June 8, 1893, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
461 
MARKET PRICES AND 
PRODUCE. 
-X- 
I T would appear that the days for sensational prices are over, 
never to return. Nor, personally, do I much regret this so 
long as the returns are remunerative. Nothing is more demoralis¬ 
ing to the market grower than the sudden fluctuations con¬ 
sequent upon a short scarcity of any particular kind of perishable 
commodity. For instance, when forced Strawberries were quoted 
at say ls.‘ per oz., and the next day dropped to about half that 
figure, this vexed the grower far more than if the commence¬ 
ment had been nearer lOs. per lb., and they remained longer 
about that price. After learning that certain fruits are in great 
demand and the prices extremely high, the grower naturally reckons 
upon at least a short run of good returns, only to find that nothing 
of the sort is likely to occur. Unless he has had some previous 
experience and knows better, the first conclusion arrived at is that 
there is “ something rotten in the state of Denmark,” or in other 
words, that the salesman he patronises is little short of being a 
swindler. This latter conclusion is, I am afraid, too often indulged 
in by disappointed growers ; more especially by those without much 
experience to guide them in their decision. 
Because the prices returned do not exactly agree with those just 
previously obtained, or do not correspond closely with what the 
grower thinks ought to prevail, salesmen are forthwith “called over 
the coals.” But are they all rogues ? Are any of the well estab¬ 
lished salesmen in Covent Garden, or other leading markets, 
swindlers ? I reply that no one dare impugn their business prac¬ 
tices, and will go further and assert that they do their best for 
their clients, and not unfrequently at a loss to themselves. In 
order to be able to speak with any authority in the matter of 
either condemning or praising the salesmen, senders should attend 
the markets occasionally and judge for themselves what is going 
on. According to my experience, gleaned at all hours in Covent 
Garden, and all night and day long in the Spitalfields and Borough 
Markets, prices vary surprisingly in one morning. At the outset 
good prices may prevail, and a short time after, for the business is 
transacted very quickly, the same class of goods can scarcely be 
given away. Naturally this lowers the average materially and 
makes it very hard for the salesmen to regulate the returns to the 
senders. That the best of them do the latter honestly and fairly 
there is no disputing. When they get good clients they like to 
keep them on the books, and this would be impossible if trickery 
was resorted to often, the sender easily testing the honesty of one 
salesman by consigning similar packages to other salesmen in the 
same market. 
Whether the prices shall be good or not is largely determined 
by the sender, always supposing there is no great glut and slack 
demand on any particular morning. If no pains are taken in sorting 
or grading the wares, or in the packing of the same, low prices are 
almost inevitable. Mixing up what should be sorted into firsts and 
seconds is a senseless proceeding, as it invariably results in either 
medium or low prices being returned for the lot. Take Peaches 
for instance. If the very best—that is to say, large, highly coloured, 
sound fruit—are placed in one package and the second quality in 
another, ISs. per dozen may be returned for the former and Gs. for 
the latter, this bringing the whole up to the respectable average of 
12s. per dozen, whereas if all had been mixed the average would be 
nearer Ss. per dozen, with the risk of still lower figures being 
reached. Senders should also bear in mind that dead ripe fruit 
travels and keeps badly, and then salesmen cannot possibly obtain high 
prices ; but on the contrary, seeing that they are more often thrown 
away than sold, the chances are a few over-ripe or damaged fruit 
will bring the average down very low indeed. Inferior fruit again 
is altogether out of place in high-class markets, and not unfre¬ 
quently is either given away or sold at a loss. The senders, not the 
salesmen, are to blame for these occurrences. In the first place 
the former—that is to say, the grower—should strive to grow 
superior produce as much as possible, a comparatively light crop of 
extra fine fruit paying well at all times, while heavy crops of 
inferior fruit may not pay for gathering and sending even. Let 
the Channel Islanders have a monopoly of the markets as far as 
inferior Grapes are concerned, while foreigners who think to swamp 
English growers with various other kinds of fruit c.\n easily be 
taught a lesson if only the latter could be persuaded to place nothing 
but the best against them. In each and every case the greatest 
pains, this not necessarily or advisedly amounting to coddling, 
should be taken with the packing, faulty packing quite spoiling the 
averages in many cases. “Topping up,” or putting a few good 
fruit on rubbish, deceives nobody other than “greenhorns.” 
Private gardeners for many years past have consigned much 
surplus produce to the markets, and it is this class of growers 
that have suffered most from the general reduction in prices. 
Whatever may be said or thought to the contrary they are, I 
maintain, quite at a disadvantage with us wholesale or professional 
market growers. Not only have they as a rule an inferior—that 
is to say, an unsuitable class of houses to deal with, but they are 
also heavily handicapped in various other ways. Market growers 
have large, well heated, properly glazed structures, wholly or 
principally devoted to the purpose for which they are constructed, 
and are at liberty to send the best as well as the inferior produce 
to the markets. They send large and good consignments regularly) 
and it is not in human nature for salesmen to be other than 
partial to them. I mean partial in this sense—if any favour is 
shown to any class of senders it must be to those who are the 
best consigners and make fewer mistakes in sorting and sending. 
Private gardeners as a rule are not in a position to send other 
than in a fitful fashion, and more often than not the best samples 
have to go to the tables of the owners, and yet the seconds are 
expected to realise the highest prices in the markets. 
Complaints are sometimes made of the incorrectness of the 
market quotations given every week in the different horticultural 
papers, and in some few cases, but only very few, is there some 
cause for grumbling. As far as my experience goes the figures 
given are most trustworthy, and so they are to others who 
have had similar experience of markets and their fluctuations. 
A fair average is struck, the very lowest and a few extremely 
high figures not being given. Moderate as are the quotations 
they are yet not unfrequently higher than the returns, and an 
explanation of this fact will be gathered from my preceding 
remarks. 
A favourite practice of some owners of gardens is to visit some 
of the leading shops in Covent Garden Market as well as those in the 
more fashionable parts of the Metropolis, and there price different 
kinds of home-grown fruit on sale. Because somewhat high prices 
are asked they jump to the conclusion that their surplus produce 
ought to realise equally good money, quite overlooking the fact 
that there is a great difference between wholesale and retail prices, 
high rents, probable losses and other considerations also largely 
affecting the case. Nor are owners of gardens, or indeed many 
gardeners, capable of properly comparing what they have on their 
trees or Yines with what they see in a large shop. They are apt 
to imagine that their “ geese are all swans,” or, in other words, they 
very much over-rate their own produce. Let them send their best 
to a large shop and recognise it afterwards if they can. It is 
astonishing how much of the fruit that is taken either to a show or 
No. C76. — VoL. XXVI., Third Series. 
No. 2332.—VoL. LXXXVIIL, Old Series. 
