text:  Though Smyrna's _fig_ is eaten throughout Europe and Roman _brocoli_ be without a rival; though the _cherry_ and the Japan _medlar_ flourish only at Palermo and the _cactus_ of Catania can be eaten nowhere else; what country town in England is not better off on the whole if quality alone be considered? But we have one terrible drawback; for _whom_ are these fruits of the earth produced? Our _prices_ are enormous and our supply scanty; could we _forget this_ and the artichoke the asparagus the peas and beans of London and Paris are rarely elsewhere so fine