120 HORTICULTURE LECT. vm 



Fruit. 



Preparation of the soil and the cost of planting a 

 mixed plantation of dwarf bush and pyramid trees 

 has been estimated at 60 per acre, or 65 with cur- 

 rants and gooseberries between the trees. Such trees 

 are planted from four to twelve feet apart. The 

 planting, staking, and making tall guards to orchard 

 trees on grass thirty feet apart costs 15 per acre. 



Mr. Cecil Hooper's table may be given in part here 

 as affording some data for calculation. He states 

 the yield of an acre of plums to be seven tons, price 

 per ton 16 : gross return per acre, 112. Cherries 

 four tons, price per ton 25 ; gross returns per acre, 

 100. Apples six tons ; per ton, 10 ; gross returns 

 per acre, 60. Pears two tons ; price per ton, 10 ; 

 gross returns per acre, 20. These are not the 

 prices of particular crops in a given year, but are cal- 

 culations based upon general returns over a series of 

 years in Kent. 



Some returns to hand of the profits of bush trees, 

 i.e., apples of bush form grafted on the Paradise stock, 

 show that three years from the planting time the 

 trees began bearing and the yield gradually increased 

 as the trees gained size till in the tenth year from 

 the planting the return amounted to 40 per acre, or 

 a clear gain of 30 per acre. Examples might be 

 given of much higher amounts having been received 

 under exceptional conditions, but our aim is to keep 

 such statements well within due bounds and not to 

 mislead by sensational quotations which serve no 

 practical purpose. 



Pruning. Pruning after planting was referred to 

 in Lecture VI. (page 95). Shortening the branches 

 is done for producing others increasing the number 



