212 THE POSSIBILITIES 



peas), each basket representing from twelve to 

 fourteen pounds of fruit. Taking into account 

 what was sent by other channels, one could say 

 that from 400 to 500 tons of tomatoes, grapes, 

 beans and peas, worth from 20,000 to 25,000, 

 were exported there every week hi June. 



When I returned to Guernsey in 1903, I found 

 that the industry of fruit-growing under glass 

 had grown immensely since 1896, so that the 

 whole system of export had to be reorganised. 

 In 1896 it was the tourists' boats which trans- 

 ported the fruit and vegetables to Southampton, 

 and the gardeners paid one shilling for each 

 basket taken at Guernsey and delivered at the 

 Co vent Garden market. In 1903 there was 

 already a Guernsey Growers' Association, which 

 had its own boats keeping, during the summer, 

 a regular daily service direct from Guernsey to 

 London. The Association had its own store- 

 houses on the quay and its own cranes, which 

 lifted immense cubic boxes containing on their 

 shelves twenty or even a hundred baskets, and 

 carrying them to the boats. The cost of trans- 

 port was thus reduced to 4d. per basket. All this 

 crop is sold every morning at Covent Garden to 

 the London dealers and greengrocers. The im- 

 portance of this export is seen from the fact 

 that a special steamer has to leave Guernsey 

 every morning with its cargo of fruit and vege- 



