+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
| Year. | Acres. | Year. | Acres. | Year. | Acres. |
+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
| 1890 | 46,234 | 1894 | 68,415 | 1898 | 69,753 |
| 1891 | 58,704 | 1895 | 74,547 | 1899 | 71,526 |
| 1892 | 62,148 | 1896 | 76,245 | 1900 | 73,780 |
| 1893 | 65,487 | 1897 | 69,792 | 1901 | 74,999 |
+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+
TABLE IV.--_Areas under Small Fruit in England, Wales and
Scotland--Acres._
+-------+----------+--------+-----------+----------------+
| Year. | England. | Wales. | Scotland. | Great Britain. |
+-------+----------+--------+-----------+----------------+
| 1898 | 63,438 | 1044 | 5271 | 69,753 |
| 1899 | 64,867 | 1106 | 5553 | 71,526 |
| 1900 | 66,749 | 1109 | 5922 | 73,780 |
| 1901 | 67,828 | 1092 | 6079 | 74,999 |
| 1908 | 75,750 | 1200 | 7930 | 84,880 |
+-------+----------+--------+-----------+----------------+
There has undoubtedly been a considerable expansion, rather than a
contraction, of small fruit plantations since 1896. The acreage of small
fruit in Great Britain is about one-third that of the orchards. As may
be seen in Table IV., it is mainly confined to England, though Scotland
has over 4000 more acres of small fruit than of orchards. About
one-third of the area of small fruit in England belongs to Kent alone,
that county having returned 24,137 acres in 1908. Cambridge now ranks
next with 6878 acres, followed by Norfolk with 5876 acres,
Worcestershire with 4852 acres, Middlesex with 4163 acres, Hants with
3320 acres and Essex with 2150 acres. It should be remarked that between
1900 and 1908 Cambridgeshire had almost doubled its area of small
fruits, from 3740 to 6878 acres; whilst both Norfolk and Worcestershire
in 1908 had larger areas devoted to small fruits than Middlesex--in
which county there had been a decrease of about 400 acres during the
same period. The largest county area of small fruit in Wales is 806
acres in Denbighshire, and in Scotland 2791 acres in Perthshire, 2259
acres in Lanarkshire, followed by 412 acres in Forfarshire. The only
counties in Great Britain which make no return under the head of small
fruit are Orkney and Shetland; and Sutherland only gives 2-1/2 acres. It
is hardly necessary to say that considerable areas of small fruit, in
kitchen gardens and elsewhere, find no place in the official returns,
which, however, include small fruit grown between and under orchard
trees.
Gooseberries are largely grown in most small fruit districts. Currants
are less widely cultivated, but the red currant is more extensively
grown than the black, the latter having suffered seriously from the
ravages of the black currant mite. Kent is the great centre for
raspberries and for strawberries, though, in addition, the latter fruit
is largely grown in Cambridgeshire (2411 acres), Hampshire (2327 acres),
Norfolk (2067 acres) and Worcestershire (1273 acres). Essex,
Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Cornwall and Middlesex each has more than 500
acres devoted to strawberry cultivation.
The following statement from returns for 1908 shows the area under
different kinds of fruit in 1907 and 1908 in Great Britain, and also
whether there had been an increase or decrease:
+-----------------+---------+---------+-------------+
| | 1907. | 1908. | Increase or |
| | | | Decrease. |
+-----------------+---------+---------+-------------+
| | Acres. | Acres. | Acres. |
| Small Fruit-- | | | |
| Strawberries | 27,827 | 28,815 | + 988 |
| Raspberries | 8,878 | 9,323 | + 445 |
| Currants and | | | |
| Gooseberries | 25,590 | 26,241 | + 651 |
| Other kinds | 19,880 | 20,501 | + 621 |
| +---------+---------+-------------+
| | 82,175 | 84,880 | +2705 |
| +---------+---------+-------------+
| Orchards-- | | | |
| Apples | 172,643 | 172,751 | + 108 |
| Pears | 8,911 | 9,604 | + 693 |
| Cherries | 12,027 | 11,868 | - 159 |
| Plums | 14,901 | 15,683 | + 782 |
| Other kinds | 41,694 | 40,391 | -1303 |
| +---------+---------+-------------+
| | 250,176 | 250,297 | + 121 |
+-----------------+---------+---------+-------------+
It appears from the Board of Agriculture returns that 27,433 acres of
small fruit was grown in orchards, so that the total extent of land
under fruit cultivation in Great Britain at the end of 1908 was about
308,000 acres.
There are no official returns as to the acreage devoted to orchard
cultivation in Ireland. The figures relating to small fruit, moreover,
extend back only to 1899, when the area under this head was returned as
4809 acres, which became 4359 acres in 1900 and 4877 acres in 1901. In
most parts of the country there are districts favourable to the culture
of small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and
currants, and of top fruits, such as apples, pears, plums and damsons.
The only localities largely identified with fruit culture as an industry
are the Drogheda district and the Armagh district. In the former all the
kinds named are grown except strawberries, the speciality being
raspberries, which are marketed in Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool. In the
Armagh district, again, all the kinds named are grown, but in this case
strawberries are the speciality, the markets utilized being Richhill,
Belfast, and those in Scotland. In the Drogheda district the grower
bears the cost of picking, packing and shipping, but he cannot estimate
his net returns until his fruit is on the market. Around Armagh the
Scottish system prevails--that is, the fruit is sold while growing, the
buyer being responsible for the picking and marketing.
