REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFEREXCE. 



25 



the way one would stick in a post, cannot be too loudly con- 

 demned. However good the soil, however careful the after 

 culture, no satisfactory results can follow. The soil should be 

 well prepared, and the trees carefully planted and cultivated 

 according to the recognised methods of intelligent and ex- 

 perienced horticulturists. 



3. Holdings. — It is often said one should not plant fruit 

 trees for profit except on his own land. But this ^'ould un- 

 necessarily limit the number of growers. A long lease, however, 

 is indispensable. According to the calculations I have made, 

 but with which I need not trouble you, thirty years is the 

 shortest lease I should advise anyone to plant under. If the 

 lease be for a shorter period, I think the tenant should expect 

 from the landlord either a renewal at the same rent as before, or 

 that his trees be taken at a valuation, or some equitable arrange- 

 ment made for compensation if the lease is not renewed. 



It may be thought by some that this is asking too much from 

 the owner of the soil, but I do not think it is more than it is his 

 interest to give. By such concession he may secure a good 

 tenant and a good rent, and there is ample security for his rent 

 in the value of the trees on the soil. I will read a brief extract 

 from a recent number of the Sussex Advertiser in reference to 

 land tenure in Kent, and without offering any opinion on the 

 course taken by the tenant, as I know nothing of the case 

 beyond what is here stated, I think you will all agree with me 

 that such a state of things is to be deplored : — 



" Land Tenuke in Kent. — One of the results of the unsatis- 

 factory system of land tenure now prevailing in this country is to 

 be seen at Knockholt, Kent. The lease held by Mr. Edwin 

 Bath, of Curry Farm, in that parish, expires at Michaelmas, and 

 he is not allowed to renew his tenancy, nor can he recover com- 

 pensation from his landlord for a valuable plantation of thirty 

 acres of raspberries on the farm. Consequently the extra- 

 ordinary spectacle may now be seen of a reaping machine cutting 

 down and a steam plough following it rooting up this plantation, 

 w^hich has cost a very large expenditure of time and money to 

 produce. When it is considered that the produce of the planta- 

 tion in question realised in the present year upwards of £1,6^0, 

 and that the plantation was vigorous and in full bearing, some 

 idea maybe formed of the sacrifice of property involved." 



Further : It has often struck me that the manner in which 

 the charges on land are levied is not equitable, and is calculated 

 to discourage rather than encourage the planting of fruit trees for 

 profit. A few words will, I think, make this plain. A man 

 plants fruit trees not looking for any quantity of fruit for four 

 years. During that period he receives nothing, or next to nothing, 

 in the shape of produce, although rent charges on land and 

 expenses of cultivation are going on and have to . be met. Then 

 when his crop brings him a larger return than ordinary farm 



