20 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1882. 



He adds that " the sales were not made on commission, nor 

 bj auction ; but, with long endurance, at his own stand." He 

 " threw awa}' another bushel for every one sold ; — for Pears 

 perish rapidh- this year."* To " encourage vegetable grotvers,''' he 

 would say that beautiful cauliflowers are at eight (8) for 6d. 



•' When the price of fruit was at its best, and I was comparatively 

 young and sanguine, one of our leadiuy: nurseryraeu observed to me : — 

 ' Ah, sir I it pays a long way better to grow the trees than the truit, 

 even when you can get it.' Twenty-five years have I now been a 

 fruit-grower, and in one season only has the produce paid the wages, — 

 let alone manure, repah's, interest on capital." &c.. &c. 



Have none of you ever heard ; may I just hint ? uttered, similar 

 complaints ? Was that querulous discontent warranted by the 

 actual facts ? Towards the close of A. D. 1881, the American 

 Agriculturist stated that " there had been a great decline in the 

 price (of Apples) according to their latest advices. Boston 

 Baldwins sold in Liverpool, on the last da}' of November, at 9s. 

 to 14s., the demand being light, and tlie fruit arriving in poor 

 condition. At those prices there can be little profit to any one." 

 Commenting upon this, ^^ The Garden'''' (London) replies that 

 "there must have been misinformation. Newtowns have lately 

 been bringing as much as 55s. a barrel, and Baldwins have 

 recently brought as much as 2os. in Liverpool. False and 

 rotten Newtowns have fetched the price they deserved. The 

 quality is poor this }'ear, though there must be a few fair speci- 

 mens to bring such prices." 



Quality I quality! quality I There, in one word, you have the 

 whole secret. Insist upon it, to create confidence: and insist 

 upon it all the more, to retain that trnst when it has been 

 bestowed! A foreign demand, once firmly established, will re- 

 act upon the home market. Not that it is desirable to put the 

 price out of reach of any class of our own people ; to whom 

 Fruit should be, what it is far from being now, an article of 

 customary daily diet. But skilful cultivation and conscientious 

 selection can make each specimen worth two cents; and any one 



•Opinions, as to that, upon this side of the Ocean, were widely divergent at that 

 time. £. w. L. 



