542 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  1904 
essential  against  local  rates,  and  in  such  instances  as  may  occur 
in  which  the  well-being  of  the  colony  is  threatened.  Little  diffi¬ 
culties  which  may  cause  personal  inconvenience  and  disagree¬ 
ment  should  be  referred  to  this  committee.  In  our  o\yn  case, 
should  questions  arise  between  the  colonists  and  the  directors, 
it  has  been  determined  by  our  articles  to  refer  them  for  settle¬ 
ment  to  our  trustees— well-knoAvn,  impartial  public  men  of  great 
experience — Sir  James  lllyth,  Bart.,  and  Mr.  I.  H.  Whitley, 
M.P. 
The  Cudworth  Colony  is  an  experiment,  but  it  has  succeeded 
— if  Ave  may  be  guided  by  our  present  results — beyond  expecta¬ 
tion.  Many  estates  were  inspected,  but  time  and  patience  were 
and  are  needed  in  findiiig  the  most  suitalde  and  in  guarding 
against  ulterior  difficulties.  I  am  satisfied,  however,  that  there 
are  many  suitable  estates  in  the  market  at  prices  Avithin  the 
reach  of  our  organisation  ;  but  for  a  time  at  least  I  believe  that 
a  colony  should  not  be  too  far  from  either  raihvay  or  toAvn, 
inasmvAch  as  buyers  still  fear  distance  ;  that  fear,  however,  Avill 
be  dispelled  by  experience.  Proximity  to  a  toAvn  means  greater 
cost,  not  only  in  the  purcha.se  of  the  land,  but  for  the  labour 
necessary  for  building  purpo.ses,  as  Avell  as  higher  rates.  On  the 
other  hand,  distance  from  a  toAvn  means  cheaper  labour,  loAver 
rent.s,  reduced  cost  of  the  land,  and  higher  cost  for  the  haulage 
of  the  materials  necessary  either  for  building  purposes  or  for  the 
feeding  of  the  stock  and  the  soil. 
Most  of  the  difficulties.  hoAA'ever,  Avhich  exist  in  the  last- 
named  districts  Avill  be  cured  by  the  aid  of  co-operation,  and  the 
improvement  and  reduction  in  the  cost  of  motors  intended  for 
liaulage  purpo.ses  in  particular  AA'ill,  I  believe,  enable  any  colony 
to  obtain  all  its  requirements  Avith  speed  and  certainty  at  such 
a  diminished  co.st,  that  local  raihvay  stations  Avill  be  abandoned 
for  tlie  towns,  and  goods  brought  direct  from  manufacturers 
instead  of  being  fir.st  despatched  by  rail  and  then  hauled  by 
Avaggon  from  the  station.  As  I  Avrite,  heavy  goods  for  the 
colony  are  being  delivered  by  motor  from  a  distant  toAvn,  not 
only  superseding  the  raihvay  and  horse  haulage  from  the  station, 
but  saving  at  least  three  days  in  time.  Wliere  the  members  of 
a  colony,  consisting  of  forty  or  fifty  families  producing  goods 
for  the  market,  combine  for  the  purpose,  they  Avill  be  able,  if  I 
am  not  mi.staken,  to  place  their  goods  on  the  local  or  city  market 
a  great  deal  more  qfiickly  and  Avith  less  difficulty  and  cost  than 
the  foreigner,  of  whom  Ave  hear  .so  many  complaints. 
It  is  often  suggested  that  the  life  of  the  small  oAvner  of  land 
is  one  of  considerable  hardship  ;  that  his  existence  is  a  burden, 
and  that  it  is  undesirable  to  increase  the  small-OAvnership  sys¬ 
tem  ;  but,  as  I  knoAv  from  experience  on  the  Continent,  he  is 
precisely  the  person  Avho  is  uiiAvilling  to  exchange  his  lot  for  the 
more  highly  paid  occupations  in  Avhich  toAvn  Avorkers  are 
engaged.  The  small  landoAvner  is  the  backbone  of  all  the  leading 
agricultural  nations  in  Europe,  and  he  sticks  to  the  land,  not 
because  of  the  large  profits  Avith  Avhich  it  provides  him,  but 
because  it  is  his  OAvn.  It  is  desirable  that  there  should  be  such 
a  class,  and  it  happens  that  the  noAver  conditions  of  life  not 
only  demand  its  institution,  but  provide  methods  for  its  support 
without  which  small  farming  might  not  succeed.  Co-operation, 
which  has  raisech  Denmark  to  the  position  of  the  richest  country 
in  the  world,  next  to  our  oAvn,  for  its  size,  is  the  lever  Avhich  is 
employed  by  peasant  oAvners  in  cA'ery  country  but  Britain.  Its 
practical  ab.sence  here  is  OAving  to  the  non-existence  of  the  men 
for  Avhom  it  Avas  primarily  designed,  and  in  consequence  there 
are  almost  no  village  banks,  mutual  insurance  societies,  or  local 
cattle  breeding  clubs,  nor  such  other  organisations  as  the  Swiss, 
the  Danes,  the  Germans,  and  even  the  Luxembergers  have  estab¬ 
lished  for  national  utilitarian  purposes. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  the  many  aaIio  are  constantly 
asserting  that  small  farming  Avill  not  pay  have  commenced  to 
believe  their  assertions  to  be  true,  they  have  been  made  so 
of^n  ;  but  I  would  point  out  that  the  profits  of  the  soil  depend 
chiefly  upon  labour  and  skill,  and  both  are  usually  reAvarded. 
