September 29, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
69 
afforded is of inexhaustible amount. With our present 
knowledge of artificial manures all deficiencies in other 
soils may, however, be easily supplied ; but I hope you 
will agree with me that an analysis of the soil is 
indispensable, and that it is necessary not to judge 
only by appearance, but to gain an intimate knowledge 
of the soil constituents. A deep rich loam is some¬ 
times misleading, and trees, though apparently 
vigorous at first, being deprived of their requisite food 
will become cankered and stag-headed. The cultivator 
must make it his business to cure this defect, which an 
elementary knowledge of chemistry and of the applica¬ 
tion of chemical manures will enable him to do. The 
position of the orchard is another important point. It 
is, I think, well known that frosts are more severe in 
low-lying lands near rivers, 
and fruit trees should con¬ 
sequently be planted above 
the line indicated by the 
rising mists. 
The preparation of the 
soil is the next point, and I 
will assume that a man 
with 100 acres of land can 
afford to devote one rood 
for the cultivation of 
an orchard ; this must 
be fenced with wire netting 
high enough to keep out hares 
and rabbits during snow, 
as one night’s visitation of 
these animals would suffice 
to destroy the growth of 
years, and to ruin the 
plantation. In my own case 
I have sunk a barbed wire 
to prevent burrowing. Wire 
netting is so cheap that 
this expense is not great, 
and with proper care it will 
last for years. At all events, 
it must be incurred, for 
although rabbits may be 
utterly destroyed, hares will 
travel for miles in search 
of food. In Belgium in the 
fruit-growing districts they 
are altogether absent, but 
it is not likely that this 
will ever be the case in 
England. The land, if at 
all infested with twitch, 
should have a summer’s 
fallow to eradicate this pest, 
as it cannot be easily de¬ 
stroyed when the trees are 
planted. Itwillgrowamongst 
the roots, and is then most 
difficult to deal with. As 
early in September or October 
as practicable, the rood of 
land, having been previously 
dressed with some twelve or 
fifteen tons of good farmyard 
manure, should be trenched 
to the depth of 24 ins., the 
top soil being kept at the 
top, and the bottom broken 
up and turned over. I am 
convinced that this costs 
about Is. 6c?. per square rod, 
or about £3 for the rood, 
according to the tenacity 
of the soil, and is abso¬ 
lutely necessary, as I have 
found from experience that my plantations, made 
in a soil which has been frequently trench-dug, 
bear more abundantly, and give finer fruit, and 
are more healthy than those which I have planted 
in holes only without moving the surrounding 
soil. 
The rood of land trenched and fenced will be ready for 
the reception of the trees in November, the soil being 
pulverised and settled. Considerable expense having 
been incurred, I propose to show that the planter will 
be able to recoup himself by the number of trees he can 
plant, and the consequent produce. The rood of land 
will accommodate about 400 trees—that is, 200 trees 
planted 9 ft. apart row from row, and 6 ft. apart in the 
rows of Plums, Apples, and Pears, and 200 bushes of 
Currants and Gooseberries between at 6 ft. apart in the 
rows. The rood, therefore, will contain as many 
FRUIT CULTURE FOR PROFIT* 
Ouk 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 pro¬ 
ducer ; and although it is 
absurd to suppose that Corn 
is not still the ruling crop, 
yet all cultivators 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 to 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 interested 
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 ; 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 exporta¬ 
tion of fruit, pomological 
congresses are constantly 
held. I haveattendedseveral, 
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 
* A paper read by Mr. T. Francis Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, at 
the Crystal Palace Fruit Conference on September 7th. 
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 one rood of land than in two or three acres of the 
old-fashioned style. 
Quality of Soil fop- Orchards. 
The most important part of the preparation of an 
orchard is, of course, the quality of the soil, and the 
Cactus Dahlia, Charming Bride. 
intending planter should not hesitate to spend a few 
shillings in obtaining an analysis. I attribute a great 
part of my success in fruit growing to the nature and 
qualities of the soil. An analysis made by Dr. 
Yoelcker for Mr. Prout, of Sawbridgeworth, gives the 
following constituents of the land on his farm, mine 
being the same formation and closely identical. The 
quantities are contained in depth of 6 ins. per 
acre :— 
Phosphoric acid tons Sulphuric acid... 2J tons 
Potash. 51 tons Nitric acid ... 22 lbs. 
Lime .37 tons Nitrogen ... 1 ton. 
Magnesia ... 4£ tons 
I shall show presently by an analysis of fruit that 
the inherent qualities of this soil are vastly favourable 
for certain classes of fruits, and if the depth instead of 
6 ins. is extended to 20 ins., to which the roots of fruit 
trees will reach in searching for food, the aliment 
