188 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r Marcli 7, 1889. 
of the United Kingdom of 1887, 
June, are as follows :— 
Oranges and Lemons 
Currants and Raisins 
Figs and other dried fruits 
Nuts ... 
Almonds 
Apples 
Unenumerated (raw) 
presented to Parliament last 
value £1,543,000 
„ 2,460,000 
„ 790,000 
„ 545,000 
„ 316,000 
„ 564,000 
„ 1,166,000 
£7,384,000 
certain advice ; and it will be admitted that none but the most 
audacious of quacks would have the effrontery to advance any such 
obviously wild suggestions. The very idea of millions of acres 
planted with fruit trees for producing “ any quantity ” of fruit to 
be sold at fancy prices, and the “ rest at 6s. a bushel,” is such a 
flagrant absurdity that it stands self-condemned. The proposition 
is not only misleading but stupid, or what the National Reviewer 
characterises as a “ silly dream.” He describes the advice to 
farmers to occupy their corn-land with fruit trees to bring prosperity 
to agriculture, as “ unrivalled in its real absurdity,” and well he 
“ Now, the last item includes Grapes, Pine Apples, and all the 
early and special fruits of warmer climates, and it is only with a 
small residue and with the preceding item, ‘Apples,’ that the 
British cultivator has any concern. The rest is fruit that we 
cannot grow here in the open air. The trade, therefore, with 
which our own fruit-growers can in any way compete is much 
nearer to 1,000,000 than to 8,000,000, and the parade of the larger 
figures before the farmer’s eyes can tend only to blind him. We 
are told again that nearly £1,250,000 a year is paid for imported 
Apples. But the official returns of their value for the last six 
years are :— 
1883 ... 
••• m • • 
£553,000 
1884 ... 
... ... »»» 
786,000 
1885 ... 
• • • • • • 
717,000 
1886 ... 
857,000 
1887 ... 
... 
564,000 
1888 ... 
1,037,000 
Average 
£750,000 
“ The returns give the quantities as well as the declared value, 
and the average quantity for the same period is just 2,700,000 
bushels a year. The average value, therefore, according to these 
returns, is 5s. 6d. a bushel.” 
That is the truth so far as it can be ascertained. The fluctua¬ 
tions in the imports is governed by the supply in the markets and 
current prices. Last year was a “ bad ” Apple year in this country, 
a good one in America, hence the increase in importations ; the 
previous year was a better one for home growers, and worse for 
their transatlantic rivals, hence their comparatively small con¬ 
signments. If 1889 is a good Apple year in both hemispheres and 
we receive 1,000,000 bushels from abroad, a fall in the average 
5s. 6d. a bushel is inevitable, and, in fact, not anything like that 
amount has been derived of late for good samples of American 
fruit ; while tons of Apples, the produce of British orchards, have 
been disposed of for much less than half of the price named. This 
is our weakness—uncared for, mismanaged, or semi-abandoned 
orchards. When home-grown Apples are as tempting in appear¬ 
ance as those imported they will be as readily purchased by the 
great bulk of consumers, and perhaps more readily, as they possess 
a briskness and flavour so much appreciated, which the Americans 
lack ; but the extent of Apple cultivation abroad, facilities of 
transit with cheap freightage, and uniformly good samples offered, 
will not permit of any increase on present average values. But 
that need not and should not deter from planting under favourable 
conditions, nor prevent efforts being made to improve the quality 
of home-grown fruit, and the more it is improved, the better the 
bulk, the greater will be the demand for it, but so long as it 
remains markedly inferior to imported samples these will have the 
preference, that which is relatively inferior of home growth being 
a drug on the market. 
