102 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 19, 1889. 
BRITISH FRUIT-GROWERS 
ASSOCIATION. 
A meeting of the members of this association was held 
in the Entertainment Room at the Crystal Palace on 
the 10th inst., Mr. T. Francis Rivers presiding. 
Possibly owing to the shortness of the notice given, 
there was but a poor attendance of members, but the 
intimation, “admission free,” brought in a good 
sprinkling of the general public. The chairman read a 
telegram from Lord Brooke expressing his regret at 
being unable to attend, but sympathising with the 
objects of the meeting. Mr. Rivers then read the 
paper :— 
Since we last met there are indications that public 
attention has been drawn to the very great importance 
of the meeting here last year, which was held for the 
purpose of pointing out the absolute necessity of 
developing fruit culture in these islands for the purpose 
of meeting the threatened competition from other 
countries, with fruit of our own growing. Although we 
succeeded almost beyond our hopes in arousing the 
attention of cultivators and owners of land to the 
knowledge that we were not sufficiently awake to the 
fact of the enormous and increasing consumption of 
fruit, and that we were not making due preparation to 
meet this, either in the present or the future, yet we are 
not content to rest satisfied with the success of that 
meeting, but have assembled again to-day to discuss 
the same subject, to impress upon fruit growers 
the importance of the subject by repetition, and 
to elicit greater and more extended knowledge by 
discussion. Fruit-growing has, I am glad to say, 
received very great assistance from the powerful 
Advocacy of the Loed Mayor. 
For the first time I think in the civic history 
of London the chief magistrate has consented to 
depart from the traditions of commerce only, and 
has encouraged the cultivators of land in the United 
Kingdom to hope that they may derive ' some 
part of the profit which has been enjoyed to a very 
large extent by foreign cultivators, subject, of course, 
to the considerable deductions which they have to make 
over to English importers. London alone, with its 
millions of inhabitants, is an immense consumer, and it 
is difficult to say where it will stop, as there are no 
apparent signs of any cessation of building, turn to 
which side you will. With greater or more diffused 
wealth the demand for fruit will increase it is a 
business which cannot fail except for physical reasons, 
such as the divergence of the Gulf Stream, which would 
have the effect of locking up our land in perpetual ice 
and snow, or the encroachment of ice from the North 
Pole, neither of which catastrophes seem at all likely to 
occur in our time. Foreign invasion we hope that we 
shall know how to avert. The almost absolute 
certainty of continuance must be set against the fact 
that it i3 not possible to make a rapid fortune by 
growing fruit ; it is not, however, subject to the 
vicissitudes which beset those who endeavour to achieve 
rapid fortunes ; and although excessive foreign im¬ 
portations may to a certain extent cheek our legitimate 
hopes, the fruit-growiDg industry is not alone in this 
matter. 
Fruit Culture on Farms. 
Our society will, I hope, set before the public that 
fruit-growing should he more developed on farms, that 
it should not be confined to market gardens and to 
speculative orchards. If the multitude of farms were 
to devote a small proportion of land—say 1 rood to 150 
acres—to the cultivation of fruit which is adapted to 
the soil, a very large supply would come to the markets. 
But I do not mean by naming this proportion of land 
that it is to be cultivated in the ordinary style of farm 
orchards, which seem to me always to promise a very 
remote profit to the planter, as so much time is con¬ 
sumed before the trees come into bearing, but an 
orchard fenced and cultivated as carefully a? a well- 
tended kitchen garden. The profit of such an orchard 
would be amply sufficient to repay the care and labour 
given to it by the production of fruit of superior size 
and quality, such as will be inevitably exacted by the 
consumer of the immediate future, who will not be 
content unless he is supplied with fruit of good quality 
either for the dessert or the kitchen. This quality can 
only be obtained by proper cultivation and the know¬ 
ledge of soil and of classes of fruits adapted to the soil. 
