i9i i.] Fruit Farming in West Kent. 815 



planted on arable land, which is kept cultivated for, say, 

 ten years, for which reason they are often planted among 

 hops. After about ten years the land is sown with grass 

 seeds and stocked with sheep, which receive corn or cake 

 as additional food. Among the best varieties grown in these 

 Kentish orchards may be mentioned Early Rivers, Early 

 Black, Waterloo, Old Black Heart, Black Eagle, Bigarreau 

 or Amber, Bigarreau Napoleon, Frogmore Bigarreau, and 

 Turk. 



Mr. Walter Kruse, who planted fruit extensively in mid- 

 Kent, gave me the following as the approximate cost per acre 

 of forming a mixed plantation of apple and plum trees with 

 gooseberries : — 



£ I d. 



Cultivating and cleaning land £2 to £4 ... ... ... ... 3 o o 



Manuring from £ 1 to £ 10 ... ... ... ... ... ...400 



Setting out plantation 12 ft. apart for trees, 6 ft. by 3 ft. for 



bushes ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... o 10 o 



305 apple and plum trees at is. each ... ... £15 5 o 



2,115 gooseberries at 12s. per 100 ... ... ... 12 14 o 



2,420 2 7 19 P 



Digging holes and planting trees at Ss. per 100, 



£1 4s. 6d. ; stakes and staking at 2d. each, 



£2 10s. 10a. .. £3 15 4 



Digging holes and planting gooseberries at $s. 



per 100 5 5 9 



Rent, rates, cultivation, including digging docks, couch, etc., by 

 hand, pruning, and general cultivation of plantation, washing, 

 re-tying trees, share of foreman's time, finding men when 

 cultivation cannot be done — for three years at ^10 a year ... 30 o o 

 Replacing dead trees and bushes ... ... ... ... ... 012 o 



Share of fencing and packing lodge ... ... £$ o o 



Share of roads ... ... ... ... ... 100 



600 



Interest on capital £66 at 5 per cent. = £3 6s. per annum for 



three years ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... 9 18 o 



£91 0 1 



In such a plantation the trees are planted about 12 feet 

 apart, sorts that crop well and do not grow much being put 

 between the larger growing sorts. Gooseberries and currants 

 are planted 6 feet by 3 feet, and remain from seven to ten 

 years. 



On the same farm 28 acres of fruit were planted in 1888; 

 after deducting the amount of fruit, potatoes, etc., sold in the 

 first two years, the cost was found to be ^"2,070. Besides this 

 there was an outlay of £go for fencing, and ,£140 for build- 

 ings, etc., together with the loss on cultivation until the fruit 

 paid expenses, making a total of about ,£2,888, or fully 

 £100 per acre. 



