FLOWER TRADE IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22533, 15 October 1938, Page 3

FLOWER TRADE IN BRITAIN

♦ RAPID GROWTH OF INDUSTRY PROTECTIVE TARIFF HELPS DEVELOPMENT (raOi! OT7R OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, September 5. The splendid display of British gladioli in the gardens outside the House of Lords has drawn fresh attention to the work and achievements of the British Growers' Council. This body, which was brought into being by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1932, and was for two years maintained partly by public funds, is now entirely self-supporting. Under the protection of tariffs, remarkable progress has been made. Queen Mary goes often to see the rose garden in Regent's Park, named after her. The council is responsible for this wonderful collection, as it is also for 2000 other flowering shrubs and plants in the herbaceous border. And Regent's Park is only one of a number in London where the floral displays are outstanding. More than 200 growers are engaged in rose production, whereas only a few years ago the importation of roses from the Continent made it impossible for the British grower to compete at the prices. But the protective duty has profitably developed rose growing in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland. What is referred to as one of the romances of the industry is the development of anemone culture. Fourteen

years ago Canon Boscawen, of Ludgvan, drew attention to its commercial possibilities. Now about 450 acres in the "West are devoted solely to this crop and more than 13,000,000 bunches are sold. The industry enjoys a protective duty of 9d per lb. It is one of the notable instances of the growers' quick response to State aid. The flowers arrive in the shops very early in the year and their gay colours make them very welcome. Picked in the bud, their beauty develops gradually in the central heated rooms. Narcissi from' Cornwall and the Scilly Isles also arrive very early, travelling across by air, and on by special trains to London. It is estimated that Cornwall's cut-flowers trade amounts to more than £1.000.000 annually. Not so very long ago, quantities of narcissi arrived from the Continent. Other points of interest supplied by the council are:—Britain in less than 50 years has become the world's biggest producer of narcissi bulbs; Lincolnshire sold almost 10,000 tons of flowers in 1937. and at times sends away 200 tons a day; the tomato industry of the Lea Valley, of Worthing, and of districts in Kent and Lancashire produces 60,000 tons of fruit annually, uses 500,000 tons of coal as fuel, and pays £1,250,000 in wages. English Flowers in Paris It is recorded that at all the big dances and balls recently held in Paris fresh flowers have been hung in garlands around the rooms. Huge vases are filled with massed blossoms. Even candelabras are hung with tiny garlands of pink roses. At one particular party, the flowers, packed in cotton wool, were flown over from England in three aeroplanes, arriving as fresh and as crisp as when they were first cut. The maxim of all the good pafty-s, givers in London and Paris is to have plenty of the choicest flowers attractively arranged. Nowhere on the Continent can carnations be produced to equal the choice varieties grown under glass in England.