ROADSIDE MARKETS.
The wail about depressed prices has its full justification. Nevertheless, great progress has been made and is being made in the marketing of British produce. Every traveller by car has been astonished at the amount of stuff sold direct at the roadside. The sellers are so many that in some places in Worcestershire they face one another across the road and are accused of interrupting the traffic, which suggests that business is brisk. The purchasers are not only casual passers-by. It has become the practice of householders and of caterers for naval and military units in the south, to do their regular marketing for eggs, fruit and vegetables with the roadside sellers. The casual sale becomes an esta- blished market. Great quantities of asparagus were sold in this way, and plums beyond all calculation. It reminded me of Holland to discover that produce was being sold direct to farers along the river as well as the roads. I was surprised a year ago to hear from one farmer that he had sold over £600 worth of stuff by this method ; but his record has been greatly surpassed this summer. In the far west the sale of Devon and Cornish cream to motorists has been the making of the success of many small dairy farms, for the most economic of all dairy formulas is to sell cream and use the skim milk on the farm. In this way ideal food and ideal fodder are
supplied. • a * *
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