JOURNAL 
OF THE 
Royal Horticultural Society. 
Vol. XIX. 1895. 
Paet II. 
FEUIT CULTURE IN FRANCE. 
[Kead August 14, 1894.] 
By M. Chaeles Baltet, F.R.H.S., President of the 
Pomological Congress of France. 
I* is now some years since Mr. Gladstone, at Hawarden, recom- 
mended farmers to devote a portion of their land to the 
cultivation of fruit, if they wished to live happily and to be 
able to pay their rent. " Of Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums, 
and Strawberries," he said, " you never produce enough." And, 
as a matter of fact, has not the extensive cultivation of fruit- 
trees enriched many nations of the old and new worlds ? "What 
numerous industries have sprung from the prosperity of fruit 
culture 1 Has it not sustained the agriculturist in his farming 
experiments ? And the pleasure and profit it returns, have they 
not induced our country youths to remain under the paternal 
roof, and cultivate the family acres, instead of roaming the 
world in search of phantoms or sinking down into the misery of 
our already overcrowded cities ? 
France, with its varied climate and endowed with such 
numerous means of transport by land and sea, has entered heart 
and soul into fruit cultivation both as an agricultural and as a 
commercial pursuit. In the following paper I have but just 
indicated, as it were, the landmarks and principal points, hoping 
B 
