42 



Additional Notes on Yields of Small 

 Fruits. 



Red Currants. — 1 to 4 tons, average 

 yield 30 cwts. Prices are very variable; 

 within the last twenty-five years the price 

 has been £6 per ton, and one year the 

 price was only £4 per ton, when the fruit 

 was not picked ; the prices recently, how- 

 ever, have been fairly good. Pre-war 

 prices ranged from, say, £14 to £26 per 

 ton. Aphis attack (honey dew) is a serious 

 pest on some varieties, especially Old 

 Dutch; it spoils the fruit for market pur- 

 poses. A plantation of mature good 

 bushes will sometimes cost nearly £4 per 

 acre to prune. Red currants should 

 be in rows at right angles, to allow horse 

 cultivation for the first four years. 



Raspberries do not crop as heavily as 

 strawberries; they yield nothing the first 

 year, and not much the second year. 

 Average crop after third year, 1 to I5 tons 

 per acre (probably nearer the 1 ton in 

 Kent). The price varies considerably, as 

 the crop may be only a few cwts. in an 

 abnormally dry season, or if frost injures 

 the blossom. The price has in recent years 

 ranged from £10 per ton to as high as £56. 

 An average price before the war was £20 

 per ton. 



Strawberries, excluding first year, yield 

 3 to 5 tons per acre, if good, for the 

 second and third year, and in the fourth 

 year half this amount. Price has varied 

 from £6 per ton for " Fillbaskets " in wet. 



cold summers, to £56 for best quality fruit 

 in a season of high prices. Average pre- 

 war price, £14 to £16 per ton. Forty ton» 

 have been delivered in one day at a jam 

 factory by two brothers from 600 or 800 

 acres of strawberries. The varieties of 

 strawberry now being grown for market 

 in Kent are: — Royal Sovereign, Sir 

 Joseph Paxton, Stirling Castle, Bedford 

 Champion (the largest fruit and heaviest 

 cropper, but soft), and Kentish Favourite; 

 also many new sorts are being tried. £90 

 was paid for 3,000 Bedford Champion run- 

 ners. Forty years ago, Elton Pine and 

 Count de Paris were the varieties chiefly 

 grown, now Paxton and Stirling Castle 

 are nearly worn out in most districts. 

 Mildew is occasionally very troublesome, 

 also the " Elephant Bug " is sometimes 

 very destructive in piercing the stem just 

 behind the bloom bud. The information 

 contained in these notes was kindly given 

 me by Mr. Edwin Vinson, of High Croft 

 Hall, Crockenhill, Kent, and by Mr. S. 

 Lee. 



In the planting season 1919-20 the price 

 of good gooseberry plants, two years old, 

 was £4 per 100, of one year old, 50s. per 

 100; black currant plants £2 per 100, and 

 red currant plants 30s. per 100. 



Reversion or Nettle-head in Black 

 Currants. 



Bushes showing this ailment should be 

 grubbed, as also those bushes which have 

 " big bud " to any extent. 



