554 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



should not be much difficulty in obtaining and publishing such informa- 

 tion. Estimates might also be made of the probable crops of fruit in 

 various districts in Great Britain, in the same way as estimates of 

 agricultural crops are now made, and these would, no doubt, be of 

 interest and of service to the grower and salesman. 



99. The attention of the Committee was drawn, in a memorandum 

 furnished by the Board of Agriculture, to the measures taken by foreign 

 countries and British Colonies to prevent the introduction, through the 

 importation of infected fruit or fruit packages, of pests and diseases 

 detrimental to fruit culture, and also of diseased nursery stock. They 

 are of opinion that this is a matter to which the early attention of the 

 proposed sub-department should be directed. 



100. The Committee have been struck by the difficulty experienced by 

 most of the witnesses of understanding the provisions of the Agricultural 

 Holdings Acts so far as they affect fruit growers — a difficulty which appears 

 to be caused by the complexity of the Statutes, arising from the confused 

 manner in which Parliament has from time to time dealt with the 

 subject — and they therefore suggest that these Statutes should be con- 

 solidated into a single Act. 



101. Several witnesses mentioned the immense advantage of the 

 telephone to growers, in enabling them to communicate quickly with the 

 markets, and thus to learn where there was a chance of a good price 

 and where there was a glut. The telephone also makes it possible for 

 growers to place themselves in direct communication with dealers in 

 small towns, thus greatly facilitating inexpensive and easy distribution. 

 Mr. Idiens, for instance, stated that his business had increased by twenty- 

 five per cent, through the introduction of the telephone, and that the 

 prices realised were twenty to twenty-five per cent, higher. The exten- 

 sion of the telephone in country districts was advocated. Unfortunately, 

 under the practical monopoly of the National Telephone Company, the use 

 of this most valuable instrument has been confined mainly to the towns ; 

 but the Committee hope that under the new arrangement recently con- 

 cluded a general extension of the telephone into the country districts may 

 be carried out, which, in their opinion, would be of the greatest advantage 

 to the fruit industry. 



102. The difficulties arising from gluts of fruit which occur in years 

 when there is an exceptionally large crop — such as 1904 — have also been 

 mentioned by many witnesses. Co-operation has been suggested by 

 some of them as affording a means of dealing with gluts, or with the 

 disposal of second-class fruit, by the establishment of a co-operative 

 pulping or jam factory, owned by the growers. Under some circum- 

 stances, no doubt, such a business might be worked successfully. It is, 

 however, noticeable that in many instances where individual growers 

 have attempted to make their fruit into jam they have not been successful, 

 and, in a few notable cases where they have succeeded, it has evidently 

 been due to the special aptitude of the grower for such business. In 

 some instances, where fruit growers have pulped their own fruit, the 

 results have not been satisfactory, the demand for pulp, except for cheap 

 jams, not being great. There would not seem to be — according to the 

 answers received from one witness — much prospect of using surplus or 



