FRUIT-GROWING FOR PROFIT SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 



261 



short of educated heads and hands business tact with intelligent persevering habits will 

 bring success in the fruit-growing industry. 



SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 



The natural outcome of the cultivation of the soil is food produce. Its value depends 

 mainly on the demand. If the markets are overstocked the prices rule low ; if the supplies 

 are short, prices rise in proportion. But under all circumstances there is a difference 

 in the prices obtainable, and this is regulated by the quality of the article. Fruit may 

 be divided into three grades 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and these apply to every kind, variety, and 

 the purpose it is to serve dessert, kitchen, or preserving. These three grades represent 

 all the qualities required by consumers 1st, for those able to pay the highest price for a 

 select article ; 2nd, for the use of the middle class, a good all-round commodity gener- 

 ally acceptable at reasonable prices ; 3rd, for the lower classes requiring a combination 

 of amount with quality on the easiest terms. In addition to these grades we have a vast 

 quantity of inferior fruit that never ought to be offered in the markets, but kept at home 

 and used for feeding pigs. The British fruit-grower must grade his produce and sell by 

 sample. Improved market methods, central agencies, and increased facilities of convey- 

 ance, with organisation, are the essential points upon which those connected with the 

 fruit-growing industry must concentrate attention. Government aid is useful so far as it 

 relates to statistics of importations of fruit, and might be of service in certain cases of fungal 

 and insect-infested districts for limiting the plagues. But the fruit-growing industry must 

 be founded on self-reliance. The population is ever-increasing and the demand for fruit 

 is always growing. If home growers do not satisfy this demand, supplies must be drawn 

 from beyond the sea. It is a question of the best article at the lowest price. Foreign 

 competition must not be feared but faced. It need not cause alarm to cultivators in this 

 country though it is formidable, as will be seen from the following summary: 



IMPOETS IN 1892 AND 1893 OF FOREIGN AND COLONIAL FRUIT. 



