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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cultivation of the soil ; in fact we use no irrigation for the deciduous 

 trees now growing on our farms ; but this man told me that it was 

 no good planting at all. Of course they had never tried, but I have my 

 satisfaction now from the prices we are getting in London, and from the 

 wide distribution of fruits. 



We had all sorts of difficulties ; and I tell you of them because it is as 

 well you should know that it has not been quite plain sailing. To give you 

 another example, we bought farms at Wellington of about 500 acres and 

 planted some 50,000 Apricot and Prune trees over the hills ; and in 

 taking these farms over we had to run a great many risks ; there were no 

 trees grown under the same conditions in the district. About two years 

 ago we had a terrible wind, and about seventy or eighty acres of these 

 young trees were absolutely destroyed. The wind was so strong that 

 the soil, being of a granitic nature, was taken up, and had actually scored 

 these trees to the pith on the windward side. However we replanted and 

 tried a new system of planting, Oats between the trees ; and having no 

 severe winds the next year, the trees came on very well. Last spring 

 however, we had another wind, which was sufficiently strong to blow the 

 crop of Oats, then standing a foot high, clean out of the ground in one 

 piece of thirty acres. This land of course we must now throw up all ideas 

 of planting an orchard on. I mention these things to show some of the 

 difficulties we have had to encounter. 



In regard to the fruit industry, we have not been one of those 

 colonies which have been always asking for Government assistance ; we 

 have asked for no bonus on export such as Australia has secured. The 

 Government have taken on one or two good experts as advisers — that is 

 all. 



It may interest some to know the varieties of fruit we grow at the 

 Cape. Of Apples many varieties most popular in England are unsuited to 

 our conditions. We are very successful with the 1 Blenheim Orange,' 

 however, and of the American varieties ' Jonathan ' is the best. We find 

 particularly that the Australian varieties suit our climate better than any. 

 In regard to Pears all the leading varieties are successful in our country ; 

 and of Peaches the best is the ' Old Freestone,' introduced from France by 

 the Dutch more than 100 years ago. I have also introduced successfully 

 many of the latest Californian varieties of Peaches. In Plums the whole 

 race of Japanese varieties seem to do best with us, as for some reason 

 we are quite unable, with very few exceptions, to successfully grow 

 the ordinary varieties of Primus domestica, which do so well in this 

 country. 



Id regard to the future of the Cape fruit trade I may say that this 

 season we have had more success than we have ever had before. Every- 

 thing is better done, and we are giving more attention to the fruits, 

 discarding some of the useless varieties Sec. There is still plenty of room 

 for improvement, for instance, in the selection of a succession of varieties. 

 I have studied the matter from the beginning of the season, and am very 

 ati lied with the material we have sent over, and J feel that a good stop 

 forward has been taken. So far as the steamship companies are concerned, 

 we pay a good freight, higher in proportion than from any other part of 

 the world ; and although we are not making any complaint against the 



