The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-18

san L Ic@ANASNIs NNe'"s
Editor Advertiser: l read with much
interest the report in the Advertiser
of what Mr.. Thurston said about ship
ping fresh fruit from the islands to
Chicago, and the necessity of having it
properly inspected and repacked here
in San Francisco.
When [ came here from Hilo last
January brought both pineapples and
bananas. Some of them, though yell
low when we started from Hilo, were
still good ON our arrival here. l had
ordered one case of pines assorted as
to stage of ripeness, for use on board
of the steamer, but that case got mix
ed up with the others and came clear
through. Some of the pines that We're
the regulation degree of ripeness, had
on arrival here, small holes of rot rum
ming clear in to the core. Of the bana-
mas | brought, / ate some on February
% and there were then still some that
were unripe These bananas had been
gathered December 81 and hung up
in an airy stable to cure, were wrap
ped January 3, shipped on Enterprise
January 4, unloaded in San Francisco
January Is, and remained in express
storage three days; then the lunches
were hung upside down in cold wood
shed and the hands cut off one by one
and hung in the kitchen to ripen as
wanted. There is no doubt in my mind
that proper inspection of fruit in San
Francisco and elimination of that which
should not be shipped further, and
proper repacking for reshipment is es-
sential to success of the industry.
AN EXPERIMENT WITH BANANAS.
I have made a careful and thorough
study of the wrapping of bananas, and
have had some experience in packing
pineapples. Sometime ago when Mr..
Single was preparing to go into the
banana shipping business / sent him,
while he was in San Francisco, a
number of punches of bananas of as
sorted varieties and OF different stages
of ripeness, also some that were more
or less affected with the so-called
'fOlaa disease All the punches were
numbered and a duplicate list giving
stage of ripeness, variety, condition of
disease, etc., sent to him. He had a
number of experts examine the fruit
after arrival and they made a report
on the condition of each bunch by
number.
The report was exceedingly satisfac-
tory to me, for while one or two
lunches arrived over-ripe, I had ex-
pected that, on account of their having
begun to turn yellow in Hilo. On the
other hand some that had begun to
turn before shipment in Hilo arrived
here in good condition.
BLUEFTELDS BANANAS.
notice that all the bluefeld bananas
here in San Francisco have been cut
from the tree when half grown or even
less. No wonder they arrive in good
state of preservation and are of poor
quality. / know the breed well. Have
been cultivating them in Hilo for years
but only recently (when the bluefields
were introduced by the government
did l find out that they were the same
identical thing. Those that / raised
were larger and better quality than the
Chinese, while these bluefelds are very
inferior both in size and flavor. The
specimens / sent to Mr.. Single in San
Francisco above referred to, were pass
ed upon by the experts here and re-
ported back as the kind to raise for
the San Francisco market
Two of the punches / brought up
here in January were of this variety.
They reached here in excellent shape.
However, California and the North
west can consume all the bananas Ha-
waii can raise for years to come. The
reason the market here is not supplied
by Hawaiian fruit is primarily because
the commission men here are dishonest
in their, returns, and, so far as Hilo
is concerned, the freight rate, 55c, is
too high, the care the fruit gets on
the trip is bad and the sailings alto
gether too far apart. In Honolulu you
can easily arrange for shippings near