88 AGRICULTUrvE AND TARIFF REFORM. 



Avlio would in tlie end pay this amount, and not 

 the consumer. 



Foreign competition, too, " hits " our early 

 strawberr}^, asparagus, &c., growers, so many of 

 whom are small holders depending mainly upon 

 one or other of these crops. A well-known 

 market gardener from the Worcestershire district, 

 declared before the Royal Commission on Agricul- 

 ture that foreign competition interferes not only 

 with asparagus, as we have already suggested, but 

 with radishes, lettuces, &c., to say nothing of the 

 serious competition in apples. Market gardeners 

 and small holders particularly, feel the depression 

 in town trades more quickly than any class or 

 classes in the kingdom, because directl}'' a town 

 working-man is on short time, his wife, who has 

 to " draw in " in the way of expenses, stops pur- 

 chasing all but the most necessary potatoes and 

 cabbages, the purchase of fruit being out of the 

 question. On the other hand, when trade is good, 

 the artisan's wife indulges in extras, or " luxu- 

 ries," just like the rest of us. 



The larger occupier, that is to say, the farmer 

 who goes in for dairying (whether milk selling, 

 butter-making, or cheese-making) ; the grazier, 

 or the farmer who fattens bullocks ; or the farmer 

 who does a little of both, will, it is clear, from 

 what we have said, not only have the 5 per cent, 

 tariff in his favour on foreign meat and dairy pro- 

 duce, but he will feed some or all of his stock at a 

 cheaper rate, whilst his outlay on implements 

 and appliances could not — were he to pay the 



