of labor, as figured, is so high that it would pay an extra irrigation whenever same is necessary. Pruning. This can be done for about one-fifth of the cost of pruning in this country, taking into consideration solely the rate of labor, which for a good pruner in Sicily would not cost over 50 cents, and in California would cost $2 per day and upward for about nine hours' work, whereas in Sicily the work is from sunup to sundown. This item on the 10-acre grove in Palermo would probably not amount to over $20 to $25 on a 10-acre grove, figuring a man could do around 20 trees per day. The total of pruning and taking care of the soil on a 10-acre grove in Palermo would not amount to over $135 per year. Picking. The expense of picking can be easily estimated, as compared with our picking in California, by simply stating that the picker receives as a maximum wage 2 francs, or 40 cents, per day, with working hours from sunup to sundown, whereas in California. we have to pay from $1.75 to $2 per day for nine hours' work for practically the same results as regards the quantity of lemons picked per man per hour. Transportation from grove to packing house is cheaper than we can do it in California, as the maximum pay of a teamster is 21 francs, of 50 cents, per day. Horse feed is just as cheap as in this country. Talking of horses brings to mind the fact that no horseflesh is used in cultivating groves, which is all done by hand, with a kind of an extremely heavy hoe: so maintenance of horseflesh is not an item that the Sicily grower figures on. Packing. The method of sorting and packing is practically the same as in California, with the exception that more care is used in sorting out any bruised fruit from fruit to be shipped. The difference in the cost of packing can be more readily figured from the basis that the women sorters in Sicily receive 1 franc per day, equal to less than 20 cents, whereas in California we pay them $1.25 to $1.50. Packers in Sicily are men, who receive a maximum wage of 3 francs per day, equal to 60 cents, whereas we pay men and women packers in California from $1.75 to $2.25 per day. Ordinary man labor around the packing house is paid 2 francs per day, equal to 50 cents, whereas we pay $1.75 to $2 for the same work. The results of the labor of sorters and packers in Sicily as to the number of boxes sorted and packed would be practically the same as the same number of men and women would do in California. Their shook and paper costs approximately within a cent or so per box of what we pay for shook and paper, so the charges for packing can be easily estimated when the rate of labor paid there is known. Transportation.-The writer was actively engaged as managing director for the Trans-Oceanic Line for seven years and knows about what it costs to transport fruit. Practically all fruit is brought to the United States in chartered steamers. The charter price is figured out so that it will cost on an average of about 10 pence, or 20 cents. per box, actual cost from Palermo or Messina to New York or coast cities. New Orleans running slightly higher. The shipper is charged 1 shilling 4 pence, or 33 cents, per box, on which he averages a rebate of around 5 or 6 cents, and the balance of course being profit to the charterer and transportation companies, which makes the actual cost to the shipper from Sicily ports over the Atlantic to ports in the United States of around 25 or 26 cents per box. This, as compared to California's 84 cents, shows a vast difference in favor of Sicily. Fertilizer.-In Sicily, as in California, this is an item that rests solely with the opinion of the grower, but I will say that commercial fertilizers, which are mostly imported from England and Germany, do not cost on an average of over 50 per cent of what they do in this country. This of course is due to the fact that the German and English labor which goes into the making of fertilizer is paid a very small percentage of the same class of labor in the United States, and it does not seem necessary in Sicily to use as much fertilizer to obtain the same results as it does in this country. I have known of a grove of 12-year-old trees, 20 miles from Palermo, which never had a pound of fertilizer, that was bearing at the rate of four packed boxes per year to the tree, which I know will compare very favorably with the best groves in California of the same age that have had large amounts of money expended on them for fertilizer. Another item in which cheap labor increases the income of the Sicily grower is that they can produce citrate of lime, essential oils, and citric acid at a very low cost, and all cull lemons can be sold by the grower to these factories at never less than 4 francs, or 80 cents, per 100, and from that pay as