The Jam Trade

A few years ago, wben Mr. Gladetone, in one of his charming bucolio oratious at Hawarden, recommended the British farmer to turn his attention to fruit oultivation and the making of jam, his advice was received with a good deal of cheap and ignorant ridicule. As usual, the ex-pj3mier has proved a good deal wiser than his oritics, and those who gave ear to his counsel in this infctauce have hadno reason to regret their confidence. In an interview a famous provider says: "The motive that induced me to take up the jam trade was my knowledge of the fact that within late years the demand for preserves had been steadily increasing, wbile that for butter has, no doubt in consequente, shown atendency rather to decline thau otherwise. Catering as I do for soine 300,000 daily customcrs, I havo naturally good opportunity of knowing what the public want in the matter of provisions. "Jam has a great future before it. The people are using it more and more largely every year, and, in my opinión, they are doing wisely, for what could be cheaper and at the same timehealthier thau a good jam made from sound English fruit? "I attribute the superiority of English fruit to the nature of the soil and to the fact that the fruit ripens more gradually in our climate than in countries where there is more continuous and powerful sunshine. The slower the ripening procesa the better is the flavor of the fruit. "You may not perhaps be a ware that strawberries grown in the northern parts of Scotland are vastly superior in all respects to those grown in southern England, without doubt because they take longer to mature. Australian jams are being pushed largely in India and elsewhere and may very probably come over here before long to compete with our home produce. "In Ireland there is amagnificent future for the fruit growiug industry if only its opportunities were tnrned to account. Even now most of the blackberries that come to the English markets are grown in Ireland. But there are enormous possibilities there of which no one has yet taken advantage. Properly worked, its fruit trade might yet do much to insure Ireland's commercial prosperity. " -