690 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 29, 1889. 
baskets sent from a neighbour of his the same day, and 
for the thirty baskets that I packed out of the twelve 
baskets his neighbour consigned to me packed in the 
Cornish fashion, I thus made double the price for my 
trouble with six baskets of seconds to the good. 
Strawberries. 
The way Strawberries are packed from that county is 
abominable. Though they grow good and early stuff, 
it is spoiled before it gets to market, being packed in 
1 -lb. punnets wedged into an old orange box, with a 
little fern between each layer. I cannot understand 
what this fern is for, unless it is to cook them before 
they come to market; for after a twelve hours’ journey 
in one of those covered iron trucks, that has become 
nearly red hot after standing in the hot Cornish sun all 
day waiting for its freight, then to be filled rvith fruit 
that has been picked during the day, and closed up for 
a long ride to London or Birmingham, this fern is 
admirably adapted for sweating the fruit. I have used 
it myself for sweating and ripening fruit, but that 
fruit has been of the nature of hard Pears or Plums 
that I wanted to get up to colour. I should think 
Strawberries are quite ripe enough without sweating ; 
besides, it so alters the colour and taste, and makes it 
so awkward for shopkeepers to put them in paper bags, 
or make a parcel of one of those punnets for a customer 
to carry home, the juice being so liable to escape on to 
the dress of the lady or gentleman carrying them. 
Now, my opinion is that Strawberries ought to be sent 
to market on wooden trays about 3 ins. deep, 2 ft. 
long, and 15 ins. wide, made to fit into each other 
in nests of six, with nothing over them, except a 
lid on the top box ; these trays to hold 12 lbs. They 
can be carried about the beds, there being a hole at 
each end for the handle and to admit air, the whole 
six being bound by a cord. Thus six dozen could be 
sold together, the shopkeeper could pay the salesman 
a deposit of Qd. each on the trays, and the shopkeeper 
could place the trays in his window or on his stall, 
without necessitating his turning them out and 
bruising them. Now, in my opinion, none but the 
finest fruit, unless in a scarce season, should be put in 
these trays. Each picker should have two vessels to 
pick into—one for first quality for shopkeepers, and 
one for second quality for jam-makers or hawkers. 
When Strawberries are packed free from stalk, they 
should be put in tubs. I have seen them sent to 
market ready picked in 12-lb. baskets, and a sorry 
plight they are in when they arrive in provincial 
towns, besides the loss in weight, some baskets losing 
as much as 3 lbs. each. 
Carriage. 
On railway matters I would refer to what Mr. 
Gladstone said when noticing a little book that I wrote, 
called The Producer and Consumer , on the 24th 
August last, at the Hawarden Horticultural Show, and 
who has since given me permission to make use of his 
testimony. Mr. Gladstone said, “Market Gardeners 
might do themselves a great deal of good by laying 
their heads together and sending their fruit in large 
quantities by trucks which could be engaged for the 
purpose.” In my essay I recommended the establishment 
of fruit associations on the co-operative principle, the 
members of which should act as their own salesmen, 
whose agents could collect in the country the 
produce of the small growers and send it to the 
market in truck loads upon the same principle as 
Sutton’s Express does in the towns. I think it is 
quite clear that a large company would have a better 
chance of making cheap terms for transit than a small 
grower ; besides, such companies or associations would 
be a great convenience to the jam boilers, as they could 
apply to these companies and depend upon a regular 
supply for the year’s requirements, and so secure better 
and more regular prices to the grower. This can all be 
done, but not by the old system of marketing, neither 
can the produce of an extended area of fruit-growing 
land be disposed of under the old system of salesmen; 
the producer and consumer must be brought nearer 
together, the profits will be cut finer, fruit will be on 
the market in greater quantities and sold cheaper, thus 
creating a demand. 
Marketing. 
