REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFERENCE. 



71 



retained for a time, upon tlie principle that half a loaf is better 

 than no bread ; but the majority of them must go, and young- 

 ones must spring up before we can hope to realise an average 

 £10 an acre, or compete with the colonists in our own markets. 

 Some years, as many present know, have passed since horticul- 

 turists commenced agitating, but the good seed which was intended 

 to put three-quarters of a million of money into the British farmers' 

 pocket for a long time fell upon stony ground. Some recently 

 has taken root, and far-seeing landowners are now putting our 

 theory into practice by offering land upon conditions that will 

 induce capitalists to invest in fruit culture precisely as they do in 

 coal and iron. In this and the adjoining counties good landlords 

 are raising and distributing to their tenantry apple and pear trees 

 by thousands. These mostly are standards on free stocks, the 

 only class of tree suited to pasture and arable land. Nursery- 

 men, again, who have brought propagation up to a fine art, are 

 producing standards and dwarfs by the million, and these surely 

 in a few years should make their mark. Meantime, a complete 

 network of markets, I insist, must be created throughout the 

 kingdom. 



From the preceding remarks those who run may gather the 

 fact that I do not set much value on the thousands of acres of 

 ragged, decrepit moss and lichen laden trees, but until the new 

 plantations come into bearing we must make the best of them. 

 Then, with Gladstonian vigour, we may hew them down, and let 

 the apple-sick sites go back to hops, corn, and pasture. Upon 

 this principle change of site may be worked precisely as gardeners 

 now manage their strawberry plantations, and with similar 

 results. And I venture to say, one acre of modern orcharding will 

 beat ten of the old — at least, in the West Midland Counties. 



Already I am afraid my paper is too long, but having warmed 

 to my subject, I should now like to say a few words upon the 

 formation of a modern orchard. I might divide them into 

 several parts, such as aspect, site, soil, preparation, planting, the 

 best style of tree, manuring, mulching, pruning and protection, 

 gathering, storing, packing and marketing, but, my time being 

 limited, my words must be brief and general. 



Aspect and site being so closely dovetailed together, these I 

 will not attempt to separate. All gardeners, I believe, are pretty 

 well agreed that a south aspect is best, as trees in this position 

 ripen their wood well, and produce fruit of the highest colour and 

 quality. The apple, however, being perfectly hardy, the quality 

 of the soil must not be lost sight of ; neither must altitude and 

 shelter from north and east winds be repudiated. Under these 

 circumstances, the soil being deep sandstone loam resting on 

 marl, and naturally drained, I should not object to a point east, 

 or any other aspect round with the sun to full west. The latter, 

 however, I should prefer, and for these reasons : although western 



