484 
Tlie Sources of Suppli/ of (ho 
10,000 baskets of 12 lbs. each per week are received here during 
the season ; they are sokl at from Is. to 35. per basket, and cost 
lOd. each carriage. Many are sent also in small kegs from the 
banks of the Rhine, and the cost of conveyance is 4(/. each. 
The very best bilberries, however, are gathered on the Welsh 
hills ; they are much superior in flavour, and reach the market 
fresh and in blooming condition. From Germany come large 
importations of plums also, " Violets " and " Winesours," the 
latter in great abundance ; they are a well-flavoured plum, and 
their German name is " Zwetchen ;" rate of carriage, 4Z. per 
ton. From the north of France come " Violets," " Black 
Orleans," and " Greengages ;" rate, 6/. per ton. 
Tlie greatest number of baskets of fruit pitched in the Man- 
chester market in one week, from ISTO to 1879 inclusive, has 
been as follows : — 
1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 
68,000 72,000 51,100 82,700 73,500 
1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 
86,250 81,450 77,200 102,250 90,000 
To enter into further details, and refer separately to all the 
other kinds of fruit which are covered by these figures, would 
require more space and time than it would be desirable to 
occupy, and as I have mentioned all the principal sorts, there 
seems to be no necessity for doing so. 
Whether the promoters of this inquiry will consider that the 
writer has sufficiently obeyed their instructions in other respects, 
he can only conjecture. " The Sources of Supply " are pretty 
fully indicated ; it is absolutely impossible to obtain with any 
degree of accuracy " the average quantities that arrive by road 
and railway and as for " the advantages and disadvantages of 
the local grower from climate and seasons," I feel that it is too 
obvious that the ibrmer are far outweighed by the latter. That 
the local grower has some advantage over the distant as regards 
transit it cannot be denied, but even this is somewhat modified 
by the low rates charged for carrying foreign produce by the 
railway. I think that an examination of the figures I have 
quoted upon that subject will show that there was some ground 
lor its being recently stated in both Houses of Parliament that 
the importer was more favoured in this respect than the home- 
producer. As regards the market tolls, they apparently are on an 
equality ; but, in fact, inasmuch as all foreign produce is packed 
in much smaller parcels than the home-grown, the toll on the 
foreign is more than double that on the home-grown. A hamper 
of fruit as packed by the home-grower, and for which a toll of 
one penny is charged, will contain six times the quantity as 
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