64 A GLOUCESTERSHIRE FRUIT FARM 



cob-nuts 21 tons, the balance of the total tonnage being 

 made up of strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, etc. 

 The quantities of these will, of course, be substantially 

 increased when the young bushes planted during the 

 last few years come into bearing. It is expected that 

 the yield of bush fruit and strawberries will thus be 

 increased to 400 tons in a season. One hundred tons 

 of potatoes were lifted in 1905, together with cabbages, 

 sprouts and savoys, grown as ' catch crops ' under the 

 trees. In this same year the extensive glass-houses 

 on the estate produced, among other things, a large 

 tonnage of grapes, 4,500 peaches and nectarines, 

 19 tons of tomatoes, 1,000 dozen cucumbers, 4,000 

 bundles of rhubarb, 1,200 bunches of roses, and 233 

 dozen arum lilies. 



The bulk of the fruit grown on these 800 acres at 

 Toddington goes, directly or indirectly, to jam-makers. 

 A considerable quantity is used in a jam factory on the 

 estate which is rented by Messrs. T. W. Beach and Sons, 

 Limited. The advantage of having such a factory 

 immediately adjoining the fruit-growing area, instead 

 of in the congested districts of a large city, is so 

 obvious that in the near future other makers will 

 probably avail themselves of opportunities so favour- 

 able. The remainder of the Toddington supplies goes 

 to jam-makers throughout Great Britain and Ireland. 



Alike in the production and the ingathering of the 

 fruit, etc., so large an enterprise naturally necessitates 

 the employment of a considerable amount of labour, 

 apart from the transport of the fruit or the working of 

 it up in the jam factories. Of regular hands on the 

 estate the number ranges from 150 to 250. Mr. Andrews 

 entertains strong views as to the paramount importance 

 of keeping ' the bone and sinew ' of our increasing 

 population on t the land, and he fully shares in the 



