104 FRUIT FARMING 



baskets. The picking lasts four weeks. New planta- 

 tions are made in September, following a crop of early 

 potatoes if possible. A feature in my informant's 

 notes deserves mention. He keeps his hands on the 

 farm all the year round, the winter months being 

 utilized in making punnets, for which he has invented 

 labour-saving machines. To sum up the various 

 reports, the first point that strikes me is the few kinds 

 grown ; but the public are very conservative, and new 

 kinds are not popular in the market. 



The Southampton, Botley, and Swanwick districts 

 are extensive growers of early Strawberries. The 

 culture differs in some respects from that in Kent. 

 They take special pains to hand lay the early runners, 

 and plant them out as soon as possible, and in this 

 manner they secure an earlier crop and larger berries, 

 some five days in advance of permanent field beds. 

 I am informed that no less than one and a half millions 

 of baskets were sent from one station, over 118,000 in a 

 day. Special trains are supplied by the London & S.W. 

 and Great Western Railways, which carry the 

 fruit all over the kingdom, via Willesden, 22 boxes 

 being reckoned as one ton. In the above districts 

 the small holder has a great opportunity, and the 

 Swanwick and District Fruit Growers' Association has 

 320 members, who by combination help each other, 

 and are able to bring pressure on the carriers to their 

 mutual benefit. They confine their sorts to Royal 

 Sovereign, The Laxton, and Leader. The latter, 

 though not a first-class berry, gives enormous crops 

 and late fruits. Late varieties do not pay, and Paxton 

 has almost died out in the district. This special 

 culture is made feasible from the fact that they do not 



