October 31, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
131 
THE MANCHESTER 
FRUIT CONFERENCE. 
The Conference on Fruit Culture organised by the 
Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society of Man¬ 
chester was opened in the Town Hall in that city on 
the 2ist inst., and continued over the following day. 
The principal addresses were delivered by the Earl 
of Derby, who presided on the first da}', and Aider- 
man Sir James Whitehead, Master of the Fruiterers' 
Company, who took the chair at the second meeting. 
In the course of his opening speech 
The Earl of Derby 
said :—I am not a vegetarian either in theory or in 
practice, but I imagine that many persons who do 
not hold the vegetarian doctrine will think as I do, 
that in this country we are apt—at least those who 
can afford it—to look too exclusively to meat as a 
source of nourishment, and that both health and 
economy would be promoted, in the case of many of 
us, by a more mixed diet. Certainly on the Conti¬ 
nent fruit is more used than here, where we are apt 
to treat it rather as a mere luxury than as an 
addition to our food resources. The advantages of 
fruit-growing are obvious and on the surface. It 
creates a large demand for labour, because in that 
industry the human hand cannot be superseded by 
machinery; it may under favourable circumstances 
give an immense return per acre. The work con¬ 
nected with it is healthy, and inasmuch as fruit is 
not easily or usually transportable to long distances, 
dr capable of being kept for a long time, it is less 
exposed to foreign competition 'than corn or grain 
of any sort. As to the return, no certain average 
can be taken where soil and climate vary so widely. 
The figures which I have obtained relate to Kent, 
and come from good authority. Strawberries are 
taken as giving a gross return of £27 per acre and a 
net return, after all expenses are paid, of between 
£6 and £7 ; Raspberries £21 gross return and £7 
net profit; Currants ^30 gross, net £11 ; Apples, 
Plums, and Cherries £25 gross return, net profit about 
£5. But these last, especially Apples, give no return 
for five years at least. The average of several 
seasons has been taken, so as to allow for losses as 
well as for exceptional gains. On the other hand, 
there are drawbacks which must not be overlooked. 
All cultivation is accompanied with a considerable 
amount of uncertainty, and some people indeed tell 
you that farming is a lottery, only with all- the prizes 
left out; and in the case of fruit this is particularly 
so, for one frosty night or two or three days of stormy 
weather in the late spring or early summer will often 
destroy the whole promise of the year. 
Then there is the immense fluctuation in price, so 
great that a very abundant crop may be almost 
unsaleable. In Kent this year, of my own knowledge, 
Plums were being sold far below the price it must 
have cost to raise them. There is the risk of plunder 
by tramps, vagrants, and mischievous boys, entailing 
the expense and trouble of constant watching, there 
is the difficulty of cheap transport where small 
quantities are concerned, the difficulty of storing up 
for future use what is essentially perishable, and also, 
what is more important, the difficulty of learning 
how to practise an art which looks simple enough, 
but which really requires considerable skill and 
experience. Two other considerations are also to be 
borne in mind—one, that where fruit trees are con¬ 
cerned there must be a considerable interval of time 
between the planting and the remunerative return ; 
the other, that to some extent the price of fruit is 
liable to be kept down by the quantity which is grown 
for pleasure rather than for profit, and the surplus of 
which is thrown on the market. I have read and 
heard expressions of opinion from which it would 
seem that the writers or speakers imagine that fruit 
can be grown by anybody anywhere—that you have 
only to get your five or ten acres, no matter in what 
soil, stick in trees or plants, and make your fortune 
by watching them grow. Now, I need not tell you 
that anybody who starts with these expectations will 
find himself greatly deceived. In the first place the 
soil must be carefully chosen. In the next place the 
grower must know something about his business. 
Then, again, if he wants to sell beyond the limits of 
his own parish, he must have easy and inexpensive 
transport. And with all these advantages there 
remain the risks of which I have spoken. 
_ In the southern counties, in Kent especially, fruit¬ 
growing has been studied as an art, I may say for 
centuries. The orchards and gardens of Kent are 
spoken of by travellers with admiration as early as 
the 17th century, and though the growers as a class 
are fairly prosperous, I do not imagine that their 
average profits are especially high ; the large gains 
of one year are balanced by the losses of another. 
