Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-06
JAG d&tls
ONIONS AND GRAPES.
Some Interesting Facts About the Brit
ish Trade and Culture.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Huge supplies of foreign onions from
various sources have been put upon the
English markets during the past week. The
bulk has gone to London and Liverpool,
though more came into the former city dur
ing the week than to any other center in
the united kingdom. OF total, equal to
80 coo bags, of one cwt. each, nearly 10000
came from Spain. Among other places the
imports reached us from Holland and Bel
gium from the former the quantity being
equal to $500 bags. In addition to the
80 200 bags delivered in London, a further
1900 bags went to Liverpool, 12,249 bags
to Hull and $500 bags to Manchester. The
bulk of the onions sent into the united
kingdom go to Lonuon and Hull, the latter
actually competing with London, on ac-
count of its position, as 1t Is able % dis
pose of enormous quantities to the mid
lands, where the onion is exceedingly popu-
lar. 1t is rather disappointing to learn that,
though there are hundreds of thousands OF
acres of land in the united Kingdom par
ticularly suited for the production of the
largest and finest onions that can be grown
anywhere, a:.d the crop is a paying one,
yet, that the import onion trade has now
assumed Extraordinary proportions. The
English onion is far more solid, and sue
culent, and las a finer flavor, but the for
eign onion shipper caters for the wants of
the market and retail buyer. more than the
English grower does, and thus is the
onions were poured into the various Eng
fish ports during last week alone. =. hat
has the home grower to say to such re-
markable statistics as these?
A visit to the fruit markets Of London re-
veals the fact that grapes, forced grapes,
are unusually plentiful and cheap, and that
the public has not been favored with such
abundant supplies of this fruit at such
prices for years. There are several varie-
ties on sale, and there can be no doub.
that, thoug.. very large quantities of Span
ish Almeria grapes are obtainable this sea-
son, also Lisbon and Denia blacks, yet that
the gut and consequent low prices are due
to two things: % An unusually heavy sup
ply. and (2) Indifferent quality. Belgium
black Hamburgs put up in cross-handled
baskets are selling from I'd. to Sd. pound,
and gros colmar from sd. to 1Od. These
are poor prices, and Ieave little, If any,
margin for the sender. Channel Island
&. pes, BLACKS, are selling from Cd. to is.
I'd. per pound. English black grapes are on
sale as low as Sd. wholesale, and as high
as Is. When homegrown, giant -berried
gros colmar grapes can be bought in the
market as low as sd. pound, it is pretty
clear that the supplies must be heavy and
the quality poor. 1t must not be forgotten
that fuel has been much higher during
recent years. and that is an item that
presses very heavily upon the forcer.
Whether the increased price Of coke and
coal has had anything to do with the poor
color of the berries We are not certain, but
there can be little doubt that grape forcers
must have been tempted to economic In
this direction. Few industries are more
badly affected by rise in the price Of
coal than grape forcing. Ten years ago
gros comars, now selling as low as Sd.
pound, made readily from Is. Cd. to IS 3D.
and even then fuel was much cheaper than
it now Is. Late grape forcing in England
is being carried on under the most adverse
conditions known for fifteen or twenty
years or more.