12 JULY 1930, Page 14

The most certain example of the value of freshness is

in the green vegetable and in soft fruit. It is a direct sub- traction from the health of our people that so many live on stale vegetables. Even in tolerably remote country places. villages as well as towns, the local greengrocer often gets his supplies from Covent Garden, and they are many days old when eaten. Few things would confer more benefit on the community than some reasonable return to the days when the food for every centre of population was supplied from the immediate circumference. For this reason it is much to be regretted that the garden cities have rejected the ideal of " an agricultural belt." It was much advertised in the early days, but invariably, so far as my experience goes, vanished before the demands of the builders.