Apples for Market
have been very interested in the letter of " S.M." and that of Mr. H. J. Massingham in your recent issues. No import duties, quotas, restrictions or voluntary marketing boards will induce the British house- wife to buy windfalls or even "-picked " apples if they are badly grown, spotty, badly graded or packed. We have all been educated over the last
fifty years to like and to buy the clean, well graded produce which hs been made available at all times by foreign producers. During this period all the countries interested in sending fruit to us have undertaken large- scale replanting's of good varieties on new root-stocks ; and have had the advantage of State research and co-operative marketing, often partly financed by State funds, to a degree quite unknown here.
In England we still have far too many orchards ill-kept and badly designed in 'variety, root-stocks, spraying and modern techniques to compete with the selected imports. I have been privileged in recent years to examine the large new areas devoted to apple- and pear-produc- tion in certain of these countries. It is a revelation to see the latest pruning and spraying techniques universally applied, and to realise that in some of these countries no one is allowed to hold land for apple- and pear-production unless he possesses the very necessary qualifications arrived at both by practical and theoretical examination for a certificate of proficiency. When the good fruit has been produced it is subjected to a rigorous inspection by independent authorities before export to us is allowed. Is there any wonder, then, that our out-of-date, voluntary, "go-as-you-please " system results in the flooding of the market with home-produced rubbish?
Nothing but equally strict and, I regret to say, compulsory regulation of orchardists, planting, varieties, spraying, packing and inspection prior to marketing will solve the present deplorable average condition of our home production. This is not to say that we have not now many enlightened producers and co-operatives sending us the best apples in all the world from home sources ; but the market prices in this country are continually depressed, not by the graded selected foreign imports, but by our own home-produced rubbish, which should be processed or fed to pigs instead of littering up the distribution chain as at present.— Yours faithfully, RICHARD HINCHLIFFE.
11 Wellington Street, Hull.
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