170 
JOURi^AL  OF  HORTIGULIURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  22, 1896. 
closely,  if  cursorily,  into  some  of  the  land  lessons  by  the  way 
as  met  with  in  South-Eastern  England. 
No  persons  interested  in  the  improvement  of  the  land,  or 
increasing  its  value  by  fruit  production  for  commercial  purposes, 
would  think  of  a  visit  to  Kent  without  calling  on  Mr.  George 
Bunyard  ;  nor  would  many,  if  any,  of  the  still  greater  number  of 
men  who  are  more  particularly  interested  in  fruit  as  grown  for 
home  use  in  gardens.  Any  such  omission  would  be  a  great  mistake. 
It  is  not  possible  in  these  keen  competitive  days  for  persons  who  are 
engaged  in  any  particular  calling  to  learn  too  much  in  connection 
with  it  ;  and  it  is  impossible  for  any  person,  no  matter  how  much 
he  thinks  he  may  know,  and  does  know,  about  fruit,  to  spend  a 
few  hours  in  the  Allington  Nurseries,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
head,  who  made  them  what  they  are,  or  of  his  intelligent  and 
experienced  foreman,  without  being  impressed  with  the  magnitude 
and  importance  of  the  fruit-growing  industry,  and  at  the  same 
time  picking  up  hints  that  make  him,  to  a  more  or  less  extent,  a 
wiser  man.  Some  few,  very  few,  may  only  learn  a  little,  but 
that  little  will  be  a  gain,  and  as  a  fact  those  persons  who  really 
know  the  most  are  the  most  anxious  to  know  more,  as  they  have 
learned  the  value  of  grains  of  knowledge  ;  while  the  overwhelm¬ 
ing  majority  of  Mr.  B unyard’s  visitors  must— if  they  have  eyes 
to  see,  ears  to  hear,  and  minds  to  comprehend — return  much,  very 
much,  wiser  than  they  came. 
There  are  lessons  to  be  learned  on  fruit-growing  under  glass 
and  in  the  open  air  ;  in  the  former  case  in  the  production  and 
management  of  Apricots,  Peaches,  Nectarines,  Apples,  Pears,  and 
Figs  ;  in  the  latter  on  every  kind  of  hardy  fruit  grown  in  this 
country  ;  on  varieties — many  trees  of  a  few  kinds — of  fruits  to  be 
grown  on  a  large  scale  for  commercial  purposes  ;  on  selections  of  a 
great  number  of  varieties  that  render  gardens  so  interesting  and 
afford  their  owners  so  much  satisfaction  in  their  homes  ;  and  on 
fruits  and  their  production  for  purposes  of  exhibition.  There  are 
lessons  on  forms  of  trees  adaptable  for  all  conceivable  positions — 
standards  of  varied  heights  on  free  stocks  for  orchards  and  planta¬ 
tions  ;  with  “amateur”  trees  on  the  Paradise,  the  stems  roped 
with  fruit  and  the  compact  heads  similarly  laden  ;  neat  pyramids, 
and  free  productive  informal  bushes  from  one-year-old  to  full 
bearing,  well-furnished  and  developed  specimens  ;  cordons,  single  and 
double  ;  “  toasting  forks,”  with  three,  four,  or  five  fruitful  tines  ; 
wall  and  fence  trees  of  all  kinds  devoted  to  the  purpose  ;  fan  and 
horizontally  trained  trees  of  various  sizes — in  a  word,  all  kinds, 
sizes,  and  forms  of  trees  are  represented,  some — the  new  and  rare — 
in  dozens,  but  the  majority  in  hundreds  and  thousands,  and  the 
most  popular  forms  in  varieties  of  established  reputation,  in  tens 
of  thousands.  This  is  a  simple  fact  which  all  who  can  and 
care  to  do  so  may  verify  by  going  to  see,  and  probably  being 
astonished. 
But  they  would  be  more  astonished  if  they  could  have  seen 
Allington  a  few  years  ago  before  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
improver — a  large  portion  little  more  than  a  scrubby  waste  ;  while 
the  arable  land  “taken  in”  field  by  field  has  been  quadrupled  in 
value  by  the  change  in  cultivation.  Nor  is  this  value  confined  to 
the  increased  worth  of  the  land  to  its  proprietor,  and  the  well 
won  property  of  the  leaseholder,  but  it  feeds  and  clothes  at  least 
twenty  families  in  the  place  of  every  one  that  it  sustained 
before  through  the  labour  employed  upon  it.  Thus  is  exemplified 
the  linking  together  of  class  with  class  in  what  may  be  termed 
mutual  co-operative  effort  on  equitable  lines,  all  sharing  in  the 
benefits  accruing,  and  all  equally  satisfied  and  contented.  When 
just  landlords,  competent  tenants,  good  masters,  and  good  men 
work  heartily  and  in  unity  there  is  no  telling  what  may  be  done 
in  improving  the  condition  of  all.  The  difficulty  would  seem  to 
be  in  bringing  all  of  the  best  stamp,  with  adequate  means  and 
right  dispositions  together,  bat  the  tone  and  tendency  of  public 
feeling  is  in  the  right  direction,  and  as  one  good  example  influences 
another  we  may  still  have  faith  in  the  future  of  England,  though 
all  may  not  live  to  share  in  the  longed-for  prosperity. 
