Fruit Cultivation. 74:5 = 479 
ishes are easily propagated by cuttings, which remain two years 
I a nursery, and bear fruit the year after they have been planted 
it. The cost of cultivating an acre of land planted with fruit- 
ashes is from 12/. to 14/. The average return per acre may 
^ set at 36/., from which must be deducted at least 21/. for 
:penses of all kinds, including cultivation. All fruits of this 
ascription, called " soft " fruits, are picked by women and 
lildren, and are packed in baskets,* except raspberries, which 
e sent in tubs direct to London. 
Before jiassing from Kent, the cultivation of filberts and cob- Filberts and 
cob-nuts grown 
Fig. 7.— Pruned Filbcrt-trcc. Kent. 
Its, peculiar to this county, must be noticed. This occurs 
ainly in the part of Kent near Maidstone, on the Greensand 
rmation, and involves much skill, care, and capital. In most 
ises the trees are planted under standard fruit-trees at a dis- 
nce of 13 feet apart, which gives 257 trees to an acre. The 
nd is well manured every other year with rags, shoddy, fish, or 
r waste, and is always cultivated by hand, and kept scrupu- 
usly clean. Filbert-trees are pruned most closely, and trained Their peculiar 
■ grow in the shape illustrated by the woodcut, Fig. 7, cultivation, 
iving stems about 2 feet in height, from which the branches 
)read out laterally, forming a centre of a cup-like shape, with 
diameter of 7 or 8 feet and a height of 6 or 7 feet.j An 
■ erage yield from a filbert-tree in full bearing is 3 lbs., and 
le price of the nuts in Covent Garden Market may be averaged 
9rf. per lb. Cob-nuts are larger than filberts, and are in a 
* Round baskets, or 'whole, half, and quarter-sieves, containing 48, 24, and 
lbs. respectively. 
t See a Paper on " Fruit-growing in Kent," in vol. xiii., second series, Royal 
jricultural Society's 'Journal,' page 113, in which filbert'cultivation is described 
detail. 
