October 30, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
343 
W E are progressing—steadily but surely progressing—in the 
supply of home-grown fruit, and the public taste is advanc¬ 
ing in the right direction also. A daily paper recently stated that 
“one of the most pleasant changes in the aspect of London of 
late years is in the striking multiplication of fruiterers’ shops. 
A taste for fruit, and a conviction not only of its wholesomeness 
but of its desirability as a part of the daily food has been rapidly 
spreading, and all efforts to promote the cultivation of fruit 
deserve the highest commendation.” Those remarks have 
reference at this season mainly to Apples—undeniably the most 
substantial and serviceable of all our hardy fruits, though the 
Pear supply cannot be ignored. 
Not only are fruiterers’ shops increasing, but what is not less 
important is the marked improvement in the produce displayed. 
The different emporiums where the best samples obtainable are 
presented have never been so well furnished before as they have 
been of late, and are now, with British Apples—not grown abroad, 
but at home. This is not the case in London alone, but in most 
of the best shops in provincial cities and towns. It is not less 
true, however, that by far too many and too large consignments 
of inferior “ stuff ” are forced on the markets ; but the days of 
this untempting or almost repulsive apology for fruit are num¬ 
bered. Just as well grown high-class fruit increases in bulk, so 
must the inferior be elbowed out of the market, for those who send 
it in will find no returns for their ventures in a very few years ; 
indeed not a few persons are finding this out now, and naturally 
grumble accordingly. They grumble at free imports, grumble at 
railway charges, grumble at agents’ commission, grumble at the 
advice given in the press to plant trees, and so on ; in fact, 
find fault with everything and everybody, but leave the 
greatest evil of all untouched—their own negligent methods 
and slovenly ways. 
Granted that there is room for improvement in transit charges, 
there is hope that railway directors will be compelled to mend their 
ways and develop trade ; and admitting the fact that there are 
unprincipled sharpers among the great army of commission agents, 
yet among fruit brokers there is no lack of honourable men 
who conduct their business in all respects as fairly as the best and 
most successful traders in other commodities conduct theirs. 
Without saying anything against the efforts that are made to 
bring producers and consumers of fruit closer together, but, on the 
contrary, rejoicing in whatever is accomplished in this direction, 
we suspect the fact will have to be recognised that the enormous 
bulk of produce grown in the country for meeting the demands of 
the million in towns will have to be distributed through the 
channels of intermediaries, just as bread and butter, tea and sugar, 
jams and pickles, are through the agency of shopkeepers. Com¬ 
petition compels these to reduce profits for increasing trade, 
and those dealers in fruit who act on the same principles 
of moderate commission charges, just methods, and prompt 
payments are developing their trade enormously, and profit¬ 
ing accordingly, while not a thought is entertained of their 
“ fleecing ” the grower. This upright dealing and its manifest 
advantages will compel others to adopt the same methods, or 
they will lose their custom, and eventually be driven from 
the markets like bad Apples. 
No. 643.— Yol. XXV., Third Series.; 
Growers of a few hundredweights or even tons of Apples can 
no more deliver them to distant consumers than the owners of 
coal mines can distribute their black diamonds among the homes 
of the people ; but no doubt something can and will be done in 
the disposal of fruit by local arrangements when the number of 
small cultivators and the high quality of their wares justify the 
effort. Apart from the certain increase in jam and bottling 
manufactories for taking the soft fruits of districts and dis¬ 
tributing them all over the civilised world, as we ought to do with 
our natural advantages for production and preparation, local 
combination will be formed on the basis of Mr. Ivarts’ scheme 
in Cambridgeshire. He added fruit growing to his ordinary 
farming operations, and finding the change good extended his 
plantations. Then he took out a broker’s licence for selling his 
own fruit in the great emporium Stratford Market, not of course 
objecting to sell the fruit of others. Eventually he arranged to 
collect all the fruit of small growers in his locality at 2d. a bushel, 
or something of that kind, including its conveyance three or four 
miles to the station, send it up with his own goods at truck rates, 
and sell it on commission, giving to each grower a statement of the 
full amount realised and his charges, both clearly shown. This 
method proved of mutual advantage. It would be impossible that 
the several small cultivators could dispose of their crops anything 
like so well by independent action, if at all, with profit. The plan 
has answered so well that, though the district is flat and bleak, fruit 
plantations are seen on every hand, and small home plots filled 
with trees and bushes. Cottenham is, so to say, a parish of small 
holders, and not many villages can boast better homes of workers 
and present a cleaner and more general well-to-do appearance. 
Mr. Bull, one of the most intelligent fruit growers there, has 
referred to the district in these columns, and he speaks in tones of 
gladness of what fruit-growing has done for the community among 
which he resides. The wholesale condemnation of intermediaries 
for the disposal of fruit and garden produce is a fashionable fad. 
They are a necessity, and systems should be established whereby 
they may become helpful aids, working on recognised lines, the whole 
of their transactions being open and above board, so that the 
growers of fruit know exactly what is being done—the amounts 
realised, and the charges incurred in its disposal. 
There is no doubt whatever that the market standard of home¬ 
grown Appks has been raised, and those who send in the best 
produce, honestly packed and attractively presented, have no 
difficulty in disposing of their crops at remunerative prices. Such 
men do not spend their time in grumbling at low prices for mixed 
samples, mostly bad, but in working for good ones, which alone 
can give a satisfactory return. Nor can the finest of Apples be 
had in any other way than planting young trees of wisely chosen 
varieties in well prepared soil, and giving them intelligent 
attention. Regular and systematic planting will have to be 
pursued in the future if Britain is to hold its own in Apple 
production. Neither salesmen nor consumers ask or care where 
fruit is grown, they simply want and will have the goods which 
are considered the best worth the money, and the best Apples in 
the market now are home-grown. 
The season of late has in most parts of the country been 
favourable to young trees for planting. A bright September 
promoted maturation, October rains (too heavy and prolonged 
in some districts) have moistened the ground, and the “ plants,” 
as they are called, ought to “ take up well ” when the time 
comes. Let the whole subject of planting be promptly 
considered and the line of action determined ; also let orders 
be given as soon as possible. If the early bird catches the 
worm in anything it is in the ordering of trees, for in no other way 
can early planting, which is so desirable, be ensured. Avoid “cheap 
bargains,” large trees with few roots, and let market bundles alone. 
The trees may or may not be true to name, and may or may not 
grow fairly well ; but the risk is too great to hazard. The safe 
No. 2299.—Yol. LXXXVII., Old Series. 