The amount of fruit imported into the United Kingdom has such an
important bearing on the possibilities of the industry that the
following figures also may be useful:
The quantities of apples, pears, plums, cherries and grapes imported
in the raw condition into the United Kingdom in each year, 1892 to
1901, are shown in Table V. Previous to 1892 apples only were
separately enumerated. Up to 1899 inclusive the quantities were given
in bushels, but in 1900 a change was made to hundred-weights. This
renders the quantities in that and subsequent years not directly
comparable with those in earlier years, but the comparison of the
values, which are also given in the table, continues to hold good. The
figures for 1908 have been added to show the increase that had taken
place. In some years the value of imported apples exceeds the
aggregate value of the pears, plums, cherries and grapes imported. The
extreme values for apples shown in the table are L844,000 in 1893 and
L2,079,000 in 1908. Grapes rank next to apples in point of value, and
over the seventeen years the amount ranged between L394,000 in 1892
and L728,000 in 1908. On the average, the annual outlay on imported
pears is slightly in excess of that on plums. The extremes shown are
L167,000 in 1895 and L515,000 in 1908. In the case of plums, the
smallest outlay tabulated is L166,000 in 1895, whilst the largest is
L498,000 in 1897. The amounts expended upon imported cherries varied
between L96,000 in 1895 and L308,000 in 1900. In 1900 apricots and
peaches, imported raw, previously included with raw plums, were for
the first time separately enumerated, the import into the United
Kingdom for that year amounting to 13,689 cwt., valued at L25,846; in
1901 the quantity was 13,463 cwt. and the value L32,350. The latter
rose in 1908 to L60,000. In 1900, also, currants, gooseberries and
strawberries, hitherto included in unenumerated raw fruit, were
likewise for the first time separately returned. Of raw currants the
import was 64,462 cwt., valued at L87,170 (1908, L121,850); of raw
gooseberries 26,045 cwt., valued at L14,626 (1908, L25,520); and of
raw strawberries, 52,225 cwt., valued at L85,949. In 1907 only 44,000
cwt. of strawberries were imported. In 1901 the quantities and values
were respectively--currants, 70,402 cwt., L75,308; gooseberries,
21,735 cwt., L11,420; strawberries, 38,604 cwt., L51,290. Up to 1899
the imports of tomatoes were included amongst unenumerated raw
vegetables, so that the quantity was not separately ascertainable. For
1900 the import of tomatoes was 833,032 cwt., valued at L792,339,
which is equivalent to a fraction under 2-1/2d. per lb. For 1901 the
quantity was 793,991 cwt., and the value L734,051; for 1906, there
were 1,124,700 cwt., valued at L953,475; for 1907, 1,135,499 cwt.,
valued at L1,020,805; and for 1908, 1,160,283 cwt., valued at
L955,983.
TABLE V.--_Imports of Raw Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries and Grapes
into the United Kingdom, 1892 to 1901. Quantities in Thousands of
Bushels (thousands of cwt. in 1900 and 1901). Values in Thousands of
Pounds Sterling._
+------+-------------------------------------------------+
| | Quantities. |
| Year.+---------+--------+--------+-----------+---------+
| | Apples. | Pears. | Plums. | Cherries. | Grapes. |
+------+---------+--------+--------+-----------+---------+
| 1892 | 4515 | 637 | 413 | 217 | 762 |
| 1893 | 3460 | 915 | 777 | 346 | 979 |
| 1894 | 4969 | 1310 | 777 | 311 | 833 |
| 1895 | 3292 | 407 | 401 | 196 | 865 |
| 1896 | 6177 | 483 | 560 | 219 | 883 |
| 1897 | 4200 | 1052 | 1044 | 312 | 994 |
| 1898 | 3459 | 492 | 922 | 402 | 1136 |
| 1899 | 3861 | 572 | 558 | 281 | 1158 |
| 1900 | 2129* | 477* | 423* | 243* | 593* |
| 1901 | 1830* | 349* | 264* | 213* | 680* |
+------+---------+--------+--------+-----------+---------+
| Values. |
+------+---------+--------+--------+-----------+---------+
| 1892 | 1354 | 297 | 200 | 135 | 394 |
| 1893 | 844 | 347 | 332 | 195 | 530 |
| 1894 | 1389 | 411 | 302 | 167 | 470 |
| 1895 | 960 | 167 | 166 | 96 | 487 |
| 1896 | 1582 | 207 | 242 | 106 | 443 |
| 1897 | 1187 | 378 | 498 | 178 | 495 |
| 1898 | 1108 | 222 | 435 | 231 | 550 |
| 1899 | 1186 | 266 | 294 | 154 | 588 |
| 1900 | 1225 | 367 | 393 | 308 | 595 |
| 1901 | 1183 | 296 | 244 | 214 | 695 |
| 1908 | 2079 | 515 | 428 | 235 | 728 |
+------+---------+--------+--------+-----------+---------+
* Thousands of cwts.
In 1908 the outlay of the United Kingdom upon imported raw fruits,
such as can easily be produced at home, was L4,195,654, made up as
follows:
Apples L2,079,703 | Plums L428,966
Grapes 728,026 | Currants 121,852
Pears 515,914 | Apricots and peaches 60,141
Cherries 235,523 | Gooseberries 25,529
In addition about L280,000 was spent upon "unenumerated" raw fruit,
and L560,000 on nuts other than almonds "used as fruit," which would
include walnuts and filberts, both produced at home. It is certain,
therefore, that the expenditure on imported fruits, such as are grown
within the limits of the United Kingdom, exceeds four millions
sterling per annum. The remainder of the outlay on imported fruit in
1908, amounting to over L5,000,000, was made up of L2,269,651 for
oranges, L471,713 for lemons, L1,769,249 for bananas, and L560,301 for
almond-nuts; these cannot be grown on an industrial scale in the
British Isles.
