FRUIT FOR SALE UNDER GLASS CULTURE. 319 



peaches, and their value when outdoor fruits are plentiful is very low, as in 1893, when 

 they were Is. per dozen, whilst good fruits of the standard varieties : Dr. Hogg, Dymond, 

 Koyal George, Grosse Mignonne and Noblesse, brought prices up to 6s. per dozen. 

 Only very early, and very fine peaches pay for early and mid-season forcing, for 

 from the middle of July the markets are over-stocked with fruit from the Continent, the 

 southern parts of England, and private gardens. Late peaches and nectarines pay 

 better than mid-season forced fruits, as they come in when imported and wall fruit is 

 over. Mr. F. Burton has grown peaches for market very successfully at Bexley Heath, 

 the photographic illustration (Fig. 73), showing the interior of one of his houses when 

 the trees were in flower. Mr. J. "Walker grows them with equal success, the trees 

 trained to roof wires in very large houses, at Ham. 



Pine- Apples. The demand for this fruit has greatly fallen off of late years, and the 

 prices have been so reduced through the consignments from St. Michael's, which arrive 

 in excellent condition, that it is considered unprofitable to grow the pine-apple in quan- 

 tity at the present day. Nevertheless, first-class English- grown fruit is in moderate 

 request at about 2s. per pound for fruits of from 4 to 6 pounds weight each. 

 It is only from first-class fruiterers, who have to supply select desserts, that remunera- 

 tive prices can be obtained for English-grown pine-apples, and their principal supplies 

 are drawn chiefly from private establishments. At these places oak or beech leaves 

 are plentiful, so that the pine plants cost nothing beyond labour for bottom heat, and 

 by utilising the available space by the sides of the pathways, or the pit-edges, for 

 French beans, and shelves for strawberries, the expenditure for fuel is considerably 

 reduced. Under these conditions the cost of producing a summer pine-apple is about 

 2s. 6d., and that of a winter one 3s. 6d. The great difficulty to be overcome in 

 pine-apple growing is the limited demand for the fruit, yet there has of late been an 

 increasing sale of the best home-grown pines (which excel all imported fruits), and 

 some persons have found their culture profitable, 



Strawberries. These are produced largely in private establishments, where there is 

 ample room for the plants outdoors in the summer, and adequate means of forcing them 

 in low, light, airy, well-heated houses, also on shelves in peacheries, vineries, and wall- 

 cases or orchard houses. Some market growers also make a speciality of forcing straw- 

 berries, employing the structures for other crops when not occupied with strawberry 

 plants, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, or decorative plants. The varieties selected are 

 generally those with high-coloured, glossy fruit, which must also be of good size, 



