CHAPTER XLVII. 



COST OF PREPARATION OF LAND BEFORE PLANTING AND COST OF 

 FRUIT PLANTING. (IN SEASON 1920-21). 



Considerations. 



Cost of Labour. — As compared with pre- 

 war cost (say 1913), labour costs to-day 

 nearly three times as much for the work 

 actually accomplished because of increased 

 wage, decreased hours and often lessened 

 energy. 



Cost of Trees, Bushes, Plants.— Owing 

 to short supply and considerable demand, 

 these cost from three to as much as six 

 times pre-war prices. To give one single 

 example in the neighbourhood of Per- 

 shore, Pershore Purple Plums on Yellow 

 Egg Plum stock sold wholesale at 7d. each 

 before the war ; the present wholesale 

 price is 2s. 6d. 



Drainage. — Fruit trees need land suffi- 

 entlj' well drained, as in waterlogged soil 

 they do not thrive and are a certain 

 failure ; so land chosen for fruit-planting 

 should have good, natural drainage or be 

 efficiently artificially drained before plant- 

 ing. If the land is waterlogged and can- 

 not be drained it is useless planting fruit 

 trees. Some established orchards would 

 be benefited by draining if slope and outlet 

 allowed; in this case the drains would pro- 

 bably be cut about 2ft. 6ins. to 3ft. deep 

 down the centres of the rows between the 

 trees 20ft. to 30ft. apart, using 2in. drains 

 at a cost of, say, £10 per acre. Liming, 

 say 2 tons per acre, would be beneficial 

 after draining, or on grassland A ton of 

 basic slag per acre improves the grass 

 greatly. 



Some of the best fruit plantations in 

 Worcestershire (at Pershore) and in Here 

 fordshire are drained ; thus on Mr. H. S. 

 W. Bickham's farm at Ledbury the drain 

 pipes are laid 3ft. deep, 24ft. apart, 2in. 

 drains for the herringbones and 3in. pipes 

 for the mains. If the land is rather flat 

 or waterlogged by springs it is better lo 

 have the main drains 4ins. diameter and 

 the minors 3ins. In the old days draining 



used to cost £10 per acre ; it now costs 

 £20 in labour alone, and a recent estimate 

 for draining was £40 per acre. Mr. 

 Bickham has small biick inspection tanks 

 to the drains, so as to be able to see 

 whether they ai'e working efficiently. 



Cultivation.— The main cultivation will 

 probably be done before wire fencing is 

 erected; it is very necessary to have the 

 land clean. In the early autumn it may be 

 worked by steam plough with sub-soil 

 stirring attachment, working the land 

 18in.s. deep, then worked by cultivator. If 

 after potatoes, the plough may be followed 

 by a heavy horse hoe to stir the lower soil. 



Manuring. — Fruit trees may not need 

 manure till they commence to bear; how- 

 ever, if black currants and strawberries 

 are planted with trees, these will be 

 greatly benefited by 10 to 40 tons of farm- 

 yard manure or else shoddy or fish meal. 



Headlands. — For the turning of horse- 

 drawn implements and for carting it is 

 necessary to leave about 10ft. round the 

 field unplanted for a headland. If the 

 plantation be a square block of 10 acres, 

 with a roadway down the centre (220 

 yards by 10ft. by 5), 120 perches or | acre 

 will be unplanted, or at the rate of about 

 12 perches or one-thirteenth of an acre per 

 acre. It is not actually as much lost land 

 as this, because the tree roots occupy a 

 considerable portion of the headland. 



Mr. F. Paget Norbury at Sherridge, 

 near Malvern, has his rows of trees run 

 diagonally to the headland, not at right- 

 angles. He says a narrower headland is 

 required by this arrangement, the horses 

 moving out of the rows at a slant instead 

 of at right-angles. 



Wire Fencing.— In some districts hares 

 and rabbits need not be protected against, 

 being close to a village; there, however, 

 protective fencing may be needed against 

 boys. In most districts hares and rabbits. 