As to land being obtained for the purpose, there need 
be no trouble. There is plenty of land vacant, as 
we all know, and landlords will be glad for their own 
sakes to encourage an industry which will increase 
the demand for it. The question what size of farms 
will pay best for this kind of cultivation is one 
which, I think, only experiment can decide. Very 
large farms are, of course, out of the question where 
minute industry is required. But as between mod¬ 
erate sized holdings and very small ones, the larger 
holder will have the advantage of skilled supervision, 
of cheaper conveyance, and of a better market, and 
if his capital is, as it ought to be, in due proportion 
to his acres, he will be better able to bear the losses 
to which he will, from time to time, be exposed. 
How far these advantages may be counteracted by 
the superior energy which a man is supposed to put 
forth when he is working directly for himself is a 
comparison which anybody can make, and no two 
persons will come to the same conclusion. But one 
thing I am sure of—that no man can wisely go into 
this business who is not prepared to incur some 
expense in the first instance and to ruri some risk 
later on. The warning may seem superfluous, but 
the English mind is more speculative than cautious. 
I do not forget that there is a class, whether large 
or small I cannot judge, of persons who will take to 
fruit growing as an amusement and an occupation 
rather than with any notion of making it pay. Of 
them one can only say that, as they expect nothing 
in the way of profit, they will not be disappointed, 
and that they have found an excellent mode of utilis¬ 
ing their spare time and superfluous energy—quite 
as wholesome as kicking a ball about a field, and, I 
should think, much more entertaining. If a man 
cultivates his own land and has paid for it, he is of 
course in the most satisfactory position. I say if he 
has paid for it, for otherwise mortgages are apt to be 
a heavier burden than rent. And if he has not capital 
and prefers to hold on a lease, I would say let him 
be very careful and let the landowner be so likewise, 
as to making clear and definite terms. I am quite 
sure that when disputes occur between landlord and 
tenant they arise in nine cases out of ten, not out of 
a wish on either side to overreach the other, but from 
the easy rural fashion of letting things go on without 
distinct and definite agreement as to the rights of 
both parties, but on the basis of some vague under¬ 
standing which is apt to end in misunderstanding. 
That caution applies to other matters besides fruit, 
but it is obviously more necessary where the expense 
incurred in planting is large, as it must be in the case 
of fruit trees. The best plan would be, if the land¬ 
lord can afford it, that he should put in the trees 
himself, charging in the rent for interest in his outlay. 
If he cannot, or will not, go to this expense, there 
should be a well-defined agreement as to what the 
tenant shall receive in case of going out. 
Sir James Whitehead 
Said he did not regard Lord Derby’s speech as very 
encouraging, but it must be admitted that he took a 
very judicial view of the situation, and leaned rather 
to the condition of things as they now existed. He 
was happy to believe that in the more san¬ 
guine view he would take he would at least have on 
his side the experts of the country, who would agree 
with him that there was a great opportunity for the 
increased cultivation of fruit in this country, and 
that it could be grown at a profit. It was a very re¬ 
markable fact that in-the counties of Kent, Middle¬ 
sex, and Surrey during the last forty years there had 
been a very large increase in the value of agricultural 
land—an increase to the extent of 25 per cent.—so 
that they might come to the conclusion that the 
cultivation of fruit and of garden produce for the 
London market had led to great advantage to the 
owners as well as to the tillers of the soil. He had 
been greatly pleased with the exhibition of fruit in 
the adjoining rooms. It proved to him that we had 
the capacity to grow fruit of a very high character 
in this country. A quarter of a century ago there 
were many excellent orchards in England, but they 
had been allowed to go into decay. He would make 
no comment as to what had led cultivators to allow 
those orchards to go into decay. Possibly Lord 
Derby, who was a great landlord, could give a better 
ansv/er than he could, 
The consumption of fruit in England had largely 
increased in the last twenty years, namely, from about 
10 d. per head of the population to 3s. per head. There 
had also been a large, but not a corresponding, in¬ 
crease in the quantity of fruit grown. Within the 
last three years 12,600 more acres had been put 
under fruit cultivation in this country, and there 
had also been an enormous increase in the cultiva¬ 
tion of fruit under glass. Notwithstanding all this 
the imports of fruit went up by leaps and bounds. 
