be shipped, and
possibly more. The result of this will
be that the price of the fruit will go
down, so that those in moderate cir
cumstances can enjoy fresh delicious
fruit in midwinter.
An important factor in this devel-
opment of the fruit trade is the fact
that the freight rates from South Af-
rica New York are no more than
they are from California to New
York. The cost of Producing the fruit
in South Africa is less than it is in
California, consequently the fruit can
be laid down in New York as cheap
or possibly cheaper, than the Califor-
MIA fruit can be. The only question
is whether it VIII keep as we'll. The
voyage from South Africa to New
York will take substantially three
times as long as the railway journey
from California Therefore, the cost
to consumers here will be determined
by the proportion of fruit that doesn t
spoil in transit
The shipments beginning January
/ will be direct to New York, via the
Union Castle line to Southampton;
there they will be transshipped to the
American line steamers, which will
bring them to this country. While it
is not certain how long 1t will take, If
the fruit arrives inside of twenty-one
daye it will be making quick time. 1t
may require four weeks, though, of
course, those in charge of shipments
will attempt to make perfect connec-
tions so far as possible. Upon these
connections will depend the condition
of the fruit upon arrival here and the
proportion of decay will determine
the cost.
William Pickstone, who represents
the association and the Cecil Rhodes
enterprises, recently talked interest
ingly of the fruit situation in South
Africa, telling of its development DUR
ing the last few years from an insig-
nificant beginning to a business of
important proportions. Said Mr..
Pickstone:
THE growth of fruit production in
South Africa has been coincident with
the Improvement in transportation IA
cilities which have enabled us to seek
world markets for our products. For
several years we have shipped ex-
tensively to England of these same
varieties of fruit; our transportation
facilities have been improved so much
during the last few years and the de-
velopment of the refrigerator service
has been brought to such high state
) of perfection that we determined to
seek still wider markets. New York
has been getting some South African
fruit for several years, but it has been
first consigned to English firms and
by them shipped to this country. The
quantity was small and the prices
were high.
This year we are coming into the
American margets ourselves with the
expectation of building up perma-
nent and profitable business. l am
informed that the demand for decidu-
GUS fruits in winter is far larger than
the supply And it is during the win
ter months that our fruit will come.
Consequently there ought to be no
difficulty in securing a market for all
we can produce.
eve believe that we produce as
good peaches, pears, plums and
grapes in our country as can be grown
here. We are not quite sure what
the long journey will do to them, but
we feel certain that we car perfect
tne systems OIL packing ana reIflger-
ating to the point where the fruit will
arrive perfectly fresh and fully ripen-
ed. These are the two essentials in
good fruit. We have studied the
matter carefully and exhaustively and
we are quite sure than we shall be
able to convince Americans that they
can enjoy peaches all the year
round"
The fruit-producing regions of the
world are yearly becoming more and
more contracted. Transportation ia
cilities, including refrigerating cars
and steamers, are important factors
in the development of this marvellous
business. New York has had apples
from New ZEALAND for some years.
Now come deciduous fruits from
South Africa 1t isn't necessary to
mention in this connection the vast
quantities of fruit which annually
come east from California. This is
too we'll known to require explana-
tion. But the products of the utter
most parts of the earth have more
novelty and will be regarded with
more interest than those which are
grown VirtualIv at home