In certain businesses it is of advantage to the English
producer that earlier countries should send in their goods. Beyond all question, as Mr. Seabrook and other specialists have insisted, the steady continuous supply of fruit all through the year has increased the consumption of fruit, and so bene- fited the home grower ; but this is not so with vegetables and particular fruits. , The huge prices paid for the precocious supplies destroy the market for the later ; and consumers have never learnt the habit of buying late fruits. This is a pity, far science has done much more in the direction of extending the fruiting period at the end of the season than at the begin- ning. The Hailsham berry gives us excellent raspberries in September, and there are many varieties of late strawberries that give fine dishes, at any rate, to northern growers, up to much the same date. Yet the growers of such fruits get little or no value .out of these crops. The supply, though small, exceeds the demand. The excesses of this fashion were emphasized a year or two ago, when it was shown that hos-
pitals, though dependent on voluntary subscriptions, were spending £17 a ton for newly imported potatoes, when they could buy the best English potatoes for £4 or £5 a ton ; and the older were the better food.
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