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XXV'I. — The Sources of Supply of the Manchester Fruit and 
Vegetable Markets. By John Page.* 
This subject is indeed a comprehensive one. Time was when 
this market was dependent upon Cheshire and the Lancashire 
bank of the Mersey lor its supplies of fresh vegetables and 
fruits ; but since the abolition of duties, improved steam navi- 
gation, and the more complete development of the railway 
system, no spot upon the earth's surface appears sufficiently 
remote to deprive the teeming populations of these districts of 
its productions. 
But whilst these changes have proved a blessing to the com- 
munity generally, it M^ill be said, probably, that they have 
tended to the injury of the native 'grower of many kinds of 
agricultural and horticultural produce. We know that that 
which is for the public good is oftentimes temporarily preju- 
dicial to the interests of individuals. It is not the province of 
the writer of this article to point out any remedial measures 
that may suggest themselves ; but he may be permitted to say 
that it seems pretty certain that the only change that can bring 
remunerative prices to the English grower — if they are not now 
so — lies between himself and the owner of the soil he cultivates. 
Diminished crops in this country, from whatever cause, no 
longer mean higher prices from the consumer. Abundance in 
any part of the world will flow into the scarcity of any other as 
surelv as air rushes into a vacuum. 
Other changes have also taken place. Ere the revolution in 
the sources of supply had begun, the growers supplying this 
market brought their goods and disposed of them personally, 
now the great bulk reaches us by railway. The number of carts 
laden with their owners' produce which arrived in the market on 
the night of Friday, the 8th of August, and l^efore six o'clock 
on the morning of Saturday, the 9th, last year, was two hundred 
and thirty. Their contents would probably be about one-eighth 
of the total supply brought for the Saturday's market. Very few 
large growers now sell their own goods ; they are generally con- 
signed to salesmen who have permanent standings in the market, 
and who charge a commission of 5 per cent, upon the sale of all 
goods entrusted to them. This system has its advantages, and 
perhaps is not entirely free from occasional disadvantages. 
Doubtless the owner would frequently make more by his goods 
if he personally attended the sale of them, but then, to set against 
this, there is the time and money expended to enable him to do 
* Extracted from a Prize Essay published by tho Koyal Manchester, Liverpool, 
and North Lancashire Agricultural Society, by permission of that Society. 
