30 
Practical  Hints  on  Fruit  Farming. 
A B 
Fig.  1.— Glass  Jars  for  Canning  with  Metal  Top  and  Rubber. 
Although  eoni])aratively  little  use  has  hitherto  been  made 
by  British  growers  of  the  processes  of  evaporating  and  of 
canning  surplus  fruit,  they  have,  in  a few  cases,  been  adopted 
in  jam  factories.  Unfortunately,  these  are  not  so  numerous  as 
they  were,  and  are  not  so  flourishing  as  they  ought  to  he.  There 
is  a want  of  communication  between  them  and  the  growers. 
Most  of  the  fruit  for  jam-making  is  bought  in  the  markets, 
and  is  not  obtained  direct  from  the  jiroilucers,  many  of  whom 
seem  to  prefer  the  old-fashioned  practice  of  consigning  it  to  a 
London  market  in  perfect  ignorance  as  to  the  conditions  of 
supply  and  demand.  As  in  some  other  products  of  the  land  the 
producers  are  seriously  affected  by  imperfect  and  inadequate 
means  of  distribution,  and  of  reaching  customers  who  are  on 
their  part  only  too  anxious  to  he  sujiplied.  Fruit,  for  instance, 
is  not  obtainable  in  many  households,  or  is  only  obtainable  at 
prohibitive  ])rices,  although,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  centres  of 
production  it  may  be  hardly  worth  picking,  and  in  the  centres 
of  sale — the  large  markets — much  fruit  may  be  unsaleable 
because  of  its  superabundance.  Some  improvement  in  modes 
of  distribution  has  taken  place,  however,  in  recent  years. 
Growers  have  put  themselves  more  in  touch  by  telegraph  and 
