[Tutor] back-quotes to print dictionary

[reavey]

I found this in instant python tutorial and I'm not sure how it's 
suposed to work?
http://www.hetland.org/python/instant-python.php
#!/usr/bin/env python

class Basket:
    def __init__(self, contents = None):
        self.contents = contents or []

    def add(self,element):
        self.contents.append(element)

    def print_me(self):
        result = ""
        for elem in self.contents:
            result = result + " " +`element`
        print "contains:" +result

when I run this I get
b = Basket()
b.add('pear')
b.add('apple')
b.add('grape')

Check add method
b.__dict__()
{contents:['pear','apple','grape']}


check print_me method
b.print_me()
contents: elementelementelement

I expect to see the contents of the dictionary [pear,apple,grape]. The 
code knows there are three elements but it is not printing the elements?