February  1,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
91 
it  is  hardly  to  be  recommended  for  the  purpose  in  view.  It  may  be 
divided,  and  so  increased,  but  not  to  a  small  state,  or  it  will  be 
difficult  to  get  the  divisions  to  start.  But  it  stands  well,  and  so  does 
P.  sagittaefolia,  a  charming  Fern,  with  foliage  like  that  of  our  native 
Arrowhead,  but  smaller,  and  of  a  deeper  green.  Into  culture  there  is 
hardly  space  to  go  here,  and  of  course  the  list  could  be  greatly 
lengthened;  but  I  may  say  that  with  most  of  those  enumerated  the 
present  is  an  excellent  time  to  commence  working  up  a  stock. — 
H.  Richards. 
FRUIT  PRODUCTION. 
When  at  the  last  Drill  Hall  meeting  of  the  R.H.S.  Mr.  Morris  of 
Sandhurst  somewhat  oratoricilly  invited  the  Fruit  Committee  to  tell 
him  where  he  could  obtain  the  supplies  of  soft  fruits  he  wished  to  have 
for  drying  according  to  the  sample  of  Plums  submitted,  and  thus  put  on 
to  the  market  in  competition  with  dried  Californian  and  other  fruit,  he 
seemed  to  think  it  was  only  needful  for  him  to  ask  and  he  would 
immediately  receive.  But  those  members  of  the  Fruit  Committee  who 
know  anything  about  fruit  supplies  could  render  to  Mr.  Morris  no 
assistance.  That  gentleman  said  that  dried  fruit  of  the  best  quality, 
'■fitted  to  compete  with  imported  fruit  of  similar  character,  must  be 
retailed  at  3id.  a  lb.,  and  that  the  price  paid  to  the  grower,  inclusive 
of  cost  of  transit  to  the  place  of  manufacture,  could  not  exceed  Id.  a 
lb.  That  proposal  certainly  presented  nothing  of  a  tempting  nature, 
and  in  no  way  offered  better  prices  than  were  already  obtainable  in 
any  market,  whilst  much  below  average  prices. 
Gluts  of  Plums. 
That  Plums  should  be  the  fruit  n.ost  in  request  was  natural,  as 
-these  are  stone  fruits  usually  produced  in  the  greatest  abundance, 
and  most  cheaply,  and  are  on  the  whole  the  best  suited  for  drying. 
There  seems  to  be  a  common  belief  prevailing  that  Plum  crops  are 
annually  so  heavy  that  gluts  commonly  result.  It  was  said  at  the 
table  that  such  crops  as  led  to  gluts  did  not  occur  oftener  than  once 
-in  seven  years.  If  anyone  embarking  capital  in  Plum  drying  had  to 
trust  to  getting  fruit  at  a  remunerative  rate,  only  so  seldom  as  that,  the 
investment  would  prove  to  be  a  poor  one  indeed.  Certainly  we  may 
get  what  may.  be  described  as  heavy  crops  of  Plums  oftener,  but  as  was 
also  said,  our  market  arrangements  and  means  of  transit  have  improved 
so  much  that  good  Iruit,  instead  of  being  concentrated  on  to  one 
market  now  finds  its  way  all  over  the  kingdom,  and  the  heavy  crop 
simply  suffices  to  meet  the  nation’s  ordinary  requirements  for  fresh 
fruit  without  leaving  any  surplus  to  be  purchased  cheaply  for  drying. 
The  Surplus  Fruit. 
The  drying  process  n  ay  be  said  to  be  an  admirable  means  of 
utilising  all  that  surplus  fruit  of  a  country  for  which  there  is  no  other 
demand.  That  may  be  true  of  some  continental,  as  well  as  of 
American  countries,  but  it  is  not,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  it  ever  can  be, 
true  of  Great  Britain.  Here  we  have  to  feed  with  fruit  one  of  the 
densest  and  greatest  populations  of  the  globe,  and  that  of  a  people 
essentially  fruit-loving.  Tpe  demand  for  all  descriptions  of  fresh  fruit 
in  season  is  truly  enormous,  and  for  the  best  there  is  always  a  good 
sale.  It  is  the  inferior  that  hangs  and  becomes  at  any  time  a  drug. 
