October 17, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
329 
■have noticed that in the suburban gardens of London the Pear tree is 
•generally more vigorous and healthy than the Apple, owing, no doubt, 
•to the warmer climate and its capability of resisting the evil effects of 
the London smoke. 
I observe that it has been remarked that the workman does not care 
■about fruit. The cause of this indifference is not far to seek. A work¬ 
man’s bodily strength is his capital, and this capital must be carefully 
husbanded. 
At present prices half a dozen Apples fit to eat would certainly 
•cost 3d. I do not think the most ardent vegetarian would maintain 
■that these Apples would satisfy a hungry appetite. Bread and cheese 
and an Onion would give more nourishment at the sanje cost. If fruit 
•could be purchased cheaply enough for his income, I have no doubt the 
workman, if he did not care about it himself, would be glad to supply 
his children with this very necessary diet for young stomachs. This 
■desirable result will no doubt arrive as soon as the orchards with which 
•every suitable farm should be furnished come into working order, and 
•the fact generally recognised that this replanting must be done. The 
remarkable influence which Mr. Gladstone so justly exercises on social 
matters in England when directed to fruit-growing has given an 
impetus which will not cease, and his speeches on behalf of fruit¬ 
growers in the past two years will be never forgotten. The Fruiterers’ 
■Company, departing from its traditional custom, which I think was 
•connected solely with the importation of foreign fruit, has, with the 
assistance of the Lord Mayor, taken a great step in the encouragement 
of a native industry ; and if the frosts of our English springs will 
-abstain from destroying the tender blossoms of our fruits for a few 
■years we shall establish such a supply that foreign competition will be 
compelled to cease from troubling us. 
THE FRUIT QUESTION. 
fRead by Mr. J. Wright at the Crystal Palace.J 
When requested to lend a helping hand in the promotion of any 
•worthy object in the world of horticulture I am not able to give a 
■refusal, but must try and do a little good in my day and generation. 
In these days of wide world competition there is great need for mutual 
help and friendly co-operation for the attainment of a common object 
•of national importance—improving the food resources of the kingdom 
in the interests of every class in it—owners of land that has been 
falling in value of late ; tillers of the ground who have had such slight 
returns for their labour, and consumers of the produce of the soil in 
placing before them better samples for their sustenance and enjoy¬ 
ment. That is the triune object in which many can aid, and by each 
•doing a little it will be attained. But in the name of common sense 
let all petty jealousies be abandoned, and let us take a lesson from our 
rivals in other lands in working unitedly for the general good. This is 
•entirely compatible with individual enterprise which is not in the 
•slightest degree handicapped by association on a broad basis, and I am 
■convinced that nothing but good can result from a policy of federation 
in furtherance of the important work of developing the resources of the 
.nation to which we are proud to belong. 
The object of the British Fruit Growers’ Association is to promote 
■the extension of fruit culture, to increase the quantity and improve the 
■quality of home-grown fruit. “ A very good object no doubt,” observed 
-a friend, with a cynical twinkle of the eye, “ but don’t you think 
■nurserymen are at the bottom of it?” “Yes, certainly I do; and if 
you reflect for a moment you will find that there can be no substantial 
progress made without them. They are at the bottom of fruit culture 
.just as iron is at the bottom of railways, and coal at the bottom of iron.” 
Here you see is where the obstructiveness of suspicion and petty jealousy 
•comes in. But depend upon it if my friend had had to dig his own 
•coal, and wheel it home in his own barrow, he would not be half so well 
■off as he is to-day. Whatever of prosperity has been enjoyed by the 
ironmaster and coalminer has not been obtained at the sacrifice of a 
single advantage that this user of their products possesses, but he has 
benefited by the use of that which has been provided for him better 
and cheaper than he could have obtained the necessities for himself. 
The benefits have been mutual. It is the same in the fruit tree world. 
