The usual kinds of fruit the regular costers deal in are strawberries, raspberries (plain and stalked), cherries, apricots, plums, green-gages, currants, apples, pears, damsons, green and ripe gooseberries, and pine-apples. They also deal in vegetables, such as turnips, greens, brocoli, carrots, onions, celery, rhubarb, new potatoes, peas, beans (French and scarlet, broad and Windsor), asparagus, vegetable marrow, seakale, spinach, lettuces, small salads, radishes, etc. Their fruit and vegetables they usually buy at Covent-garden, Spitalfields, or the Borough markets. Occasionally they buy some at Farringdon, but this they reckon to be very little better than a “haggler’s market,”—a “haggler” being, as I before explained, the middle-man who attends in the fruit and vegetable-markets, and buys of the salesman to sell again to the retail dealer or costermonger.
Concerning the quantity of fruit and vegetables sold in the streets, by the London costermongers. This, as I said, when treating of the street-trade in fish, can only be arrived at by ascertaining the entire quantity sold wholesale at the London markets, and then learning from the best authorities the proportion retailed in the public thoroughfares. Fully to elucidate this matter, both as to the extent of the metropolitan supply of vegetables and fruit, (“foreign” as well as “home-grown,” and “green” as well as “dry”) and the relative quantity of each, vended through the agency of the costermongers, I caused inquiries to be instituted at all the principal markets and brokers (for not even the vaguest return on the subject had, till then, been prepared), and received from all the gentlemen connected therewith, every assistance and information, as I have here great pleasure in acknowledging.
To carry out my present inquiry, I need not give returns of the articles not sold by the costermongers, nor is it necessary for me to cite any but those dealt in by them generally. Their exceptional sales, such as of mushrooms, cucumbers, &c., are not included here.
The following Table shows the ordinary annual supply of home grown fruit (nearly all produced within a radius of twelve miles from the Bank) to each of the London “green” markets.
A TABLE SHOWING THE QUANTITY OR MEASURE OF THE UNDERMENTIONED HOME-GROWN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES SOLD THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, WHOLESALE, IN THE METROPOLITAN “GREEN” MARKETS, WITH THE PROPORTION SOLD RETAIL IN THE STREETS.
| Description of Fruits and Vegetables. | Covent Garden. | Borough. | Spitalfields. | Farringdon. | Portman. | Total. | Costermongers. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GREEN FRUIT. | |||||||
| Apples | 360,000 bushels | 25,000 | 250,000 | 35,000 | 16,000 | 686,000 | One-half. |
| Pears | 230,000 „ | 10,000 | 83,000 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 353,000 | One-half. |
| Cherries | 90,000 doz. lbs. | 45,000 | 15,000 | 12,000 | 11,200 | 173,200 | One-half. |
| Plums[3] | 93,000 bushels | 15,500 | 45,000 | 3,000 | 20,000 | 176,500 | One-fifteenth. |
| Green Gages[3] | 2,000 „ | 333 | 1,500 | 1,000 | 500 | 5,333 | One-fiftieth. |
| Damsons[3] | 19,800 „ | 3,150 | 4,500 | 9,000 | 1,200 | 37,650 | One-thirtieth. |
| Bullace | 1,800 „ | 1,620 | 400 | 540 | 540 | 4,900 | One-half. |
| Gooseberries | 140,000 „ | 26,200 | 91,500 | 12,000 | 7,000 | 276,700 | Three-fourths. |
