41 



This manuring, although the common 

 practice .in West Kent, may be considered 

 unnecessary unless strawberries are to be 

 grown between the currants. If the cur- 

 rants are grown alone and the land is 

 good, one may wait two or three years 

 before manuring, and thus lessen the 

 expense. 



Second Yeak's Cultivation — Pre- War. 



£ s. d. 



(October) Priming bushes 3 



(November) Digging with spade, £1 to 15 

 {April to October) Horse-hoeing five 



times, at 3s 15 



Hand-hoeing six times 1 10 



(July) Picking fruit, 6 half bushels 



at Is .^ 6 



Packing and splints, ^d. per half 



bushel 3 



Carriage and Sale 2 



Rent, rates, taxes 2 10 



£6 11 3 



Cost per Acre of Annual CuLirvATioN or 

 Black Currants when Mature — Pre-War. 



£ s. d. 



(October) Pruning 12 



Clearing cuttings 2 



(November) Bach alternate year 20 

 tons dung, with cartage £6 15s., 

 wheeling 12s., spreading 3s. — £7 



10s., half of 3 15 



or 2 tons shoddy (8 per cent, am- 

 monia) at 50s. per ton 



Digging with spade or fork 1 



(April to Sept.) Hand-hoeing four 

 times, 28s. ; or horse-hoed and hand- 

 hoed 10 



(August) Picking one ton black cur- 

 rants at Is. per 281bs 4 



Packing, at 2s. per 100 half-bushels 18 



Carriage, 16s. per ton 16 



Toll id., sale 3d. per half bushel 13 4 



Eent, rates, taxes 2 10 



£15 



BALANCE. — For unforeseen expenses, 

 superintendence, interest on cost of 

 planting, etc., PROFIT £15 



RECEIPT.— One ton black currants 



at £30 per ton £30 



With reference to manuring, artificial 

 manure may take the place of dung after 

 a good start has been made. Probably 

 the best result of all is obtainable by giv- 



ing dung and artificial manures in alter- 

 nate years, or light dressings tsombined. 



During winter these plantations are 

 pruned, manured, and dug by spade if the 

 land is not too stoney, which is very often 

 the case : if this is so it is dug by a fork 

 with three or four broad tines. During 

 summer the plantation is hand-hoed three 

 or four times — ^the first hoeing used 

 to cost about 10s., the others 6s. or 

 7s. per acre for hoeing all the ground. 

 If planted in rows both ways, a 

 pony or horse cultivator will take 

 the place to a large extent of the 

 hand hoe and do it much more efficiently. 

 If the land is kept clean by horse and 

 hand hoe, it is probably possible on some 

 soils to dispense with digging. 



The above estimates of cost were origi- 

 nally made with the kind help of the late 

 Mr. Thomas Wood, of Crockenhill, Kent, 

 who was at that time probably the largest 

 fruitgrower in England; his brother, Mr. 

 John Wood, at present has some 1,200 

 acres under fruit. Mr. Sydney Lee, of 

 Crockenhill, has most kindly revised this 

 article in several points. He told me my 

 estimate of 2 tons was now far too rosy 

 (owing to the decrease in crop due to the 

 mite), and that half a ton would be 

 nearer the mark of late years, sometimes 

 only quarter of a ton, and that it needs a 

 good piece to get IJ tons. The price is 

 very speculative, and for black currants 

 for contracts, worked out at £32 per ton, 

 and on open market £40; he has known 

 them make £56, but only in a year when 

 " Jack Frost " had cut them worse than 

 usual. Before the spread of the " mite," 

 a usual price was £17 per ton, say 20 years 

 ago. 



The prices in 1919 for gooseberries sold 

 by contract was up to about £40 per ton, 

 for black currants up to £100 per ton, and 

 for red currants up to £35 per ton. 



Black currants yield from about half a 

 ton to 2 tons per acre, the bushes give 

 remunerative returns from about their 

 third year, are at their prime from their 

 fifth to their tenth year, and live 15 to 20 

 years if not attacked by the mite. 



The greater part of this article appeared in " The 

 Journal of the Board of Agrriculture, for November, 

 1909, under the title " Small Fruit Growing in Kent," 

 b.v C. H. Hooper, and is reprinted here with the kind 

 permispicn of the Controller of His Majesty's Stationery 

 Office, \ few alterations and additions have been made. 



