INTRODUCTION. 5 



as grapes, peaches, nectarines, and melons mean? A small percentage may be the 

 result of accidents ; but the overwhelmingly greater number of failures mean either the 

 absence of requisite structural essentials, or of cultural skill. It does not invariably 

 follow that the present cultivator the unfortunate individual who is in charge of vines 

 or fruit trees that yield little beyond disappointment is incompetent, for he may have 

 inherited the results of errors in the perpetration of which he had no share, or be 

 labouring under disadvantages, peculiar to the case, that he is powerless to remove. 

 Be that as it may, the origin of the evil remains the same individual shortcomings in 

 some form or other, and, it may be, at some indeterminable time. The first mistake 

 may have been so small as not to be recognised, and others have followed in turn ; and 

 it should never be forgotten that apparently trivial errors are cumulative and may end 

 in a great disaster. 



Then, on the other hand, to what are we to attribute the magnificent crops of grapes 

 and other fruits that are grown under glass in some gardens but to the provision of 

 adequate means and the exercise of cultural skill ? To nothing else can the brilliant 

 successes that are achieved be ascribed. Both bad practice and good, with the 

 corresponding results, prove the truth of the proposition above advanced, that it is only 

 by sound methods of culture and the best management that a higher uniform standard 

 of excellence can be established in our fruit products ; and it will be to the advantage of 

 all proprietors or occupiers of land, cultivators, professional and amateur, as well as to 

 consumers of every class, to raise that standard. 



But while it may be conceded that the best fruit grown under glass is the result of 

 superior management, where the essential conditions are produced artificially, and 

 the temperature under command, there will possibly be considerable reluctance to 

 admit that the exercise of sound judgment and high cultural skill can have correspond- 

 ing results in the open air. It is quite certain that persons who have failed in growing 

 fruit profitably will not admit anything of the kind, for in doing so they might possibly 

 have to admit their own errors. In all occupations of life there are persons who fail, 

 and they are satisfied of the uselessness of others entering on the same line of business 

 in the locality ; yet it is not uncommon for successors to establish themselves and 

 flourish. In the cultivation of land for agricultural purposes occupiers of farms 

 have been quite unable to manage them properly, but other tenants have followed and 

 made the land remunerative. It is the same in the management of gardens ; one man 

 fails utterly, another succeeds admirably. In all these cases what may be termed the 



