154 
Agricultural  Competition. 
last  ten  years,  the  exports  have  dwindled,  as  the  great  majority 
of  growers  prefer,  as  the  saying  is  to  “ sell  it  on  the  hoof.” 
Seeds. 
The  United  States,  France,  Germany,  New  Zealand,  Chile, 
and  the  Netherlands,  are  the  chief  sources  of  our  supplies  of 
imported  clover  and  grass  seeds.  This  has  been  the  case  for 
many  years,  except  that  Chile  has  not  long  been  among  the 
largest  contributors.  Cotton  seed  comes  chiefly  from  Egypt 
and  India  ; linseed  from  Argentina  and  India  ; and  rape  from 
India  and  Russia.  Tares  are  most  extensively  supplied  by 
Germany,  Turkey,  and  Russia  ; and  garden  seeds  by  France, 
Germany,  the  United  States,  the  Netherlands,  Italy,  and  New 
Zealand. 
Oil-seed  Cakes. 
Linseed  and  cotton-seed  cakes  come  from  many  countries. 
Taking  them  together,  the  supplies  are  greatest  from  the  United 
States,  Egypt,  Russia,  Germany,  India,  Mexico,  and  Canada. 
Russia  sends  all  but  a trifling  proportion  of  the  small  quantity 
of  rape-seed  cake  which  we  import,  usually  only  from  5,000  to 
11,000  tons. 
Hops. 
The  chief  advance  in  competition  with  English  hops  in 
recent  years  has  been  that  of  the  United  States,  and  that  has 
not  been  very  remarkable.  Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Germany  keep  about  on  a level  with  the  quantities  which  they 
sent  to  us  ten  years  ago,  one  year  with  another.  Competition 
has  become  keener  only  because  the  consumption  has  been 
reduced. 
Vegetables. 
France  is  by  far  the  largest  contributor  to  our  imports  of 
potatoes  ; but  her  supplies  have  fluctuated  without  increasing 
in  the  last  ten  years.  Germany  or  Belgium  was  usually  second 
up  to  1904  ; but  both  have  since  fallen  to  a much  lower  place, 
as  it  hardly  pays  them  to  compete  with  our  main  crop  at  such 
prices  as  have  been  current  in  recent  years.  France,  on  the 
other  hand,  sends  us  early  potatoes,  which  have  not  suffered 
from  extremely  low  prices,  and  thus  is  able  to  continue  a 
profitable  trade.  Similarly  the  Channel  Islands  keep  up  their 
supplies.  The  chief  increase  in  recent  years  has  been  that  of 
contributions  from  the  Canary  Islands. 
Spain  sends  us  from  one-third  to  one-half  of  our  total 
imports  of  onions,  Egypt  and  the  Netherlands  following  in 
the  order  of  quantities. 
The  Canary  Islands  have  come  to  the  top  as  shippers  of 
tomatoes  to  this  country,  having  sent  us  over  half  of  our 
