48 



yielding six tons per acre. This may 

 possibly be the case including cider apples. 

 I think it is probably too high for the 

 average of eating apples. 



It needs to be a good and well managed 

 plantation of " bush " apples to average 

 two bushels of fruit per tree. 



The distance apart to plant apple trees 

 is a very important point to determine, 

 this will depend upon soil, variety and 

 locality. I commenced by planting an acre 

 of bush apples at 9ft. apart, but 

 realizing this to be too close, made 

 other plantations, one at 12ft. apart 

 on the triangle, another at 10ft. apart 

 on the square. Mr. Mount plants 

 strong growers, such as Bramley's Seed- 

 ling and Newton Wonder, 24ft. apart, with 

 close growers, such as Worcester Pear- 

 main, between, thus making a 12 foot 

 plant, if eventually the Bramleys want all 

 the room, the other trees are grubbed up. 



In planting it is advisable for the sake 

 of better pollination and consequent fruit 

 setting to alternate varieties in the 

 rows, preferably having two rows of one 

 variety then two rows of another variety. 

 It is desirable to keep bees to ensure the 

 best cross-pollination. Some varieties 

 appear somewhat tolerant of being planted 

 in block, Bramley's Seedling appears to 

 be less affected than most varieties; but 

 Lane's Prince Albert is very intolerant, 

 and fruits extremely badly if planted in 

 block alone. 



Having been asked to reply to a gentle- 

 man in Canada on questions as to English 

 fruit-growing, the first question was : — 

 What is the cost of planting an acre of 

 orchard bush apple trees 1 I consulted 

 with the late Mr. H. T. Getting, of Ross, 

 Herefordshire, a skilful grower, with large 

 plantations, who also kept accounts, and 

 the following was our joint estimate. 



The Cost of Planting an Acre of Bush 

 Apple Trees (without other fruit) previous 

 to the war : — £ s. d. 



Cultivating and cleaning land, say 1 10 

 Setting out plantation for trees 



12ft. apart 10 



303 bush apple trees (2 years 



old), at Is. each 15 3 



Digging holes and planting, at 



10s. 6d. per 100 1 12 



£18 15 



The expense of cultivating previous lo 

 planting may be more, dependent on the 

 condition of the land and whether fairly 

 clean. To have the land clean before 

 planting is of the utmost importance, 

 especially to get it clean of couch grass 

 or twitch ; the above would include plough- 

 ing, followed by steam cultivating or sub- 

 soiling, harrowing, etc. I had put down 

 £5 for manuring, but Mr. Getting con- 

 sidered no manuring need be done when 

 planting. 



Yield. 



Another question was : — What an acre 

 of bush apples might be expected to yield 

 in fruit, and the cash return 1 



Mr. Getting considered these trees, 

 when mature, should give an average 

 yield of 40 to 841bs of fruit per tree, but 

 that the yield was practically nothing for 

 the first four years, and very little for the 

 fifth. 



He found 40lbs. an average weight of a 

 bushel of apples, and put the average 

 gross price at 8s. to 10s. per cwt. for 

 cookers, and the average of first, second, 

 and third dessert apples at 12s. to 14s. 

 per cwt., some varieties fetched more. 

 The cost of picking and packing apples 

 he found to be 10s. to 15s. per ton. 



Records of yields of fruit per acre should 

 be kept yearly. It is surprising how much 

 some trees will yield ; in an old orchard 

 at Swanley which I farmed, a large tree 

 of Dredge's Fame when probably 60 to 

 80 years old, one year yielded about a ton 

 of apples, but they only fetched about Is. 

 a bushel that year. It is not a popular 

 variety. 



The future costs and prices are a great 

 uncertainty; that the cost of production 

 will be more we may take for granted, and 

 for the producers' sake we hope prices 

 will keep up, and for the consumer that 

 the ratio between wholesale price received 

 by the grower and that paid by the retailer 

 may somehow become nearer, say a 

 difference of 50 per cent. 



Manuring. 



The question of manuring apple trees 

 is a debatable subject, especially after the 

 Woburn fruit farm experiments. Experi- 

 ments in other places, as in the United 

 States of America, should also be studied. 



I think it is correct to say, even if there 



