ENGLISH LAND CULTIVATION. 49 



notice as I pass the little immature apples, 

 the etiolated pears, which are labelled ' Best 

 English,' and are sold at so much per pound. 

 It is all of quality which would be fed to cattle 

 in Australia. There is better English fruit 

 certainly, sold in the shops at higher prices, 

 but it rarely comes to the level of the prod- 

 ucts of American and Australian orchards. 

 The best fruit is either imported or else is 

 of hothouse growth, and vast expensiveness. 

 " I am not at all surprised at the sight of 

 all this poor fruit, for I have been during 

 the last two months a great deal in Kent, 

 which is 4 the fruit garden of England,' and 

 in other farming and fruit-growing centres. 

 The average orchard seems better designed 

 to be an insectarium for the cultivation of 

 pests than for the growth of good fruit. 

 Straggling, unkempt trees, growing their own 

 wild way, naturally do not produce like 

 the well-disciplined trees of the modern 

 orchardist. But the soil is wondrous kind. 

 That anything at all should come of such cul- 

 ture, or neglect of culture, is a fact only to be 

 explained by a great graciousness of Nature. 



