1908.] Competition in Apple Growing. 493 



for a series of years would be necessary in order to afford a fair 

 representation of the average yield. That the quantity per 

 tree would come out much lower than in the United States or 

 Canada may be regarded as certain ; but whether or not the 

 extra number of trees in a given space would bring the yield 

 per acre up to that of those countries is doubtful. There is 

 no official return of the yield of apples per acre in any country, 

 and the average per tree of bearing age returned in Ontario as 

 representing Canada is not sufficient, as the average number of 

 trees per acre is not known. 



Some years ago, after an inquiry made among Kentish fruit 

 growers, Mr. Cecil H. Hooper estimated the yield of standard 

 apple trees in full bearing at 10 tons per acre, or 466 bushels 

 of 48 lb. This, of course, would be greatly in excess of the 

 average for trees of all conditions, including young and very 

 old ones. The number of trees per acre is not given, and it is 

 uncertain whether half-standards were included. The estimate 

 for " dwarfs " in full bearing is 5 to 7 tons per acre, the mean of 

 which would be equal to 280 bushels. Here again there is 

 uncertainty as to whether half-standards are included with 

 bush-shaped trees. Besides, an inquiry made among a limited 

 number of growers in Kent cannot be regarded as affording 

 satisfactory guidance as to the average yield in the country at 

 large. There is no doubt that the yield per acre in Kent is 

 much above that of the whole of England. 



But whatever conclusion might be derived from an approxi- 

 mately accurate comparison of the yields of apples per acre 

 in the countries under notice, it would not settle the question 

 as to the probable advantage or disadvantage to English 

 growers of attempting to compete on an extensive scale with 

 the United States and Canada in the winter supply. As 

 already stated, the English grower's expenses are vastly greater 

 than those of his rivals, and therefore he would need much 

 larger crops to enable him to undersell those competitors. 

 There is abundant evidence to the effect that well-managed 

 apple orchards in the United States and Canada yield much 

 larger profits than the corn crops of those countries, and that 

 extensive planting of trees is constantly going on. As this 

 country is the only considerable market for the surplus produc- 

 tion of the Continent of North America, apples would continue 



