234 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 13,1889, 
matter how satisfactorily they may discharge their duties, are 
necessarily unacquainted with the demands of commerce in fruit 
and how best to meet them. This is no fault of theirs, though not 
a few have gained knowledge on the subject by reading, also by 
visiting the sources of supply and distribution ; but all the same, 
safe and sound local advisers are in the minority. 
An example of the unwisdom of acting on the advice of the 
nearest local gardener in the choice of trees for producing fruit for 
market can be given. Fifteen years ago a farmer, safe in his 
holding, planted 300 Apple trees. Not six trees of one variety can 
be found in the whole plantation, but in the majority of the rows 
there are only two and three trees of a sort. A greater blunder 
could scarcely have been committed. Many of the trees are worth¬ 
less, and most of the fruit has had perforce to be mixed and dis¬ 
posed of for smashing to form the body of, or provide syrup for 
cheap jam. That kind of Apple-growing will not “pay,” and as a 
matter of fact the occupier of the land in question wishes he had 
never planted the trees. He would, however, be foolish to destroy 
them, as they may yet be made profitable by grafting. That is by 
no means a solitary instance of the kind that could be adduced, and 
similar mistakes may be seen in orchards of various sizes all over 
the country. 
A revival of interest is clearly apparent in the subject of fruit 
culture as a profitable industry. The great want is knowledge 
founded on facts, and not on individual fancies. The subject is a 
tempting one for sensational writers and speakers, who find it easy 
to show in figures that fabulous profits are at the command of all 
who have an acre or two of land and will plant it w r ith Apple trees. 
Fifty or sixty pounds an acre are to be cleared in that way, say the 
enthusiasts, but they do not say when. No account is taken of the 
time in waiting for the harvest, nor of the certain contingency of 
unfruitful seasons. The Apple crop is more often under the 
average than above it, and it is no long time since orchards were 
practically barren for four or five consecutive years. It is best to 
be moderate in anticipation, or victims of disappointment may be 
created. It is enough to know that there is never a general 
failure of all kinds of fruit ; and also to be assured that a well- 
conducted system of fruit culture gives a fair return on the 
outlay invested in it; but something besides Apples must be grown, 
and soft or bush fruits are more quickly remunerative, if not more 
permanently satisfactory to the growers. 
Conferences or conventions of fruit growers have long been 
held in America, also on the European continent, and a great 
amount of knowledge thereby obtained and disseminated. Small 
gatherings of fruit growers and other persons interested are 
held periodically in certain localities in England, and no doubt 
serve a good purpose ; but such meetings as the one held at the 
Crystal Palace last week, and another to be held under the auspices 
of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick in October, are 
invested with a distinctly national character. The Palace Con¬ 
ference was a great success, the attendance being large and 
enthusiastic, while the papers read were worthy of the occasion 
and object. At the Chiswick Conference typical fruit of marketable 
value from various districts of the country will be represented, and 
the best selections of varieties for commercial purposes made by 
cultivators in those districts. From such conferences as these infor¬ 
mation must be forthcoming that will be of great value to intending 
cultivators of fruit on commercial principles. 
CONFERENCE OF FRUIT GROWERS. 
The Conference of Fruit Growers at Sydenham, proposed early in 
the present year and previously referred to in these columns, was held 
on Friday and Saturday last, September 7th and Sth, in the dining 
saloon at the Crystal Palace. Upon the first day there was a large 
and representative gathering of gardeners, fruit growers, and amateurs 
interested in the subjects to be considered. Amongst those present were 
the Chairman, T. Francis Rivers, Esq. ; Dr. M. T. Masters, the Rev. W. 
Wilks, and Messrs. A. F. Barron, J. Laing, G. Bunyard, A. H. Pearson, 
Peter Yeitch, J. Douglas, D. T. Fish, J. Wright, C. Ross, C. J. Gold¬ 
smith, W. Goldsmith, G. Gordon, S. Ford, A. Dean, Albert Bath, T. W. 
Beach, J. Willard, H. Bennett, E. Molyneux, W. Wildsmith, W. H- 
Ward, A. Miller, W. Pratt, R. Parker, &c., with the Hon. Secretaries 
Messrs. Lewis Castle and Win. Earley. 
