October 23, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
385 
Mr. Albert Bath, of Sevenoaks, has also kindly sent me some esti¬ 
mates, which represent the actual cost of planting now being carried 
out under his superintendence. 
Cost of Manuring, Ploughing, Subsoiling, Trees, and 
Planting fer Acre. 
, , £ s. d. 
Apple plantation, trees 20 feet x 20 feet apart . 21 0 0 
Plums, 20 feet x 20 feet.18 16 0 
Pears, about same as Apples .21 0 0 
Mixed plantation of Apples, Pears, Plums, 20 feet x 20 feet, 
with bottom fruit—Currants and Gooseberries ... ... 35 8 0 
Easpberries (manuring and cultivation as above, excepting 
subsoiling) . 17 5 0 
Strawberries, ditto.13 7 0 
Mr. Bath remarks that fruit trees and Kaspberry canes are as cheap 
as they were six years ago, but that Apple trees are in great demand, 
and will soon be dearer. 
Although the planting of Strawberries and Easpberries does not 
come under the head of orchard planting, the estimates for these crops 
are allowed to appear in the list. I may add that Mr. William Vinson 
«f Orpington, Kent, has kindly given his estimates of the C03t of plant¬ 
ing of an acre of these varieties of soft fruit. Including the first year’s 
cultivation, rent, rates, &c., he says Easpberries cost about £15 an acre, 
and Strawberries about £ 10 . 
The veriest outsider must see from these figures—and especially 
from those relating to orchard planting—that it would be very risky for 
a tenant to engage in that enterprise without security as to compensa¬ 
tion for the unexhausted value of his improvements ; and it is to be 
borne in mind that Mr. Whitehead’s totals should be larger than they 
are, because they do not include additional expenditure incurred while 
waiting for the trees and bushes to bear. 
How, then, should compensation, be given ? Personally, I am a 
strong advocate of the plan of allowing the tenant to sell his improve¬ 
ments in the market, with pre-emption to the landlord. Elsewhere, 
and on many occasions, I have shown how I would safeguard the just 
claims of landlords in making the necessary arrangements for free sale. 
There is not time to allow of my going into details upon that topic to¬ 
day. Moreover, to do so would be needless repetition, for are they not 
written in the chronicles of the Farmers’ Alliance—an Association which 
would have done great things for the farmers and fruit growers of the 
country if they had sufficiently supported it ? In my opinion, free sale 
is far superior to the valuation system. When told that it involves 
dual ownership in land, I always say in reply, that where two persons 
invest their capital, and inextricably mix it in the same piece of land, 
you must have dual ownership or confiscation. There is absolutely no 
other alternative ; and if you have a right to compensation by valua¬ 
tion, you have dual ownership just as much as if you have free sale. 
Again, I am told that free sale has not succeeded in Ireland ; but the 
reply to that is that it was a splendid success in Ulster before Mr. 
Gladsone meddled with it, and, in my opinion, muddled it. Having 
visited Ulster, I say that the results of free sale there are wonderful. 
Considering the disadvantages in respect of situation, climate, and 
often of soil also, under which the farmers in that province laboured, 
what they did, stimulated by the security afforded to them by free 
sale, long before the Land Acts were passed, is a striking proof of the 
value of the principle. 
It must be confessed, however, that free sale is not popular in this 
country. It may further be admitted that the system of compensation 
by arbitration and valuation can be carried out more satisfactorily in 
relation to fruit trees than in the case of ordinary farm improvements. 
The trees are on the ground, and can be counted and valued, and their 
condition indicates how they have been manured and otherwise treated. 
In some parts of Italy it is the practice to make an inventory of all the 
trees on a holding when the tenant enters, describing the number of 
trees of each kind in each enclosure, indicating the condition of the 
whole in general, if not of each, and valuing them. When the tenant 
quits a similar inventory is made, and he is entitled to receive, or 
required to pay, any difference in the two valuations, according to 
whether he has caused appreciation or deterioration during his tenancy. 
Whether or not any allowance is made for natural improvement on the 
■one hand, or deterioration similar to the reasonable “ wear and tear ” in 
a house on the other, I cannot say. Perhaps some such plan could be 
adopted in this country. 
