Oc ber 16, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
333 
tion is cold and exposed, bush trees may be grown instead of 
standards, and should be planted about 12 feet apart in the rows, 
and 1G feet between the rows, and will then allow a row of bush 
fruits being grown between them, or vegetables if preferred. They 
should be planted in the autumn as for other fruit. Cost of 
plants and planting per acre will be about the same as for Apples 
if planted at the same distances. 
Pruning is done on the same system as for Apples. 
Gathering and Marketing.— If the fruit has to be sent a 
long distance it must be gathered as soon as well coloured and 
before it gets soft, or it will not travel well, and consequently the 
returns will be smalh They are generally sent from Kent in 
“ half sieves,” which are made to an even weight, and instead of 
putting straw or grass on the top nettles are generally used, as 
they are considered to preserve the bloom better. If only a small 
quantity is grown they may be packed for dessert fruit in shallow 
boxes, just deep enough to hold one layer, and are then sold at 
fancy prices by the box in the shops ; but for ordinary fruit 
the price varies from Is. 6d. to 3s. Gd. per stone, according to 
quality and scarcity of the crop. As much as 3 or 4 tons per acre 
might be grown in a good season, but half that quantity would be 
an average crop. 
Cultivation. —Same as recommended for Apples. 
Varieties. —Only the Victoria can be recommended for the 
small grower. Other varieties are more uncertain in cropping. 
Insect Enemies. —The “ aphis ” or “ green fly ” or “ blight ” 
is very troublesome in some seasons, and besides causing the fruit 
to be small through crippling the foliage it makes it very dirty, and 
also weakens the tree for another season’s crop. The best remedy 
is to syringe the trees with softsoap water, 2 ozs. to the gallon, 
early in the season before much mischief is done. 
Damsons. 
These may be planted round the edge of the plantation, 
whether Apples or Plums are grown, as the “ Cluster Damson,” 
■which is the only one recommended for general planting, is’a small 
growing variety, and not likely to interfere with the other trees. 
In some parts of the country they will pay well for growing, but 
in some parts of Kent have already been planted too extensively 
to get a good market in London. They should be planted as 
standards about 16 feet apart, and require the same treatment as 
Plums in every other respect. The “ Cluster ” variety, called also 
the “ Farleigh Prolific ” and “ Crittenden,” is generally on its own 
roots. The young suckers that spring up should therefore be 
taken care of, and will eventually grow into bearing trees. This is 
the heaviest cropping and hardiest Damson known, and although not 
so good in quality as the other varieties it pays better for growing. 
The price obtainable varies very much according to the season, &c., 
but generally speaking is from 3s. to 10s. per half sieve (about 
4 gallons). Price paid for gathering in Kent is about 3d. per half 
sieve. Price of trees and planting is about same as for Apples if 
planted same distances, but, as mentioned above, Damsons are 
generally planted about 16 feet apart. To plant an acre at that 
distance will cost almost double as much as Apples at 30 feet. 
Cultivation, Gathering, and Marketing. — Same as for 
Plums. 
Cherries. 
Except in a few places in Kent where plenty are grown in the 
immediate neighbourhood, this fruit is not recommended as a 
source of profit, as, unless grown in large quantities, it is impossible 
to preserve them from birds. They should only be planted where 
chalk or limestone abounds in the soil, as although they grow quite 
as freely in sandy and other soils, they fail to stone, and the fruit 
drops off in a small state. When they do succeed, enormous profits 
are sometimes made from them, £40 per acre clear of all expenses 
being no uncommon price. They are always grown as standards, 
planted about 30 feet apart each way, and the ground pastured 
underneath. It is, therefore, not a fruit adapted for tbe small 
grower and cottager, if he wants to grow vegetables and other 
things, as the Cherry objects to the soil being cultivated where it 
is grown. Most of the fruit-eating birds like Cherries, but starlings 
are the greatest plague in the Midland districts. 
Miscellaneous. 
Pears are not recommended as a profitable fruit to grow. As 
a rule they are too uncertain in their crop to pay the small grower 
a good return, except in parts of Worcestershire, &c., where the 
soil is peculiarly adapted for them. In such places they may be 
grown as standard trees instead of Apples, and require similar 
treatment. 
