held the hose dropped it like a hot coal, as did everybody who attempted to hold it. It was then discovered that the pipe which fed this particular tap passed through the cellar where the fire was raging, and consequently the water was boiling!

Messrs. E. A. O'Kelly, Edward Jacobs & Sons, W. Dennis & Sons, Ltd., J. B. Thomas, Woolf & Jacobs, and Garcia, Jacobs & Co. are the present tenants of the Floral Hall.

CHAPTER XIV

Conclusion

ALL varieties of fruit are to-day so plentiful that it is somewhat difficult to say which enjoys the greatest amount of popularity. The orange for over two centuries has been consumed in ever-increasing quantities. Both Pepys and Ben Jonson made frequent allusions to the orange-girls who retailed the luscious fruit to the theatre-going public, which proves that even in their time the orange was an important marketable commodity. It is said that Sir Walter Raleigh first imported the fruit into England.

What would Mistress Eleanor Gwynn say if she were able to revisit the scenes of her youth and behold the vast quantities of the golden fruit which are annually dealt with in London! Some idea of the

magnitude of this traffic may be gained from the fact that the province of Valencia, in Spain, alone annually exports a total of about 4,000,000 cases to the United Kingdom, each case containing from 420 to 1,064 oranges, according to size. The seedless variety of such exceptional size and beauty is grown in that fruit-grower's paradiseCalifornia. It is also being cultivated on a smaller scale (at present) in Australia and South Africa, and even in India.

Apples are eaten in exceptionally large quantities in this country. The chief source of production is America. The dessert varieties are grown in California and Oregon, the Wenatchee Valley, and our own colonies of British Columbia and Nova Scotia. The cooking kinds come from Canada, New York State, Nova Scotia, and Maine and Virginia.

The crop of apples grown in Australia and Tasmania is a very large one, and is one of the most important branches of the fruit trade, and has increased to a remarkable degree within the last few years. The chief centres of apple production in the United Kingdom are Kent, Middlesex,

Lincoln, Worcestershire, and Somersetshire, and also the north of Ireland. The best fruit is grown in the two first-mentioned counties; the immediate vicinity around Maidstone, known as the "Weald of Kent," is well noted for its fine quality fruit. The Kentish growers have, within the last three years, endeavoured to adopt a more uniform system of packing, consistent with that in vogue in the large apple-producing parts of America. Their endeavours, I am glad to say, have met with a considerable amount of success, although I must admit that this only applies to the dessert varieties (so far as the box packing is concerned). By this means it has been possible to export to such places as South American and South African ports, important quantities of British-grown apples, which have, in the majority of cases, arrived in good condition.

The large "cookers" should be packed in barrels on the American the American plan, and the sooner the trees bearing inferior kinds. of small fruit which are at present so extensively cultivated in this country are dug out of the ground, the better it will

be for the English grower. The chief

drawback he has had to contend with is the amount of useless timber with which his orchards are littered, and which, in a great many instances, he is unable to

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grub out" through lack of capital. If the Government, through the Board of Agriculture, assisted farmers financially to improve their holdings, the growers in this country would be able to compete on better terms with those in other states.

Strawberries are grown in Hampshire and Kent, and also around Wisbech. The strawberry season is generally of such short duration that when the fruit is on the market, every other variety has to "play second fiddle." It is then that the trade suffers from that annual epidemic familiarly known to both grower and salesman as the "strawberry fever." The failure of the crop of strawberries is a grievous disappointment to the fruit-loving public. Lemons come from Italy and Spain. English cherries are grown principally in Kent, as are also gooseberries, raspberries, and plums. Some of the Midland counties, principally Worcestershire and Gloucester