It may be interesting to note the source of some of these imported
fruits. The United States and Canada send most of the apples, the
quantity for 1907 being 1,413,000 cwt. and 1,588,000 cwt.
respectively, while Australia contributes 280,000 cwt. Plums come
chiefly from France (200,000 cwt.), followed with 38,000 cwt. from
Germany and 28,000 cwt. from the Netherlands. Pears are imported
chiefly from France (204,000 cwt.) and Belgium (176,000); but the
Netherlands send 52,000 cwt., and the United States 24,000 cwt. The
great bulk of imported tomatoes comes from the Canary Islands, the
quantity in 1907 being 604,692 cwt. The Channel Islands also sent
223,800 cwt., France 115,500 cwt., Spain 169,000 cwt., and Portugal a
long way behind with 11,700 cwt. Most of the strawberries imported
come from France (33,800 cwt.) and the Netherlands (10,300 cwt.).
_Fruit-growing in Kent._--Kent is by far the largest fruit-growing
county in England. For centuries that county has been famous for its
fruit, and appears to have been the centre for the distribution of trees
and grafts throughout the country. The cultivation of fruit land upon
farms in many parts of Kent has always been an important feature in its
agriculture. An excellent description of this noteworthy characteristic
of Kentish farming is contained in a comprehensive paper on the
agriculture of Kent by Mr Charles Whitehead,[1] whose remarks, with
various additions and modifications, are here reproduced.
Where the conditions are favourable, especially in East and Mid Kent,
there is a considerable acreage of fruit land attached to each farm,
planted with cherry, apple, pear, plum and damson trees, and with bush
fruits, or soft fruits as they are sometimes called, including
gooseberries, currants, raspberries, either with or without standard
trees, and strawberries, and filberts and cob-nuts in Mid Kent. This
acreage has largely increased, and will no doubt continue to increase,
as, on the whole, fruit-growing has been profitable and has materially
benefited those fortunate enough to have fruit land on their farms.
There are also cultivators who grow nothing but fruit. These are
principally in the district of East Kent, between Rochester and
Canterbury, and in the district of Mid Kent near London, and they
manage their fruit land, as a rule, better than farmers, as they give
their undivided attention to it and have more technical knowledge. But
there has been great improvement of late in the management of fruit
land, especially of cherry and apple orchards, the grass of which is
fed off by animals having corn or cake, or the land is well manured.
Apple trees are grease-banded and sprayed systematically by advanced
fruit-growers to prevent or check the attacks of destructive insects.
Far more attention is being paid to the selection of varieties of
apples and pears having colour, size, flavour, keeping qualities, and
other attributes to meet the tastes of the public, and to compete with
the beautiful fruit that comes from the United States and Canada.
Of the various kinds of apples at present grown in Kent mention should
be made of Mr Gladstone, Beauty of Bath, Devonshire Quarrenden, Lady
Sudely, Yellow Ingestre and Worcester Pearmain. These are dessert
apples ready to pick in August and September, and are not stored. For
storing, King of the Pippins, Cox's Orange Pippin (the best dessert
apple in existence), Cox's Pomona, Duchess, Favourite, Gascoyne's
Scarlet Seedling, Court Pendu Plat, Baumann's Red Reinette, Allington
Pippin, Duke of Devonshire and Blenheim Orange. Among kitchen apples
for selling straight from the trees the most usually planted are Lord
Grosvenor, Lord Suffield, Keswick Codlin, Early Julian, Eclinville
Seedling, Pott's Seedling, Early Rivers, Grenadier, Golden Spire,
Stirling Castle and Domino. For storing, the cooking sorts favoured
now are Stone's or Loddington, Warner's King, Wellington, Lord Derby,
Queen Caroline, Tower of Glamis, Winter Queening, Lucombe's Seedling,
Bismarck, Bramley's Seedling, Golden Noble and Lane's Prince Albert.
Almost all these will flourish equally as standards, pyramids and
bushes. Among pears are Hessle, Clapp's Favourite, William's Bon
Chretien, Beurre de Capiaumont, Fertility, Beurre Riche, Chissel,
Beurre Clairgeau, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Doyenne du Comice and Vicar
of Winkfield. Among plums, Rivers's Early Prolific, Tsar, Belgian
Purple, Black Diamond, Kentish Bush Plum, Pond's Seedling, Magnum
Bonum and Victoria are mainly cultivated. The damson known as Farleigh
Prolific, or Crittenden's, is most extensively grown throughout the
county, and usually yields large crops, which make good prices. As a
case in point, purchasers were offering to contract for quantities of
this damson at L20 per ton in May of 1899, as the prospects of the
yield were unsatisfactory. On the other hand, in one year recently
when the crop was abnormally abundant, some of the fruit barely paid
the expenses of sending to market. The varieties of cherries most
frequently grown are Governor Wood, Knight's Early Black, Frogmore
Blackheart, Black Eagle, Waterloo, Amberheart, Bigarreau, Napoleon
Bigarreau and Turk. A variety of cherry known as the Kentish cherry,
of a light red colour and fine subacid flavour, is much grown in Kent
for drying and cooking purposes. Another cherry, similar in colour and
quality, which comes rather late, known as the Flemish, is also
extensively cultivated, as well as the very dark red large Morello,
used for making cherry brandy. These three varieties are grown
extensively as pyramids, and the last-named also on walls and sides of
buildings. Sometimes the cherry crop is sold by auction to dealers,
who pick, pack and consign the fruit to market. Large prices are often
made, as much as L80 per acre being not uncommon. The crop on a large
cherry orchard in Mid Kent has been sold for more than L100 per acre.
Where old standard trees have been long neglected and have become
overgrown by mosses and lichens, the attempts made to improve them
seldom succeed. The introduction of bush fruit trees dwarfed by
grafting on the Paradise stock has been of much advantage to fruit
cultivators, as they come into bearing in two or three years, and are
more easily cultivated, pruned, sprayed and picked than standards.