As a rule, I think too much reliance has been placed 
upon our venerable orchards. It has been, I think, 
too much the custom to consider that the inheritance 
of an orchard planted by a great-grandfather is enough 
for the great-grandson during his lifetime, and to this 
idea our present failure to meet foreign competition is 
in some measure due. These venerable trees are 
picturesque, but they are not profitable. A gTeat part 
of the fruit when gathered is of inferior size, and has 
to he selected very carefully, generally leaving too large 
percentage of small fruits to realise a good price ; and 
it is also very expensive to gather, as this cannot be 
done without ladders. The system of cultivation 
which I should advise, rightly or wrongly, is that of 
comparatively dwarf trees from which the fruit can be 
easily gathered, that they should be planted at distances 
varying from 6 ft. to 9 ft., and that moderate pruning 
should be employed by which the tree can be kept at a 
size which will enable the plants to realise these con¬ 
ditions of gathering a large quantity of fruit from a 
limited area. You will soon perceive, on taking the 
measurement of a standard tree of fifteen or twenty years, 
that a great deal of room is occupied by unproductive 
wood, the stem and the branches spreading over a great 
space of ground, and not by any means improving the 
grass underneath. This waste is avoided by closer 
planting and more thorough cultivation. If it is 
supposed that such a’ plantation will not endure so 
long as our respectable old trees, it will at all events 
have fed and profited the planter, who need not trouble 
himself to look beyond his own necessities and desires. 
It is out of the question to think that fruit trees are to 
last so long that two or three generations are to elapse 
before new plantations are requisite. At the risk of 
being thought too confident I must insist that 
The Orchard of the Present 
Should he prepared by trenching 2-1 ins. deep, with 
a very liberal supply of manure, fenced in with 
wire netting where game is plentiful, kept free 
from weeds, and planted with dwarf trees from 
6 ft. to 9 ft. apart, a row of bush fruit planted 
between. Of orchard fruit in England the Apple 
and the Plum must always remain the most im¬ 
portant, and in both classes the English can challenge 
the whole world for unrivalled excellence in sorts. At 
the present time we can, therefore, meet foreign 
competition by keeping our markets supplied with 
superior quality, and this we can do. Our Gooseberries, 
Currants, Strawberries, and Raspberries are better than 
any that the Continent can furnish, and although 
I believe that continental growers are preparing to meet 
us by adopting our varieties, yet they cannot, in 
Gooseberries and Raspberries especially, compete against 
our climate, which is admirably suited to the pro¬ 
duction of these fruits. 
The Question of Stocks. 
It has been the custom for many centuries to consider 
the Crab stock the only stock for Apples, except, of course, 
in gardens, and this is certainly true with regard to 
standard orchard trees ; but as I have stated, and as I 
believe, that profitable Apple culture must be carried 
on by closer planting, it will be more advantageous to 
the planter to select a stock which has the property of 
inducing early fertility. There is no doubt that Apples 
grafted on the Crab stock will, if planted when two 
years old, come into bearing very quickly, but in the 
course of a few' years the trees become too vigorous and 
produce more wood than is requisite. 1Ye have for 
some years employed the so-called Paradise stock to 
correct this tendency with the best results. There is 
now a variety of stock produced from the seed of the 
Nonsuch Apple, and which is singularly well adapted 
for dwarf orchards. The trees are moderately vigorous, 
remarkably fertile, and, moreover, the production of 
roots is so profuse that trees seven or eight years old 
can be removed with safety ; in fact, I removed some 
bush trees of Cox’s Orange Pippin, which had been 
planted by my father, they having remained in the same 
place for fourteen years without root-pruning. These 
trees are still healthy fruit-bearing bushes, and are 
about twenty-four years old. This stock is the Non¬ 
such. The French Paradise, or the dwarf Apple of 
Armenia, is not at all suitable for planting for profit. 