The simplest reform, however—and I believe that fruit-growers and 
farmers can get it if they will but act together—would be that of 
striking out the stipulation in the Agricultural Holdings Act which 
requires the landlord’s consent to entitle the tenant to compensation for 
planting fruit trees and for other permanent improvements. But as I 
have always been a friend—an unappreciated friend—to landlords, I 
must state one objection to this proposal. It would be hard to come 
down upon a poor, embarrassed landlord, or upon one fairly well to do, 
but only a tenant for life, for £20 an acre or more on 100 or 200 acres, in 
the form of compensation to an outgoing tenant. Therefore, it seems to 
me that if the tenant is to be entitled to compensation for costly 
improvements made without his landlord’s consent, the latter should 
have the option of presenting the right of free sale to the former. Or, 
perhaps, as landlords have always opposed free sale, fit will be but a 
fitting lesson to them to make the amendment in the Agricultural 
Holdings Act just suggested, and to leave them to sue for free sale, 
which I fancy, under the altered circumstances, many of them would 
very quickly demand. At any rate, in one way or another, I contend, it 
is the right and the duty of the public to insist that the law of the land 
shall be so altered as to encourage, instead of hindering, the greatest 
possible development of the resources lof the soil. They should not 
recognise the right of a man who is allowed to “ hold an estate in land ” 
—the nearest approach to absolute ownership recognised by the law of 
this country—to keep it as a desert waste, or anything like a desert 
waste, if it will pay for improvement, and there are capitalists able and 
willing to improve it. Or, to limit the application of this principle of 
public right and duty to the subject before us, I say that the people of 
this country, desirous as they are to see planting increased, should insist 
on their representatives in Parliament, without unnecessary delay, so 
amending or adding to the statutes as to afford to every cultivator of 
the soil full security for the unexhausted value of any improve¬ 
ment in the planting and culture of fruit which he is able and willing 
to carry out. 
The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. —Some friends, thinking the 
Apple and Pear Conference last week favourable for doing something 
on behalf of this charity, organised a concert under the auspices of the 
Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Society. This was held in 
the Vestry Hall on the evening of the 19th inst., and the visitors were 
well satisfied with the musical treat afforded and the beautiful floral 
decorations of Messrs. Eoberts, Hudson, May, and Fromow & Sons. 
Mr. A. Dean was the chairman of the evening, but his efforts were quite 
unavailing to prevent encores. Mr. J. Barry distinguished himself by a 
recitation, and the chairman of the Fund, Mr. G. Deal, explained its 
origin and working with great lucidity, and said if £7 or £8 could be 
obtained at such an enjoyable meeting, the sum would afford sup¬ 
port to a needy child for half a year. He commended the example of 
the Chiswick friends to others who might possibly help in a similar 
manner, and at the same time provide pleasant evenings’ entertainments 
during the winter months. We are informed the suggestion is being 
considered by Messrs. G. Cannan and J. Dixon, managers of two of the 
branches of the extensive nurseries of Messrs. Lee & Son, Hammersmith. 
- The Nottingham Horticultural and Botanical 
Society. —A Chrysanthemum, Fruit, and Potato Show is announced to 
be held on Wednesday and Thursday, November 21st and 22nd, at the 
Arboretum Booms, Nottingham. The prizes offered by Mr. K. Sankey, 
Bulwell, for the best essay “ On the Duty of the Employer to his Gar¬ 
dener” will be divided as follows :—First prize, 20s. ; second prize, 15s.; 
third prize, 10 s.; which will be accompanied by the first, second, and 
third class certificate of the Society. The essay must not exceed fifteen 
minutes in reading. It will be read by a competent person, who will be 
appointed by the Committee, and must be sent to the Secretary, sealed 
up, and with a number or motto, but not the owner’s name, not later 
than Monday, December 9 th. The competition is open to all the mem¬ 
bers of the Society, and the papers will be read at the meeting on Wed¬ 
nesday, December 12th, 1888, at 7.30 p.m. 
- Mr. Wm. Kerl of Angmering, Worthing, writes :—“ Last year 
I gave an account of Grafting Apples upon Pear Trees. This 
year I have continued the experiment, and have grafted twenty-six 
scions of good Apples upon such Pear trees that were unfruitful or bore 
worthless Pears. Twenty-one have taken with strong shoots. The 
Apples I send were from the Pear tree I mentioned last year. In the 
neighbourhood of St. Albans they are called ‘ Worsted Stockings,’ and 
