Fi'uit Cultivation. 
lis = 477 
succession of fruits. Thus, for example, green gooseberries, 
1 which there is <a large demand for bottling and for cooking, 
\ uld come first for picking ; then raspberries, red and white 
trrants, ripe gooseberries, black currants, plums, damsons, and 
:ples would follow in regular order. A very large proportion 
( the fruit-land in Kent is planted in this way with different 
1 ids of fruit-trees. It is regularly cultivated, being dug and 
■d by hand every year. Apple-orchards with grass under the 
t es have for tlie most part been grubbed and planted with hops. 
Jherries form a specialty of fruit-cultivation in Kent, being Cheny cul- 
; )wn to a great extent in the eastern part of the county upon ^"'"^ 
iss-land which is fed off by sheep eating corn or oilcake, 
1 is well manured frequently with farmyard-manure. This 
^ 'rry-orchard land is situated principally upon the clay and 
l .my clay soils of the Thanet beds, the plastic clays of the 
^oolwich and Reading beds, and of the Oldhaven beds, which 
op up curiously in the district between Chatham and Canter- 
1 ry. Large returns are sometimes made, but the fickle climate 
( the English spring season makes this a rather uncertain crop. 
^ much as 12/. per acre is paid as rent for exceptionally good 
orry-orchards. An avei'age of the rents paid is about 8/. per 
t e. As much as 80Z. per acre has been cleared by this kind 
( fruit-land ; but the profit of land where the trees are in full 
ifour may be said to be about 20Z. per acre per annum, upon 
i average of seasons. The annual expense of a cherry-orchard 
ifrom 11/. to 14/. per acre, exclusive of all charges connected 
\th picking, packing, and marketing, which of course vary 
\th. the amount of the crop. All the chenies are sent direct 
t London,* from whence they are sent to other large towns 
^ en the Metropolitan demand has been satisfied. Most of this 
1 it is used for eating. Red or Kentish, and Flemish cherries, 
^ ich are late sorts having a subacid flavour, are bottled or 
j!served, and Morellos, grown chiefly on walls, are used for 
I. king cherry-brandy. In many cases the growers sell the 
f it upon the trees by auction or private contract to middlemen, 
V 0 take all further expense and risks upon themselves. 
Oherry-trees are raised from grafting the wild cherry-stocks 
f nd in the woods, with scions of the sort required. When the 
g.fted stocks have been two or three years in a nursery, they 
a planted at first upon cultivated ground at a distance of from 
2 to 33 feet apart, giving from 40 to 60 trees per acre. These 
t es are carefully and tenderly pruned during the first two or 
t ee years ; after that time but little cutting is required. Hops 
■ The average price in London for Kent cherries for the last twenty-six years 
h been 8«. per sieve of 48 lbs. Tlie net return to the grower would be Sk. id. 
I> sieve. 