| Currants (Red)[3] | 70,000 sieves | 15,000 | 75,000 | 6,000 | 9,000 | 175,000 | One-half. |
| Ditto (Black) | 45,000 „ | 12,000 | 45,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 112,000 | One-eighth. |
| Ditto (White) | 3,800 „ | 3,000 | 15,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 26,800 | One-eighth. |
| Strawberries[4] | 638,000 pottles | 330,000 | 396,000 | 15,000 | 148,500 | 1,527,500 | One-half. |
| Raspberries | 22,500 „ | 3,750 | 2,500 | 3,500 | 3,000 | 35,250 | One-twentieth. |
| Mulberries | 17,496 „ | 57,600 | 7,064 | 17,281 | 22,500 | 121,940 | One-fourth. |
| Hazel Nuts | 2,700 bushels | 1,000 | 648 | 5,400 | 270 | 9,018 | Two-thirds. |
| Filberts | 221,400 lbs. | 72,000 | 43,200 | 144,000 | 37,800 | 518,400 | One-thirtieth. |
| VEGETABLES. | |||||||
| Potatoes | 161,280,000 lbs. | 48,384,000 | 64,512,000 | 24,192,000 | 12,096,000 | 310,464,000 | One-fifteenth. |
| Cabbages[5] | 33,600,000 plants | 19,200,000 | 12,000,000 | 8,400,000 | 16,472,000 | 89,672,000 | One-third. |
| Brocoli and Cauliflowers | 1,800,000 heads | 3,780,000 | 2,880,000 | 5,320,000 | 546,000 | 14,326,000 | One-twentieth. |
| Turnips | 18,800,000 roots | 4,800,000 | 4,800,000 | 3,500,000 | 748,000 | 32,648,000 | One-tenth. |
| Turnip Tops | 300,000 junks | 500,000 | 600,000 | 250,000 | 200,000 | 1,850,000 | One-third. |
| Carrots | 12,000,000 roots | 1,571,000 | 2,400,000 | 1,500,000 | 546,000 | 18,017,000 | One-thirtieth. |
| Peas | 270,000 bushels | 50,000 | 100,000 | 14,000 | 4,000 | 438,000 | One-half. |
| Beans | 100,000 „ | 20,000 | 10,000 | 2,400 | 1,000 | 133,400 | One-fifteenth. |
| French Beans | 140,000 „ | 9,600 | 12,000 | 50,000 | 9,600 | 221,200 | One-tenth. |
| Vegetab. Marrows | 10,800 dozen | 3,240 | 3,600 | 432 | 1,800 | 19,872 | One-third. |
| Asparagus | 12,000 dz. bun. | 3,600 | 1,080 | 1,440 | 1,440 | 19,560 | One-fortieth. |
| Celery | 15,000 „ | 4,800 | 6,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 34,800 | One-eighth. |
| Rhubarb | 7,200 „ | 48,000 | 28,800 | 2,400 | 4,800 | 91,200 | One-tenth. |
| Lettuces | 734,400 plants | 1,080,000 | 2,073,600 | 129,600 | 475,200 | 4,492,800 | One-eighth. |
| Radishes | 6,912 dz. hands | 43,200 | 36,000 | 18,000 | 28,800 | 132,912 | One-tenth. |
| Onions | 500,000 bushels | 398,000 | 400,000 | 9,600 | 182,000 | 1,489,600 | One-third. |
| Ditto (Spring) | 36,000 dz. bun. | 10,800 | 21,600 | 21,600 | 14,400 | 104,400 | One-fourth. |
| Cucumbers | 2,160 bushels | 10,800 | 24,000 | 12,000 | 38,400 | 87,360 | One-eighth. |
| Herbs | 7,200 dz. bun. | 9,600 | 9,400 | 7,800 | 3,900 | 37,900 | One-tenth. |
| Description of Fruits and Vegetables. | Covent Garden. | Borough. | Spitalfields. | Farringdon. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GREEN FRUIT. | ||||
| Apples | 360,000 bushels | 25,000 | 250,000 | 35,000 |
| Pears | 230,000 „ | 10,000 | 83,000 | 20,000 |
| Cherries | 90,000 doz. lbs. | 45,000 | 15,000 | 12,000 |
| Plums[3] | 93,000 bushels | 15,500 | 45,000 | 3,000 |
| Green Gages[3] | 2,000 „ | 333 | 1,500 | 1,000 |
| Damsons[3] | 19,800 „ | 3,150 | 4,500 | 9,000 |
| Bullace | 1,800 „ | 1,620 | 400 | 540 |
| Gooseberries | 140,000 „ | 26,200 | 91,500 | 12,000 |
| Currants (Red)[3] | 70,000 sieves | 15,000 | 75,000 | 6,000 |
| Ditto (Black) | 45,000 „ | 12,000 | 45,000 | 6,000 |
| Ditto (White) | 3,800 „ | 3,000 | 15,000 | 3,000 |
| Strawberries[4] | 638,000 pottles | 330,000 | 396,000 | 15,000 |
| Raspberries | 22,500 „ | 3,750 | 2,500 | 3,500 |
