19-22.] The Worthing Fruit Growing Industrv. 



61 



THE WORTHING FRUIT GROWING 

 INDUSTRY. 



A. G. Leeney. 



In that part of Sussex which is bounded by the river Adur ou 

 the east and the Arun on the west there hes, betw^een the South 

 Downs and the sea, a tract of land some fifteen miles by four 

 miles, whereon has been developed the Vv^orthing fruit growing 

 industry. 



The natural advantages are many : the soil for the most part 

 is rich and deep, the hills to the north are of sufficient height to 

 keep oft' the cold north and north-east w-inds, while the L.B. and 

 S.C.R. line from London to Brighton and Portsmouth, with 

 stations every two or three miles, runs through the centre of it, 

 providing an efficient service to London and the northern mar- 

 kets. There is an unfailing water supply, ample sunshine and 

 an average rainfall. 



Worthing's fruit fame goes back some 600 years, when the 

 great xirchbishop, Thomas-a-Becket, had a country residence at 

 West Tarring, now a part of the borough of Worthing, in the gar- 

 den of which he grew the luscious figs which for many centuiies 

 constituted Worthing's chief claim to fame in the fruit world. 

 Figs are still grown, although Worthing has now to give the 

 palm for quahty to Guernsey. In the Worthing district there 

 are now some 250 fruit gi'owei^, who between them employ 

 somewhere between 1,500 and 2.000 men, and if the individual 

 successes have not been so striking as in some other districts, at 

 least it can be claimed that the industry has afixn-ded to those 

 engaged in it a comfortable living in one of \he most favoured 

 climates in the world. 



It is difficult to re^Uise in these days, when the consumption 

 of tomatoes in this country exceeds 100,000 tons per annum, 

 that it is less than fifty years since the first glass-house for grow- 

 ing tomatoes for market, w^as put up in Worthing, while tlie 

 tomato itself was regarded by the retailer as somewhat of a 

 curiosity and was labelled by him " Love Apple " : indeed the 

 fruit trade itself is of comparative modern development, as men 

 who are still engaged in the business well remember. 



Although mere names will not mean much to the majority of 

 leaders, it will interest many growers still living to mention that 

 O'Bryrno. George Pui-sei*. and George Beer wen^ among the 

 pioneers of the glassliouse industry, and that parts of their 



