THE COMMERCIAL ASPECT OF HARDY FRUIT GROWING. 289 
Black and Ked Cubeants are useful crops, especially the 
first named, which are extensively employed in preserving, both 
for jam and jelly ; they are also extremely productive, yielding 
nearly double the weight that Ked Currants do from an equal 
area of ground, and they continue profitable for a number of 
years with comparatively little attention. They are, moreover, 
adapted for damper and cooler situations than most other small 
fruits. Eed Currants of the best varieties, with large berries and 
bunches of rich colour, command a good sale. White Currants 
are only in very limited demand. 
Raspbeeries should only be grown in quantity where they 
can be readily disposed of for preserving, or sufficiently near a 
large town to be able to convey the fruit to market with the 
least possible delay. No hardy fruit is so soon spoilt after 
gathering, and in a wet season they are useless for any purpose 
but jam-making. They require very frequent gathering, and 
only the firmest, finest fruits can be sold in punnets. Liberal 
supplies of manure and good cultivation are essential for Rasp- 
berries, which then give a large return in weight of crop, and in 
some seasons command highly remunerative prices ; but the cost 
of cultivation and marketing is a large set-off against this. 
Plums yield the heaviest crop of all hardy fruits, but they 
are very uncertain ; in some seasons the crops are almost entirely 
destroyed by frosts, and in others there is such a glut of fruit 
that they can scarcely be sold at any price. The development 
of the Continental and American system of drying Plums, which 
has only been partially tried in this country, would assist in 
improving the value of these fruits. Taking an average of 
seasons, however. Plums are, under good management, fairly pro- 
fitable, as they afford three markets : (i) as dessert fruit, (ii) for 
culinary purposes, and (iii) for preserving. 
Chereies cannot be recommended for general culture. In a 
few districts, as in Kent, Hertfordshire, and the West of England, 
they are profitable, but the present supplies are almost entirely 
derived from trees planted many years ago, and new plantations 
are only seen, as a rule, in the districts indicated. 
Of Peaes, from the Channel Islands and France handsome 
fruits are sent in abundance. When the soil and climate are 
suitable, Pear culture, especially dwarf or trained trees, is pro- 
fitable ; but, taking Great Britain generally, it is not a crop to be 
recommended for extensive cultivation. 