Many plantations of these bush trees have been formed in Kent of
apples, pears and plums. Half standards and pyramids have also been
planted of these fruits, as well as of cherries. Bushes of
gooseberries and currants, and clumps or stools of raspberry canes,
have been planted to a great extent in many parts of the East and Mid
divisions of Kent, but not much in the Weald, where apples are
principally grown. Sometimes fruit bushes are put in alternate rows
with bush of standard trees of apple, pear, plum or damson, or they
are planted by themselves. The distances apart for planting are
generally for cherry and apple trees on grass 30 ft. by 30 ft.; for
standard apples and pear trees from 20 ft. to 24 ft. upon arable land,
with bush fruit, as gooseberries and currants, under them. These are
set 6 ft. by 6 ft. apart, and 5 ft. by 2 ft. for raspberries, and
strawberries 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. by 1 ft. 6 in. to 1 ft. 3 in. apart.
On some fruit farms bush or dwarf trees--apples, pears, plums--are
planted alone, at distances varying from 8 ft. to 10 ft. apart, giving
from 485 to 680 bush trees per acre, nothing being grown between them
except perhaps strawberries or vegetables during the first two or
three years. It is believed that this is the best way of ensuring
fruit of high quality and colour. Another arrangement consists in
putting standard apple or pear trees 30 ft. apart (48 trees per acre),
and setting bush trees of apples or pears 15 ft. apart between them;
these latter come quickly into bearing, and are removed when the
standards are fully grown. Occasionally gooseberry or currant bushes,
or raspberry canes or strawberry plants, are set between the bush
trees, and taken away directly they interfere with the growth of
these. Half standard apple or plum trees are set triangularly 15 ft.
apart, and strawberry plants at a distance of 1-1/2 ft. from plant to
plant and 2-1/2 ft. from row to row. Or currant or gooseberry bushes
are set between the half standards, and strawberry plants between
these.
These systems involve high farming. The manures used are London
manure, where hops are not grown, and bone meal, super-phosphate,
rags, shoddy, wool-waste, fish refuse, nitrate of soda, kainit and
sulphate of ammonia. Where hops are grown the London manure is wanted
for them. Fruit plantations are always dug by hand with the Kent spud.
Fruit land is never ploughed, as in the United States and Canada. The
soil is levelled down with the "Canterbury" hoe, and then the
plantations are kept free from weeds with the ordinary draw or "plate"
hoe. The best fruit farmers spray fruit trees regularly in the early
spring, and continue until the blossoms come out, with quassia and
soft soap and paraffin emulsions, and a very few with Paris green
only, where there is no under fruit, in order to prevent and check the
constant attacks of the various caterpillars and other insect pests.
This is a costly and laborious process, but it pays well, as a rule.
The fallacy that fruit trees on grass land require no manure, and that
the grass may be allowed to grow up to their trunks without any harm,
is exploding, and many fruit farmers are well manuring their grass
orchards and removing the grass for some distance round the stems,
particularly where the trees are young.
Strawberries are produced in enormous quantities in the northern part
of the Mid Kent district round the Crays, and from thence to
Orpington; also near Sandwich, and to some extent near Maidstone.
Raspberry canes have been extensively put in during the last few
years, and in some seasons yield good profits. There is a very great
and growing demand for all soft fruits for jam-making, and prices are
fairly good, taking an average of years, notwithstanding the heavy
importations from France, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Italy. The
extraordinary increase in the national demand for jam and other fruit
preserves has been of great benefit to Kent fruit producers. The
cheapness of duty-free sugar, as compared with sugar paying duty in
the United States and other large fruit-producing countries, afforded
one of the very few advantages possessed by British cultivators, but
the reimposition of the sugar duty in the United Kingdom in 1901 has
modified the position in this respect. Jam factories were established
in several parts of Kent about 1889 or 1890, but most of them
collapsed either from want of capital or from bad management. There
are still a few remaining, principally in connexion with large fruit
farms. One of these is at Swanley, whose energetic owners farm nearly
2000 acres of fruit land in Kent. The fruit grown by them that will
not make satisfactory prices in a fresh raw state is made into jam, or
if time presses it is first made into pulp, and kept until the
opportunity comes for making it into jam. In this factory there are
fifteen steam-jacketed vats in one row, and six others for candied
peel. A season's output on a recent occasion comprised about 3500 tons
of jam, 850 tons of candied peel and 750 gross (108,000 bottles) of
bottled fruit. A great deal of the fruit preserved is purchased,
whilst much of that grown on the farms is sold. A strigging machine is
employed, which does as much work as fifty women in taking currants
off their strigs or stalks. Black currant pulp is stored in casks till
winter, when there is time to convert it into jam. Strawberries cannot
be pulped to advantage, but it is otherwise with raspberries, the pulp
of which is largely made. Apricots for jam are obtained chiefly from
France and Spain. There is another flourishing factory near
Sittingbourne worked on the same lines. It is very advantageous to
fruit farmers to have jam factories in connexion with their farms or
to have them near, as they can thoroughly grade their fruit, and send
only the best to market, thus ensuring a high reputation for its
quality. Carriage is saved, which is a serious charge, though railway
rates from Kent to the great manufacturing towns and to Scotland are
very much less proportionally than those to London, and consequently
Kent growers send increasing quantities to these distant markets,
where prices are better, not being so directly interfered with by
imported fruit, which generally finds its way to London.
Kentish fruit-growers are becoming more particular in picking,
grading, packing and storing fruit, as well as in marketing it. A
larger quantity of fruit is now carefully stored, and sent to selected
markets as it ripens, or when there is an ascertained demand, as it is
found that if it is consigned to market direct from the trees there
must frequently be forced sales and competition with foreign fruit
that is fully matured and in good order. It was customary formerly for
Kentish growers to consign all their fruit to the London markets; now
a good deal of it is sent to Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool,
Sheffield, Newcastle and other large cities. Some is sent even to
Edinburgh and Glasgow. Many large growers send no fruit to London now.
