The  Progress  of  Fruit  Farming. 
369 
purposes  are  produced  abundantly  in  their  own  kitchen-gardens 
close  to  their  houses,  and  that  it  would  pay  to  cultivate 
them  upon  an  extended  scale.  Besides  the  prejudice  against 
new  undertakings,  farmers  proper,  in  many  cases,  object  to 
become  fruit-growers,  as  many  object  to  become  vegetable- 
growers,  because  it  is  not  their  legitimate  business,  which  is, 
they  say,  to  produce  corn  and  meat,  milk,  butter,  cheese,  and 
wool,  as  their  forefathers  did.  Many  have  not  the  capital  to 
spare  for  planting  fruit-trees,  whose  return  is  somewhat  slow. 
Here  and  there  a landowner  has  done  this,  notably  Lord 
Sudeley,  in  Gloucestershire,  to  whose  enterprise  detailed 
references  will  be  made  ; but  a grand  opportunity  has  not  been 
generally  taken  advantage  of  in  this  country.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  foreign  cultivators  have  been  equal  to  the  occasion,  and 
have  extended  the  acreage  of  fruit-land  enormously,  and  are 
sending  quantities  of  fruit  into  the  English  markets,  increasing 
year  by  year.  A calculation  has  been  made  as  to  the  time  for 
which  the  food  production  of  this  country  would  keep  its 
mighty  population  from  starvation  if  its  ports  were  closed  to 
the  importation  of  all  foreign  supplies.  A few  weeks  alone,  it  is 
said,  would  reduce  the  English  to  the  famished  condition  of  a 
besieged  army.  How  long,  it  may  be  asked,  would  the  187,553 
acres  of  fruit-land  in  Great  Britain  supply  its  inhabitants  with 
fruit,  and  the  various  confections  and  compositions  made  from 
fruit  ? They  would  be  utterly  insufficient ; as  even  now,  with 
the  very  extensive  consignments  from  various  lands,  fruit  is 
sometimes  so  dear  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  all  but  the  rich. 
Taking  into  consideration  the  extraordinary  increase  in  the 
demand  for  fruit  for  eating  in  its  raw  state,  for  cooking,  for  the 
making  of  jam,  and  for  other  purposes,  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  and  more  particularly  during  the  last  ten  years,  the 
addition  to  the  acreage  of  fruit-land  in  England  of  26,696  acres 
since  the  year  1872,  is  ridiculously  small.  It  is  generally 
acknowledged  that  fruit,  vegetables,  and  milk,  are  becoming 
year  by  year  more  essential  elements  of  the  diet  of  all  classes  ol 
the  community.  The  temperance  movement  also  has  already 
increased  the  demand  for  these  articles  of  diet,  and  will  increase 
it  considerably  more,  especially  as  regards  fruit ; for  persons 
who  indulge  in  alcoholic  stimulants  rarely  take  fruit  or  jam, 
or  conserves  made  of  fruit.  An  important  proportion  of  the 
increased  fruit  consumption  is  due  to  the  demand  for  jam  for 
home  and  foreign  consumption.  Jam  is  becoming  a common 
article  of  food  throughout  the  country.  As  our  dairies  cannot 
lurnish  butter  for  those  who  are  unable  to  give  from  Is.  5 d.  to 
Is.  8 d.  per  lb.  for  this  luxury,  they  use  jam  for  themselves  and 
their  children.  This  can  now  be  bought  in  most  village 
