Import of Fruits. 1 5 



Value. 



Figs and fig-cakes 128,434 cwts. ; 262 > 6 7 I 



French plums and prunelloes 13,937 54>43 



Plums (dried or preserved) ... 1,841 ,, ... 6,651 



Prunes 25,343 ... 35 226 



Raisins 588,309 ,, ... 1,057,934 



7,741,672 



In addition to this enormous quantity, all destined for 

 the British mouth, there was an import of 61,262 tons of 

 various "nuts and kernels used for expressing oil," value 

 ^872,179. Apart from contemplation of the magnitude, 

 how vast the amount of diverse industry implied ! What 

 breadths of land to supply it all ! What diligence in the 

 gathering ! How many good ships to be freighted ! 

 How much enterprise and activity in the buying and 

 selling ! No mean position in the world's economy 

 assuredly is held by flowers, since in flowers all fruit 

 begins. Who shall measure the annual fruit-commerce 

 of the world ? Jamaica alone sent to the United States, 

 in 1884, more than five millions of coco-nuts, and nearly 

 forty-two millions of oranges ! 



Now arises a third question. In what parts of the 

 world did our cultivated fruits originally grow? What 

 countries were their birthplaces? When and how for 

 that some have travelled far is very plain did they get 

 diffused ? In the beginning, the seeds of different sorts 

 would be carried, as at the present day, by birds. In all 

 ages, streams of water and the waves of the sea have lent 

 their aid in promoting dispersion, the sea very conspicu- 



