516 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



orchards are very old, the trees in Herefordshire, and doubtless in the 

 other counties, having been planted as long ago as the end of the 17th 

 century. Herefordshire, indeed, is described by Marshall in a work 

 published in 1789, and entitled " The Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, 

 including the Management of Orchards and Fruit Liquor in Hereford- 

 shire," as " a forest of fruit trees." The great bulk of the fruit grown is 

 vintage fruit (i.e. grown for cider and perry making) : in Herefordshire 

 75 per cent, was stated to be of this character, and a similar proportion 

 would probably hold good for Somersetshire and Devonshire. Scarcely a 

 farm in these districts is without its orchard. The cider used to be 

 entirely home-made, the cider press, like the orchard, being a necessary 

 part of every farm. In recent years, however, the factory system has 

 been introduced, with, apparently, good results. But a great deal of cider 

 is still made at home. The cultivation of these old orchards is a very 

 different matter from that of the modern fruit plantation. Very little 

 labour is necessary ; even picking is dispensed with, the fruit being 

 generally shaken down ; indeed, it must be admitted that, in many parts, 

 the orchards have been terribly neglected — notably in Devonshire. 

 Replanting is urgently needed, though a certain amount has been under- 

 taken in Herefordshire recently. But these orchards are still profitable — 

 the cider fruit fetches a good price as a rule, and the trees standing in 

 grass afford shade for sheep which graze in the orchards. The growers 

 iu these counties are generally not "fruit-growers " in a specific sense — 

 they are ordinary farmers, whose farms consist to a greater or less extent 

 of orchard ; but, having regard to the larger profits made elsewhere by 

 fruit-growers, it may well be surmised that, if they devoted more time 

 and labour to their fruit, and took more interest in it, they would largely 

 improve the value of their holdings and their yearly profits. It is 

 specially worthy of notice that, where replanting occurs, the demand is 

 largely for good varieties of market fruit, and that, in some cases, the 

 farmers exhibit a tendency to develop into professional fruit-growers, and 

 to adopt the higher methods of cultivation. There are many growers in 

 Herefordshire whose main object is the production of the cider fruit, and 

 in all these counties there are districts where mixed plantations exist, and 

 where all hardy fruits are grown upon the most scientific principles. 

 The most conspicuous example of this is the great fruit farm at Tod- 

 dington, in Gloucestershire, started by Lord Sudeley in 1883, and now the 

 property of Mr. Andrews, where there are between 600 and 700 acres 

 actually under fruit — producing in some years a total of over 2,000 tons of 

 fruit -Apples, Plums, Damsons, Pears, Cherries, Strawberries, Raspberries, 

 Black and Red Currants, Gooseberries and Nuts. Other examples which 

 may be given are the Tamar Valley, in Devonshire ; and, going further 

 west, many parts of Cornwall, where, thanks to the climate, Strawberries 

 and other fruit ripen a week or a fortnight earlier than in most English 

 districts. 



13. Turning to a totally different part of England, we find the county 

 of Kent standing at the head of the list as regards the acreage, both of 

 orchards and of small fruit— its pre-eminence in the latter being, indeed, 

 most marked — with 22,549 acres to its credit, Middlesex coming next 

 with 4,700. Kent has, of course, special 'advantage in respect of its 



