166 
Fifty Years of Fruit Farminff. 
are certain spots, principally in Mid Kent near Maidstone, whose 
soil and situation are most favourable for their gi'owth. Filberts 
were usually cultivated, buh within the last thirty years cob- 
nuts have taken their place to a very large extent. These are 
not so delicate as filberts. The nuts are much larger and sell 
better, and better crops are yielded. Barcelona nuts have been 
planted in a few places. The cultivation of nuts has considerably 
increased, as there is a ready sale for them at rates ranging from 
40s. to 105s. per cwt. A demand for these nuts has arisen in 
America, to which some consignments have been advantageously 
made. The crop is, however, rather precarious, the trees being 
liable to be affected by early frosts and injured by the caterpillars 
of two or three species of moths — the winter moth Cheimatohia 
hrumata being a prominent offender. 
There has been a large development of the fruit-growing 
industry in Cornwall within the past half century. This county 
is accredited with 5,100 acres of fruit land in the Agricultui-al 
Returns, and with the acreage of soft fruit grown by itself or in 
market gardens the total amount probably equals 5,500 acres. On 
account of its warm climate the Cornish fruit comes early to 
market, and therefore generally commands good prices. The 
centre of its cultivation is principally in the neighbourhood of 
Penzance. Among the fruits produced here are black currants, 
the bulk of which are consigned to Bristol for local distribution. 
Red currants, raspberries, and gooseberries are also extensively 
grown, and the fruit of these is very fine. The earliest English 
strawberries arrive in London from Cornwall, where much care 
and attention are paid to the sorts, and to the treatment of the 
land. Last year the first strawberries came from the Tamar dis- 
trict to London, and made close upon 2s. per lb. It is singular 
that plums do not grow well in Cornwall. 
Of the other English counties with over 3,000 acres of fruit 
land, it maybe said of Dorsetshire, with 4,265 acres, Monmouth- 
shire, with 3,888 acres, Shropshire, with 3,900 acres, and Wilt- 
shire, with 3,271 acres, that most of this acreage consists of 
apple orchards, and that there has been an increase in its ex- 
tent of from 25 to 30 per cent, since 1839, and a considerable 
improvement in methods of planting and management of the 
trees and grass land within the last twenty years. In Shropshire 
damson culture has been much and skilfully developed. 
Middlesex, with its acreage of soft fruit, described as 
"small fruit" in the Agricultural Returns of 1888, probably 
has 5,000 acres of fruit land. It need scarcely be said that in 
most cases the arrangement and management of this are ex- 
ceedingly good. The change for the better that has taken 
