•272 



The Orchards of Middlesex. 



[June, 



many unsuitable varieties have been planted at different times. 

 For example, an orchard at Shepperton contains a large number 

 of trees about fifteen years old which have never yet borne fruit. 

 In later years, Conference, and other choice varieties have been 

 planted more freely. 



Plums. — The plum has been regarded as the most profitable 

 crop in Middlesex. Many good incomes and probably a few for- 

 tunes have been made out of the Victoria plum. Unfortunately 

 plums seem to have fallen on bad times during the past decade. 

 The vagaries of the spring climate have made plum growing 

 very risky, as wet frosts during the flowering period seem to 

 have become more frequent in recent years. Add to this the 

 terrible scourge of silver-leaf, which has killed thousands of trees 

 every year, and one cannot feel very optimistic as to the future 

 of plum growing in the county. Middlesex has probably suffered 

 more from silver-leaf disease than any other part of the country. 

 Of the Victoria plum trees planted twenty years or more ago 

 roughly 60 per cent, are now dead or beyond recovery. The 

 Agricultural Returns show a decrease of 180 acres of plums in 

 ten years, but these figures indicate only a small proportion of 

 the loss due to silver-leaf, because the plum orchards, although 

 their acreage "may have changed but little, have all been dras- 

 tically thinned during the past ten years and the actual number 

 of trees has been greatly reduced. 



Since the Silver-Leaf Order of 1 919 came into force something 

 like 100.000 trees have been grubbed up, and the commercial 

 growers are making serious efforts to keep the disease in check. 

 There are, however, many difficulties to meet. Large areas of 

 orchard land have been cut up for building, and the old trees, 

 many of them diseased, are often hidden away in the back gar- 

 dens of private houses, to be a constant source of infection to 

 neighbouring orchards. 



A cure for silver-leaf and a thorough regeneration of stocks, 

 may restore plum growing to its old prominence, but at present 

 the outlook is anything but encouraging, and many . growers 

 are not replacing the lost trees. 



The principal varieties grown are Victoria (the most^ profitable 

 of all, but by far the most susceptible to silver-leaf), the Czar, 

 Monarch, and Gisborne. Prince of Wales was once widely 

 grown, but is not often planted now. 



Cherries. — The cherry is no longer popular as a market crop 

 in Middlesex. The official returns show a decrease of 79 acres 

 during the ten years ending 1920. Of the remaining acreage, a 