high as 8 francs per 1,000 lemons for the use of this factory in making these products. In California, on account of the labor cost, it is impossible to produce these articles at a profit, so this is one source of income which we do not have. The writer does not know the present state of the Sicily labor markets. The rates of labor he is stating here were in force ten years ago, but he knows that labor conditions have not improved in Sicily to the benefit of the laborer during the past ten years, so that he thinks that the cost of labor to-day and ten years ago could not be any more, and maybe less. Yours, very truly, Mr. B. A. WOODFORD, General Manager, Office. J. P. TRIOLO. NOVEMBER 7, 1908. DEAR SIR: Referring to prices on lemons where we have keenest competition from foreigners, we submit a list of points near New Orleans, with the number of cars sold and the average price received during the past season; also near New York, with the number of cars sold and the average prices received in the different auction markets. which, with New York and New Orleans, received all of the foreign lemons marketed in the United States. You will note that the 40 cars sold in Memphis include all of the southeastern territory. I am not prepared to say how much water freight rates may have to do in connection with the lower prices at some of these points, but we seem to have keenest competition where such freight rates can be had, as, for instance, points on the Mississippi and Ohio and Cleveland, where I believe water rates have something to do with lowering the cost of transportation on west. Yours, truly, R. H. WILKINSON, February 21, 1908, large navel oranges, per dozen_-_ .20 .21 .23 April 10, 1908, extra large navel oranges, per dozen.... .26 NEBRASKA STATE JOURNAL. News item, 3-15, oranges 3 for 5 cents. February 21, 1908, Redlands navel oranges, per dozen_. April 3, 1908, fancy navel oranges, per dozen. April 4, 1908, fancy navel oranges, per dozen_ April 4, 1908, oranges, per dozen_. April 4, 1908, lemous, per dozen__. March 23, 1908, Farmers' Grocery Company, lemons, per dozen. MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL. May 1, 1908, large lemons, per dozen_ DAILY NEWS. April 11, 1908, Sierra Madre oranges, per peck. DAILY OKLAHOMAN. February 22, 1908, California lemons, per dozen.. OMAHA WORLD-HERALD. April 7, 1908, Highland navel extra fancy, per dozen. April 7, 1908, oranges, per dozen.. .19 .24 .22 .23 .26 .29 .27 .15 .083 .15 .15 .50 .50 .15 .50 .15 .10 .10 .08 .10 .25 .12 08 .12 .15 .171 .20 .20 .15 .15 April 16, 1908, large juicy lemons, per dozen_ April 16, 1908, fancy Highland navel oranges, per dozen. .171 .20 TOLEDO, BLADE. April 17, 1908, California seedless lemons, per dozen_. .10 .29 WASHINGTON (D. C.) STAR. July 29, 1908, fancy lemons, per dozen .12 State committee on tariff revision: Your committee, to whom was referred the matter of tariff on fresh deciduous fruits, beg leave to report as follows: We find that the interests of the deciduous fruit growers in California are affected by the importation of Almeria grapes and of bananas, the former having considerable influence on the sale of the late tokay, emperor, and cornichon grapes, and the latter on the whole line of fruits from beginning to end, and on dried fruits almost as much as the fresh product. Almeria grapes are grown in a Province in Spain and are exported to this country in small barrels, packed in cork dust, and weighing about 40 pounds. As is well known, labor in Spain is very cheap, not exceeding $0.40 per day, as compared with our wages running from $1.50 to $2 per day. Freight to New York on each keg amounts to $0.46 and a fraction, or $0.0115 per pound. Freight to New York from California on 26 pounds of grapes amounts to $0.48, or $0.0185 per pound. Duty during the season of 1907 was $0.20 per cubic foot, or $0.38 per barrel, a barrel being estimated at 1.9 cubic feet. Prior to last. season the duty was the same, $0.20 per cubic foot, but the barrels were estimated at 2 cubic feet, making the duty $0.40. Thus it may be seen that these grapes can be laid down in New York at a cost of $0.021 per pound, or one-fourth cent more than the freight and refrigeration from California. The protection afforded by the present rate is not sufficient by reason of the much lower cost of production in Spain. Owing to cheap labor, it actually costs the Spanish growers less money to grow and market their product in this country than it does the California growers. It is difficult for us to estimate correctly the importation of this fruit, but from the best information obtainable it amounted in 1907 to 1.000,000 barrels, or 1,6663 carloads; the shipment of grapes from California for the same year amounted to 3,460 carloads, or but a |