It is by no means uncommon for growers to sell their fruit crops on
the trees or bushes by auction or private treaty, or to contract to
supply a stipulated quantity of specified fruit, say of currants,
raspberries or strawberries, to jam manufacturers. There is a
considerable quantity of fruit, such as grapes, peaches, nectarines,
grown under glass, and this kind of culture tends to increase.
Filberts and cob-nuts are a special product of Kent, in the
neighbourhood of Maidstone principally, and upon the Ragstone soils,
certain conditions of soil and situation being essential for their
profitable production. A part of the filbert and cob-nut crop is
picked green in September, as they do well for dessert, though their
kernels are not large or firm, and it pays to sell them green, as they
weigh more heavily. One grower in Mid Kent has 100 acres of nuts, and
has grown 100 tons in a good year. The average price of late years has
been about 5d. per lb., which would make the gross return of the 100
acres amount to L4660. Kentish filberts have long been proverbial for
their excellence. Cobs are larger and look better for dessert, though
their flavour is not so fine. They are better croppers, and are now
usually planted. This cultivation is not much extending, as it is very
long before the trees come into full bearing. The London market is
supplied entirely with these nuts from Kent, and there is some demand
in America for them. Filbert and cob trees are most closely pruned.
All the year's growth is cut away except the very finest young wood,
which the trained eye of the tree-cutter sees at a glance is
blossom-bearing. The trees are kept from 5-1/2 to 7 ft. high upon
stems from 1-1/2 to 2 ft. high, and are trained so as to form a cup of
from 7 to 8 ft. in diameter.
There seems no reason to expect any decrease in the acreage of fruit
land in Kent, and if the improvement in the selection of varieties and
in the general management continues it will yet pay. A hundred years
ago every one was grubbing fruit land in order that hops might be
planted, and for this many acres of splendid cherry orchards were
sacrificed. Now the disposition is to grub hop plants and substitute
apples, plums, or small fruit or cherry trees.
_Fruit-growing in other Districts._--The large fruit plantations in
the vicinity of London are to be found mostly in the valley of the
Thames, around such centres as Brentford, Isleworth, Twickenham,
Heston, Hounslow, Cranford and Southall. All varieties of orchard
trees, but mostly apples, pears, and plums and small fruit, are grown
in these districts, the nearness of which to the metropolitan fruit
market at Covent Garden is of course an advantage. Some of the
orchards are old, and are not managed on modern principles. They
contain, moreover, varieties of fruit many of which are out of date
and would not be employed in establishing new plantations. In the
better-managed grounds the antiquated varieties have been removed, and
their places taken by newer and more approved types. In addition to
apples, pears, plums, damsons, cherries and quinces as top fruit,
currants, gooseberries and raspberries are grown as bottom fruit.
Strawberries are extensively grown in some of the localities, and in
favourable seasons outdoor tomatoes are ripened and marketed.
Fruit is extensively grown in Cambridgeshire and adjacent counties in
the east of England. A leading centre is Cottenham, where the Lower
Greensand crops out and furnishes one of the best of soils for
fruit-culture. In Cottenham about a thousand acres are devoted to
fruit, and nearly the same acreage to asparagus, which is, however,
giving place to fruit. Currants, gooseberries and strawberries are the
most largely grown, apples, plums and raspberries following. Of
varieties of plums the Victoria is first in favour, and then Rivers's
Early Prolific, Tsar and Gisborne. London is the chief market, as it
receives about half the fruit sent away, whilst a considerable
quantity goes to Manchester, and some is sent to a neighbouring jam
factory at Histon, where also a moderate acreage of fruit is grown.
Another fruit-growing centre in Cambridgeshire is at Willingham,
where--besides plums, gooseberries and raspberries--outdoor tomatoes
are a feature. Greengages are largely grown near Cambridge. Wisbech is
the centre of an extensive fruit district, situated partly in
Cambridgeshire and partly in Norfolk. Gooseberries, strawberries and
raspberries are largely grown, and as many as 80 tons of the
first-named fruit have been sent away from Wisbech station in a single
day. In the fruit-growing localities of Huntingdonshire apples, plums
and gooseberries are the most extensively grown, but pears,
greengages, cherries, currants, strawberries and raspberries are also
cultivated. As illustrating variations in price, it may be mentioned
that about the year 1880 the lowest price for gooseberries was L10 per
ton, whereas it has since been down to L4. Huntingdonshire fruit is
sent chiefly to Yorkshire, Scotland and South Wales, but railway
freights are high.
Essex affords a good example of successful fruit-farming at Tiptree
Heath, near Kelvedon, where under one management about 260 acres out
of a total of 360 are under fruit. The soil, a stiff loam, grows
strawberries to perfection, and 165 acres are allotted to this fruit.
The other principal crops are 43 acres of raspberries and 30 acres of
black currants, besides which there are small areas of red currants,
gooseberries, plums, damsons, greengages, cherries, apples, quinces
and blackberries. The variety of strawberry known as the Small Scarlet
is a speciality here, and it occupies 55 acres, as it makes the best
of jam. The Paxton, Royal Sovereign and Noble varieties are also
grown. Strawberries stand for six or seven years on this farm, and
begin to yield well when two years old. A jam factory is worked in
conjunction with the fruit farm. Pulp is not made except when there is
a glut of fruit. Perishable fruit intended for whole-fruit preserves
is never held over after it is gathered. The picking of strawberries
begins at 4 A.M., and the first lot is made into jam by 6 A.M.
