814 



Fruit Farming in West Kent. 



[JAN., 



crab or free stock, 20 years old, on good soil, sometimes yields 

 eight or nine bushels, but the trees need to be nearly 30 feet 

 apart. 



Packing. — Apples are packed early in the season in pecks, 

 later in half-bushel and bushel baskets lined with blue paper, 

 covered with green lucerne, with two cross-splints to keep 

 them firm. 



Pear, Plum, and Cherry Plantations. 



There are several plantations entirely of pears planted about 

 10 feet square, and the following varieties are popular: — 

 Fertility, Hessle, Catillac, Conference, Souvenir du Congres, 

 and Jargonelle. In many plantations a row of pears is 

 planted each side of the roadway. Hessle and Fertility are 

 used for this purpose. 



Some plum plantations have been made with bush trees 

 branching close to the ground, and planted with strawberries. 

 The latter are grubbed up after, say, six years, and then 

 the cultivation consists, as with the bush apples and pears, 

 in digging by fork during winter, horse hoeing when neces- 

 sary, and hand hoeing about four times during the season. 

 Victoria, Monarch, Heron, and Early Rivers are favourite 

 varieties. 



In West Kent but few cherries are grown, though there are 

 one or two plantations of Morello cherries, and the following 

 was approximately the cost of planting in one case : — 



Cost per Acre of Planting Bush Morello Cherries at Swanley. 



£ s. d. 



Ploughing, subsoiling, harrowing ... ... ... ... I 13 o 



Weeding ... ... ... ... ... ... ... o 7 o 



Setting out ... ... ... ... ... ... . ... o 15 o 



5 cwts. bone meal at 5-s - , put in holes ... ... ... I 5 o 



135 two-year-old trees at 1355-. per 100, at 18 ft. apart... 923 



1,075 re( i currants at Js. 6d. per 100, at 6 ft. apart ... 4 o 7 



Planting trees and bushes ... ... ... ... ... 2 o o 



Strawberries planted between 36 in. by 18 in. ... ... 5 o o 



Cartage, &e. ... ... ... ... 17 2 



^25 o o 



When this plantation was about 14 years old, the sale of 

 the cherries and currants together realised £60 gross per acre, 

 but it was in a very favourable season. 



The best cherries are grown in the neighbourhood of 

 Sittingbourne, Faversham, and Sheldwich ; the soil is on loam 

 over clay on chalk. They are found to thrive best when 



