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is entirely devoted to plums and gooseberries, with the exception of a few pears, 
and is well worth going a long way to see. On an average this garden is very 
profitable, but the losses some years are of course very great. It was planted by 
Mr. Varden, an engineer, who was employed in the construction of the Great 
Western Railway, and who was so much struck with the Pershore system of cul- 
tivation that he devoted himself to it on this scale. Since his death it has been 
bought by Mr. Bomford, who farms about 3000 acres besides. 
‘Along the Teme Valley are many valuable cherry orchards, some of which 
bring from £10 to £15 an acre annually to the farmer without expense on his part, 
the crop being sold on the trees by auction or otherwise. Cherries should in- 
variably be planted together, and as thickly as possible, as it is necessary for 
some weeks before they are gathered to have a man living in the field to scare the 
birds. 
**Damsons would be more cultivated were it not for the difficulty of getting 
women to pick them. A woman must work hard to pick a pot in a day, and there 
are fewer women to go to work now than formerly. Damsons fetch as much as 
35s. per pot in some good years, and are always saleable on account of their being 
used for dyeing purposes. Plums here in a very abundant year can hardly be got 
rid of at all. Damsons, of course, do better on light soils, but they thrive well 
along with apples and pears.” 