Hampshire, like Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, are the only counties in
which the area of small fruit exceeds that of orchards. The returns
for 1908 show that Hampshire had 3320 acres of small fruit to 2236
acres of orchards; Cambridge had 6878 acres of small fruit to 5221 of
orchards; and Norfolk had 5876 acres of small fruit against 5188 acres
of orchards. Compared with twenty years previously, the acreage of
small fruit had trebled. This is largely due in Hampshire to the
extension of strawberry culture in the Southampton district, where the
industry is in the hands of many small growers, few of whom cultivate
more than 20 acres each. Sarisbury and Botley are the leading parishes
in which the business is carried on. Most of the strawberry holdings
are from half an acre to 5 acres in extent, a few are from 5 to 10
acres, fewer still from 10 to 20 acres and only half-a-dozen over that
limit. Runners from one-year plants are used for planting, being found
more fruitful than those from older plants. Peat-moss manure from
London stables is much used, but artificial manures are also employed
with good results. Shortly after flowering the plants are bedded down
with straw at the rate of about 25 cwt. per acre. Picking begins some
ten days earlier than in Kent, at a date between 1st June and 15th
June. The first week's gathering is sent mostly to London, but
subsequently the greater part of the fruit goes to the Midlands and to
Scotland and Ireland.
In recent years fruit-growing has much increased in South
Worcestershire, in the vicinity of Evesham and Pershore. Hand-lights
are freely used in the market gardens of this district for the
protection of cucumbers and vegetable marrows, besides which tomatoes
are extensively grown out of doors. At one time the egg plum and the
Worcester damson were the chief fruit crops, apples and cherries
ranking next, pears being grown to only a moderate extent. According
to the 1908 returns, however, apples come first, plums second, pears
third and cherries fourth. In a prolific season a single tree of the
Damascene or Worcester damson will yield from 400 to 500 lb. of
fruit. There is a tendency to grow plum trees in the bush shape, as
they are less liable than standards to injury from wind. The manures
used include soot, fish guano, blood manure and phosphates--basic slag
amongst the last-named. In the Pershore district, where there is a jam
factory, plums are the chief tree fruit, whilst most of the orchard
apples and pears are grown for cider and perry. Gooseberries are a
feature, as are also strawberries, red and black currants and a few
white, but raspberries are little grown. The soil, a strong or medium
loam of fair depth, resting on clay, is so well adapted to plums that
trees live for fifty years. In order to check the ravages of the
winter moth, plum and apple trees are grease-banded at the beginning
of October and again at the end of March. The trees are also sprayed
when necessary with insecticidal solutions. Pruning is done in the
autumn. An approved distance apart at which to grow plum trees is 12
ft. by 12 ft. In the Earl of Coventry's fruit plantation, 40 acres in
extent, at Croome Court, plums and apples are planted alternately, the
bottom fruit being black currants, which are less liable to injury
from birds than are red currants or gooseberries. Details concerning
the methods of cultivation of fruit and flowers in various parts of
England, the varieties commonly grown, the expenditure involved, and
allied matters, will be found in Mr W.E. Bear's papers in the _Journal
of the Royal Agricultural Society_ in 1898 and 1899.
Apart altogether from market gardening and commercial fruit-growing,
it must be borne in mind that an enormous business is done in the
raising of young fruit-trees every year. Hundreds of thousands of
apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines and apricots are
budded or grafted each year on suitable stocks. They are trained in
various ways, and are usually fit for sale the third year. These young
trees replace old ones in private and commercial gardens, and are also
used to establish new plantations in different parts of the kingdom.
_The Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm._--The establishment in 1894 of
the experimental fruit farm at Ridgmont, near Woburn, Beds, has
exercised a healthy influence upon the progress and development of
fruit-farming in England. The farm was founded and carried on by the
public-spirited enterprise of the Duke of Bedford and Mr Spencer U.
Pickering, the latter acting as director. The main object of the
experimental station was "to ascertain facts relative to the culture
of fruit, and to increase our knowledge of, and to improve our
practice in, this industry." The farm is 20 acres in extent, and
occupies a field which up to June 1894 had been used as arable land
for the ordinary rotation of farm crops. The soil is a sandy loam 9 or
10 in. deep, resting on a bed of Oxford Clay. Although it contains a
large proportion of sand, the land would generally be termed very
heavy, and the water often used to stand on it in places for weeks
together in a wet season. The tillage to which the ground was
subjected for the purposes of the fruit farm much improved its
character, and in dry weather it presents as good a tilth as could be
desired. Chemical analyses of the soil from different parts of the
field show such wide differences that it is admitted to be by no means
an ideal one for experimental purposes. Without entering upon further
details, it may be useful to give a summary of the chief results
obtained.
Apples have been grown and treated in a variety of ways, but of the
different methods of treatment careless planting, coupled with
subsequent neglect, has given the most adverse results, the crop of
fruit being not 5% of that from trees grown normally. Of the separate
deleterious items constituting total neglect, by far the most
effective was the growth of weeds on the surface; careless planting,
absence of manure, and the omission of trenching all had comparatively
little influence on the results. A set of trees that had been
carelessly planted and neglected, but subsequently tended in the early
part of 1896, were in the autumn of that year only 10% behind their
normally-treated neighbours, thus demonstrating that the response to
proper attention is prompt. The growth of grass around young apple
trees produced a very striking effect, the injury being much greater
than that due to weeds. It is possible, however, that in wet years the
ill-effects of both grass and weeds would be less than in dry seasons.
