THE POSITION AT HOME 59 



Report, " its importance as a means of exploiting land which 

 would be less profitably devoted to ordinary farm crops is 

 well recognised." The total area in Great Britain thus used 

 for the cultivation of flowers and shrubs is estimated at 

 4,000 acres, and the gross value of the production is put at 

 £121,000. 



Fruit. 



From the same source we learn that the extent of land 

 returned in 1908 as occupied by orchards was 250,297 acres, 

 of which 27,433 acres bore small fruit as well as tree fruit. The 

 area devoted to small fruit alone was 57,447 acres, so that 

 altogether the acreage of small fruit, on holdings exceeding 

 one acre, was 84,880 ; but the total would be substantially 

 increased if plots of less than one acre on which small fruit 

 is grown for sale were added. 



Returns for 1908, when the fruit crops were considerably 

 below the average, give the following values : — 



Cider and Perry. 



In the values of apples and pears, given in the foregoing 

 list, are included those of fruit used for making cider, perry 

 and cider-perry. The quantities of these beverages produced 

 on over-one-acre farms in the chief cider-making counties in 



