544 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  9,  1897. 
which  might  have  been  turned  to  good  account  if  thorough  cultural 
work,  founded  on  knowledge  and  the  requisite  commercial  rules  of 
procedure,  had  predominated. 
It  is  well  to  know  what  other  nations  are  doing  at  present,  and 
the  preparations  they  are  making  for  the  future.  The  enterprise  of 
peoples  in  other  lands  has  been  too  long  unknown,  or  if  known 
ignored.  We  cannot  in  this  island  home  of  ours,  which  does  not 
grow  half  enough  food  for  the  sustenance  of  its  inhabitants,  afford  to 
remain  in  ignorance  of  what  is  being  done  elsewhere,  nor  rest 
apathetically  in  reliance  on  the  old  easy  ways  of  the  past,  as  if  these 
were  adequate  to  the  requirements  of  these  modern  days,  and  those 
which  must  inevitably  follow. 
What  may  be  regarded  as  new  lands — in  comparison  with  the  long 
and  densely  populated  patch  of  the  globe  on  which  so  many  are 
struggling  in  crude  and  rude  ways  to  live — have  an  advantage  over 
us  in  one  important  respect.  They  have  no  patriarchal  orchards  of 
rubbishy  varieties  of  fruits,  especially  Apples,  to  rely  on.  They  have 
had  to  begin  with  young  trees,  and  in  beginning  they  have  begun 
with  the  best  varieties  for  attaining  the  object  in  view.  There,  plus 
intelligeut  methods  in  management,  rests  the  secret  of  the  success 
that  has  been  attained  at  our  expense. 
Much  has  been  published  from  time  to  time  on  our  old  orchards 
and  their  restoration  that  it  is  feared  has  done  as  much  harm  as  good, 
and,  perhaps,  in  some  instances,  more.  It  is  well  to  make  the  best  of 
old  trees  to  enable  them,  where  possible,  to  be  more  useful  than  before ; 
but  if  with  this  endeavour  the  action  of  their  owners  ends,  as  it  has  in 
many  instances  ended,  Ave  are  bound  to  lag  behind  in  the  character  of 
the  national  fruit  supply  as  compared  with  that  from  newer  fields  of 
production  placed  in  competition  with  it. 
A  great  deal  of  the  so-called  renovation  of  ancient  fruit  trees 
amounts  to  mere  patching  and  pottei  ing,  and  can  be  of  no  permanent 
value  unless  done  under  the  supervision  of  really  competent  men,  and 
of  no  great  service  then  in  the  absence  of  their  seeing  that  necessary 
attention  is  given  to  the  trees  the  following  year.  If  the  supply  of 
fruit  is  desired  to  be  increased  and  improved  fresh  sites  should  be 
chosen,  the  soil  thoroughly  prepared  and  planted  with  young  trees 
in  wisely  chosen  varieties,  at  the  time  that  endeavours  are  being  made 
to  invig<jrate  the  old  and  enfeebled  which  are  not  too  far  gone  to 
respond  to  sound  treatment.  In  no  other  way  can  so  much  benefit  be 
derived  in  localities  which  are  favourable  to  fruit  production;  but 
unfortunately  in  too  many  instances  attempts  to  mend  ancient 
orchards,  by  certain  and  sometimes  peculiar  methods  of  doctoring,  are 
regarded  as  equivalent  to  the  planting  of  young  trees,  and  this  most 
important  work  is  consequently  not  done.  It  is  unfortunate  that  it 
should  be  so,  but  it  is  a  fact — a  fact  founded  on  a  fallacy. 
Under  those  circumstances  it  must  be  apparent  that  home  and 
foreign  growers  of  fruit  do  not  work  under  equal  conditions,  and  we 
are  unquestionably  handicapped  by  our  thousands  of  starveling  trees 
and  mixed  medley  of  varieties,  against  their  still  more  thousands  of 
the  youthful  and  vigorous  bearers  of  superior  fruit.  It  is  only  the 
well  grown  produce  of  young  trees  that  can  compete  with  any  chance 
of  success  with  the  fruit  that  comes  from  such  trees,  wherever  or 
how  far  distant  they  may  be  growing.  It  is  only  by  choosing  varieties 
wisely,  and  sites  and  soils  prudently  for  growing  them,  planting  the 
best,  and  the  best  only,  and  tending  the  trees  properly  that  Ave  can 
hope  to  maintain  even  our  present  unenviable  position.  Eely  on  the  old 
and  neglect  planting  the  young,  and  there  can  only  be  one  result — 
certain  and  sure  retrogression.  It  is  time,  however,  to  come  to  the 
digest  above  referred  to,  and  which  has  called  forth  these  observations. 
