Gross Value of the Fruit and Vegetables Sold Annually in the London Streets

To complete the present account of the costermonger’s trade, we must now estimate the money value of the fruit and vegetables disposed of by them throughout the year. The money annually spent in fish by the humbler portion of the metropolitan population comes to, as we have seen, very nearly one million five hundred thousand pounds sterling—the sum laid out in fruit and vegetables we shall find is but little more than a third of this amount.

Green Fruit.

377,500 bushels of apples, at six a penny or 4s. per bush. (288 to the bushel) £75,500

193,700 bushels of pears, at 5s. per bushel 48,400

1,215,360 lbs. of cherries, at 2d. per lb. 10,000

11,700 bushels of plums, at 1d. per half pint 6,240

100 bushels of greengages, at 1½d. per half pint 80

548 bushels of damsons, at 1½d. per half pint 430

2,450 bushels of bullace, at 1½d. per half pint 1,950

207,500 bushels of gooseberries, at 3d. per quart 83,000

85,500 sieves of red currants, at 1d. per pint (three half-sieves to the bushel) 15,200

13,500 sieves of black currants, at 1d. per pint (three half-sieves to the bushel) 2,400

3,000 sieves of white currants, at 1d. per pint (three half-sieves to the bushel) 530

763,750 pottles of strawberries, at 2d. per pottle 6,360

1,760 pottles of raspberries, at 6d. per pottle 40

30,485 pottles of mulberries, at 6d. per pottle 760

6,000 bushels of hazel nuts, at ¾d. per half pint 2,400

17,280 lbs. of filberts, at 3d. per lb. 200

26,563 lbs. of grapes, at 4d. per lb. 440

20,000 pine apples, at 6d. each 500

15,400,000 oranges, at two for 1d. 32,000

154,000 lemons, at two for 1d. 320

24,000 bushels of Spanish and Barcelona nuts, at 6d. per quart 19,200

3,000 bushels of Brazil nuts (1500 to the bushel), at fifteen for 1d. £1,250

6,500 bushels of chestnuts (1500 to the bushel), at fifteen for 1d. 2,700

24,000 bushels of walnuts (1750 to the bushel), at ten for 1d. 17,500

400,000 coker-nuts, at 3d. each 5,000

Total expended yearly in green fruit £332,400

Dry Fruit.

7,000 lbs. of shell almonds, at 20 a penny (320 to the lb.) £460

37,800 lbs. of raisins, at 2d. per lb. 300

24,300 lbs. of figs, at 2d. per lb. 200

4,800 lbs. of prunes, at 2d. per lb. 40

Total expended yearly on dry fruit £1,000

Vegetables.

60,500,000 lbs. of potatoes, at 5lbs. for 2d. £100,800

23,760,000 cabbages, at ½d. each 49,500

3,264,800 turnips, at 1½d. per doz. 1,700

601,000 carrots, at 2½d. per doz. 520

567,300 brocoli and cauliflowers, at 1d. per head 2,360

616,666 junks of turnip tops, at 4d. per junk 10,270

219,000 bushels of peas, at 1s. 6d. per bushel 16,420

8,890 bushels of beans, at 1s. 6d. per bushel 660

22,110 bushels of French beans, at 6d. per peck, or 2s. per bushel 2,210

25,608 vegetable marrows, at ½d. each 50

489 dozen bundles of asparagus, at 2s. 6d. per bundle (4d. or 6d. a doz. heads) 730

9,120 dozen bundles of rhubarb, at 2s. 6d. per doz. 1,140

4,350 dozen bundles of celery, at 3d. per bundle 650

561,602 lettuces, at 3 a penny 780

13,291 dozen hands of radishes, at 3 bunches for 1d., and 6 bunches to the hand 1,330

499,530 bushels of onions, at 4s. per bushel 99,900

10,920 bushels of cucumbers, at 1d. each (60 to the bush.) 2,730

3,290 dozen bundles of herbs, at 3d. a bundle 490

Total expended yearly in vegetables £292,240

Putting the above sums together we have the following aggregate result:—

Expended yearly in green fruit £332,400

Expended yearly in dry fruit 1,000

Expended yearly in vegetables 292,240

Gross sum taken annually by the London costermongers for fruit and vegetables £625,640

Then adding the above to the gross amount received by the street-sellers of fish, which we have before seen comes to as much as £1,460,850, we have for the annual income of the London costermongers no less a sum than £2,086,490.