172 
Fifty Years of Fruit Farming. 
Among pears for pyramids or dwarf trees, Louise Bonne, 
Pitmaston Duchesse, William's Bon Chretien, Marie Louise, are 
the principal. But with regard to sorts of pears, as well as of 
apples, their selection must depend upon soil and situation. 
For instance, upon cold wet land such apples as Cox's Pomona 
and Cox's Orange Pippin and the King of Pippins have been 
found not to answer. Much more care has been taken to suit 
the sorts to their surroundings, and considerable knowledge has 
been acquired by fruit farmers upon this point at some cost. 
Without endorsing the estimates of the profit to be derived 
from this system of fruit production from trees of dwarfed 
growth, many of which had been somewhat wild, there is no 
doubt that it is more profitable than the old plan of planting 
standards of slow growth. It may be taken that a few trees 
have yielded at such a rate as to show profits of 120^., 901., and 
50^. per acre. This must not be accepted as representing any- 
thing like an average profit upon acres, or even upon a single 
acre. All who grow fruit know the dangers to which trees are 
exposed, as well as that in some seasons one sort utterly fails 
while another yields well. Taking an average of years, it is 
believed that land planted in this way pays a fair profit if it is 
well selected and planted and well cultivated. 
This system, besides being adapted for fruit farms upon a 
large scale, is admirably suited for small holdings, labourers' allot- 
ments and labourers' gardens — for small cultivators, in short, to 
whom fruit-growing would be a fertile source of income. In 
the fruit-growing districts this has been discovered by many of 
the working class who have planted fruit trees in their gardens, 
or who have been fortunate enough to get hold of little plots of 
fruit land. 
As to profits generally of fruit land no reliable figures can 
be given. That they are satisfactory upon the whole may be 
inferred from the late extension of the acreage shown by the Agri- 
cultural Returns, and verified by the statements of leading 
nurserymen who have had large demands for fruit trees [and 
bushes of all kinds, particularly for standard apple, pear, plum, 
and damson trees, and for dwarf apple and pear trees. This 
demand has been to a considerable extent for trees of approved 
sorts ; for it has been found that at almost all times and all 
seasons fruit of fine colour, shape, and quality is always saleable at 
good prices. A deal of nonsense has been written about fruit 
and fruit-growing lately by those who absurdly exaggerated the 
profits to be derived from this source, and recommend it as a 
panacea for agricultural depression, and by some, on the other 
hand, who take a gloomy view of British fruit-growing, and 