Apples grafted upon it form pretty and curious garden 
trees, but nothing more. When I had the honour of 
reading a paper before you last year I mentioned a list of 
sorts, which was supplemented by other speakers ; there 
is therefore no necessity to recapitulate those sorts. I 
may say that I hope before long our markets will be so 
well supplied with Apples of such good quality that 
our very good friends, the Americans, will be compelled 
to consume their flat, tasteless, and woolly Baldwins 
amongst themselves ; we shall not want them here. 
A Threatened Invasion from Servia. 
We are, I understand, menaced with the importation 
of Plums from the vast Plum-growing districts of 
Servia and Eastern Europe, probably the same sort of 
rubbish as that poured into Hull from the Plum 
orchards of Germany. The Servians, I understand, 
distil an ardent and fiery spirit from the Plum, horribly 
injurious to the consumer. This competition we shall 
have to meet. It seems to me almost incredible that 
the products of such a distance can beat us who are 
close to our markets, but here again the quality of the 
fruit must he the point on which we shall gain the 
day. I am sure also that we have the advantage of the 
choice of sorts, in Plums especially, and the quality, 
combined with quantity, must be our cheval de bataille. 
Let the Servians keep their own fruits, unless, indeed, 
we cannot beat them. In a former paper I have given 
my own experience of the most profitable sorts of Plums, 
to which I hope you will allow me to refer you. I have 
been successful in securing crops of Plums owing 
entirely to the quality of the soil, which is singularly 
favourable to their culture. It is a strong calcareous 
clay, and to the nature of the soil I owe all my success. 
The planter of Plum orchards should be very careful to 
examine the soil before making any large plantations. 
The Plum is one of the most valuable fruits for pre¬ 
serving and drying. Although dried Plums seem at 
present almost a continental monopoly, there is no 
reason why this industry should not be acclimatised in 
England, especially as I have reason to think that we 
shall find sorts of English Plums fully equal in drying 
properties to the most approved continental kinds. 
This is a matter which no doubt will be taken up and 
developed by our fruit preservers as soon as they are 
satisfied that the manufacture can be carried on with 
success and profit. It is not only in England that 
The Revival of Fruit Culture 
has awakened a strong interest. In Ireland efforts 
are being made to popularise the culture on small 
holdings. Mr. Bullock Hal!, one of the leaders in this 
most important and salutary undertaking, has already 
published an account of the success that is likely 
to be derived from an intelligent system of cultivation. 
All Englishmen will, I am sure, earnestly hope that 
Mr. Hall’s efforts in this direction will be rewarded by 
the success which is due to him. I must here remind 
English growers that to Ireland we owe two of our 
most popular Apples, the Irish Peach and the Kerry 
Pippin. I thiuk also that many varieties are peculiar 
to Ireland which are not found in this country. 
Besides the cultivation of the Apple, I am sure that in 
Ireland districts can be found where Pears can be grown 
fully equal to those produced in the most favoured Pear 
country—namely, the south-west of France. From 
Limerick and its neighbourhood I have seen splendid 
specimens of Pears. If the necessary capital could be 
obtained, I am convinced that a large Pear-growing 
industry could be established in certain parts of the 
south of Ireland, and Pears could be grown not only for 
the ordinary market, but of a size large enough to 
appear on the dessert tables of the wealthy. Of 
course, it must be understood that the cultivation of 
large and weighty dessert fruit must be conducted 
under certain conditions—that is, on dwarf trees and in 
sheltered places, as they are too heavy to hang in gusty 
weather when they have attained their full size. As 
the season of dessert Pears lasts from September to 
March, and sorts exist which will furnish dessert tables 
during these months, it seems to me that a wide field 
is open, and that an opportunity is afforded which can 
be almost monopolised by Ireland. 
Pear-groaving in England. 
This is a very uncertain business. There are, no doubt, 
some localities in which the Pear orchard is profitable. 
I 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 work¬ 
man does not care about fruit. The cause of this 
indifference is not far to seek. A workman’s bodily 
strength is his capital, and this capital must be care¬ 
fully 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 same 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 re-planting must he 
done. The remarkable influence which Mr. Gladstone 
