170 BRITISH APPLES AND FRUIT-GROWING. [Jan. 



apples mentioned, they being also of the largest size, an important 

 point in apples for market. Of the list we have given, it is note- 

 wortliy that all are included in the separate lists given in the Eeport 

 as to the best kinds suitable for cultivation in the northern parts of 

 the kingdom. In the list for Scotland, that old favourite, IJiljston 

 Pippin, heads the dessert list, followed liy King of the Pippins and 

 others already named in the general list ; while Stirling Castle holds 

 the premier place among Scottish culinary apples. In the list for 

 Scotland of the latter, it is seen that ten out of the fii'st twelve are 

 the same as in the general list, a remarkable coincidence. Tower of 

 Glamis and Alfriston being substituted for Blenheim Orange and 

 Golden Noble ; Bleulieim Orange occupying a leading position as a 

 dessert apple in the north, a post which its merits well deserve. 

 Commenting on these returns, Mr. Barron pertinently remarks that 

 many excellent varieties of apples are comparatively unknown, and 

 occupy a lower place in the lists than they are entitled to on their 

 merits, and which in course of time are likely to become popular 

 over a wide range of the country. 



That a greatly extended cultivation of fruit in all parts of the 

 country is highly desirable in these times is beyond a doubt. That 

 it will pay those who have the enterprise to carry it out in a skilful 

 and judicious manner, can be safely answered in the affirmative ; 

 and many notable examples of the remunerative nature of a good 

 fruit-crop can be pointed to in every part of the country where 

 intelligence and skill have been wisely applied to its cultivation. 

 To command success, this must, like every other enterprise, be care- 

 fully gone about, and nothing left to chance that intelligence can 

 foresee or experience suggest. Haphazard work may succeed in 

 rare instances, but will generally end in failure. Soil, site, expo.sure, 

 altitude, and general climatic conditions have all to be taken into 

 account, before the growing of fruit can be carried out successfully 

 and alone, as a commercial investment, and to these must be added 

 good access to a ready market. 



It is not, however, as a sole means of business that the cultivation 

 of fruit is likely to be most widely extended in this coiintry, but as 

 an adjunct to the farm, in the form of orchards and hedgerow fruit- 

 trees. Amongst the many schemes for the amelioration of the 

 severe agricultural depression through which the country is passing, 

 fruit-growing has received a share of attention, but not nearly so 

 much as it really deserves. This has probably been owing to the 

 comparatively slow return from the cultivation of hard fruit — 

 apples, pears, and plums — to that obtained from soft fruit, such 

 as strawberries, currants, and gooseberries ; of which the crops 

 are so easily spoiled by a few days' inclement weather at the 



