FOR PROFIT. 189 



manure his land or crop required, and at a moderate 

 price either prepared bones, guano, or some of the 

 phosphatic manures which had been referred to. One 

 of the principal reasons for which he would recommend 

 these things in preference to farm-yard manure, was 

 the economy of application. Apart from the question 

 of weeds, which was very serious, especially with 

 manure from London, the expense of hauling 20 or 

 25 tons of farm-yard manure on to an acre of fruit 

 land, first getting it to the plantation, and then 

 spreading it amongst the fruit bushes, was enormous, 

 whereas if you had a suitably-prepared manure, with 

 the proper quantity of potash, phosphates, and ammonia, 

 it would all go in a one-horse cart and be carried 

 out and sown broadcast on the land for three or four 

 shillings. On a large scale, that saving alone would 

 mean a good living for the fruit grower. With regard 

 to foreign competition, there had been complaints for 

 25 years, but he thought the time had come to admit 

 that the British fruit grower was largely dependent 

 on foreign and colonial produce. In the old days a 

 small quantity of fruit could be sold during the 

 season ; there was a shop here and there, and fruit 

 was very dear, and when any unusually large 

 quantity was sent to market there was no one to 

 distribute it. The season then only lasted three or 

 four months, but now we had choice fruit all the year 

 round. There were hundreds of shops, stores, and 

 barrows fruit was constantly put before the public, 

 who were thus educated to the consumption of it, and 

 insisted on having it, and thus the fruit grower was 

 far better off than he would have been without foreign 

 supplies. Reference had been made to the advantage 



