146 PIGTORIAL FBAOTIGAL FBUIT GROWING. 



have the opportuuity oE getting into the fruit districts, and keep their eyes 

 open while there. In the long run I am of opinion that it pays best to go 

 to a fruit nurseryman who has a reputation, and wants to keep it. The first 

 cost of the trees will be greater than if they were bought at the auction, but 

 they will very likely come into profitable bearing sooner, and make better 

 trees, so proving cheaper in the end. The prices of trees vary with their 

 age and strength. I have got very good trees for Is. each, and I have paid 

 as much as 3s. Gd. for a picked standard Apple four years old. The grower 

 must never grumble if he gets good standards at £5 per 100, bushes at £4 

 per 100, and pyramids at £6 per 100. More will be asked for picked trees. 

 As regards small fruits, 12s, per 100 is a fair price for Gooseberries, 10s. per 

 100 for Currants, 3s. per 100 for Raspberries, and Is. per 100 for Straw- 

 berries. Not only will selected specimens be dearer, but special varieties 

 will cost more. Novelties are always dear, because scarce. 



Cost of ColtiTation. — Labour is scarce and becoming dearer in rural 

 districts, so that there promises to come a time, and that speedily, when the 

 standard items for cost of cultivation will have to be revised. Even as it is 

 there are great variations. As one who has had to employ labour in 

 different parts, I find that in some scarcity of labour and stiffness of soil 

 combine to raise the cost of cultivation to almost double what it is in 

 others where there is more labour and a lighter soil. The following must be 

 taken as approximate : Preparing by simple digging, 4d. to 6d. per rod ; 

 preparing by bastard trenching. Is. to Is. 6d. per rod ; digging between 

 established trees, 30s. per acre ; hoeing, 20s. per acre. 



Cost of Fruning. — In large cultures pruning, or " cutting," as it is 

 more commonly termed, is generally done by permanent hands, but there 

 are many instances in which the services of a professional "cutter" are 

 called in. Sometimes he is properly qualified, sometimes he is an impostor ; 

 but whatever his abilities he generally expects to be paid. The approxi- 

 mate rates are Apples, 20s. per acre ; Currants, 20s. per acre ; Goose- 

 berries, 30s. per acre ; Raspberries, 12s. per acre. Cherries and Plums are 

 not much pruned, as a rule, in market cultures. 



Bietums of Fruit. — There is nothing much more misleading than the 

 figures often quoted as returns on given areas of fruit land. My readers 

 have seen plenty of them. You are supposed to plant so many trees per 

 acre, get so much fruit from each, sell it at sucli a rate, and realise a 

 profit varying from £200 to £2,000 per acre. It is all nonsense, of course. 

 Owing to circumstances over which the grower has no control, such as 

 weather, the returns from fruit are so uncertain that all calculations have a 

 hypothetical basis. No heed must be paid to special results; they nearly 

 always lead to disappointment. For these reasons I prefer not to give figures. 

 Whether fruit as a commercial venture shows a profit or a loss depends 

 largely upon the skill, judgment, and business aptitude of the grower. I 

 could tickle the palates of my readers with some very tempting figures, and 

 they would, perhaps, like me all the better for raising their hopes ; but if a, 

 number of people quite unfit for fruit growing, and lacking the necessary 

 capital, were thereby led into losing hard-earned savings, as has been the 

 case in the past only too often, I should have nothing to feel proud about. 

 I prefer to give practical information, and leave the rest to the judgment 

 and aptitude of the individual. 



