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A FINE CROP OF APPLES. 



FRUIT FARMING. 



WHERE profit is looked for, one's methods and varieties differ from those 

 previously advised, as in the growth of fruit for our home markets we 

 must, in order to command success, grow those varieties which have a 

 well-known market name, or else have special qualities, colour, size, or 

 season to commend them to the popular taste. For this reason, although some of the kinds 

 recommended may be identical with those already discoursed on, we shall now introduce 

 others of fair quality, but which are heavier bearers, and require less attention than the best 

 garden fruits. It is a common remark, " Oh ! fruit growing is overdone now, or soon will be." 

 The same pessimistic cry arose fifty years back, and yet to-day the average price of fruit is 

 higher, notwithstanding the enormous increase in acreage. There is ample room yet for well- 

 grown fruit. It is only the mass of inferior fruit, carelessly gathered and marketed, that cannot 

 be sold at a paying figure. Experts are fully confident that when our British markets are 

 better supplied with home-grown fruit, the foreign imports will cease to pay, as British produce 

 excels that from abroad, and we must get home-grown fruits and so oust other productions. 

 The most profitable form of fruit culture is that known as a plantation, where there is a top crop 

 of Apples, Pears, or Plums, and a ground crop of Strawberries, Raspberries, Gooseberries, or 

 Currants, or where all four are combined. Such a plantation never fails to yield a good return, 

 and that within a short period after planting ; but it will be noted that Cherries are omitted, as 

 they are best alone or in a grass orchard. But both Cherries and hard fruits are best raised 

 in arable or cultivated land, and start off better ; but at the same time Cherries require 

 special care, as they root upon the surface, and do not do so well if over-manured. 



Initial mistakes are often made in planting too many kinds, and too few of one kind 

 for profit; not less than twenty-four trees of one variety should be planted, or less than five 

 hundred bushes, and selection of sorts must depend upon whether the growth is for local 

 sale or distant markets. A further mistake is made by planting out before the land is in good 



