HARDY FRUITS IN YORKSHIRE. 



587 



HARDY FRUITS IN YORKSHIRE. 

 By A. Gaut, F.R.H.S., Yorkshire College, Leeds. 



From Reports collected from sixty-seven fruit centres in all parts of the 



County. 

 [September 2, 1902.] 



Special Reasons for collecting these Reports. — When I first began to 

 give lectures on hardy fruit culture, the greatest difficulty in my experi- 

 ence was in recommending the most suitable varieties of the various 

 species of hardy fruits to plant. Special lists suitable to certain counties 

 or districts were found to be very misleading. Varieties which may 

 succeed admirably in some places often give unsatisfactory results in 

 others, and this sometimes within very small areas. This is particularly 

 noticeable in the northern counties of England, where there is so much 

 variation in the character and depth of soils and subsoils, position, shelter, 

 altitude, and other influences. It is therefore absolutely necessary, in order 

 to gain the confidence of the people with whom the lecturer comes in contact 

 and to be able to give sound advice, that he should make himself 

 thoroughly acquainted with the hardy fruits in his district and the con- 

 ditious under which they are growing. 



For the past three years I have been engaged in this work amongst 

 the hardy fruits in Yorkshire, and up to the present time have personally 

 visited and collected reports from sixty-seven of the best hardy fruit 

 centres in the county. It has been a most pleasant task, as head gardeners, 

 market-fruit growers, and others with whom I have come in contact, have 

 in the most kind and courteous manner placed the results of their experi- 

 ence at my disposal, and a mass of most valuable information has been 

 collected, as you may judge from statistics following. These represent 

 the aggregate experience of sixty-seven hardy-fruit growers in Yorkshire. 



I propose to give what must necessarily be only a very condensed 

 summary of these reports, as time will not allow of anything more, and 

 under four heads, viz. : — 



(1) Climatic conditions and the main physical features of the 

 county. 



(2) Surface soils and subsoils in the chief fruit-growing districts. 



(3) Short lists of varieties of some of the principal hardy fruits 

 (mainly consisting of extracts from the reports). 



(4) Future possibilities for hardy-fruit culture in Yorkshire. 



(1) Yorkshire, taken as a whole, is subjected to much variation in 

 climate and temperature. The physical configuration of the county has 

 a great bearing upon its hardy-fruit culture. High, barren mountains 

 and hills with their sides facing to all points of the compass, numerous 

 sheltered vales, flat open country, in places nearly at sea-level, and a long 

 stretch of sea-coast, are its main features. It is bounded on the east and 

 north-east by the German Ocean, and on this side is much subjected to 

 cold winds and fogs coining off the sea. During spring and early summer, 

 especially when the trees are in flower, the fruit crops suffer very much 

 from these causes alone. In some parts the coast is low and bleak, and 

 these influences are felt for some distance inland, while in the more 



