•266 JOUEyAL OF the EOY.Ai HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
earlv or late one? accordingly. Besides this great increase, there are 
some hundreds of tons grown in Belgium, originally for the Paris market, 
but, by being shut out of there by a prohibitive tariff, nearly all come to 
London. To give some idea of the trade done in winter grapes, over 
thirty-four tons were sold by my firm in the week preceding last Christmas ; 
this does not include any coming from the Channel Islands or Belgium, 
or any sold by other salesmen. In addition to these we sold about six 
tons in Manchester — roughly, forty ions of hothouse grapes in one week 
by one firm. That this should be possible reflects great credit on those 
enterprising growers who, in face of a constantly faUing market, still 
kept on producing good quahty grapes at prices which everyone connected 
with the trade said were impossible. It appears to be the opinion of a 
great many horticulturists that growers for market do not study quahty, 
but grow for weight only. In the last issue of a gardening paper a well- 
known writer stated this as an accepted fact : but I ventm-e to call your 
attention to the samples exhibited here to-day, which, I think, for quahty 
and finish will compare favourably with any grown in private places. Of 
com-se, the market gi'owers must study weight, but to get weight and 
quahty too ^ is where science shps in. 
Outdoor -gr OK n Soft Fruits have also increased very much, the main 
supply being grown in the home counties, strawberries, raspbemes, 
goosebenies, and currants covering thousands of acres, only a small 
portion comparatively being used for dessert, the bulk going to the jam 
maker, and this has led to many thousands of hands being employed in 
an industry which scarcely existed twenty years ago. 
The same can be said of stone fruit, principally plums, besides which 
there are thousands of tons imported fi'om France. Holland, Germany, 
Spain, and Italy, as many as 20,000 packages of foreign greengages being 
sold on our market alone in one day ; beginning as they do from Italy 
and Southern Europe and gradually working north, they cover some 
months. A considerable quantity of very fine quahty plums also comes 
from California in cool chambers, while the Cape sent some very fine 
samples of Japanese varieties, which, arriving in February last, made 
long prices, and lead me to think we shall hear more of these in the future. 
Peaches, Xectarines, Melo7is. and Figs are still a small trade compared 
with many other fruits, but the quantity grown is larger every year, and 
the time covered longer. We have peaches from the Cape in February, 
and home-grown from March till November. 
Figs commence to arrive fi-om Guernsey in March, and last till the 
end of October, while a good many fresh ones come from Iialy ihrough 
September, October, and November. 
Melons, home-grown, commence in March and continue till December, 
the imported ones principally coming during the autumn. 
There are many other fruits coming from abroad in smaU quantities, 
such as mangos, custard apples, Avocado pears, gi-enadillos, and Chinese 
Ivchee nuts, but except the latter there is very little demand, and the 
trade does not show any signs of increase. 
Forced strawberries are one of the fruits in which we need not fear 
foreign competition, and a larger quantity is grown each year from 
February to June as a first crop in houses devoted aftei*^-ards to 