Here  it  is,  and  let  all  who  are  interested  make  the  best  or  the  worst  of 
it,  as  they  may  feel  disposed. 
Curious  facts  are  revealed  when  we  investigate  the  condition  of  our 
supplies  of  raAV  fruit.  We  have  to  depend  mainly  for  cheap  fruit  upon 
Continental  countries.  This  applies  as  well  to  the  hardier  fruits  of  the 
northern  latitudes  as  to  the  produce  of  the  southern  lands  of  Europe. 
In  the  temperate  climate  of  the  British  Isles  the  culture  of  Apples, 
Pears,  and  Plums  could  not  be  diflBcultand  should  not  be  unprofitable. 
But  the  taste  for  fruit  as  a  wholesome  and  delicious  diet  has  far  out¬ 
grown  the  extent  and  yield  of  British  orchards,  which  now  supply  but 
an  insignificant  portion  of  the  fruit  we  see  on  sale.  Stand  before 
any  of  the  cheaper  fruit  stalls  of  London  and  note  how  little  of  all 
these  varieties  have  been  home  grown — the  Apples  are  principally 
from  the  west  of  Europe  or  Australasia,  or  the  northern  hemisphere  of 
America. 
Great  Britain,  out  of  its  32,000,000  acres  of  pasture  and  arable  land, 
uses  not  quite  225,000  acres  for  fruit  trees;  those  are  the  outside 
limits  of  the  British  orchards.  Through  the  souch-western  shires  of 
Devon  and  Somerset,  Hereford  and  Worcester,  are  spread,  like  a  rich 
scroll,  the  chief  orchards  of  England,  with  Kent  on  the  other  side;  and 
so  insignificant  are  the  fruit  tree  areas  of  Scotland  and  Wales  that  even 
Cornwall  equals,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  the  combined  totals  of  both 
Wales  and  Scotland.  We  do  somewhat  better  in  small  fruit — there 
has  been  steady  increase;  we  have  more  than  doubled  the  acreage 
devoted  to  Strawberries,  Gooseberries,  Currants,  and  other  small  fruits, 
in  seven  years,  from  32,776  acres  in  1888  to  68,000  acres  now.  It  is 
not  a  prodigious  effort  for  all  England  ;  but  the  growth  of  small  fruit 
in  the  remainder  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  trifling. 
The  inattention  given  to  fruit  culture  in  many  parts  of  the  British 
Isles  is  surprising.  The  south-Avest  of  Ireland,  for  instance,  has  a 
climate  corresponding  with  that  of  Devonshire;  and  these  counties 
are  well  adapted  for  groAving  the  same  productions  as  Galicia  and  the 
Asturias,  in  Spain. 
Perhaps  the  occupiers  of  British  land  have  a  very  inadequate 
knowledge  of  the  enormous  quantity  and  value  of  the  fruits  we  take 
into  the  United  Kingdom  from  abroad.  The  increase,  too,  is  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  Twenty  years  ago  the  average  sum  spent  by  each  head 
of  the  population  in  the  twelve  months  on  imported  fruit  was  calcu¬ 
lated  at  Is.  lOd.  Kow,  each  member  of  a  much-enlarged  population 
spends  3s.  4d. ;  that  is  on  foreign  fruit  only.  In  1880  the  imijort  did 
not  exceed  7,000,000  bushels  ;  but  within  ten  years  (in  1890)  it  had 
risen  to  10,000,000  bushels,  and  more  recently  it  has  increased  to 
14,000,000  bushels.  The  money  value  of  this  enormous  supply  of 
foreign  fruit  is  £4,779,000. 