There  are  many  thousands  of  acres  of  land  Avithin  sight  of  St. 
Paul’s  Cathedral  which  do  not  return  a  gro.ss  profit  of  more  than 
£5  per  acre  per  annum,  and  yet  Avithin  the  same  limited  area 
there  are  market  gardeners  and  nurserymen — the  majority  of 
Avhom  are  humbly  born  and  imperfectly  educated,  but  Avho  by 
experience  are  accomplished  and  skilled  men-  Avho  are  able  to 
I'eali.se  from  £100  to  £l,000  per  acre  for  their  lAroduce,  in  large 
part,  it  is  true,  by  the  aid  of  glass.  If  this  is  not  faiuning  in  the 
accepted  sense  of  the  AA’ord,  it  is  crop  production,  aiid  the  margin 
between  the  figures  Avhich  I  have  suggested  is  just  as  AA'ide  and 
no  Avider  than  the  capacity  Avhich  exists  bet\A'een  man  and  man. 
In  that  part  of  Surj'ey  in  AA'hich  the  CudAA'orth  Colony  is 
situated,  the  soil  is  not  propeily  tilled  ;  practical  farming  is  at 
a  discount,  and  the  land  is  becoming  more  and  more  extensively 
occupied  by  Avealthy  residents,  many  of  Avhom  object  to  the 
disturbance  of  their  equanimity  or  the  spoliation  of  their  vieAv 
of  the  landscape  by  the  introduction  of  a  garden  A'^illage  or  a 
seiies  of  .small  holdings.  The  poorer  members  of  our  city  popu¬ 
lations,  as  in  London,  are  being  gradually  pushed  north-east  on 
to  tlie  may  of  Es.sex,  AA’hile  their  AA'ealthier  neighbours  are  enabled 
to  pitch  their  tents  upon  the  gravels  and  sands  and  the  chalk 
lulls  of  Surrey  i>  the  South.  The  land  laivs  enable  owners  of 
land  ailjacent  to  a  population,  whatever  its  position,  to  obtain 
their  oAvn  figure  from  the  public,  and  to  sell  sites  on  the  healthier 
soils  I  have  named  at  prodigious  prices:  thus  the  natural 
tendency  is  to  driA'e  the  Avorking  classes  to  the  loss  healthy  land. 
The  time  is  arriAung  Avhen  it  Avill  not  be  possible  for  any 
individual  to  decide  Avhcre  hundreds  of  his  neighbours  shall  or 
shall  not  live,  nor  Avhat  they  shall  pay  for  the  privilege  of  living 
at  all.  AVhen  public  authorities  do  theii’  duty,  they  Avill  take 
care  that  all  toAvns  and  villages  are  of  the  garden  type  ;  that 
houses  are  not  to  be  croAvded  together  like  the  cells  of  bees,  but 
that  to  every  home  there  shall  be  a  sufficicmt  area  of  land,  abun¬ 
dant  Avidth  to  every  street,  and  trees  to  contribute  to  that  com¬ 
fort,  that  beauty,  and  that  form  of  health  Avhich  is  a.ssociatcd 
with  Nature  and  her  Avays.  In  some  parts  of  Surrey  and  else- 
Avhere,  Avhere  the  country  is  both  beautiful  and  healthy,  the 
workers  are  forbidden  to  live,  for  the  OAvners  not  only  dominate 
the  position,  but  they  claim  the  air  and  the  landscape,  and  they 
Avould  also  claim  the  heavens  above  them  if  this  AAere  possible. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Cold  Storage  of  Apples. 