Poor  or  inferior  fruit  never  did  pay  to  grow  and  never  will. 
Supply  and  Demand. 
But  outside  of  the  requirements  of  the  population  for  fresh  fruit, 
there  is  also  the  huge  demand  existing  for  fruit  for  preserving  as  jam 
and  jelly,  and  for  bottling.  We  have  seen  of  late,  through  police 
court  prosecutions,  bow  great  are  the  quantities  imported,  as  fresh  as 
it  well  can  be,  from  abroad  for  this  purpose ;  and  through  these  cases 
we  are  enabled  to  see  how  deficient  are  our  own  supplies  to  meet  all 
existing  demands.  Were  there  introduced  info  the  kingdom  another 
method  of  preserving  fruit  in  the  form  of  drying,  that  abstracted  some 
100  tons  of  our  present  fruit  supplies,  the  effect  would  be,  of  course, 
considerably  enhanced  market  price  for  all  fruit ;  but  that  woull  prove 
a  rock  on  which  fruit  drying  as  an  investment  would  eventually  split, 
as  such  manufacture  to  be  successful  must  be  of  purchased  fruit  at 
the  lowest  possible  price,  that  it  may  contend  in  our  own  markets 
with  the  excellent  samples  of  dried  fruit  from  other  countries. 
How  TO  Increase  the  Yield. 
After  all,  the  questmn  that  needs  consideration  in  relation  to  these 
matters  is  as  to  how  far  we  can  in  a  remunerative  sense  extend  our 
present  comparatively  too  small  fiuit  supplies.  Granted  that  those 
directions  in  which  dema'  ds  now  exist  will  never  fail,  granted  also 
that  other  forms  of  demand  will  arise,  there  is  still  the  more  important 
fact  that  the  population  increases  at  an  enormous  rate  annualB',  and 
that  sucb  increase  of  necessity  requires  an  increased  supply.  There  is 
even  more,  because  all  experience  points  to  the  conclusion  that  beyond 
increase  of  population  there  is  an  increased  demand  be  ng  made  for 
fruit  in  its  various  forms  and  phases  by  the  existing  population. 
because  the  taste  f  r  fruit  grows  on  them  There  is  no  public  taste  in 
relation  to  food  more  healthy,  more  desirable,  hence  apart  from  the 
profitable  aspects  of  fruit  culture  there  are  supporting  it  important 
hygienic  ones  that  do  not  apply  to  every  form  of  popular  food. 
Future  Requirements. 
Looking  at  these  facts,  then,  the  question  naturally  arises,  What  are 
we  as  a  nation  doing  towards  firoviding  the  supply  of  fruit  for  our 
people  that  not  only  now  exists  but  is  so  rapidly  growing  ?  There  is 
no  subject  in  connection  with  economical  horticulture  so  important  as 
this  is.  It  is  a  problem  that  needs  to  be  solved.  Very  many  persons 
would,  perhaps,  be  startled  to  learn  that  there  is  little  hope  of  meeting 
our  future  needs  unless  we  put  down  annually  some  40  to  50,000 
acres  of  land  with  fruit.  That  may  seem  astonishing,  but  utilising 
an  old  exclamation,  and  remembering  our  vast  nation  of  consumers 
may  it  not  be  said,  What  would  its  produce  be  amongst  so  many  ? 
Worn-out  Orchards. 
In  our  estimates  of  fruit  areas  we  take  little  account  of  the  con¬ 
siderable  area  of  fruit  land  that  is  annually  being  converted  to  other 
purposes,  or  has  become  old  and  worthless.  Practically  there  are 
many  thousands  of  acres  of  land  no'w  containing  fruit,  and  reckoned 
as  such  in  Government  returns,  that,  so  far  as  the  existing  needs  of 
a  fruit  supply  are  concerned,  are  absolutely  worthless.  Poor  fruit  is 
of  no  good  to  anyone;  neither  grower,  dealer,  nor  consumer  benefits 
by  it.  Apart  from  the  poor  prices  it  brings,  so  much  of  it  wastes 
or  decays  that  it  is  never  remunerative.  Generally  good,  clean, 
well  grown,  well  finished  fruit  represents  fully  three  times  the  value 
of  poor  fruit  ;  yet  it  is  not  much  more  costly  to  grow,  and  is,  as  a 
rule,  much  less  expensive  to  gather.  If  good  fruit  will  not  pay  to 
grow  poor  fruit  never  will,  hence  the  primary  object  of  all  who 
embark  in  fruit  culture  in  any  way  must  be  to  grow  the  best  only, 
and  to  grow  it  well. 
