108 
Fruit-f/roiving in Kent. 
The Court of Wick ; the Margel, whose flavour is nearly equal 
to that of the Rihston, and, as Dr. Hogg remarks, is of a 
better size for dessert, is too shy a bearer, and is not therefore 
extensively grown. The Blenheim Orange, a large handsome 
apple, is much grown near Maidstone and in the Weald. 
Cox's Orange Pippin has been planted extensively of late. 
This is a high-class apple for dessert from November to 
January, supposed to have been raised from a pip of a Ribston 
Pippin.* 
The principal cooking-apples grown in Kent are, Keswick 
Codlins, Gooseberry Pippins, Hawthorndens, Northern Green- 
ings, Wellingtons, Winter Queenings — all valuable sorts ; the 
Golden Noble, Lord Sufheld, a very fine flavoured, early bear- 
ing sort. Tower of Glamis and the Manxs Codlin are chiefly 
planted now. In most of the old apple-orchards there are several 
other sorts of little value, such as the Gough — an acid and very 
low-class apple, but an abundant bearer. Cider is but little made 
in Kent now ; its quality is comparatively poor, and the natives 
wisely prefer beer. The custom of giving drink to labourers 
is happily not much observed in the county, and there being but 
little demand for cider, growers send " windfalls " and low- 
class apples in barrels to London, where they find a sale at 
some price for the " smashers," as low-class jam makers are 
styled in costermonger parlance ; though, as a correspondent 
remarks, " since the Adulteration Act there has not been such a 
demand for rubbish." 
As many as 500 bushels per acre have been grown in planta- 
tions where the trees were in their prime. Taking an average 
of seven years of the average apple-growing land in the county, 
the crop per acre per annum would be about 130 bushels. The 
average price per bushel for apples home to the grower, for the 
last ten years, has been about 2*\ 2^rZ. ; the expenses of picking, 
packing, carriage, commission, and return of sieves, amounting 
to about Is. Ad. per bushel, having been deducted. For the pre- 
ceding ten years, the average price, clear of all these expenses, 
was about Is. 10fi?. per bushel. The annual yield per acre of the 
orchards under grass must be regarded as being 20 per cent, 
larger than that of the plantations in respect of apples ; but the 
average annual yield of both taken together amounts to about 
the quantity of bushels stated above. The fruit-growers in Kent 
do not appear to have tried growing, upon a large scale, apples 
and pears on low bush-trees, obtained by working upon true 
Paradise stock, whose influence tends to dwarf the habit of 
growth, and to produce fruit abundantly. These bushes can be 
* Dr. Hogg's ' Fruit Manual.' 