Nevertheless, the grass-grown trees, after five years, were scarcely
bigger than when planted, and the actual increase in weight which they
showed during that time was about eighteen times smaller than in the
case of similar trees in tilled ground. It is believed that one of the
main causes of the ill-effects is the large increase in the
evaporation of water from the soil which is known to be produced by
grass, the trees being thereby made to suffer from drought, with
constant deprivation of other nourishment as well. That grass growing
round young apple trees is deleterious was a circumstance known to
many horticulturists, but the extent to which it interferes with the
development of the trees had never before been realized. Thousands of
pounds are annually thrown away in England through want of knowledge
of this fact. Yet trees will flourish in grass under certain
conditions. Whether the dominant factor is the age (or size) of the
tree has been investigated by grassing over trees which have hitherto
been in the open ground, and the results appear to indicate that the
grass is as deleterious to the older trees as it was to the younger
ones. Again, it appears to have been demonstrated that young apple
trees, at all events in certain soils, require but little or no manure
in the early stages of their existence, so that in this case also
large sums must be annually wasted upon manurial dressings which
produce no effects. The experiments have dealt with dwarf trees of
Bramley, Cox and Potts, six trees of each variety constituting one
investigation. Some of the experiments were repeated with Stirling
Castle, and others with standard trees of Bramley, Cox and Lane's
Prince Albert. All were planted in 1894-1895, the dwarfs being then
three years old and the standards four. In each experiment the
"normal" treatment is altered in some one particular, this normal
treatment consisting of planting the trees carefully in trenched
ground, and subsequently keeping the surface clean; cutting back after
planting, pruning moderately in autumn, and shortening the growths
when it appeared necessary in summer; giving in autumn a dressing of
mixed mineral manures, and in February one of nitrate of soda, this
dressing being probably equivalent to one of 12 tons of dung per acre.
In the experiments on branch treatment, the bad effects of omitting to
cut the trees back on planting, or to prune them subsequently, is
evident chiefly in the straggling and bad shape of the resulting
trees, but such trees also are not so vigorous as they should be. The
quantity of fruit borne, however, is in excess of the average. The
check on the vigour and growth of a tree by cutting or injuring its
roots is in marked contrast with the effects of a similar interference
with the branches. Trees which had been root-pruned each year were in
1898 little more than half as big as the normal trees, whilst those
root-pruned every second year were about two-thirds as big as the
normal. The crops borne by these trees were nevertheless heavy in
proportion to the size of the trees. Such frequent root-pruning is
not, of course, a practice which should be adopted. It was found that
trees which had been carefully lifted every other year and replanted
at once experienced no ill-effects from the operation; but in a case
where the trees after being lifted had been left in a shed for three
days before replanting--which would reproduce to a certain extent the
conditions experienced when trees are sent out from a
nursery--material injury was suffered, these trees after four years
being 28% smaller than similar ones which had not been replanted. Sets
of trees planted respectively in November, January and March have, on
the whole, shown nothing in favour of any of these different times for
planting purposes. Some doubt is thrown on the accepted view that
there is a tendency, at any rate with young apple and pear trees, to
fruit in alternate seasons.
Strawberries of eighty-five different varieties have been experimented
with, each variety being represented in 1900 by plants of five
different ages, from one to five years. In 1896 and 1898 the crops of
fruit were about twice as heavy as in 1897 and 1899, but it has not
been found possible to correlate these variations with the
meteorological records of the several seasons. Taking the average of
all the varieties, the relative weights of crop per plant, when these
are compared with the two-year-old plants in the same season, are, for
the five ages of one to five years, 31, 100, 122, 121 and 134,
apparently showing that the bearing power increases rapidly up to two
years, less rapidly up to three years, after which age it remains
practically constant. The relative average size of the berries shows a
deterioration with the age of the plant. The comparative sizes from
plants of one to five years old were 115, 100, 96, 91 and 82
respectively. If the money value of the crop is taken to be directly
dependent on its total weight, and also on the size of the fruits, the
relative values of the crop for the different ages would be 34, 100,
117, 111 and 110, so that, on the Ridgmont ground, strawberry plants
could be profitably retained up to five years and probably longer. As
regards what may be termed the order of merit of different varieties
of strawberries, it appears that even small differences in position
and treatment cause large variations, not only in the features of the
crop generally, but also in the relative behaviour of the different
varieties. The relative cropping power of the varieties under
apparently similar conditions may often be expressed by a number five
or tenfold as great in one case as in the other. A comparison of the
relative behaviour of the same varieties in different seasons is
attended by similar variations. The varying sensitiveness of different
varieties of strawberry plants to small and undefinable differences in
circumstances is indeed one of the most important facts brought to
light in the experiments.
_Fruit Culture in Ireland._--The following figures have been kindly
supplied by the Irish Board of Agriculture, and deal with the acreage
under fruit culture in Ireland up to the end of the year 1907.
1. _Orchard Fruit_-- Statute Acres.
Apples 5829
Pears 224
Plums 223
Damsons 138
Other kinds 129
----
Total 6543
2. _Small Fruit_--
Currants, black 234
Currants, red and white 159
Gooseberries 675
Raspberries 374
Strawberries 994
Mixed fruit 2470
----
Total 4906
It therefore appears that while Ireland grows only about
one-thirty-third the quantity of apples that England does, it is
nevertheless nearly 5000 acres ahead of Scotland and about 2000 acres
ahead of Wales. It grows 41 times fewer pears than England, but still
is ahead of Scotland and a long way ahead of Wales in this fruit.
There are 70 times fewer plums grown in Ireland than in England, and
about the same in Scotland, while Wales does very little indeed. In
small fruit Ireland is a long way behind Scotland in the culture of
strawberries and raspberries, although with currants and gooseberries
it is very close. Considering the climate, and the fact that there
are, according to the latest available returns, over 62,000 holdings
above 1 acre but not exceeding 5 acres (having a total of 224,000
acres), it is possible fruit culture may become more prevalent than it
has been in the past.
_The Flower-growing Industry._--During the last two or three decades of
the 19th century a very marked increase in flower production occurred in
England. Notably was this the case in the neighbourhood of London,
where, within a radius of 15 or 20 m., the fruit crops, which had
largely taken the place of garden vegetables, were themselves ousted in
turn to satisfy the increasing demand for land for flower cultivation.