Rhubarb may be grown between the standard trees, and will 
pav well in some districts ; but as a rule it is not advisable for small 
fruit growers to cultivate this, and not being a fruit, although used 
as such, its cultivation is not treated of here. 
Tomatoes. —These pay well in warm districts in a good hot 
soason, but as they cannot be raised without the aid of glass they 
are of no use to tbe majority of small cultivators ; and although 
really a fruit, yet as they are used as a vegetable, their treatment 
would be out of place here. 
Arrangement of a Plantation for Small Growers. 
As regards fruit culture the old proverb is quite true which 
says, “ Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” It is not a good 
plan to depend on one kind of fruit altogether for a crop, because 
in some seasons Apples, for instance, may fail to give any crop 
through late frosts killing the flowers, while Currants or Goose¬ 
berries may escape and give a good crop, and so on with other 
kinds. A mixed plantation is therefore best for the small fruit 
grower, as he cannot afford to wait a year or two without any 
returns ; but for those who grow several acres it is best to keep 
each kind of fruit by itself as much as possible for convenience in 
gathering and cultivation. Thus half the plantation may be 
planted with Apples and Gooseberries, the other half with Apples 
and Currants, and so on according to the size ; but the cottager 
and those cultivating less than one acre will be safer if they grow 
on the following plan, and can also grow vegetables and flowers for 
market or home supply at the same time. 
No. 1 f .a. . .A . f .a. . .a. f 
No. 2. 
No. 3. 
No. 4. 
No. 5. 
No. 6. 
No. 7 f.f 
The crosses represent standard Apples or Plum trees, or what¬ 
ever is grown as a “ top crop,” at 30 feet apart ; the dots 
Gooseberry or Currant bushes 5 feet apart ; or rows 3, 4, 5 can 
be omitted, which will give 20 feet down the centre of each row 
for growing vegetables, corn, or Strawberries if any of these are 
required. If Nuts are likely to succeed they may be planted in 
the same row as the standard trees, as at A in row No. 1, leaving 
out the bushes close to A ., planting the Nuts 9 feet on each side of 
the standard trees, and cutting out the intervening bushes when 
they get in the way of the Nut trees ; or row No. 4 may be Rasp¬ 
berries, and the others Currants and Gooseberries with standard 
Apples, and the plan may be varied in many ways to suit individual 
tastes and requirements. If bush fruit are planted a row of 
Potatoes or Cabbage may be grown between each row of bushes for 
the first two years after planting, which will bring in a good sum 
of money if well attended to, but will cause extra expense in 
keeping the ground clean, as hand hoes will have to be used instead 
of horse hoes. If Strawberries are grown in place of rows 3, 4, 
and 5 one-fourth of the ground intended for them should be 
vegetables or corn each year that will come off early, so as to get 
the ground ploughed up, and the young Strawberry plants planted 
out by the end of August, and another piece of Strawberries that 
is three years old ploughed up ready for a crop of corn or vege¬ 
tables, thus planting a quarter of the Strawberry ground afresh 
every year, renewing the old plantation of Strawberries once in 
three years in this manner, and giving the land a year’s change of 
crop once in four years. Where manure is difficult to obtain, a 
crop of corn for feeding pigs might be grown for a change if 
vegetables are not required. 
Around London large quantities of Wallflowers, Violets, and 
Daffodils are grown under and among standard fruit trees, and 
sometimes prove very remunerative. These might be grown under 
the standard Apple trees when they get too large for the bush fruit 
in rows No. 1,2, 6, and 7 ; this will be about fifteen or twenty 
years after planting. Ordinary cottage gardens are too small as a 
rule to admit of any arrangement like this. Too often there is 
not sufficient room to grow the necessary summer vegetables and 
the winter’s supply of Potatoes for the cottager’s family ; but 
standard Apples may be grown in such cases, and may be planted 
30 feet apart each way. The lower branches should be cut off if 
they droop within 6 feet of the ground ; it will then be quite 
possible to grow the usual vegetables if they are well watered in 
dry weather during the summer, and in very large gardens rows of 
Gooseberries or Currants may be planted 10 feet apart, and the 
trees 5 feet apart in the rows, and the space between may be used 
for growing vegetables and Strawberries, or if large enough the 