It  will  begin  to  be  seen  that  these  “  lessons  by  the  way  ”  are, 
as  was  intended,  of  a  free  and  easy  character,  and  that  the  call  on 
Mr.  Bunyard  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  compiling  a  list  of  fruits 
and  describing  them  less  accurately  than  they  are  described  in  his 
catalogue.  Perhaps  two  or  three  may  be  mentioned  as  the  pen 
happens  to  fish  them  out  of  the  inkpot.  There  is  nowhere  else  to 
dip  for  them,  as  the  catalogue  supply  had  for  the  time  run  out, 
and  when  the  promised  copy  comes  it  will  be  too  late  as  a  refresher. 
That  is  of  no  consequence.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  when  a  person 
knows  what  particular  varieties  of  fruits  he  wants  he  has  only  to 
order  them,  and  they  wilt  be  sent  whether  those  varieties  are  good, 
bad,  or  indifferent ;  when  he  does  not  know  them  an  excellent 
plan  is  to  make  his  object  very  clear,  stating  the  number  of  trees 
required,  or  the  area  to  be  planted,  and  throw  the  responsibility  of 
choice  on  a  vendor  of  high  repute.  Such  vendor  will  know  very 
well  that  his  reputation  is  stamped  on  what  he  sends,  and  his  goods 
will  either  spread  his  fame,  or  the  reverse,  and  bring  fresh  orders 
and  customers,  or  send  them  elsewhere.  It  is  not  easy  to  make 
some  persons  believe  in  this  doctrine,  but  it  is  sound  all  the  same. 
Choose  wisely  the  “  man  ”  for  character  and  position,  and  the 
selection  of  fruits  will  be  right,  though  probably  the  best  plan  of 
all  is  to  go  and  see  both  him  and  the  trees. 
It  is  no  easy  matter  to  determine  which  particular  section  of 
the  great  fruit  tree  emporium  at  Allington  merits  the  greatest 
admiration.  This  must  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  taste  and 
personal  proclivities.  The  fruit  farmer  or  grower  of  produce  for 
sale  would  hover  between  three  breaks  of  two-year-old  bush  trees — 
Apples,  Pears,  Plums,  and  Cherries — and  a  remarkable  expanse  of 
thrifty  standards,  each  tree  a  model  in  its  way,  rendering  picking  a 
superfluity.  In  each  of  the  three  breaks  named  are  40,000  trees,  a 
sight  not  to  be  forgotten  whether  examined  in  the  block  of  many 
acres,  or  individually  by  passing  amongst  the  trees  for  noting  the 
individual  character  and  the  magnificent  fruits  many  of  them  were 
bearing  ;  serried  ranks  of  Grenadiers  and  sturdy  Bismarcks  ;  glowing 
Gascoynes  and  pale  globular  Potts’,  striped  Sudeley’s  and  golden 
Jubilee’s  ;  Newton  Wonders,  Worcester’s,  King’s,  Cox’s,  Ingestres, 
Pomonas,  Spires,  Gold  Medals,  not  forgetting  the  bold  Grosvenors 
and  certainly  not  the  Transparents.  The  names  are  jotted  down 
in  much  the  same  manner  as  spoken  in  nursery  parlance  in  passing 
down  in  the  general  review.  A  catalogue  reference  will  fill  in  all 
deficiencies  in  nomenclature.  Several  fruits  of  these  varieties,  with 
others,  have  since  been  exhibited,  and  the  Apple  last  named 
honoured  with  an  award  of  merit  by  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society.  With  the  large,  clean,  beautiful  straw-coloured  fruits, 
and  their  wax-like  surfaces  glistening  among  the  dark  green 
leaves,  the  trees  were  pictures  of  beauty,  and  it  is  certain  that  if  a 
thousand  bushels  of  such  fruits  were  offered  at  a  Covent  Garden 
sale  they  would  “  go  ”  as  fast  as  the  bids  could  be  taken.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  tempting  of  all  the  early  Codlins,  and  as  grown 
on  healthy  young  trees  in  good  soil  the  fruits  are  large  enough  for 
anybody  (fig.  25,  page  173).  As  with  the  Apples  so  with  the 
Plums  and  Cherries,  varieties  possessing  the  greatest  utilitarian 
value  are  grown  in  the  greatest  numbers.  Fruits  of  sterling 
worth  force  their  way  to  the  front,  and  a  Plum  that  has  forced 
its  way  most  quickly  is  Rivers’  Monarch. 
This  is  not  a  great  Pear  year,  still  many  trees  were  bearing 
crops  of  handsome  fruits.  Amongst  these  Rivers’  Beacon  and 
Conference  showed  conspicuously.  Among  the  newer  French 
Pears  Jules  Guyot  is  increasing  in  favour  yearly,  and  bids  fair  to 
supplant  the  good  old  Williams’  Bon  Chretien,  while  the  demand 
for  such  moderns  as  Marguerite  Marrillet,  Beurre  Mortillet, 
Triomphe  de  Vienne,  Beurre  Baltet  Pere,  Beurre  Jean  Van 
Geert,  and  Fondante  de  Thirriott  is  steadily  increasing.  The 
Pears,  however,  must  be  left  for  a  momentary  glance  at  the  glass 
structures. 
The  noble  orchard  house,  as  it  may  be  called,  was  a  treat  to  see, 
with  its  twQ  rows  of  upright  trellises  covered  from  ground  to  roof 
with  healthy,  fruitful  Peaches  and  Nectarines,  for  furnishing  large 
