These expert gardeners were ready to spend ; but even
at that date they knew that a remunerative price for the black- currants was most improbable. They had already heard that the buyers had made bargains with foreign growers at a price that could not pay for the spraying and manuring. They had not even been offered the chance of competition ; and this continually happens, in all sorts of fruit and, indeed, vegetables. The foreigner appears to be preferred, solely ttecause he is a foreigner. Personally, I believe that this lop-sided preference is a survival from the days when foreign fruit was better graded, better packed, and more reliable both in quality and amount. Whatever the cause, it continues to exist after there is any reasonable excuse for it. Imports of fruit are to be welcomed, as an Essex fruit-grower, quoted last week on this page, argued. They teach the fruit-eating habit by ensuring a regular supply. But it should not be beyond the wit of man to secure this natural benefit without also punish- ing our own growers.
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