1885.] LETTERS TO THE EDTTOIi. 463 



THE FRUIT CONFERENCE. 



DEAR SIR, — In view of the Fruit Conference to be held in 

 Edinburgli next month, it may he worth your while to 

 reproduce the following remarks by an able writer in a contemporary 

 on tlie important subject of Fruit Collections, in which our American 

 cousins are so far ahead of us : — Collections of fruit seem now to 

 be appreciated in proportion to tlie number of varieties which they 

 contain, rather than because of their actual merits. It is better to 

 be contented with a few really good kinds, such as will be productive 

 in most seasons, than to plant many sorts (even if finer) for the sake 

 . of variety, but from which a crop is obtained only in very favourable 

 seasons. Some grow a great variety for amusement ; others, in 

 order that they may be able to stage a large collection for exhibition. 

 Such cultivators are well able to take care of their own interests ; 

 but those who have either formed a new garden, or are about to 

 renovate an old one, require some definite information, both as to 

 the preparation of the ground and the selection of sorts. Some soils 

 are better fitted for the cultivation of fruit trees than others, and 

 some districts, such as the neighbourhood of Maidstone, have become 

 famous for the quality of the fruit produced there. The soil and 

 climate of Kent are not, however, to be found everywhere. We 

 must take both soil and situation as we find them, and do the best 

 we can with them. A deep, medium clayey loam is best for fruit 

 trees ; and shallow sandy soil, on a gravelly foundation, about the 

 worst. It would be injudicious to select the latter for a fruit 

 garden ; but when on such soil a house has been built, M'itli a garden 

 attached to it, there is no alternative but to make the most and 

 the best of it. I well remember my first experience with a garden 

 of this kind ; an old garden it was too, and full of fruit trees in all 

 stages of decay ; even young trees, that had been planted to fill the 

 places of those that had died of old age, fell very speedily into 

 decrepitude. Some of the old trees could, by means of a vigorous 

 push backwards and forwards, be torn up by the roots, owing to 

 their advanced state of decay. I found that it would not do to 

 root up all at once, as many of them were bearing fairly good crops, 

 but poor in quality. The plan I adopted was to clear a portion of 

 the ground and trench it, grubbing out all the old roots. I found 

 the soil to be of various depths; some of it was 30 inches deep, 

 and in other places the gravel cropped up to within G inches of the 

 surface.- To plant fruit trees in six inches of soil would be to court 

 failure ; but, as it happened, we require gravel, and so a foot or 

 more of it was taken out and replaced with good soil, thus giving 

 18 inches in depth instead of 6 inches. There was not much of 



