- 3 6 - 



The comparison of totals for the two quinquennial periods is 

 the same as in the case of apples. It is also the same for plums, 

 of which France is much the greatest contributor. 



Apart from apples, by far the most serious foreign competition 

 which British fruit growers have to face is that of the bananas, the 

 imports of which have enormously increased. In 1890 the number 

 of bunches was only i 287 442 ; in 1908 it was 6 385 449. The 

 increase is mainly in supplies from Costa Rica and the British 

 West Indies, the latter of which are practically bounty fed by the 

 English Government, by means of a steamship subsidy paid to de- 

 velope the production of bananas in Jamaica. 



G. BELLETTRE. The English Fruit Market. Le Mar che Anglais 

 des Fruits, Ed. Ch. Amat, Paris, i vol., ill. XIII, p. 232. 



This study on the English fruit market and on the cooperation 

 of agriculturists with a view ot promoting the exportation of their 

 produce contains valuable information resulting from observations 

 collected in England. 



Fruit growers will find in this work trustworthy data on com- 

 mercial organisation, on transport questions, on the competition 

 of the different countries struggling for the command of the En- 

 glish market, the most important in the world. 



To give an idea of its enormous importance it will be sufficient 

 to mention that in 1908 the quantity of fruit imported into Great 

 Britain not including bananas and deducting re-exports amounted 

 to 757 975 tons worth 8 88 1 040 (222 026 ooo frs), while comprising 

 bananas the total value was 10 650 290 (266 257 225 frs). 



The United Kingdom's chief imports are oranges, apples and 

 bananas, which together represented in 1908 nearly 60 per cent 

 of the total value of the fruit imported. In order of importance 

 the following fruits come next: Lemons, grapes, walnuts, almonds 

 and different nuts, pears, plums and cherries: the value of the 

 imports of the latter has rarely fallen below 5 millions of francs ; 

 in certain cases the imports of grapes, almonds and different nuts 

 have exceeded 16 million francs per annum. Among the least im- 

 portant items, currants and gooseberries may be mentioned, of which 

 about 4 millions of francs worth are imported every year. France 

 and Holland export strawberries to the value of 1250000 francs; 

 the trade in peaches and apricots is not so considerable. 



