Part 5

Leaving out of consideration the county of Kent, which grows a greater variety of fruit than any of the others, the counties of Devon, Hereford, Somerset, Worcester and Gloucester have an aggregate orchard area of 124,872 acres. These five counties of the west and south-west of England--constituting in one continuous area what is essentially the cider country of Great Britain--embrace therefore rather less than half of the entire orchard area of the island, while Salop, Monmouth and Wilts have about 300 less than they had a few years ago. Five English counties have less than 1000 acres each of orchards, namely, the county of London, and the northern counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland and Durham. Rutland has just over 100 acres. The largest orchard areas in Wales are in the two counties adjoining Hereford--Brecon with 1136 acres and Radnor with 727 acres; at the other extreme is Anglesey, with a decreasing orchard area of only 22 acres. Of the Scottish counties, Lanark takes the lead with 1285 acres, Perth, Stirling and Haddington following with 684 and 129 acres respectively. Ayr and Midlothian are the only other counties possessing 100 acres or more of orchards, whilst Kincardine, Orkney and Shetland return no orchard area, and Banff, Bute, Kinross, Nairn, Peebles, Sutherland and Wigtown return less than 10 acres each. It may be added that in 1908 Jersey returned 1090 acres of orchards, Guernsey, &c., 144 acres, and the Isle of Man, 121 acres; the two last-named places showing a decline as compared with eight years previously.

Outside the cider counties proper of England, the counties in which orchards for commercial fruit-growing have increased considerably in recent years include Berks, Buckingham, Cambridge, Essex, Lincoln, Middlesex, Monmouth, Norfolk, Oxford, Salop, Sussex, Warwick and Wilts. Apples are the principal fruit grown in the western and south-western counties, pears also being fairly common. In parts of Gloucestershire, however, and in the Evesham and Pershore districts of Worcestershire, plum orchards exist. Plums are almost as largely grown as apples in Cambridgeshire. Large quantities of apples, plums, damsons, cherries, and a fair quantity of pears are grown for the market in Kent, whilst apples, plums and pears predominate in Middlesex. In many counties damsons are cultivated around fruit plantations to shelter the latter from the wind.

Of small fruit (currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, &c.) no return was made of the acreage previous to 1888, in which year it was given as 36,724 acres for Great Britain. In 1889 it rose to 41,933 acres.

Later figures are shown in Table III. It will be observed that, owing to corrections made in the enumeration in 1897, a considerable reduction in the area is recorded for that year, and presumably the error then discovered existed in all the preceding returns. The returns for 1907 gave the acreage of small fruit as 82,175 acres, and in 1908 at 84,880 acres--an area more than double that of 1889.

TABLE III.--_Areas of Small Fruit in Great Britain._

+-------+--------+-------+--------+-------+--------+ | 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.