WHERE CAN IT BE GROWN PROFITABLY? 21 



altogether another style of produce may find a steady 

 remunerative outlet. 



Growers in the North, again, make large profits by 

 supplying our Southern seaside towns with stra wherries, 

 at, say Is. to Is. 6d. per lb., after our local crop is 

 altogether over. 



But it will probably be far better for those who have 

 no special attachments to find out a district to start in, 

 where a good home demand exists, than to depend on 

 "the chances of the market," through the agency of 

 salesmen in Covent Garden, if they intend to make a 

 business of fruit growing under glass. 



The best sites in the kingdom for apples and pears 

 are to be found along the South coast, five to twenty 

 miles inland, and especially in well-sheltered nooks of 

 the South Downs. 



At present, probably half the fruit that goes to the 

 London markets has to bear two heavy railway rates, 

 or the cost of carriage from the growers and then to the 

 retailers (it may be fifty or a hundred miles away). 

 The great bulk of the best fruit supplied at the seaside 

 towns, as well as at the fruiterers in the North of 

 England towns, comes from London, and these heavy 

 double-transit outlays might be mostly saved by the local 

 grower, as he could supply his produce (other things 

 being equal, of course) in very much fresher and better 

 condition, than after it has passed through Covent 

 Garden, and at a much lower rate. This is a matter of 

 the first importance with the soft fruits, like straw- 

 berries, raspberries, and ripe gooseberries, where the 

 retailer can scarcely risk them unless quite fresh. 