Who  -will  be  the  Planters? 
How  are  new  breadths  to  be  laid  down?  There  seem  to  be  two 
methods  of  getting  this  great  necessity  accomplished,  and  apparently 
only  these.  One  is  by  the  landowners  themselves  setting  apart 
considerable  areas  of  their  estates  and  planting  them  under  experienced 
judgment,  and  the  other  is  by  capitalists  purchasing  land  or  hiring  it 
on  long  lease,  and  planting  it.  There  is  no  prospect  apparently,  at 
least  some  previous  experience  in  that  direction  does  not  seem  hopeful, 
that  fruit  culture,  however  extensively  conducted,  will  ever  pay  under 
the  control  of  a  limited  liability  company.  The  one  great  element  of 
success  when  land  is  good  and  well  situated,  and  then  well  planted, 
must  be  found  in  the  managing  head,  and  such  experienced  men  are 
just  now  hard  to  find.  A  high  authority  said  the  other  day,  “  Were 
I  asked  to  supply  a  man  capable  of  efficiently  managing  a  large  fruit 
farm,  not  only  cultivating  it  well,  but  also  of  profitably  marketing  the 
crop,  I  could  not  do  it,  for  I  know  of  none  such.”  Certainly  of  good 
gardeners  we  have  plenty,  but  of  managers  of  fruit  farms  we  have,  very 
few. 
What  We  Require. 
Practically  we  sadly  need  a  training  school  for  such  persons,  and 
we  have  none.  At  present  a  pupil  who  wishes  to  become  an  expert 
in  fruit  culture  and  in  marketing  must  pick  up  his  information  as 
best  he  can  through  a  nursery,  if  he  can  get  into  a  good  one,  and 
there  rough  it  indeed ;  or  he  may  get  into  an  extensive  market 
garden,  and  acquire  some  rough  knowledge  in  a  rather  coarse  and 
almost  repellant  way.  But  of  real  systematic  knowledge  and  instruc¬ 
tion  he  will  gain  little.  Of  the  best  descriptions  of  fruits,  whether 
in  kinds  or  varieties,  of  planting  and  treating  the  trees  and  bushes,  of 
pruning  and  properly  manuring  them,  of  treating  the.m  for  preserva¬ 
tion  from  fungoid  and  insect  pests,  of  best  methods  of  gathering  the 
fruits,  or  of  grading  and  ot  packing  finally  for  market  he  will 
learn  nothing  systematic.  He  may  certainly  obtain  a  good  deal  of 
knowledge  of  the  hand  to  mouth  order,  but  it  has  all  the  same  been 
rough  and  tumble  training. 
Book  Learning  versus  Practical  Work. 
How,  rather  than  bother  our  heads  as  we  yet  do  so  much  by 
cramming  from  books,  to  help  to  create  a  number  of  horticultural 
theorists,  whose  knowledge  needs  maturing  with  garden  experience, 
what  we  really  want  is  a  great  institution  devoted  almost  absolutely  to 
fruit  culture  from  the  market  point  of  view,  where  young  men  couLl 
have  a  course  of  not  less  than  three  years  training,  specially  to  fit 
them  to  be  wise  fruit  farm  managers.  Such  an  institution  should 
have  its  200  acres  of  fruit  ground.  It  should  have  first-class 
practical  instructors.  It  should  teach  students  literally  everything 
to  be  taught  in  relation  to  fruit  culture,  to  fruit  disposal,  jrreserving, 
bottling,  drying,  and  the  entire  round  of  methods  of  utilisation. 
This  seems  no  doubt  a  big  thing,  but  if  not  furnished  whence  is  to 
come  our  future  fruit  growers  ?  and  without  these  of  what  use  to  plant 
fruit  farms  ? — A.  D. 
