FRUIT-GROWING OX A LARGE SCALE. 



169 



lesson from the French in the way they pack and send their stuff 

 to market. It is a mistake to top up with selected fruit ; let the 

 fruit be the same sample all through. Buyers will soon find out 

 those who pack fairly, and will always ask for their goods. For 

 this reason it is better for a large grower to use his own empties 

 entirely ; his mark is soon known on the market, and his fruit, if 

 packed fairly, will always be in request. A paper is to be read 

 to-morrow on packing, grading, and marketing, and it is there- 

 fore unnecesary for me to say much on the subject. 



Markets. — In nearly all the large towns there is now a fruit 

 market, and as the fruit-growing industry and the demand 

 increase no doubt more markets will be opened up. A grower will 

 soon find out in which market the different varieties of fruit are 

 most wanted. As an instance of this, I sold Pond's Seedling 

 Plums this season for exactly twice as much in one market as I 

 did in two or three others. A grower in sending to a market 

 should endeavour to keep up a regular supply, so that the sales- 

 man knows he can rely on a certain quantity daily ; he is then 

 prepared to dispose of it, and has his customers ready. More 

 might no doubt be done in supplying shops direct, but this is a 

 trade of itself and requires much working up, and it takes some 

 years to get a good connection. 



Injurious Insects. — There are many insects injurious to fruit- 

 trees ; in fact there is not a single fruit tree or bush which has 

 not its enemy, and as soon as the enemy appears let it be war to 

 the knife. The more fruit-trees we plant the more food do we 

 give to the insects which prey upon them, and we make it the 

 more difficult for Nature to assist us in keeping them down. 

 Artificial means must therefore be resorted to. It would take 

 up too much space in this paper to refer to all the pests in detail 

 which fruit-trees suffer from, and growers cannot do better than 

 refer to Miss Ormerod's " Manual on Insects Injurious to Fruit 

 Trees," and some useful hints may also be obtained from the 

 " Report of the Evesham Committee on their Experiments to 

 Counteract the Ravages of Insect Pests," to be obtained from 

 Messrs. W. & H. Smith, Bridge Street, Evesham, price 6d. 



Betums. — We will assume a mixed plantation is planted this 

 next winter. Next summer the returns will be nil ; the summer 

 following (1896), if Strawberries only have been planted with the 

 tree-fruit, they should pay expenses. Other bush-fruits which do 