| Mulberries | 17,496 „ | 57,600 | 7,064 | 17,281 |
| Hazel Nuts | 2,700 bushels | 1,000 | 648 | 5,400 |
| Filberts | 221,400 lbs. | 72,000 | 43,200 | 144,000 |
| VEGETABLES. | ||||
| Potatoes | 161,280,000 lbs. | 48,384,000 | 64,512,000 | 24,192,000 |
| Cabbages[5] | 33,600,000 plants | 19,200,000 | 12,000,000 | 8,400,000 |
| Brocoli and Cauliflowers | 1,800,000 heads | 3,780,000 | 2,880,000 | 5,320,000 |
| Turnips | 18,800,000 roots | 4,800,000 | 4,800,000 | 3,500,000 |
| Turnip Tops | 300,000 junks | 500,000 | 600,000 | 250,000 |
| Carrots | 12,000,000 roots | 1,571,000 | 2,400,000 | 1,500,000 |
| Peas | 270,000 bushels | 50,000 | 100,000 | 14,000 |
| Beans | 100,000 „ | 20,000 | 10,000 | 2,400 |
| French Beans | 140,000 „ | 9,600 | 12,000 | 50,000 |
| Vegetab. Marrows | 10,800 dozen | 3,240 | 3,600 | 432 |
| Asparagus | 12,000 dz. bun. | 3,600 | 1,080 | 1,440 |
| Celery | 15,000 „ | 4,800 | 6,000 | 3,000 |
| Rhubarb | 7,200 „ | 48,000 | 28,800 | 2,400 |
| Lettuces | 734,400 plants | 1,080,000 | 2,073,600 | 129,600 |
| Radishes | 6,912 dz. hands | 43,200 | 36,000 | 18,000 |
| Onions | 500,000 bushels | 398,000 | 400,000 | 9,600 |
| Ditto (Spring) | 36,000 dz. bun. | 10,800 | 21,600 | 21,600 |
| Cucumbers | 2,160 bushels | 10,800 | 24,000 | 12,000 |
| Herbs | 7,200 dz. bun. | 9,600 | 9,400 | 7,800 |
| Description of Fruits and Vegetables. | Portman. | Total. | Costermongers. |
|---|---|---|---|
| GREEN FRUIT. | |||
| Apples | 16,000 | 686,000 | One-half. |
| Pears | 10,000 | 353,000 | One-half. |
| Cherries | 11,200 | 173,200 | One-half. |
| Plums[3] | 20,000 | 176,500 | One-fifteenth. |
| Green Gages[3] | 500 | 5,333 | One-fiftieth. |
| Damsons[3] | 1,200 | 37,650 | One-thirtieth. |
| Bullace | 540 | 4,900 | One-half. |
| Gooseberries | 7,000 | 276,700 | Three-fourths. |
| Currants (Red)[3] | 9,000 | 175,000 | One-half. |
| Ditto (Black) | 4,000 | 112,000 | One-eighth. |
| Ditto (White) | 2,000 | 26,800 | One-eighth. |
| Strawberries[4] | 148,500 | 1,527,500 | One-half. |
| Raspberries | 3,000 | 35,250 | One-twentieth. |
| Mulberries | 22,500 | 121,940 | One-fourth. |
| Hazel Nuts | 270 | 9,018 | Two-thirds. |
| Filberts | 37,800 | 518,400 | One-thirtieth. |
| VEGETABLES. | |||
| Potatoes | 12,096,000 | 310,464,000 | One-fifteenth. |
| Cabbages[5] | 16,472,000 | 89,672,000 | One-third. |
| Brocoli and Cauliflowers | 546,000 | 14,326,000 | One-twentieth. |
| Turnips | 748,000 | 32,648,000 | One-tenth. |
| Turnip Tops | 200,000 | 1,850,000 | One-third. |
| Carrots | 546,000 | 18,017,000 | One-thirtieth. |
| Peas | 4,000 | 438,000 | One-half. |
| Beans | 1,000 | 133,400 | One-fifteenth. |
| French Beans | 9,600 | 221,200 | One-tenth. |
| Vegetab. Marrows | 1,800 | 19,872 | One-third. |
| Asparagus | 1,440 | 19,560 | One-fortieth. |
| Celery | 6,000 | 34,800 | One-eighth. |
| Rhubarb | 4,800 | 91,200 | One-tenth. |
| Lettuces | 475,200 | 4,492,800 | One-eighth. |
| Radishes | 28,800 | 132,912 | One-tenth. |
| Onions | 182,000 | 1,489,600 | One-third. |
| Ditto (Spring) | 14,400 | 104,400 | One-fourth. |
| Cucumbers | 38,400 | 87,360 | One-eighth. |
| Herbs | 3,900 | 37,900 | One-tenth. |
The various proportions of the several kinds of fruit and vegetables sold by the costermongers are here calculated for all the markets, from returns which have been obtained from each market separately. To avoid unnecessary detail, however, these several items are lumped together, and the aggregate proportion above given.