For  Apples  and  Pears  alone  we  pay  to  foreign  countries  now 
£1,500,000  sterling.  Is  it  not  astonishing  that,  for  fruits  so  hardy 
and  thriving,  and  requiring  less  care  than  most  agricflltural  produce, 
so  large  a  sum  as  £1,500,U00  leaves  this  country  in  a  year.  Between 
4,000,000  aiid  5,000,000  bushels  of  foreign  Apples  come  into  the 
British  Isles  in  tAvelve  months,  to  supplement  our  own  orchards ;  to 
this  fact  Londoners  may  attribute  the  cheapness  of  the  Apples,  which 
sell  from  2d.  to  4d.  per  pound. 
We  have,  fortunately,  the  greatest  Apple  orchard  of  Europe  almost 
at  our  doors.  Belgium  is  not  quite  one-third  the  size  of  Ireland,  and, 
after  England,  it  is  the  moat  densely  populated  country  in  Europe, 
and  it  is,  moreover,  a  country  of  small  holdings;  but  its  arable  land  is 
in  many  parts  cultivated  like  a  garden,  and  it  exports  to  us  noAv,  in  a 
year,  more  than  1,000,000  bushels  of  Apples.  And  not  Apples 
merely.  Belgium  has  taken  to  the  cultivation  of  various  fruits  for 
export — Pears,  Plums,  and  Cherries,  in  addition  to  Apfiles— on  the 
same  thorough  and  extensive  scale  that  Denmark  has  followed  in 
dairying. 
The  vast  territories  of  the  United  States  send  us  only  a  little 
more  Apples  (1,400,000  bushels),  and  Canada  sends  us  a  little  less, 
about  1,080,000  bushels. 
Belgium  gives  us  everything — Grape.s,  Cherries,  Plums,  Pears, 
Apples,  even  Oranges  and  Lemons.  Here  is  a  lesson  and  a  model  in 
agriculture. 
Spain,  however,  outstrips  Belgium,  not  in  variety,  but  on  the 
grand  total;  it  sends  us  over  6,000,000  bushels  of  fruit,  mostly 
Oranges  and  Grapes;  and  Spain’s  contribution  almost  equals  A\"hat 
we  receive  from  the  rest  of  Europe.  This  she  oAves  to  the  popularity 
of  the  Orange.  The  consumption  of  this  delicious  fruit  has  been 
increasing  among  us  at  a  furious  rate.  Four  years  ago  we  had  only 
4,500,000  bushels  of  Oranges  for  our  year’s  supply ;  now  we  receive 
7,500,000  bushels,  for  which  we  pay  over  £2,000,000,  and  5,500,000 
bushels  of  the  total  come  from  the  sunny  lands  of  Spain,  where  the 
commonest  of  all  the  sAveet  Oranges,  round  in  shape  and  thick  of  rind, 
is  cultivated  in  immense  profusion. 
The  Oranges  now  on  sale  are  the  splendid  variety  Avhich  is  grown 
at  St.  Michaels,  and  the  Azores'  send  us  in  the  year  about 
50,000  bushels.  The  luscious  Navel  Orange  of  South  America  conn  s 
here  through  Brazil,  but  from  that  source  Ave  only  receive  from  10,000  to 
13,000  bushels.  Indeed,  seventeen  foreign  countries  give  Oranges  to 
the  British  Isles;  no  other  fruit  is  so  extensively  supplied,  or  comes 
from  so  many  different  lands.  Switzerland  gives  us  no  fruit  whatever, 
and  the  imports  from  Greece  and  Eussia  are  almost  nil. 
The  quantities  of  fruit  sent  in  the  course  of  a  year  to  the  mother 
country  by  the  colonies  are  surprisingly  small.  Apples,  which 
deteriorate  very  little  during  long  ocean  voyages,  make  the  bulk  of  the 
supply.  Canada  alone  sends  more  than  1,000,000  bushels  of  Apples  ; 
and  Tasmania  and  the  Channel  Islands  also  contribute,  though  not  to 
a  large  extent.  Outside  Apples,  the  fruit  from  the  British  possessions 
