A HISTORY OF KENT 



trees on grass, thirty feet each way, and for apples and pear trees from twenty to twenty-four 

 feet upon arable land, with strawberries or bush fruit, such as gooseberries and currants, under 

 them. Another arrangement consists in putting standard apple or pear trees thirty feet apart 

 and setting bush trees of apples or pears fifteen feet apart between them ; the latter come 

 quickly into bearing and are removed when the standards are fully grown. Occasionally goose- 

 berry or currant bushes, raspberry canes or strawberry plants are set between the bush trees 

 and taken away directly they interfere with their growth. Half-standard apple or plum trees 

 are set triangularly fifteen feet apart, with strawberry plants at distances of eighteen inches 

 in rows thirty inches apart. Or again, bushes will be set between the half-standards and 

 strawberry plants between the bushes. 



By these means the land is made to produce up to its full capacity, but such high farming 

 necessitates the application of great quantities of manure. The kinds made use of include 

 London manure (except where hop-growing absorbs it all), fish-refuse, rags, shoddy and wool 

 waste, soot, bone-meal and various ' artificial ' manures such as superphosphate, nitrate of 

 soda,kainite and sulphate of ammonia. Fruit plantations are always dug by hand with the Kent 

 spud, and never ploughed, as is done in America. Young trees benefit by being kept clear 

 of grass for some distance round, though with older trees whose roots have attained some 

 depth this is less necessary. To check the constant attacks of insects and blight, spraying with 

 various emulsions and solutions is regularly practised by the best farmers. This is done in the 

 early spring before the blossom is out and is a laborious, though eventually economical, process. 

 It also pays to employ bird-scarers, some birds working great havoc amongst the fruit bushes 

 when the young buds appear. Late spring frosts are sometimes a cause of heavy loss to the 

 growers. No serious attempt can be made to guard against them, though this is occasion- 

 ally done by burning rubbish and producing dense smoke. 



Intensive fruit-culture is thus only less expensive than that of hops and it is equally 

 subject to great vicissitudes. On the one hand the crop may be insufficient to cover the cost 

 of its growth, while on the other hand in an abundant season the markets will sometimes 

 be so glutted that the fruit will not realise the expense of picking and is left to rot. Fre- 

 quently crops are sold by agreement wiiile still growing ; in other cases growers contract to 

 supply a stipulated quantity of a particular kind to jam factories. A few of these have been 

 established in the county itself, and are a great advantage to the neighbouring farmers. 

 Growers have been driven, by the competition of foreign varieties, to pay far more attention 

 to the picking, grading and packing of fruit, as well as its marketing. Formerly all was con- 

 signed to London, but now much of it is sent North, some as far as Edinburgh. A well- 

 managed fruit-farm will probably, from one season to another, yield the owner a very fair 

 profit, though less perhaps than in former years. A plantation of about fifteen acres near 

 Maidstone is stated to have shown from 1 83 1 to 1862 an average return of ;£562 a year. 



Besides fruit-growing Kent also enjoys a reputation for its filberts and cobnuts. These 

 are grown principally on the sandy clay ' Coomb ' and other Ragstone soils in the neighbour- 

 hood of Maidstone. The nuts are of proverbial excellence and are in great demand not orJy 

 for the London market but also for America. The trees are closely pruned and kept to a 

 height of 5I to 7 feet on stems 18 inches to 2 feet high. Pruning is an expert operation and is 

 often a hereditary craft in the villages near Maidstone, but skilled cutters are not so common 

 as they once were. Possibly on this account, as well as from the fact that a long time must 

 elapse before the trees come into full bearing, their cultivation is stated to be not much extend- 

 ing in spite of the generally profitable character of the industry. 



Poultry- Farming. — This industry is an old-established one in Kent, which was famous 

 some centuries ago for the size and quality of its poultry. Somewhat neglected during the 

 prosperous times of the last generation, the necessity for turning the smaller branches of farm- 

 ing to profitable account has caused renewed attention to be paid to the rearing of birds and 

 their fattening for market. Many farmers, especially in the Weald and in Romney Marsh, 

 rear poultry for sale to the agents of fattening companies. A few do the fattening themselves, 

 either rearing the birds they require or buying from the surrounding farms. Buff Orping- 

 tons are extensively kept as this breed is liked by the crammers. For a few birds the hand-cram- 

 ming process is suitable, but with a larger number it is too tedious and a poultry-cramming 

 machine is used. The food consists chiefly of ' Sussex ' ground oats, so-called from its being 

 used in the more extensive establishments of the neighbouring county. Actually, Russian 

 oats are made use of, with a small proportion of barley, and this mixture is ground, husk and all, 

 to a fine flour, quite different in character from the oatmeal of commerce. As a poultry-food 

 Sussex oats forms an almost perfectly balanced ration. 



468 