The nurserymen are at the bottom of it. They can raise trees better 
■and more cheaply than individual cultivators can raise them for 
■themselves. Let these “ go to the bottom ” and try—sow seed, 
■select varieties, raise stocks, and graft or in any other way increase the 
number, and see where they will be ten years hence. They will be at the 
bottom still, while rival growers who purchased and planted at the time 
"the individualists commenced action in their own isolated way, will be 
reaping the reward of their trade co-operation with the raisers of the 
trees. What we want and what we have is a body of high’y skilled, 
high-minded fruit tree raisers, and we may safely leave the competition, 
that is a natural element in trade routine, to supply the tree planters 
to the best possible advantage 
I want to see a great and a growing trade in fruit tree production, 
and care not how great the prosperity of those who engage in it may be, 
provided the planters and cultivators prosper accordingly, and the supply 
of home-grown fruit by its abundance and excellence can hold its own 
in the competition of the world. Can this be done? Yes, it can 
when the seasons are favourable for fructification and the development 
of the crops ; and when they are not, we will enjoy what can be obtained 
elsewhere, and from a consumer’s view be thankful that the sun does 
not cease to shine everywhere, and that all the orchards of the world are 
not barren at once. 
We have, as a consequence probably of our insular position, been in 
the habit of taking a much too circumscribed view of the great question 
of the supply of fruit. We did not perceive soon enough the 
revolution that steam, machinery, and electric telegraphy were effecting 
and have effected, in bringing the sources of supply, thousands of miles 
away, practically nearer to us than were many of those of our land to 
each other not much more than a generation ago. We rested on the 
strength of our insularity too long. We, that is to say those who had 
the means for planting trees for maintaining-the fruit supply, did not 
perceive the necessity for change. The old trees were trusted to do 
what they had done before—provide what would be wanted ; and if 
the fruit should become scarcer through the demand being greater, 
consequent on the increase of population, the price would rule higher 
and the owners of the trees would reap the advantage. That was the 
line of reasoning during the time when Dr. Lardner said he would 
swallow the first steamship that crossed the Atlantic, and subsequently. 
It was fallacious, absolutely and ridiculously fallacious, and we in later 
times, and until now, have suffered by the great delusion. 
What was the result—the natural result—of such apathy? Others, 
more far seeing, in distant lands that were being commercially brought 
steadily, and eventually rapidly, nearer, did for us what ought to have 
been done at home—planted trees for supplying our markets and the 
homes of the million with fruit! Then what did the home neglecters 
do in return ? Only what was to be expected—condemned the intro¬ 
duction of that which they refused to provide ; wasted time in railing 
against it, and waiting for acts of obstruction being passed excluding it 
from our markets. Vain was the condemnation, futile the efforts of 
obstruction, and at last the truth was realised that the only certain and 
practical way of regaining the lost ground—lost by inaction and the 
slow perception of realities—was to choose varieties of fruit and trees 
wisely, prepare, the ground, plant, and cultivate well for producing an 
adequate bulk of useful fruit at home, equal in appearance and superior 
in quality to the samples grown abroad, for meeting the demands of 
British consumers. That is the right way, undoubtedly; indeed, the 
only reliable way, unreliable as the seasons may be ; the only safe and 
sound method of procedure under the circumstances ; and that it is a 
profitable way those who were the first to adopt it and carry it out on 
sov.nd lines were the first to prove the fact, and many a cultivator has 
reaped the reward of his enterprise, and shown by what he has accom¬ 
plished what others may do as well as he has done. 
Those who have found that the cultivation of hardy fruit can be 
advantageously pursued in this country are extending their plantations, 
and others who have seen the satisfactory results achieved are engaging 
in the work, and every year brings the time nearer when the hardy fruit 
requirements of this kingdom will, in the absence of adverse seasons, 
be produced on British soil, and the capital that ha3 so long been 
expended on imported produce will be invested in labour that will be 
employed m home production to the direct advatage of the nation. 
In England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales fruit may be and should 
be grown for the populations. In limited areas it is so grown, and foreign 
competition is not feared by the producers; but only small patches, so 
to say, are as yet so occupied, and a great field is waiting to be tilled, 
while an ever increasing population is waiting for the produce. 
It is not suggested here, nor will the proposition gaiu the sanction of 
practical men who have gone through the mill of experience, that any 
town worker or town lounger, if “ planted ” on an acre of giound, 
and a number of Apple trees are planted in it for him, will find it a 
paradise, and as the story ends “ live happy ever after.” Such teach¬ 
ing as that is misleading. It is in reality trifling with a serious 
subject. Born on the land, and knowing well the hardships of a 
peasant’s life, I have an earnest longing to see the home of every son of 
toil made happier by his labour, and I know well that many men 
