158 
Fiftu Years of l^ruit Fm'ming. 
London for these famous Kentish products, but for some yeara 
past cherries have been forwarded direct by the gi'owers to many 
other centres of distribution than the London markets, and the 
Kent Fruit-Grrowers' Association have lately been considering 
whether they might not get better prices for their famous fruit 
by making arrangements to supply it direct to retailers. 
The greater facilities of transport afforded by railways gave 
a stimulus to the cultivation of fruit, but it is only within the 
last thirty years that the chief increase in fruit orchards and 
plantations has taken place, and serious attention has been paid 
to them as a source of profit to agriculturists. It was seen that 
quantities of soft fruits were arriving from foreign countries 
which met with a ready sale, and that their distribution at 
reasonable prices caused a growing demand among classes by 
whom fruit had been regarded as a luxury far beyond their 
means. 
It was felt that if strawberries could be sent in quantities 
and in fairly fresh condition from France they might be culti- 
vated on a large scale in this country, at all events near large 
centres of population. Woodland was grubbed near London, in 
Kent, and strawberries planted. In other counties also near 
the metropolis and populous towns, fields were devoted to the 
growth of this fruit, the profits of which, taking an average of 
seasons, have been found to be satisfactory. 
There has been also a large acreage of arable laud planted 
with gooseberry and currant bushes, both red and black, since 
1850, in several counties, notably Kent, Middlesex, Worcester, 
Gloucester, Cambridge, Lancaster, and Surrey. Before this 
there were plantations of these fruit trees in Kent and Middlesex, 
but they were only upon a comparatively limited scale. 
Raspberries are grown now especially in Kent and Middlesex 
in large quantities, as the plants come to bear very quickly, and 
in some seasons handsome returns are made from them, though 
from the j uicy and most perishable nature of the fruit there are 
not a few difficulties and losses occasionally. Tenant farmers 
having ordinary leases can plant raspberry canes without fear or 
risk, and this applies in a degree to the planting of all soft fruits. 
Where tenants could not ari'ange with their landlords as to com- 
pensation for planting fruit trees of a more permanent nature, 
they put in soft-fruit bushes alone, which begin to pay in two 
years and are exhausted in from nine to fifteen years. 
But with fruit-gi'owers who could make themselves secure 
with their landlords, a very favourite system of planting has been 
to set standard damson, or plum trees, with soft-fruit bushes. 
The latter begin to pay almost directly, and in three or four 
