At Toddington, in Gloucestershire, there has been going on for a few
years the cultivation of fruit on a very large scale; a fruit-farm of
five hundred acres having been planted by Lord Sudeley, and which, we
are glad to know, has proved so successful, that its area is about
to be enlarged to the extent of other two hundred acres. An enormous
number of fruit-trees of many kinds has been planted, along with
thousands of currant-bushes, whilst upwards of a hundred acres of the
land are devoted to the growth of strawberries. A noteworthy feature
of the scheme consists of a market being found for the smaller fruits
on the ground on which they have been grown. In other words, Lord
Sudeley has, with great foresight, erected a suite of boiling-houses
and packing-rooms, which have been let to an enterprising person,
who manufactures genuine jams and jellies from the fruit grown at
Toddington. In fruit-preserving, the English and Scotch boilers—and
the latter class have largely increased during the last few years—have
a great advantage over their brethren of the continent and the United
States, because of the greater cheapness of the sugar, which is
required in large quantities. It is to be hoped that the example set
by Lord Sudeley will be speedily followed by some of his territorial
brethren. As a nation, we could manage to consume much more fruit than
we do at present, if we could obtain it at a moderate price. In the
orchards at Toddington have been planted as many as thirty-two thousand
plum-trees, nine thousand damson trees, and three thousand nine hundred
pear and apple trees, while there are no fewer than two hundred and
twenty-eight thousand black-currant bushes.