CONFERENCE ON FRUIT-GROWING. 



63 



considerable extension. It can never, however, account for more than 

 a part of the problem of distribution. 



The average English housewife draws her daily supplies from a 

 wide area of the earth's surface. She cannot be restricted to part 

 of a county — nor to one county — nor to one country — nor to one 

 continent. That is why she needs a retailer to supply her wants. 

 That is why the retailer must have a market at which he can find, 

 concentrated, produce from every producing zone. 



The line grower — market — retailer — eater accounts for a larger part 

 of the produce than either of the two last under consideration. 



It is chiefly restricted to produce grown near enough to market 

 to be road-borne direct from the grower's premises to the market- 

 It ought to ensure that the produce reaches the eater without too 

 much handling. It must have occurred to our forefathers in very 

 early times, and long satisfied all requirements. 



As practised to-day, however, it has serious drawbacks. If one 

 considers what the possibilities are from organization one may say 

 that the eater has a right to demand more attention to his desires 

 than this crude system — or want of it — generally gives him. In the 

 first place, it assumes that every grower is a salesman, which is far 

 from the case. In the next it results in produce being put upon the 

 markets in almost infinite degrees of grading, packing, or absence of 

 either or both, besides taking numbers of men from their holdings to 

 do what, with organization, one or two could do better. 



When all is said, the line the grower — the local railway station 

 — -the railway terminus — the market salesman — the retailer — the eater 

 is that along which the bulk of the fruit crop must travel. Nor is 

 it easy to see how any of the links can be cut out to shorten the 

 chain. Are we then living in the best of all worlds ? Is there no 

 opening for improvement ? Everyone who has examined the question 

 will agree that there is ample scope. Where, then, can improvement 

 be sought ? There are three avenues of approach. They rest with 

 the grower — the railway — the salesman. With the grower it rests to 

 associate for securing established standards of grading and packing, 

 and for placing produce upon the railway in bulk at convenient centres 

 for entraining. If each fruit-growing centre had its distinctive grade 

 and mark, how the work of the salesman would be simplified, and how 

 much better the returns to the individual grower would be ! How is 

 it possible for the salesman to do justice to every sender of ungraded, 

 ill-packed little cotchels of produce — some of which must inevitably 

 get " on show " after the cream of the market has been skimmed off ? 

 The retailer and the eater together have just reason to condemn 

 sixteenth-century methods in this wide-awake twentieth century. 



The grading and packing installations could be established as in 

 America, close to the forwarding station on the railway, so that there 

 need be no additional carting. 



With the railway there should be properly constructed wagons — 

 preferably with transferable containers, so that goods could be 



