38 



Digging with fork 10 



(April to September) Hand hoeing four 



times 1 8 U 



Picking 2 tons green gooseberries (or 



3 tons ripe) 5 



Packing 187 half bushels at 2s. 100 



halves 3 9 



Carriage, 2 tons at 16s. (3 tons at 16s. 



£2 8s. Od.) 1 12 



Sale expenses, 4d. per half bushel ... 3 2 4 

 Rent, rates, and taxes 2 10 



Cost 



£19 16 11 



Receipt, 2 tons green gooseberries at 

 £12 per ton • £24 



Balance, to cover cost of planting, in- 

 terest on capital, superintendence, 

 etc - £4 3 1 



The system of pruning in commercial 

 plantations in Kent is based on the prin- 

 ciple that the younger wood bears the 

 largest and greatest number of berries, 

 also that space between the boughs is 

 necessary for convenience in picking and 

 affords light for the production and de- 

 velopment of the fruit. The boughs are 

 not usually spur-pruned, though the tips 

 of boughs are shortened and the older 

 boughs cut out so as to keep the bushes 

 with young strong wood. Suckers com- 

 ing up from the ground or from the stems 

 are tiroken off with the suckering iron ; 

 this discourages their growing again, 

 which would happen if pruned by knife. 



Where there is American gooseberry 

 mildew, the ends of the branches are 

 tipped, as they take the fungus first. 



The boughs of the bushes in some plan- 

 tations spring up direct from the ground, 

 but for convenience in hoeing many 

 growers prefer to have the boughs spring 

 out from a main stem above ground. 

 When making the cuttings for bushes to 

 be grown on a leg, all the buds which 

 would be planted below ground are cut 

 out, and only those to be above ground 

 are left. The disadvantage of being on 

 a leg is that if this main stem is broken 

 the bush is spoilt, whilst if the boughs 

 spring direct from the ground, new growth 

 of strong young boughs is readily ob- 

 tained. 



The usual plan for picking gooseberries 

 is to make the pickings as thinnings of the 

 berries, picking the largest and leaving 

 the smaller ones ; thus for green goose- 

 berries the bushes may be gone over three 



times if the crop is good. Ripe goose- 

 berries are usually picked all at one pick- 

 ing. For picking gooseberries women 

 generally wear gloves. 



Green gooseberries travel well, and the 

 package and handling is not troublesome, 

 but ripe gooseberries are very tender, 

 need care in handling, and quick sale. A 

 plantation that will yield two tons green 

 will probably give three tons ripe, but it 

 usually pays best to sell them green; 

 green gooseberries are the first fruit 

 picked when labour is plentiful, whereas 

 the pickers are busy with other fruits 

 when the gooseberries are ripe. The 

 crop in Kent usually varies from about 

 1^ up to 3 tons of ripe berries in mature 

 plantations. 



It is a point of interest and importance, 

 the fact that certain varieties of certain 

 fruits are specially liable to attack by cer- 

 tain insects. I remember Captain Best, 

 when showing me his extremely well- 

 managed fruit farm at Suckley, in Wor- 

 cestershire, told me he found that a 

 variety of gooseberry called " Rifleman " 

 (I think it was) was the first to be at- 

 tacked by the gooseberry sawfly maggot, 

 he kept some of these to act as guides in 

 order to know when to spray or dust his 

 plantations, he watched some bushes of 

 this variety day by day, and as soon as he 

 saw the larvae on them, started dusting 

 with hellebore, or spraying the rest of his 

 gooseberry plantations. 



The Red Currant. 

 The cost of planting and first year's 

 cultivation of red currants was approxi- 

 mately as follows (pre-war): — 



£ s. d. 

 (Autumn) Manuring with 20 tons dung 



at 6s. 8d _ ..._ 6 13 4 



Ploughing, twice cultivating, 4 har- 



rowings 2 3 



Marking out for planting in two 



directions 5ft. apart on the square 4 

 (November) 1,743 red currant bushes at 



6s. per 100 5 4 7 



Planting — man digging holes 1 foot 

 square, and planting, woman carry- 

 ing bushes, thus costing Is. 8d. per 



100 19 



(April to September) Horse hoeing four 



times at 3s 12 



Hand hoeing four times at 5s 10 



Rent, rates, taxes, and other expenses 2 10 



£19 15 11 