During the season probably not less than 20,000 or 
30,000 barrels of apples alone were unshipped at 
Liverpool. These came almost entirely from 
Canada, and large quantities of fruit were also 
landed at London and Southampton from our 
colonies—principally Tasmania. There could be no 
objection to the importation of fruit from Tasmania 
and Australia, because it arrived here 
when our own fruit was out of season, and 
every effort ought to be made to increase the 
use of fruit as an article of food. It was a very 
remarkable and satisfactory fact that those who ate 
fruit to a considerable extent very rarely drank to 
excess. On that account they would all hail the 
increased cultivation of fruit as something that was 
calculated to be of benefit to the people at large, and 
would agree that farmers and cottagers ought to be 
encouraged to grow fruit. 
He believed that fruit growing would pay, whether 
carried on as a separate industry or as an adjunct to 
general farming. There might be some difficulty in 
growing fruit in allotments because of the uncertainty 
of tenure and the unsatisfactory condition of the law 
of compensation for unexhausted improvements; 
but he believed when we had compulsory powers for 
the acquirement of allotments and when the law gave 
fair compensation, we might look forward to a great 
extension of fruit growing on the part of those who 
cultivated allotments and gardens. Dean Hole had 
informed him that Archdeacon Lee, of Worcester¬ 
shire, had turned a great part of his glebe land into 
fruit gardens, and that this had led to a very large 
increase in his income from the land. He had heard 
of a case in which a man had four acres, of which, 
under ordinary farm culture, he could make nothing. 
He divided the land into allotments of about a rood 
each, and it now brought him in a rental of £32, 
while the produce from the land exceeded /400 per 
annum. In one year, off a rood of land, after 
supplying his own family, one of the tenants sold 
£20 worth of produce, equal to £&o an acre. It was 
desirable to grow a mixed variety of fruits, and then, 
if one kind failed, there would still be a profit for 
the cultivator. He believed English-grown fruit was 
of a better quality than that grown abroad, and that 
the climate of this country was suitable for the 
growth of hardy fruit. Of course much depended 
upon the selection of soil and situation. It seemed 
to him that education was much required in the 
matter of fruit culture amongst cottagers and farmers, 
who were for the most part absolutely ignorant of 
the proper method of cultivation. He thought it 
would be well to have shows from time to time in 
great centres throughout the country, and that in 
connection with them there should be papers read 
and lectures and object lessons given. 
In the matter of furthering education, the Man¬ 
chester Botanical and Horticultural Society were 
not in any way lagging behind, and their present 
show was one of the finest he had ever seen. He 
feared we were very much behind foreign countries 
in regard to agricultural and horticultural education, 
but was glad to be able to say that through the 
efforts of the British Fruit Growers’ Association 
and the Fruiterers' Company, the Government were 
rising to the importance of this subject. A scheme 
was now before the Board of Education, prepared 
by the British Fruit Growers’ Association, which 
when put into operation, might lead to the giving 
of practical horticultural instruction in every board 
school in the rural districts. To his mind that 
was the most important step that had been 
taken by this or any Government in regard 
to the promotion of fruit culture and the im¬ 
provement of the condition of the agricultural 
classes of' this country. Unfortunately the 
system of land tenure in this country and the uncer¬ 
tain security of tenants’ capital has retarded the 
progress of fruit culture, and would continue to do so 
in the future unless there was some alteration in the 
law. Tenants would not plant if they could not reap 
the harvest, and the future of fruit culture depended 
very largely upon whether or not tenants would be 
able to secure adequate compensation for unexhausted 
improvements or security of tenure. This was a 
subject that would have to be dealt with at no distant 
date. Landlords were in a position either to make 
or to mar the future of this country in regard to fruit 
culture, and he hoped we might look to them with 
confidence. This question of fruit culture affected 
the national welfare, and he believed the more it 
was studied the more likely were we to keep the rural 
classes in the rural districts, and benefit the whole 
community, 
