REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFERENCE. 09 



powerful fruit-growers' association, which should be the outcome 

 of this Conference, has established a network of markets in all 

 provincial towns as well as in London — markets in which pro- 

 ducers, as in all parts of Paris, can meet face to face with con- 

 sumers without the aid of so many middlemen. In fruit-growing 

 counties like Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, Kent, Devon, and 

 Somerset, these local markets should be well supported, as we 

 gather from statistics that three-quarters of a million of money- 

 is sent out of England annually for apples alone. If landowners, 

 hitherto blind to their own interests, and legislators now take up 

 the matter, I see no reason why growers should not go forth to 

 the production of an article which the public must and will have, 

 and so keep the money at home. Our climate is all that can be 

 desired for the growth of fresh, crisp fruit, not quite so highly 

 coloured or so large as picked samples from the Colonies, but 

 • large enough to command top prices when well grown and 

 packed, and properly marketed. There must be no shaking from 

 the trees, but the cream of the crop must be hand-picked, and 

 honestly packed as firsts and seconds. The residue or refuse, 

 which added to the best would increase expenses and pull down 

 prices, would then remain at home for various purposes. 



Mr. Knight, the great physiologist and hybridist, who worked 

 so much in Hereford and Salop, proved by analysis that some 

 soils, even in these favoured counties, were preferable to others 

 for producing apples of dense gravity and full of saccharine 

 matter. The late Dr. Bull, of whom Hereford should be proud, 

 following in his wake, corroborated all that Knight had said, 

 proving, I think satisfactorily, what past generations of shrewd 

 men had found out for themselves, both as regards the quality of 

 the fruit and the constituents of the soil which should be chosen 

 for apples, also for pears. The conclusions at which they arrived 

 were these : The light thin soils will not grow the best apples, 

 therefore, those who would plant a successful orchard must 

 choose a deep stiff sandstone loam if they have the opportunity 

 of doing so. All the orchard land in this county is not alike 

 good ; indeed, some is very bad, but the soil here, as in Devon- 

 shire, which produces the best fruit, owes its fertility to the 

 plentiful supply of lime from the marl or cormstone ; to its 

 great depth and sustaining nature. Scientists who will may 

 peruse the first part of the " Herefordshire Pomona," or they may 

 follow Mr. Rivers through his exhaustive address delivered at the 

 Crystal Palace, but my remarks, necessarily brief, will guide 

 plain practical planters to the best spots for new plantations. 



Having been honoured by an invitation to contribute a short 

 paper upon the Apple, I have determined to confine myself to the 

 West Midland orchards, in which, I am pleased to repeat, some 

 progress has been made since the first Conference was held in 

 1883. Draining, grubbing, grafting, and planting are still going 