Besides, the salesman in many cases has not the 
means or appliances to prevent a glut in the market 
by manipulating the surplus of each day’s sales, or 
of storing the pulp from year to year, the surplus 
produce of an extraordinary yield in any particular 
season. If he had, that would be no benefit to the 
grower, but it would make the salesman a buyer for 
his own jam manufactory, and he would charge the 
grower five or seven and a half per cent, for selling fruit 
to himself, and would get from twenty-five to fifty per 
cent, out of the manufactured article. This, I think, 
would not be fair to the growers, as such salesmen 
would not require many outside customers to take such 
fruits as would suit their own jam factories, and the 
grower would never be sure that he got the market 
prices, as the fruit might never be put upon the 
market for fair competition. I can prove several in¬ 
stances of the commencement of this state of things. 
It is to the manipulation of the produce, and the 
storing of the products of seasons of extraordinary 
yields for the use of jam boilers, that will prevent 
scarcity in any particular year, and maintain regular 
and paying prices from year to year, thus preventing 
the foreigner from deluging our market in a season 
when our first crop fails to be sufficient to supply 
boilers, and compelling the grower to sell his small 
yield in years of scarcity at such ruinous prices as to 
dishearten him, and make him exclaim that fruit 
growing does not pay. I maintain that fruit growing 
pays better than most professions if the fruit is properly 
marketed, and I think we want fruit associations on the 
co-operative principle, as co-operation has proved suc¬ 
cessful in almost every instance where it has been 
tried. I do not see why it should not in the selling 
and manipulation of fruit and vegetables. If the Co¬ 
operative Society of England can send buyers out to 
Greece to buy Currants to supply their customers with¬ 
out the aid of the superfluous salesman, I see no reason 
why the fruit growers should not be able to get all the 
profits obtainable out of their own labour. The remedy 
is in our own hands, and I think I cannot do better 
than refer you to my little book, Producer and Con¬ 
sumer, p. 37. 
Co-operative Distribution. 
I think there is but one way of dealing with the 
produce in order that the seller may reap the greatest 
advantage, and also to be of immediate benefit to the 
people generally, and that is by a combination of the 
landowners, farmers, market gardeners, fruit and 
vegetable growers, agricultural labourers, and all 
classes interested. Companies or societies should be 
properly and carefully organised and carried on in 
large centres, to provide for the reception and sale of 
produce. By this means all classes would be interested 
in the success of such undertaking, and the seller could 
depend upon obtaining without delay the fair market 
value for the goods sent by him for sale, and of their 
disposal at such prices with certainty, at the same 
time having an interest in a well-paying company, out 
of the profits of which he would be reimbursed most 
of the expenses of selling the produce of the year. To 
make such a company successful in any large centre is 
easy. It may be formed amongst capitalists as is 
generally the case, or it may be the parties specifically 
who may combine to start and support it. The latter, 
I think, would be the more profitable combination, as 
it would certainly be the more preferable, and in such 
a case I think it should be a company co-operative in 
principle, registered under the Companies Acts, limiting 
the liability of the shareholders to the amount of their 
shares. The capital should be of such an extent as to 
create confidence in the whole community of senders, 
whether shareholders or not, and it should admit of 
taking premises, or building if necessary, and acquiring 
plant of such an extent and nature, as to stamp the 
company “ respectable ” and stable, and to attract the 
consumer. The shares issued should be so varied in 
amount as to enable and induce all classes to become 
shareholders. Under the present system, senders of 
produce have only the salesmen’s returns to depend 
upon, and they have no means of verifying them. In 
order to ensure a sale of the sender’s goods at market 
prices at the least, the company might take a number 
of shops in different parts of the town, to which could 
be sent fruit, vegetables, poultry, game, or any produce 
of any description, and thus provide a means of 
disposing of goods which could not be sold at the 
central depot at fair market prices. The company 
would be able to buy fruit and vegetables, when the 
markets were full, from other salesmen, thus providing 
for seasons when particular crops failed, or of which the 
prices ran high, and so be independent of the markets 
as a means of supply, without being crippled for want 
of any particular sort of fruit or vegetable for the 
season. As an instance of the inconvenience and loss 
occasioned by being placed in such a position, I may 
mention a circumstance that came to my knowledge in 
February, 1885, when Broccoli was plentiful — so 
prolific the yield that it did not pay to send it to market. 
