26 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



produce would bring, the charges on the land are raised ! Now 

 it would seem only fair, if the charges on land are calculated 

 according to the value of the annual crop, the planter of fruit 

 trees should pay nothing the first four years. 



4. Sorts. — Of large fruits grown for profit apples would 

 seem to stand first, plums next, then pears, then cherries. Of 

 small fruits, strawberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries 

 are the most important ; filberts may also be planted to give a 

 profitable crop in odd sheltered spots where other fruits would 

 not grow well. But these different fruits do not all require pre- 

 cisely the same climate and soil. The apple is perhaps the least 

 particular in these respects, some varieties of which will thrive 

 and produce large crops of good fruit hi almost any well-drained 

 soil when grafted or budded on the crab or apple stock ; the 

 Paradise stock I have found next to useless under field culture on 

 the clayey soils of Sussex. There are twenty-four sorts of apples 

 which I should plant in preference to others in my own county 

 (Hertfordshire), having an eye to the disposal of the crop as 

 well as to its production. They are : Blenheim Orange, Cox's 

 Orange Pippin, Cox's Pomona, Devonshire Quarrenden, Ecklin- 

 ville, Duchess of Oldenburg, Irish Peach, Keswick, King of 

 the Pippins, Lord Suffield, Small's Admirable, Stirling Castle, 

 Stunner Pippin, Warner's King, Wellington, Hawthornden, 

 Cellini, Beauty of Kent, Dutch Mignonne, Northern Greening, 

 Early Julien, Golden Spire, Worcester Pearmain, and Pott's 

 Seedling. 



I can speak favourably of the Ecklinville from experiments 

 made both in Herts and Sussex. I planted in Sussex four years 

 ago two hundred Ecklinville apples that had been cut back as 

 maidens to 2 h ft. The soil (a quarter of an acre) was good, and 

 had been subsoiled 18 in. deep a few years previously. They 

 grew well. The third year they produced five bushels, the fourth 

 year seventeen bushels, which sold on the ground at 5s. a bushel. 

 They were planted about 6 ft. by 6 ft., but strong growers 

 might be planted 9 ft. by 9 ft., and small fruits or vegetables 

 might be grown between the trees for a few years. I estimate 

 the expenses of planting and cultivating these two hundred 

 Ecklinville apple trees on a quarter of an acre of ground in 

 1884 as follows :— 



Cost of trees, 200 at 50s. per 100 £o 



Planting and digging 15 



Four years' cultivation, at 15s. per year 3 



Eent, rates, &c, at 10s. per year 2 



£10 15 



Returns in 1888 : 



Twenty-two Bushels of Apples sold on the ground, 



at 5s. per bushel £5 10 



£5 5 



