312 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
The knowledge that every new plant is eagerly sought after, 
and that, although gardens have an almost unlimited choice, 
they are ever ready to welcome novelties, has kept alive the 
enthusiasm of plant collectors as well as stimulated the energies 
of florists. Botanists are continually endeavouring to improve 
the knowledge of the flora of every country, and British 
workers have not been behind the rest of the world. Thus, 
in spite of the enterprise of centuries, the world still holds 
hidden treasures for the garden, which it may be the good for¬ 
tune of twentieth-century travellers to disclose. 
The good qualities and the requirements of any new plant 
are quickly made known to the public through the medium 
of a host of gardening newspapers, as well as by the more 
scientific reports of societies or the Kew Bulletins. Garden 
literature is at the present time unprecedented in quantity ; 
of its quality it is best to leave future generations to be the 
judges. The cheapness with which pictures in monochrome 
or colour can be reproduced to form attractive volumes is 
apt to prove a snare, unless the writer has some particular 
information to impart, or is greatly gifted with novel ideas 
or poetical sentiments, and has a facility of clothing them in 
appropriate language. 
There have been considerable developments in the fruit- 
market since the year 1900, not so much from any improve¬ 
ment at home, but from the opening up of trade with British 
Colonies. Exhibitions of colonial fruit have been held in 
London to familiarize the public with the products of the 
Empire. Apples from Tasmania or British Columbia and other 
distant places are so cheap that it hardly pays the home 
producer to keep the late ripening fruit to sell at a more profit¬ 
able season. Custard apples are commonly to be seen in 
fruiterers’ shops, and even the Mango can be conveyed in a 
fresh state to a London purveyor, so rapid has the transport 
become, and so complete are the arrangements on board the 
ships for preserving fruit in cooled chambers. The Plums 
and Peaches of South Africa have already established 
a place in British markets. The most striking change within 
the last few years has been the cheapening of Bananas. The 
