COSTLY CABBAGES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2133, 16 July 1907, Page 4

COSTLY CABBAGES.

CAULIFLOWERS A LUXURY.

Every dog lius liis day.; and apparently so does evory vegetable, says tho Wellington Post. Just now it is the turn of tho cabbage and the cauliflower, and thoso liomoly edibles can Haunt their heads on a level with tho aristocratic asparagus, for thov arc in small supply and big domand. The cabbage is expensive and tho cauliflower a luxury. They arc selling at prices which have probably not been reached during tho past live and twenty years. At Wellington last week Messrs I,aery and Co. sold a well-graded lino of cauliflowers at 35s fid per sack, and cabbages at 13s a sack. What this means is shown b.v tho fact that tho average price is 8s and 3s (id respectively. Talking with a member of tho timi the Wellington Post reporter gathered that the scarcity is duo to tho phenomenally dry season —although it seems ironical to speak of a drought with tho recent heavy rain. A continued spoil of dry wpatiio- is disastrous to the familiar green vegetables, for it brings in it wake a deadly parasite yvhicli works wholesale havoc amongst tho young plants. This has boon the caso tins season, the hulk of the crops in a large portion of the North Island, and South as fur as Canterbury, having been ruined. Nine-tenths of tho vegetables sold in tho Wellington Produce Market come from outside, mostly from along the Manawatu lino, ‘and as the South Island has practically none for export this season . the supply is almost out oft. The shortage is having a noticeable effect on culinary operations, especially in hotels and hoarding houses. Proprietors refuse to pay extravagant prices, and hoarders with a weakness for the succulent green vccctsblcs have bo submit to clisappointment, and trv to fill tlio aching void with tho übiquitous potato or tho tender turnip. With tho advent of spring, however, will come the new’ crop of cauliflowers, and then prices will drop to their normal level.