f)2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and the retailer share what would have been the retailer's profit, and 

 the eater suffers little if any increase of cost ; more often, however, 

 it is this last who has to pay for the speculator's little game. 



Now it will be agreed that the fourth line — that of grower and eater 

 in direct contact — is the ideal. It will also be agreed that along this 

 line a smaller quantity passes than along either of the three other 

 lines. There are no statistics existing to prove this ; the assertion 

 must remain an assertion based upon what is called " common know- 

 ledge," and in this state of nakedness it must stand the assault of 

 those who, rightly, demand conclusions based upon statistics. 



It is probably this line of direct contact that is in the mind of those 

 whose one prescription for defects of distribution seems to be elimina- 

 tion of the " middleman," or sometimes the variant — " the unnecessary 

 middle man." 



A little consideration will make it evident that this line of distribu- 

 tion can never apply to more than a relatively small quantity of 

 produce, and that only where certain clearly defined local conditions 

 obtain. There must be just enough of orders as produce to dispose 

 of, and just as much produce as orders to be satisfied ; or else some 

 orders are left unfulfilled, or, on the other hand, some produce is wanting 

 customers. Moreover, the quality must be maintained at the desired 

 level from day to day. Now, everyone with practical knowledge 

 knows that these several conditions never run long together. An 

 association of growers in co-operation may secure their fulfilment over 

 a longer period than any single grower. But sooner or later the eater 

 finds he must draw his supplies from a wider range ; and always the 

 grower has grades of produce that he must send to a mart for disposal. 

 A great enthusiasm has more than once been excited by the idea of 

 postal supply direct from grower to eater. If there had been half 

 the advantages in the system claimed for it, there has been time 

 enough for it to have overspread the land. 



That each boom has had a hectic popularity of a few months, and 

 then died back to the normal trickle, is evidence enough that it is 

 calculated to meet the convenience of a few only. 



When I was a boy, along the broad road from Hammersmith 

 Bridge to the ' ' Red Lion ' ' there was on each side a fringe of gardens 

 where strawberries were skilfully cultivated. Upon any day in the 

 strawberry season, lines of carriages might be seen, whose occupants 

 had come out from fashionable London to secure fresh-gathered fruit 

 for dessert. This affords an illustration of the conditions under which 

 direct contact between grower and eater is possible — and it gives 

 clear indication how narrow those conditions are. 



The Jine grower — retailer — eater is a line of contact which, so far 

 as it can be utilized, gives the eater good promise of receiving the 

 produce in a condition of natural freshness. With the development 

 of motor transport, and the association of growers in distributive 

 units — that the pressure of circumstances and the result of enlightened 

 outlook, may lead one to hope for — this line of contact is capable of 