The  inve.s'tigations  Avhich  are  being  carried  out  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture  in  regard  to  the  cold  stoi’age 
of  fruit  and  vegetables  have  been  referred  to  in  previous  numbers 
of  this  Journal.*  A  report  has  noAv  been  issued  on  the  cold 
stoi'age  of  Apples,  a  practice  Avhich  is  largely  adopted  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  in  order  to  extend  the  period  during 
Avhich  the  Apples  can  be  kept  in  good  coiidition.  The  investi¬ 
gations  tend  to  shoAv  that  an  Apple  should  be  fully  groAvn  and 
highly  coloured  Avhen  picked,  in  order  to  give  it  the  best  keeping 
and  commercial  qualities.  An  exception  appears  to  exist  in  the 
case  of  certain  Amrieties  from  rapidly  groAving  young  trees. 
Such  fruit  is  likely  to  be  overgroAvn,  and  the  Apples  may  need 
picking  before  they  reach  their  highest  colour  and  full  develop¬ 
ment  . 
Uniform  colour  may  be  .secured  by  pruning,  to  let  the  sun¬ 
light  into  the  tree,  by  checking  the  groAvth  of  the  tree  early  in 
the  autumn,  and  by  picking  the  trees  oAmr  several  times,  taking 
the  Apples  in  each  picking  that  have  attained  the  desired  degree 
of  colour  and  size.  Apples  should  be  stored  as  quickly  as  po.s- 
sible  after  picking.  The  fruit  ripeiis  rapidly  after  it  is  picked, 
especially  if  the  Aveather  is  hot.  The  ripening,  Avhich  takes 
place  betweeii  the  time  of  picking  and  storage,  shortens  the  life 
of  the  fruit  in  the  storage  house  ;  but  if  the  AA-eather  is  cool 
enougli  to  proAmnt  after-ripening,  a  delay  in  the  storage  of  the 
fruit  may  not  be  injuiious  to  its  keeping  quality.  The  investi¬ 
gations  indicate  that  the  ripening  processes  are  delayed  more 
in  a  temperature  of  31deg  to  32deg  Fahr.  than  in  35deg  to 
36deg  Fahr. 
The  Apple  keeps  longer  in  the  loAver  temperature,  moiilds 
and  other  fungoid  groAvths  ai’e  prevented  to  a  greater  extent, 
the  aroma,  flavour,  and  other  characteri.stics  of  the  fruit  aie 
fully  as  good,  and  Avhen  removed  from  storage  it  remains  in 
good  condition  for  a  longer  period.  It  Avas  found  that  the 
wrapping  of  fruit  in  paper  also  retarded  the  ripening  process, 
and  prevented  the  spread  of  fungous  spores  from  decayed  fruit. 
Apples  should  be  in  a  firm  condition,  and  not  over-ripe,  when 
taken  from  storage,  and  then^should  be  kept  in  a  cool  place. 
In  some  experimentsf  Avhich  were  carried  out  in  England  by 
the  Kent  Technical  Instruction  Committee,  it  was  found  that 
the  leading  dessert  Apples  could  be  kept  in  good  condition  for 
three  to  four  months,  and  in  some  cases  much  longer,  in  a  cold 
store,  a  temperature  of  36deg  Fahr.  being,  it  AA^as  stated,  found 
most  suitable.  Some  experiments  carried  out  by  the  Ontario 
Agricultural  College!,  however,  support  the  conclusions  of  the 
United  States  Department,  as  it  Avas  found  in  the  Canadian  in¬ 
vestigations  that  Apples  kept  better  at  a  temperature  of  3Ideg 
Fahr.  than  at  a  higher  temperature,  and  also  Avhen  Avrapped 
singly  in  paper  and  packed  in  shalloAV  boxes  holding  not  more 
than  a  bushel. 
Messrs.  Webb’s  Cinerarias. 
AVhat  are  termed  “  strains  ”  of  the  leading  florists’  floAvers 
are  sufficiently  numerous,  and  it  becomes  a  matter  of  difficulty 
to  decide  Avhat  is  best.  But  really  there  is  little  to  choose 
betAveen  the  strains  from  the  leading  firms.  Messrs.  Webb  and 
Sons,  Wordsley,  Stourbridge,  presented  their  superb  Cinerarias 
at  the  Temple  ShoAv,  and  from  the  photograph  on  page  543,  the 
floriferous  character  and  the  free-groAving,  bushy  habit  of  the 
IDlants  may  be  estimated.  The  seeds  are  saved  from  plants  of  the 
highe.st  standard  of  merit,  and  the  range  of  good  colours  is 
varied  and  pleasing. 
“  Journal  of  tbe  Board  of  Agriculture,”  Vol  IX.,  Mar.,  1903.  p.  510 
Vol.  X.,  Dec.  1903,  p.  398. 
t  “  Journal  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,”  Vol.  VI.,  June,  1899,  p.  80, 
X  Ontario  Agricultural  College,  Report,  1902. 
