19G 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that it will be to their interest, as well as to the benefit of an 

 important industry, to make a substantial concession. I suggested 

 to the Royal Commission on Agriculture that the most effective 

 way of dealing with the subject without constant and expensive 

 litigation would be for the State to acquire the canals, improve 

 them, and work them under State control, and so, by competi- 

 tion, effect a reduction in the rates of carriage by other routes * 

 and I still think the scheme, though an ambitious one, quite 

 feasible. 



Then the Adulteration Acts require to be more rigidly 

 enforced than they now are, and possibly also would need 

 amendment and strengthening. Those who sell American cider, 

 or who are agents for the sale of it, should be compelled to state 

 these facts on their bill-heads, cards, and advertisements. All 

 admixture of foreign substances with cider and perry should be 

 forbidden ; or, if that be considered too drastic a provision, it 

 should be incumbent on all sellers of cider or perry to which 

 foreign substances, whether preservatives or not, have been 

 added, to state on the labels attached to the casks or bottles- 

 what those substances are, and in what proportion they have 

 been used. I doubt if any Acts for the prevention of adultera- 

 tion will ever be effectively enforced if prosecutions are left to 

 be instituted by private individuals or by the police. Such a 

 duty should be undertaken by an association founded for the 

 protection of the trade against the sale of foreign cider for 

 English, and against the sale of an adulterated for a pure article. 

 The National Association of Cider-makers, which I had the 

 honour of founding, would, I hoped, have been sufficiently 

 supported to be enabled to undertake this duty — a duty neces- 

 sarily entailing a considerable amount of expense. The financial 

 position of the Association is not, however, I am sorry to say, 

 strong enough for the purpose, though I hope, as the industry 

 develops, the persons engaged in it will be convinced that they 

 can never effectually cope with practices which bring discredit 

 on the trade and hinder its development, except through the 

 medium of some organisation of the kind. 



There are many other suggestions, both for fostering the 

 demand for cider and perry, and for affording increased facilities 

 for their distribution in the localities where they are now unknown, 

 which have been brought to my notice by various correspondents. 



