28 THE STATE AS FARMER 



more like cholera than fruit. The war has 

 emphasised the reasonableness of our conten- 

 tion. The fruit in this very year has been 

 ready for our people's use and there has been 

 no welcome for it, but snarls at the incon- 

 venience it occasions and attempts to deprive 

 its growers of their rightful payment. In a 

 fruit area one would think that the first 

 national institution would be a fruit station 

 and collecting depot, in order to make quite 

 sure that not a single ounce of the goodly fruits 

 of the earth should be lost. There are apples 

 and pears to be graded and jams of all kinds 

 to be made, but, say our rulers, * just fight 

 this thing out for yourselves.' 



There are many who are now trying to 

 earn a living by means of fruit, and they are 

 fighting as well as they can in spite of the 

 poor chances which our present system gives. 

 But look at the thousands of decaying orchards 

 along our general countryside left probably 

 to luck when Free Trade came in. You will 

 see them in our dairy villages, and you will 

 hear of the universal rotting that occurs each 

 year because ' the fruit will not pay to market.' 

 Such language should be looked upon as a 



