370 
The  Progress  of  Fruit  Farming. 
grocers’  shops  at  from  Id.  to  9 d.  per  lb.,  owing  mainly  to  the 
energy  of  French,  Belgian,  Dutch,  German,  and  American  fruit- 
growers. Jam-factories  are  being  established  in  various  parts  of 
this  country,  and  new  processes  have  been  introduced  to  help 
and  improve  the  manufacture  of  jams  and  preserves  of  all  kinds. 
There  is  yet  a vast  difference  in  jam.  The  real  jam  is  made 
of  good  freshly  picked  fruits,  which  are  not  mashed  up  into  a 
mess,  but  are  preserved  whole,  so  that  specific  fruits  may  be 
identified.  Beach’s  jam  is  of  this  character,  and  is  acquiring  a 
deserved  reputation.  It  is  made  of  fresh  fruit  grown  in  England, 
and  is  not  boiled  down,  but  steamed.  Glucose  is  avoided,  and 
nothing  but  the  finest  sugar  is  used,  and  no  adulteration  is 
practised,  as  the  fruits  remain  whole  and  perfectly  distinguishable. 
But  there  are  jam-makers  and  jam-makers.  There  are  jam- 
makers  and  smashers,  although  the  latter  title  is  repudiated 
as  a calumny  upon  the  trade.  The  former  make  it  as  careful 
housekeepers  make  it ; the  latter  mix  up  fruit  of  all  kinds  and 
qualities  into  a heterogeneous  compound.  The  first  of  these 
take  sound,  fresh,  whole  fruit.  The  others  boil  down  over-ripe 
and  under-ripe  fruits  of  all  sorts,  particularly  apples  of  low 
quality,  sometimes  mixed  with  marrows  and  other  vegetables 
when  fruit  is  scarce  ; and  thus  with  a few  seeds  and  essences 
make  any  jam  to  order.  For  jam-making,  fruit  of  all  qualities 
and  description  is  cleared  off  in  a wonderfully  rapid  manner. 
When  there  is  a short  crop,  the  demand  for  jams  and  preserves 
sends  up  the  prices  of  fruit  to  a figure  far  beyond  the  reach 
of  ordinary  consumers,  as  in  the  last  season,  for  example,  when 
damsons  and  plums  were  making  4 d.  per  lb.  wholesale,  and 
black  currants  from  4 \d.  to  5 d.  per  lb.  In  full  fruit  seasons, 
jam-makers  buy  up  fruit,  and,  having  reduced  it  to  pulp,  put 
it  into  large  jars  or  vessels  of  various  kinds,  without  sugar.  If 
the  air  is  carefully  excluded,  this  pulp  will  keep  for  some  time, 
until  a scarcity  of  fruit  happens  again.  It  is,  in  fact,  the 
adoption  of  the  principle  of  ensilage  to  fruit.  This  is  adopted 
in  other  countries.  Large  quantities  of  apricot  pulp  are  sent 
from  France  at  an  average  price  of  about  5 d.  per  lb.  A few 
fruit-growers  in  England  have  tried  this  practice  in  abundant 
seasons,  and  have  been  enabled  to  keep  their  fruit  until  it  was 
wanted.  Some  jam-makers  take  the  pulp  from  the  fruit-growers. 
Others  pulp  the  fruit  themselves,  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  find 
that  in  many  large-!  centres  of  production  jam-factories  have 
been  established  to  which  the  producers  can  send  both  fruit  and 
pulp.  In  not  a few  districts,  where  jam-factories  do  not  exist, 
it  is  becoming  the  custom  to  sell  fruit  by  contract  in  large 
quantities  to  agents,  or  to  principals,  of  jam-factories,  and  to 
fruit-dealers.  Another  good  feature  in  the  fruit-trade  is  that 
