CIDER AND PERRY 195 



to the rule, being one of the six counties containing 

 more than 20,000 acres of land under fruit. The 

 great part of this area is occupied by grass orchards 

 growing cider fruit, though more than any other 

 county west of Kent do we find new plantations of 

 highly farmed table fruit occurring in the Teme 

 Valley, as well as about Evesham and Droitwich. In 

 Kent 40 per cent, of the fruit is grown on tilled land 

 and 60 per cent, in grass orchards. Worcestershire 

 has 23 per cent, of its fruit on tilled land, but Hereford 

 only 13 per cent., Gloucestershire and Devon about 

 the same, while practically the whole area of the 

 Somerset fruit land is under grass. On the whole, 

 fruit trees in the Teme Valley, with the rich soil and 

 the softer atmosphere, tend to make more vigorous 

 growth than they do in Kent. In consequence they 

 do not come into bearing quite so early, and require 

 a different system of management and pruning in 

 order to make them fruitful, their tendency being to 

 run to wood rather than to fruit. In the Teme Valley 

 the more recently planted land generally carries apples, 

 with a smaller proportion of plums than in other 

 districts where railway facilities are better ; cherries 

 are not so much grown, and pears in England rarely 

 form a very profitable market crop. Perry pears are, 

 however, a great feature of the district, being confined 

 to the Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester area, and 

 occurring rarely in the other cider-making counties of 

 Devon and Somerset. We heard, however, of very 

 little planting of vintage fruit ; in the old orchards 

 worn-out trees may be replaced from time to time by 

 new ones, but in general the tendency is for the cider 

 fruit to give place to table fruit. The pear trees in 

 particular are generally very old ; indeed, on our way 

 to Tenbury we passed what is reputed to be the 



