FRUIT FARMING. With the larger consumption of fruit and the higher prices paid for it, fruit farming is developing in all parts of the world, the principal fruits eaten being apples, oranges and bananas, though every kind of fruit is consumed in some quantity. As an instance of the increased consumption, the annual consumption of apples per head for the quinquennium ending in Great Britain was 14.4 lb., and rose to 22.8 lb. in 1924. Of oranges the consumption per head per annum for the quinquen nium ending 1904 was 14.7 lb. and 18.1 lb. in 1924. This con sumption of oranges is about the same as that of the United States, though the American consumption of apples per head of population is estimated to be double that of Great Britain.
The British consumption of bananas per head was estimated at 3o in 1924; though not a large figure, it represents a great in crease since 190o. For other fruits it has been estimated as: pears 2 lb., plums 3 lb., cherries I lb., currants i lb., strawberries 2 lb., gooseberries 1.7 lb. Much of this fruit is produced in Eng land, though a much larger quantity is imported, and in con sequence the British market is of great importance to every fruit exporting country.
In 1924 the net imports of fruits into the United Kingdom was valued in the customs returns at £44,800,000. This is more than three times as much as the average annual value of imported fruit during the quinquennium ending 1913. Comparing the expenditure per head, for the quinquennium 1909-13, it was 6s. 6d. and £ i per head in 1924, much less money being spent in home produced fruits ; while according to the report of the agricultural output of England and Wales for 1925, the estimated value of the fresh fruit sold off the farms over one acre in size was £9,420,000, or less than a quarter of the value of the fruits imported.