It was decided to take all the papers "first, and these were read 
in the following order on Friday, some modification of the programme 
having been necessary to suit the convenience of those who wished to 
be present on that day. Mr. Rivers took the chair shortly after 
3 P.M., and read a paper on “ Fruit Culture for Profit.” Mr. Webber 
of Covent Garden, contributed a paper on “ Packing Fruit.” Mr. S. 
Rawson of Birmingham, and Mr. R. Smith of Yalding, Maidstone, 
following on “ Packing, Carriage, and Marketing.” Mr. Albert Bath 
of Sevenoaks, read a brief but pithy paper on “ Land Tenure in Rela¬ 
tion to Fruit Cultivation.” Mr. Miller of Esher, and W. Iggulden of 
Frome, also contributing interesting papers on grafting and fruit cul¬ 
ture, and Mr. T. W. Beach read a short paper respecting Lord Sudeley’*. 
fruit farm at Toddington, Gloucestershire. 
FRUIT CULTURE FOR PROFIT. 
By T. Francis Rivers, Esq., Sawbridgeworth. 
Our meeting to-day is, I hope, the first of a series of meetings on 
the very important subject of fruit culture in England for profit.. 
Within the last few years a very great advance has been made in this- 
direction by the force of circumstances, and not by the speeches of any 
one man, however eminent. When Wheat was worth from 40s. to 60s. 
per quarter there was no need to apply the resources of the land to any 
other purpose, as the price of Wheat governed the price of produce, and 
was amply sufficient to support the different interests depending on the 
land. We have now, however, to face an altered condition of affairs. 
The land is with us, and is as productive as ever, but the consumer no> 
longer pays the price required by the English producer ; and although it- 
is absurd to suppose that corn is not still the ruling crop, yet all cul¬ 
tivators are forced by circumstances to consider whether they cannot be 
assisted by other crops. One of these helps or aids is undoubtedly the 
cultivation of fruit, which is of daily consumption, and is, or ought. t» 
be, on the table of every individual in the United Kingdom. We have,, 
therefore, to deal with a very large subject—nothing less than a 
national industry, and an increasing one, the development of which 
enters into conflict with no British interest, treads on no man’s 
toes, is strictly non-political, will suffer no decay but improve as the 
years roll on, and in which succeeding generations are quite as much in¬ 
terested as we are, and is a pursuit from first to last which never wearies. 
A man between seventy and eighty can make the superintendence of 
orchards both his pleasure and employment. 
We have not, I think, in England held enough meetings of this kind p. 
they are frequent enough in the United States, where fruit is an important 
factor in national life, and takes rank with the most advanced 
agriculture. In Belgium, a country which profits largely from the 
exportation of fruit, pomological congresses are constantly held. I have 
attended several, my first introduction to Belgian pomologists being at 
Namur in 1862, when the hospitality of the town was profuse and 
splendid. There can be little doubt that these meetings are of great 
public utility, and now that we are entering the lists and preparing to 
meet an enormous and increasing domestic want, it does not become a 
great and wealthy country like England to be anywhere but first in the 
race. Our climate is good, our soil so varied that we can find land for 
all ordinary crops. Although we are subject to cold and late springs 
yet we do not suffer from the extreme of heat and cold to which great 
continents are subject, storms which destroy the fruit, and cold which 
will destroy the trees. Neither is it so equable that fruit trees are 
exhausted by continual bearing, a condition under which eight to ten 
years would be the term of the natural life of the tree, conditions 
which would no doubt be satisfactory to the fruit tree grower, but with 
the inevitable result of the supply overtaking the demand, and of the 
usual disastrous consequence. Of this, however, we need have no fear. 
We must, in order to secure early profits from a garden orchard such as 
I propose, plant on a different principle to that of our forefathers, who 
have bequeathed the hoary and lichen-covered trees dear to the artist 
and fruit-loving boys and girls. These picturesque old trees are as much 
things of the past as our wooden three-deckers, and instead of the acre 
of grass land with the customary 108 trees often broken down by stock, 
and producing more wood than fruit, the modern fruit orchard must be 
condensed into a compact compass, give more fruit in 1 rood of land 
than in 2 or 3 acres of the old-fashioned style. 
Soil. —The most important part of the preparation of an orchard is, 
of course, the quality of the soil, and the intending planter should not 
