40 Commercial Gardening 



under small fruit in Great Britain was reduced by 2817 ac. The disaster 

 to the industry, regrettable as it is, has had its compensations. It has 

 driven the grower to economize. Excessive dressings of farmyard manure 

 were often applied to the land in the old days just because the grower 

 had plenty of money and never seriously considered whether a heavy 

 dressing was beneficial or detrimental. Manurial experiments have been 

 carried out in Blairgowrie by the East of Scotland Agricultural College, 

 which have gone to show that dressings of 5 tons per acre every year 

 give a better return than dressings of 20 tons per acre. The growers 

 are now profiting by these experiments, and are not so much inclined 

 as they once were to throw money away in the purchase of manure 

 which does no good. This is only one part of the economy now practised. 

 A certain extravagance in the old days characterized the labour bill in 

 connection with most fruit plantations. The labour bill, without detri- 

 ment to the cultivation of the soil, has now in many cases been greatly 

 reduced. 



Conjunction of Industries. Another change, not less important, 

 has been brought about by the depression in the trade. Fruit growers 

 are not so much inclined now as formerly to have all their eggs in one 

 basket, and, while there is no tendency towards a diversity of fruit crops, 

 there is a decided inclination to conjoin with fruit culture other branches 

 of agriculture suitable to small holdings. The breeding and feeding of pigs, 

 for example, has taken hold of a number of fruit growers. Pig keeping 

 is in the meantime a profitable industry in itself. It is more profit- 

 able to the fruit grower than to most other people. His spare time, 

 which might otherwise be wasted, is profitably utilized, and manure can 

 be produced at less cost than it can be purchased. Other growers are 

 devoting their attention to the production of eggs. There may not be 

 a fortune in this branch of agricultural industry. There is more chance 

 of there being a reasonable profit to the fruit grower than to the farmer 

 on the one hand, or to the cottager on the other. The fruit grower has 

 not only time at his disposal, he has the necessary land, for which in any 

 case he has to pay rent. The fowls fertilize the soil and destroy grubs 

 detrimental to fruit bushes. There could not be a better conjunction of 

 industries than the keeping of fowls and the cultivation of fruit. A few 

 growers have made a specialty of bee keeping. Bees have hitherto been 

 kept in fruit districts for fertilizing purposes. They are still being kept 

 for this purpose. But they are also now kept for the production of 

 honey. [j. M. H.] 



