FRUITS OF THE LAST SIXTY YEARS. 



361 



South Wales, nearly 300 miles from London, where he had 

 been able to buy excellent Muscat Grapes for Is. 6d. to 2s. per lb., 

 and he was quite certain that if he had wished to buy such 

 Grapes in the London market twenty-five or thirty years ago he 

 would have had to pay 7s. 6d., 10s. 6d., or even 15s. per lb. 

 That state of things was, however, confined to the United 

 Kingdom ; it did not yet extend to the Continent, or at least only 

 to a few private gardens, where probably British gardeners were 

 employed. He happened, for example, to be in Geneva during 

 the time of last year's exhibition, and while there he was supplied 

 by a member of the Rothschild family with some magnificent 

 Grapes ; and he was certain, from the expressions of surprise on 

 the part of the attendants at his hotel, that they had never seen 

 such fruit before. He thought it but right to mention that the 

 gardener at Geneva, under whose care the Grapes sent to him 

 were grown, was without doubt a native of Britain, his name 

 being John Smith. As to the size of Apples, he could not 

 help saying that he did not attach great importance to that. If 

 increased size meant the sacrifice of quality, he would prefer 

 quality, as he cared no more for a 14-oz. Apple than he did for 

 a 6 -foot -4 -inch man, if the quality suffered. 



Touching on the question of fruit farming, he said that he 

 thought that one of the reasons why we still import so much 

 fruit is that the British farmer is very slow in acquiring new 

 ideas, and could not learn rapidly enough to develop the fruit 

 side of his farm. He believed it was greatly owing to the 

 exertions of the horticultural trade of this country that such 

 great advances had been made in fruit culture, and great 

 gratitude was due to gentlemen like Mr. Bunyard, who had 

 devoted themselves to improving the industry, and had brought 

 their ability and enterprise to bear in that direction. 



Mr. C. Lee Campbell, of Glewston Court, considered that 

 farmers approached their work with too much prejudice, and 

 only a few men came prominently to the front by their energy 

 and enterprise. Alluding to the subject of " packing," he said 

 their watchword should be " honesty." The practice adopted by 

 many growers in packing arose from the greatest carelessness, 

 but in some cases it was otherwise ; and he would impress upon 

 everyone that honesty in packing was not only the proper standard 

 to adopt, but it was the best policy from a financial point of view. 



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