By more elaborate operations on the coal-tar product, a number of other essences and bouquets of curiously imitative character are produced. One of the most familiar of these is the essence of jargonelle pears, which flavours the ‘pear drops’ of the confectioner so cunningly; another is raspberry flavour, by the aid of which a mixture of fig-seeds and apple-pulp, duly coloured, may be converted into a raspberry jam that would deceive our Prime Minister. I do not say that it now is so used (though I believe it has been), for the simple reason that wholesale jam-makers now grow their own fruit so cheaply that the genuine article costs no more than the sham. Raspberries can be grown and gathered at a cost of about twopence per pound. With wine at 60_s._ to 100_s._ per dozen the case is different. The price leaves an ample margin for the conversion of ‘Italian reds,’ Catalans, and other sound ordinary wines into any fancy brands that may happen to be in fashion. Such being the case, the mere fact that certain emperors or potentates have bought up the whole produce of the château that is named on the labels does not interfere with the market supply, which is strictly regulated by the demand.[20] Visiting a friend in the trade, he offered me a glass of the wine that he drank himself when at home, and supplied to his own family. He asked my opinion of it. I replied that I thought it was genuine grape-juice, resembling that which I had been accustomed to drink at country inns in the Côte d’Or (Burgundy) and in Italy. He told me that he imported it directly from a district near to that I first named, and could supply it at 12_s._ per dozen with a fair profit. Afterwards, when calling at his place of business in the West-end, he told me that one of his best customers had just been tasting the various samples of dinner claret then remaining on the table, some of them expensive, and that he had chosen the same as I had, but what was my friend to do? Had he quoted 12_s._ per dozen, he would have lost one of his best customers, and sacrificed his reputation as a high-class wine-merchant; therefore he quoted 54_s._, and both buyer and seller were perfectly satisfied: the wine-merchant made a large profit, and the customer obtained what he demanded—a good wine at a ‘respectable price.’ He could not insult his friends by putting cheap 12_s._ trash on _his_ table. Here arises an ethical question. Was the wine-merchant justified in making this charge under the circumstances; or, otherwise stated, who was to blame for the crookedness of the transaction? I say the customer; my verdict is, ‘Sarve him right!’