CONFERENCE ON FRUIT-GROWING. 



79 



not grow twenty varieties, but if possible only two varieties. If you 

 have a thousand trees, only grow two varieties, because it will help 

 you in grading, marketing, and in every other respect. When you have 

 a fruit crop, do not stand under the tree and shake it, and run away 

 with the idea that those which drop off are ripe, and those which will 

 not drop off must be shaken off in a week's time. Half the complaints 

 from growers are caused by the fact that their fruit is put on the market 

 in a badly graded condition, and of very poor quality. 



With regard to distribution, when there is a glut of fruit in one 

 area, means should be available for distributing it over the whole of 

 the country. If you have a glut of ' Pershore ' plums, you should be 

 able to distribute them in Glasgow, Bristol, and the south of England. 

 If we had a proper telephone system whereby the grower could be 

 put in daily touch with the markets, it would save a lot of fruit from 

 being wasted. By a proper system of telephonic communication we 

 could at once ascertain where the fruit was wanted, and it would then 

 be possible to give a proper return to the grower, and would induce 

 him to increase the area under cultivation. Then again the public 

 would get good fruit at the right price. If the public could obtain 

 that, it would increase the public demand for fruit, and those two 

 things together will bring us to the point that we shall have a national 

 fruit industry. It also brings us to the point that we are now paying 

 enormous sums every year to the foreigner for sending us fruit which 

 we should produce at home. If we can bring these various suggestions 

 about, we shall be able to circulate our money inside the country, for 

 the benefit of our own people, and not for the benefit of the foreigner, 

 and this is a question which we shall have to keep constantly before 

 us during the next few years. 



Mr. Morgan Veitch : I have been asked to propose a vote of thanks 

 to our Chairman, but before doing so I should like, on behalf of the 

 R.H.S. and the Chamber of Horticulture, to thank you very sincerely 

 for the excellent attendance you have given us, and for the close 

 attention with which you have followed the speakers. A few years 

 ago we had a good deal of apathy at these meetings, and people looked 

 bored with the- speeches, but this afternoon there has been nothing 

 of the kind. I have noticed how earnestly you have followed each 

 speaker, whether on the platform or amongst the audience, and I am 

 sure we are grateful to you for having taken part in the discussion 

 this afternoon. It is really a joint-conference of the R.H.S. and the 

 Chamber, which, as you know, looks after the financial interests of 

 professional growers. I am sure you will join with me in thanking the 

 speakers for devoting their valuable time in laying before us so many 

 practical points. Their time is extremely valuable ; they have 

 devoted time not only to their speeches, but they have focussed long 

 years of study into short speeches this afternoon. I think we ought 

 to congratulate ourselves in having as our Chairman Mr. George 

 Monro who has rendered great services to the State for the past five 

 years — in connexion with the Food Production Department, the 