We have in view now the fruit that is offered in bulk in the 
markets for sale for general culinary and consumptive purposes, 
and not to special samples specially grown by expert cultivators for 
the comparatively few who are able to give extraordinary prices for 
samples for adorning the windows of fruiterers, and for placing on 
luxuriously appointed dinner tables. We are fully aware that 
Apples and Pears are sold for those purposes at from 2s. to 6s. a 
dozen ; but to suggest that they can be produced by anybody who 
plants trees, and be sold at such figures, is the most arrant nonsense, 
and just as impossible as for every farmer who keeps cattle and 
horses to win the blue ribbon for them at exhibitions if he follows 
may. He points out the folly of the assumption that the “ fruit 
growers of England do not know their own business, and that 
theorists can straightway put them right,” and goes on to observe 
in his cogent reasoning and trenchant way that — 
If some are dull and stupid, they have competitors enough who 
are clever and sharp, and when the lives of many thousands are 
devoted to the same pursuit under the same strong personal interest,, 
the chance of their being all wrong in the method they pursue is 
almost infinitely small. The supposition that £50 per annum net 
profit per acre is within the reach of the ordinary cultivator of land r 
and that he has never found this out for himself, is so wildly 
improbable that any teacher who asserts it without giving at the 
same time the most perfect demonstration of its truth, may be set 
aside at once, not only as a guide whom it would be madness to- 
confide in, but as one who has no sense of the vast responsibility 
that rests upon him when he lures men to run after a promised 
Eden before he really knows whether it is a garden or a swamp. 
And what is the demonstration offered ? To be worth the slightest 
notice it must be nothing less than a record of prolonged experi¬ 
ence with the gravest and most cautious consideration of the extent 
to which, in every detail, it applies to the conditions of ordinary 
agriculture and ordinary trade. Instead of that, we have abso¬ 
lutely nothing beyond the assertion that certain profits have been 
made in certain cases, the history of which is left untold, and the 
assurance that so many trees per acre will produce so much per 
annum. Nothing but folly is ever supported by such evidence as 
this.” 
Whoever teaches sound doctrine on the subject of fruit culture 
we regard as a helper in a good work, for we wish to see the 
standard of merit of British fruit raised high above its present 
level, and those who have raised it have received a satisfactory re 
turn for their enterprise and cultural skill ; but we will not tempt 
the inexperienced by golden visions to rush into the work regard¬ 
less of circumstances, for as Mr. Mott truthfully says :— 
“ There are exceptional cases, small in number from their very 
nature, where a fortune may still be made out of a few acres of 
land, but to think that this can apply to, or in any way concern the 
general cultivator, is as wildly foolish as to think that buried 
treasure is worth hunting for because it has sometimes been 
found.” 
PLANTING YOUNG VINES. 
Mr. Bardxey, February 21st, page 153, gives a sweeping con¬ 
demnation of the practice of -washing Vine roots at the time of 
planting. As I have practised this method in several houses with 
perfect success, I should like to give my experience for the benefit 
of those who have not had sufficient practice to guide them. 
My note will only apply to the Vine grown in a pot the previous 
year in relation to shaking out. A good Vine grown in 8 or 
9-inch pot, and firmly potted, should have its pot crammed with 
roots. Cut it back during the winter to within 2 or 3 feet of the 
pot, and keep it in a cool house or free from frost—the latter is 
very important. I once had some splendid Vines ruined by frost 
when in pots not sufficiently protected. H the border is ready for 
planting any time in March, the Vine can be had in the best con¬ 
dition, that is where the buds have started about half an inch in 
growth. A Vine at this stage should be carefully dealt with for 
obvious reasons. It is well known to practical men that Vine roots 
planted in cold soil and not much disturbed are liable to remain 
inactive until roots start from the base of the canes near the surface 
of the ball. This is specially so if planted too deep, and such roots 
are inferior in the formation of fibres to the original roots. I have 
taken out Vines which have been laid in with a portion of the 
cane covered with the soil, and the ball partly shaken out, and 
have found the roots have grown only from the cane near the 
surface. Consequently I firmly believe in thoroughly disentangling 
the root* and spreading them out regularly near the surface ; none 
