Agricultural  Competition. 
155 
total  imports  in  1907  and  1908.  Their  consignments,  how- 
ever, arriving  mainly  in  the  late  autumn  and  winter,  affect 
English  growers  much  less  than  supplies  from  the  Channel 
Islands.  France  and  Spain  are  extensive  contributors,  but  not 
to  an  increasing  extent. 
Fruit. 
We  imported  more  apples  in  the  five  years  ended  with  1898 
than  in  the  five  ended  in  1908,  and  the  quantities  sent  by  the 
two  largest  contributors,  the  United  States  and  Canada,  were 
about  the  same  each  for  the  quinquennial  periods.  Australia 
and  Tasmania  have  increased  their  quantities,  while  France, 
Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany  have  fallen  behind 
their  earlier  consignments. 
France,  Germany,  and  the  United  States  supply  the  greater 
part  of  the  pears  we  import.  Among  them  only  the  United 
States  have  made  any  headway,  and  the  exception  is  not 
important.  Canadian  consignments,  although  small,  have 
increased,  no  doubt  in  consequence  of  the  development  of 
fruit-growing  in  British  Columbia.  The  comparison  of  totals 
for  the  two  quinquennial  periods  is  the  same  as  in  the  case 
of  apples.  It  is  also  the  same  for  plums,  of  which  France  is 
much  the  greatest  contributor. 
Apart  from  apples,  by  far  the  most  serious  foreign  com- 
petition which  British  fruit-growers  have  to  face  is  that  of 
bananas,  the  imports  of  which  have  steadily  and  enormously 
increased.  In  1900  the  number  of  bunches  was  only  1,287,442, 
although  it  was  well  up  to  the  average  for  the  time.  In  1908 
it  was  6,389,445.  The  increase  is  mainly  in  supplies  from 
Costa  Rica  and  the  British  West  Indies,  the.  latter  of  which 
are  practically  bounty-fed  by  our  Government,  by  means  of  a 
steamship  subsidy  paid  to  develop  the  production  of  bananas 
in  Jamaica. 
Live  Stock. 
Russia  supplies  more  than  half  the  few  horses  which  we 
import,  France,  the  United  States,  Iceland,  and  Greenland 
being  the  chief  other  contributors. 
Our  sanitary  restrictions  limit  the  number  of  sources  of 
supplies  of  cattle  and  sheep,  while  they  practically  exclude 
pigs  altogether.  Imports  of  cattle  have  dwindled  in  recent 
years,  even  from  the  few  countries  which  can  supply  them 
now  that  European  countries  and  Argentina  are  scheduled. 
For  a great  number  of  years  from  one-half  to  two-thirds  of 
our  imported  cattle  have  come  from  the  United  States,  Canada 
having  been  second  in  importance  as  a source  of  supply,  as 
was  Argentina  so  long  as  her  cattle  were  allowed  to  enter  our 
ports  alive.  The  last  named  country  was  gaining  ground  greatly 
