n FRUIT CULTURE FOR PROFIT. 429 



are thousands upon thousands of acres of land in Great 

 Britain at present bringing little or no profit to owners or 

 occupiers, which, if planted with fruit trees, might be made 

 to return a good profit to both. Not that I think large 

 fortunes are to be made by the enterprise, but that a fair 

 remuneration will be secured for the outlay of capital and 

 the application of. knowledge, industry, and skill. Fruit- 

 growing as a recreation, or for one's own use, is one of the 

 most fascinating and diverting of occupations, and may be 

 pursued with satisfaction by the uninitiated. But fruit- 

 growing for profit is a different thing. Here knowledge is 

 wanted. The possession of it, rightly applied, will be 

 attended with success ; the absence of it with failure. It 

 is the height of folly to suppose that this, any more than 

 any other business or profession, can be made profitable 

 without preliminary instruction and training. 



THE FKUIT QUESTION CONSIDEKED. 



[From " The Gardeners' Chronicle," October \qth iSSg,/. 438, 

 republished in "Public Opinion"} 



ONE of the great benefits conferred on the community 

 by our rich public companies is that they can take 

 up and promote objects of national importance which are 

 often beyond the power of private enterprise. An instance 

 of this kind is before us in the recent gathering of fruit 

 growers and others at the Mansion House, called by the Lord 

 Mayor, to meet the Fruiterers' Company. That a largely 

 extended cultivation of fruit trees in England is open to 

 the enterprising, as a source of profit in dealing with the 

 land, will not, I think, be questioned by anyone who has a 

 thoroughly practical knowledge of the subject. The ques- 

 tion seems to be rather one of " when, where, and how?" 



An increasing demand for fruit and the realisation of 

 remunerative prices, when it is judiciously handled, would 