In October of the same year, one firm of pickle 
makers were compelled to pay 2s. 6c7. to 3s. per dozen 
for Cauliflower, which they might have bought at 6d. 
or 9 d. per dozen in the early part of the year, and to 
keep their trade together they bought hundreds of 
dozens. 
Another advantage might be given to senders of 
goods for sale. If a quantity of goods were actually 
consigned and viewed by the company’s agent in any 
town on production of the consignment note, an im¬ 
mediate advance might be made to the sender. It has 
been pointed out to me that to do all this would require 
an immense amount of capital, and that it would be 
next to impossible to work a company so extensive in 
its operations. To those who have not carefully con¬ 
sidered the subject it may so present itself ; but the 
difficulties are few, and none that cannot be met by 
systematic arrangement. Its machinery would not be 
nearly so complicated as that of the Civil Service 
Supply Association for instance, nor would the capital 
employed or required in it, or the amount of stock to 
be held at any one time, ever approach in magnitude 
for any one district to that of the association referred 
to. As to the commission business beyond the initial 
outlay, this department would not absorb capital, a 3 
the moment business was commenced the earnings in it 
would begin to accrue, and receiving goods on com¬ 
mission only, there would be no outlay except for 
current expenses, whilst there would be always capital 
at the company’s bankers. When goods were received 
and sold, the proceeds would go into the bank, and 
assuming that all accounts were made up on the day of 
sale, and crossed cheques sent to senders the same 
night, they would not, as a rule, be presented until 
two days afterwards, and frequently three or four days, 
by which time more goods would have been received 
and sold, and the money paid into the bank as before. 
The company would then have the benefit of senders; 
capital, at the same time settling their accounts with 
the greatest celerity. The utmost importance attaches 
to prompt settlements in this business. As generally 
conducted by private salesmen, the returns are made 
and the cash remitted weekly ; but there is no reason 
why it should not be sent at once, as it is of the greatest 
importance to the sender that he should have his 
money, and as the trade is for cash, there can be no 
reasonable excuse for not doing so. 
-~>X<-- 
“MY GARDEN.” 
The title of this article is no doubt familiar to 
many, and recalls the notable garden of A. H. 
Smee, Esq., The Grange, Wallington, Surrey. 
Although the acreage enclosed within its boundaries 
is by no means large, it is so diversified by trees, vales, 
brooks, and the river Wandle which bounds it on one 
side, that there had been no lack of material in the 
shape of natural history specimens, besides the works 
of art, from which its written history has been 
compiled. The banks of the Wandle, which is broad 
and sluggish, resembling a natural lake or pond, is 
lined with a luxuriant and vigorous growth of Typha 
latifolia, Carex pendula, Phalaris arundinacea, and 
other aquatics. The inflorescence of the latter at the 
present time is quite red and showy. 
The Hot-houses. 
The glass, although not extensive, is diversified and 
scattered about in different parts of the garden. The 
orchard-house has recently been reconstructed by 
Messrs. Newton k Co., Hitchin, on their patent 
glazing system without putty, and contains a varied 
assortment of Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, and other 
fruit trees, some of which are bearing good crops. A 
new Cattleya house is being constructed on the same 
principle as the Orchard house, which gives perfect 
satisfaction, and is quite free from drip. Both have 
sloping sides, with ventilation at the bottom, as well 
as at the base of the sloping roof, and at the top. At 
the ridge of the Cattleya house there is a box with 
round holes in it communicating with patent ven¬ 
tilators outside, moveable by the wind, so as to draw 
out the heated air from the interior. The middle of 
the house is wholly occupied with a large cemented 
tank to hold rain-water, and over this will be 
erected the central stage, while a narrower one will 
run round the sides of the house. The rafters consist 
of galvanised iron, each containing two gutters for 
carrying away the condensed moisture from the 
interior; and the broad panes of glass allow an 
abundance of light to the plants inside. 
Orchids are grown in several houses, and the largest 
one is occupied with a rich and varied collection. 
Amongst those in flower were fine samples of Cattleya 
Mendelii, Cypripedium ciliolare, C. Lawrenceanum 
Hackbridgensis, Stanhopea 'W'ardii, minus its 
usual black eyespots on the hypochile of the lip, 
