CONFERENCE ON FRUIT GROWING. 



93 



to carry weight. Fruit growers do not want bare statements repeated 

 again and again, without any practical proofs to back them, nor varieties 

 of fruit indiscriminately recommended ; nor washes and treatments advised 

 to destroy insects, which are known by growers to be useless, nor manures 

 for fruits recommended without any basis to go upon. There are agri- 

 cultural colleges, such as Wye, Reading, &c, which are doing good work, 

 but work on individual lines, and as regards fruit culture they are insuf- 

 ficient, though I think that in a general scheme they might be of great 

 assistance. 



A few days back I received a letter from a well-known professor in the 

 United States, who has w T orked for years at one of their Government 

 experimental stations, and has visited the principal fruit-growing districts 

 in this country. He writes : " I know your situation fairly well, and can 

 say I have never seen a situation in which special work in experimental 

 fruit culture is so badly wanted as in England. There is much fine 

 material lying ready at hand, &c." 



Surely our Government should assist ; and if assistance is given, what 

 form should it take to be of real practical service ? — 



(1) To the established fruit grower or farmer who grows fruit. 



(2) To the intending fruit grower. And, if feasible, to educate a class 

 of men suitable for teaching fruit culture or to assist in the same. 



It is essentially a work that should be carried on by the Government, 

 probably by a sub- department of the Board of Agriculture with a Bureau 

 of Information to carefully collect all available material, tabulate and 

 disseminate the same by means of bulletins, and to supply different centres 

 with information which would enable them to answer many inquiries. 

 A central farm of at least fifty acres should be established under a board 

 of management of experienced men. It is of the utmost importance 

 that members of the staff should be practical and thoroughly qualified 

 men of experience : I lay great stress on this. 



Again reverting to the members of the staff, I should at least include 

 a botanist, entomologist, chemist, practical fruit grower, and an expert at 

 practical spraying and mixing of washes. I would suggest that this 

 latter member should come from America, as I do not think we have such 

 a man in this country. 



It will be absolutely useless unless men with a thorough knowledge of 

 commercial fruit culture are included in the Board of Management, and 

 men of mature experience on the staff, not only in laboratory work, but in 

 practical field work. 



The central station should be for research, experiment and demonstra- 

 tion, and if practicable it should also take pupils who can pass a fixed 

 examination. If education be included in the scheme it should be 

 given gratis, and in exceptional cases, maintenance scholarships, as in 

 France. The entomologist and botanist should, at certain seasons of 

 the year, travel in fruit-growing districts, giving notice of such visits, 

 and call on such growers as apply to him ; inspect orchards and advise 

 growers ; hold public meetings, if possible in orchards, and practically 

 demonstrate how to deal with pests. A chemist should also visit fruit 

 districts and advise as to conducting local experiments with manures and 

 deliver addresses. 



