194 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



steps that should be taken in order to secure a regular supply of 

 good English cider and perry equal to the demand for those 

 drinks which is increasing day by day, and promises to assume 

 gigantic proportions. First and foremost we must renovate our 

 orchards, destroy the old and worthless trees, and replace them 

 with better sorts and plant new orchards of the most approved 

 vintage fruits, which experience has shown to be suited to a 

 given locality. Because our orchards have been suffered to fall 

 into decay, and to restore them would be a work from which no 

 return could be expected for some years, ought we to take no 

 steps to improve them ? Surely not ! Forty years ago French 

 orchards were much neglected. The attention of the Govern- 

 ment was drawn to their condition, and State assistance was given 

 towards their renovation. Similar neglect was about the same 

 time observable in American orchards, and a writer, James 

 Thacker by name, urged the necessity of restoring them. His 

 advice was followed, with the result that a noted agriculturist, 

 writing in 1871, was able to say, " American farmers are now 

 beginning to recognise the fact that no farm is complete without 

 a well-selected and well- cultivated orchard." Many English 

 landlords are replenishing their estates with fruit trees. One 

 nobleman tells me that he plants 200 young trees annually, 

 and intends to continue the practice ; whilst another, who has 

 been a great planter all his life, expresses himself as much dis- 

 heartened by the little care the tenants take of the trees after 

 he has planted their orchards for them. 



Another step necessary is the eradication of insect pests by 

 greasing the trees in the autumn and spraying them in the 

 spring. Many occupiers do pursue these methods now, but with- 

 out concerted action of all residents in a locality the labour of a 

 single individual is lost ; for, take what steps he may to clear 

 his orchards, they are always open to infection from the trees 

 of more negligent neighbours. The failure of the apple 

 crop this season is due, I believe, as much to the ravages of 

 insects as to the late frosts which undoubtedly blighted the hopes 

 raised by a magnificent show of bloom. In Tasmania an Act of 

 the Legislature has been passed compelling owners and occupiers 

 under penalties to clear their orchards of destructive insects and 

 keep their trees in a healthy condition. This Act will be found 

 summarised in the Board of Agriculture's Journal for 1894. It 



