82 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



CHAPTER XX 



PROBABLE MARKET PRICES 



THE prices which fruit will realise in the open market 

 depend to a very large extent on the character of the season 

 and extent of the crops. Speaking generally, the higher 

 prices obtained in a scarce year are as satisfactory as the 

 lower prices realised for full crops, because the cost of 

 picking, packing, and marketing is higher in a bountiful 

 year. An average price per sieve or bushel for Kitchen 

 Apples would be about 35. 6d. net to the grower, and for 

 Dessert Apples sent in half-sieves about 35. net. For choice 

 boxed specimens of early Apples, about is. 6d. a dozen 

 may be expected ; for Cox's Orange Pippin and similar 

 varieties, from 2s. 6d. to 45. a dozen ; other later dessert 

 kinds, about 35. 



These are wholesale prices, and if small growers can 

 meet with private customers in the locality they may make 

 double the above prices. Some growers supply hotels, 

 especially at seaside resorts, at high prices. In dealing 

 with small shopkeepers there is always a risk of incurring 

 bad debts, and it is advisable to insist upon having cash 

 on delivery. 



Pears of the commoner sorts are best sold in sieves, 

 and they make prices varying from is. to 45. per sieve ; 

 better-class fruits, in half-sieves, from 2s. 6d. to 43. All 



