CHAPTER II. 

 CAPITAL REQUIRED FOR FRUIT FARMING. 



Preparation of Land for Fruit Planting. 



With regard to the best and most 

 economical method of preparing land for 

 fruit planting, one of ihe largest and best 

 cultivators of fruit in Kent steam cul- 

 tivates his land intended for planting, 

 after dunging it, ploughing 9 inches deep 

 and subsoiling 9 inches deeper. The sub- 

 soil is only stirred and not brought up to 

 the surface. 



The manuring would be either dung, 

 costing £7 per acre, or, as he more often 

 uses for fruit, one ton of wool waste and 

 half a ton of bone meal, costing a little 

 under £5: steam cultivating £2; total £7 

 (pre-war cost). 



Potatoes form a good crop to precede 

 fruit, if manui-ed well with dung and arti- 

 ficials and well worked. 



It is very important to have the land 

 thoroughly clean of weeds before plant- 

 ing, as if couch grass gets among the 

 roots of trees or bushes it almost involves 

 digging them up in order to get the weed 

 from the roots. Convolvulus or bindweed 

 is also a very tiresome weed among 

 fruit. Dandelions are troublesome if 

 among strawberries. 



The Start. 



Supposing a man starts with 12 acres ut 

 suitable land, either buying it at, say, £35 

 per acre, or renting it at 30s. to 50s. per 

 acre, with an equitable agreement with 

 his landlord as to compensation if liis 

 plantations are successful in case he has 

 to leave. The soil is good, the land fairly 

 high lying, consisting of 6 acres on each 

 side of a high road, within half a mile of a 

 railway station, or within, say, four miles 

 of a seaside resort. The two fields are 

 surrounded by good hawthorn hedges, and 

 there are no rabbits and hares that in an 

 ordinary way enter these fields. If fenc- 

 ing is required against rabbits, and for 

 protection, the present cost is about Is. 



per foot run, or about £10 per acre. 

 After the land has been ploughed, 

 followed by subsoiler, or deep steam 

 cultivated, a roadway is made through 

 the centre of each field, and plant- 

 ing is commenced, consisting in one 

 field of bush apples, chiefly on broad- 

 leaved paradise stock, 12ft. apart ; black 

 currants, 6ft. by 3ft., probably straw- 

 berries between, and possibly with onions 

 sown between these in the first year. The 

 other field may be plums or Morello 

 cherries, with a few pears, with, say, 

 raspberries, gooseberries or red currants 

 between. Pears do not thrive and pay 

 everywhere, by any means. 



This little farm may employ one or two 

 men, as well as the owner, and the latter 

 must endeavour to limit his expenses for 

 three or four years, to, say, £60 to £100 

 a year for personal expenditure, and stick 

 close to his work. 



With regard to the buildings, I would 

 suggest as desirable for a 12 acre fruit 

 farm an arrangement as follows, wooden 

 buildings with corrugated iron roof and 

 weather board sides. 



My late friend, Corporal A. D. Xickalls, 

 when carpentry instructor at Wye Agri- 

 cultural College, kindly calculated the 

 cost of such a building, 56ft. long, 12ft. 

 wide, 8ft. high to eaves ; packing shed 

 21ft. long ; office 8ft. ; cart shed, 15ft. ; tool 

 shed, 6ft. ; stable, 6ft. : as follows : — 

 Plates, 17s. 6d., £1 3s. 4d. ; posts, 6s.; 

 studs, £3 6s. 8d. ; rafters, £2 13s. 4d. ; tie 

 beam, 8s. 4d. ; weatherboard. £5 14s. : 7 

 windows, £5 5s. ; 6 doors, £1 15s. ; purlin, 

 £1 Is. 8d. ; partitions, £2 18s. ; roof (iron), 

 £10 5s. ; floor to office. £1 5s. ; packing 

 benches. £1 3s. 6d. : labour, £14 10s. ; 

 creosote. 7s. 6d. ; nails. £1 2s. 6d. : total 

 £52 2s. 4d. If lined. £8 Is. 6d. : if brick 

 foundation. £6 extra. Total, £68 3s. lOd. 

 This being previous to the war, let us say 

 £150 now'^ 



In a paper I read some time ago at the 