No flower has entered more largely into the development of the industry
than the narcissus or daffodil, of which there are now some 600
varieties. Comparatively few of these, however, are grown for market
purposes, although all are charming from the amateur point of view. On
some flower farms a dozen or more acres are devoted to narcissi alone,
the production of bulbs for sale as well as of flowers for market being
the object of the growers.
In the London district the country in the Thames valley west of the
metropolis is as largely occupied by flower farms as it is by fruit
farms--in fact, the cultivation of flowers is commonly associated with
that of fruit. In the vicinity of Richmond narcissi are extensively
grown, as they also are more to the west in the Long Ditton district,
and likewise around Twickenham, Isleworth, Hounslow, Feltham and
Hampton. Roses come more into evidence in the neighbourhood of Hounslow,
Cranford, Hillingdon and Uxbridge, and in some gardens daffodils and
roses occupy alternate rows. In this district also such flowers as
herbaceous paeonies, Spanish irises, German irises, Christmas roses,
lilies of the valley, chrysanthemums, foxgloves, hollyhocks,
wallflowers, carnations, &c., are extensively grown in many market
gardens. South of London is the Mitcham country, long noted for its
production of lavender. The incessant growth of the lavender plant upon
the same land, however, has led to the decline of this industry, which
has been largely transferred to districts in the counties of Bedford,
Essex and Hertford. At Mitcham, nevertheless, mixed flowers are very
largely grown for the supply of the metropolis, and one farm alone has
nearly 100 acres under flowers and glass-houses. Chrysanthemums, asters,
Iceland poppies, gaillardias, pansies, bedding calceolarias, zonal
pelargoniums and other plants are cultivated in immense quantities. At
Swanley and Eynsford, in Kent, flowers are extensively cultivated in
association with fruit and vegetables. Narcissi, chrysanthemums,
violets, carnations, campanulas, roses, pansies, irises, sweet peas, and
many other flowers are here raised, and disposed of in the form both of
cut flowers and of plants.
The Scilly Isles are important as providing the main source of supply of
narcissi to the English markets in the early months of the year. This
trade arose almost by accident, for it was about the year 1865 that a
box of narcissi sent to Covent Garden Market, London, realized L1; and
the knowledge of this fact getting abroad, the farmers of the isles
began collecting wild bulbs from the fields in order to cultivate them
and increase their stocks. Some ten years, however, elapsed before the
industry promised to become remunerative. In 1885 a Bulb and Flower
Association was established to promote the industrial growth of flowers.
The exports of flowers in that year reached 65 tons, and they steadily
increased until 1893, when they amounted to 450 tons. A slight decline
followed, but in 1896 the quantity exported was no less than 514 tons.
This would represent upwards of 3-1/2 million bunches of flowers,
chiefly narcissi and anemones. Rather more than 500 acres are devoted to
flower-growing in the isles, by far the greater part of this area being
assigned to narcissi, whilst anemones, gladioli, marguerites, arum
lilies, Spanish irises, pinks and wallflowers are cultivated on a much
smaller scale. The great advantage enjoyed by the Scilly flower-growers
is earliness of production, due to climatic causes; the soil, moreover,
is well suited to flower culture and there is an abundance of sunshine.
The long journey to London is somewhat of a drawback, in regard to both
time and freight, but the earliness of the flowers more than compensates
for this. Open-air narcissi are usually ready at the beginning of
January, and the supply is maintained in different varieties up to the
middle or end of May. The narcissus bulbs are usually planted in
October, 4 in. by 3 in. apart for the smaller sorts and 6 in. by 4 to 6
in. for the larger. A compost of farmyard manure, seaweed, earth and
road scrapings is the usual dressing, but nitrate of soda, guano and
bones are also occasionally employed. A better plan, perhaps, is to
manure heavily the previous crop, frequently potatoes, no direct
manuring then being needed for the bulbs, these not being left in the
ground more than two or three years. The expenses of cultivation are
heavy, the cost of bulbs alone--of which it requires nearly a quarter of
a million of the smaller varieties, or half as many of the largest, to
plant an acre--being considerable. The polyanthus varieties of narcissus
are likely to continue the most remunerative to the flower-growers of
Scilly, as they flourish better in these isles than on the mainland.
In the district around the Wash, in the vicinity of such towns as
Wisbech, Spalding and Boston, the industrial culture of bulbs and
flowers underwent great expansion in the period between 1880 and 1909.
At Wisbech one concern alone has a farm of some 900 acres, devoted
chiefly to flowers and fruit, the soil being a deep fine alluvium. Roses
are grown here, one field containing upwards of 100,000 trees. Nearly 20
acres are devoted to narcissi, which are grown for the bulbs and also,
together with tulips, for cut flowers. Carnations are cultivated both
in the field and in pots. Cut flowers are sent out in large quantities,
neatly and effectively packed, the parcel post being mainly employed as
a means of distribution. In the neighbourhood of Spalding crocuses and
snowdrops are less extensively grown than used to be the case. On one
farm, however, upwards of 20 acres are devoted to narcissi alone, whilst
gladioli, lilies and irises are grown on a smaller scale. Around Boston
narcissi are also extensively grown for the market, both bulbs and cut
blooms being sold. The bulbs are planted 3 in. apart in rows, the latter
being 9 in. apart, and are allowed to stand from two to four years.
The imports of fresh flowers into the United Kingdom were not
separately shown prior to 1900. In that year, however, their value
amounted to L200,585, in 1901 to L225,011, in 1906 to L233,884, in
1907 to L233,641, and in 1908 to L229,802, so that the trade showed a
fairly steady condition. From the monthly totals quoted in Table VI.
it would appear that the trade sinks to its minimum dimensions in the
four months July to October inclusive, and that after September the
business continually expands up to April, subsequent to which
contraction again sets in. About one-half of the trade belongs
practically to the three months of February, March and April.