24 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 



There are fruit-growers in Kent who have from 80 to 120 acres 

 planted with strawberries. 



Filberts and Cob-Nut-trees are grown from suckers or 

 spawns taken from old trees, or pieces cut from the tree, as 

 some prefer, and put in a nursery. In two or three years they 

 are planted out about 13 feet apart, or 257 trees to the acre. 

 A tolerably light soil is best for them, although they thrive 

 remarkably upon the Atherfield Clay, in Kent, which is heavy 

 and adhesive. They also do well in what is termed in Kent 

 " stone-shattery " land. It is necessary that they should be 

 in a position sheltered from the prevalent winds. Standard 

 apple- or plum- or damson-trees are usually put with them in 

 Kent, and currants and gooseberry-bushes are set between the 

 rows, which are taken away when the nut-trees attain a good 

 size. After four or five years a little crop may be expected, 

 and after eight years they will yield a good quantity. The 

 ground is dug in the winter with a three-pronged spud, and 

 hoed once or twice in the summer. Rags, fur, or fur waste, 

 shoddy and refuse manures are applied, not very lavishly. From 

 one and a half to two tons of rags or of shoddy every other year 

 form a sufficient dressing. Pruning requires great skill and 

 care to keep the trees in cup-shape, with the inside as clear as 

 possible. Every branch is examined by the *' tree-cutter," who 

 leaves the finest young wood, and cuts away the older and coarser 

 branches. In height, full-grown trees are about 6 feet. Cob- 

 nuts are more cultivated now than filberts, as the nuts are much 

 larger and are more saleable. Owners of land, or tenants with 

 long leases and agreements for compensation, might plant nut- 

 trees to great advantage in places where the soil and situation 

 are suitable. These nuts are packed in ordinary sieves, like 

 other fruit, and consigned to salesmen in London, and are in 

 great request, making from Id. to Is. Ad. per lb. An average 

 crop is about 8 cwts. per acre. A demand for cob-nuts has 

 arisen in America, and it is likely that as the nuts produced 

 in that country have not the same flavour as the English, this 

 will assume important proportions. 



Apple-trees are planted either upon grass-land or in plan- 

 tations upon cultivated ground, with fruit-trees or bushes under 

 them. In Kent filbert- and cob-nut-trees are frequently put under 

 apple-trees, and sometimes gooseberry- and currant-bushes are 

 set between the filberts. There is not much difference between 

 the yield of apples upon grass-land and plantation, or culti- 

 vated land. Some hold that the fruit grown upon grass-land is 

 more plentiful and of better colour and quality ; while others 

 say the same with regard to the fruit produced in plantations. 

 Apple-trees re((uire a fairly good soil and a deep subsoil. They 



