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 L I B R.AR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 16 
 
 compensation would, tends to make them less careful 
 in themselves and more disposed to conceal want of 
 care in others. 
 
 I say, then, that the proposal to make the master 
 liable to a servant for the negligence of a fellow ser- 
 vant, is contrary to principle, unjust, unreasonable, 
 and calculated to produce, if not no good, at least 
 more harm than good. It would be better to make 
 servants liable to their masters for the damage caused 
 by their fellows, than to make masters liable to them 
 as proposed. 
 
 One word as to the Government Bill. Its pro- 
 visions are needless or wrong. If the master, by an 
 act of omission fails in his duty to a servant, he is 
 liable, whether the failure was in himself personally, 
 in his manager, or other agent. If the injury arises 
 from an act of commission, then the reasoning I have 
 used is applicable. Let the actual wrong-doer be 
 responsible. No servant is bound to obey a command 
 attended with danger. 
 
 One word more. It is proposed to guard the 
 master by provisions that he shall not be liable if the 
 servant contributed to the injury. There are other 
 qualifications. In vain. The untruths told in accident 
 cases are prodigious. They will be told in such as 
 the Bill will give rise to. I foresee a frightful crop 
 of litigation if it passes. 
 
 G. BRAMWELL.
 
 s 
 
 HINTS 
 
 VEGETABLE AND FEUIT FARMING, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES WHITEHEAD, P.L.S., F.G.S., 
 
 OP BARMING HOUSE, MAIDSTONE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 12, HANOVER SQUARE, W. 
 
 1881. 
 
 Trice Is., 'pod free ; quantities of 100 a7id upwards, price 758. per 100.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED 
 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 HINTS 
 
 ON 
 
 VEGETABLE AND FRUIT FARMING. 
 
 The problem of the Future of Farming appears difficult of solu- 
 tion. Some alarmists hold that the British farmer's occupation 
 is gone ; while others believe that the situation merely necessi- 
 tates a change of system, and that if he energetically levels up 
 his practice to meet altered circumstances, he may still have a 
 profitable business. There are clear-headed men, gifted with 
 an intuitive faculty of perception, and whose judgments are 
 unaffected by panic, who say that corn-farming, pure and 
 simple, will again pay in this country where the conditions are 
 suitable, especially if some unfair burdens are removed from land, 
 as they undoubtedly will be now that they have been so clearly 
 set forth and brought prominently under the notice of the 
 country and the Legislature. Every one knows that the wretched 
 state of agriculturists during the last three years has been mainly 
 caused by a cycle of wet seasons, which has happened before, 
 and will happen again in due meteorological order. Most of 
 the produce was of inferior quality during this cycle, and 
 realised lower prices on account, in a degree, of the importation 
 of the products of other countries, to the great advantage of the 
 consumers. But this by no means is to be the normal state of 
 our agriculture. Cycles of fine weather again will bring cycles 
 of prosperity and contentment in Arcadia. There also are 
 signs that the cost of the production of wheat will be increased 
 in the United States, and that the effect of competition with that 
 country will not be so disastrous to the home wheat-producer as 
 some have prophesied. Fortunately there are other things than 
 wheat for the English farmers to depend upon. There are meat- 
 making, which will not for a long time, if ever, materially be 
 interfered with by foreign competition ; barley growing, wool 
 producing, butter and cheese making, fruit, seeds, and vegetable 
 culture, poultry rearing, and breeding of good animals of all 
 kinds for home requirements and exportation. If we inquire 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 what class of agriculturists have held their heads above water 
 during the late hard times, it will be seen that those who may be 
 termed specialists have fared the best, generally speaking. The 
 t!^rm "specialist" includes all breeders of stock of reputation, 
 vegetable growers, fruit growers, dairy farmers, and seed growers. 
 
 There is an increasing demand in all countries, from China 
 to Peru, for b^nglish breeding-stock of all descriptions. The 
 statistics of the annual statement of the Board of Trade show 
 that whereas the number of live animals, horses, cattle, sheep,' 
 and pigs, that were exported from this country in 1875 was 
 9572, of the declared value of 314,012/. ; the number exported 
 in 1880 had increased to 10,672, of the declared value of 
 425,400Z. Surely there is room for a great extension of this 
 trade. Foreign buyers would be encouraged by the lessened 
 prices that would result from more breeders going into this busi- 
 ness, and these prices would still be most remunerative. The 
 noted herds of some English breeds are, in certain instances, so 
 much reduced by the demand from abroad, that the old saying 
 has been quoted about killing the goose that lays the golden 
 eggs. This was urged as a reason for the short entries of some 
 breeds of horses and cattle at the last Show of the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society at Derby. The exportation of fine wool from 
 England is increasing in a rapid ratio. In 1875, 10,536,523 lbs. 
 of wool were exported from the United Kingdom, and 
 17,197,300 lbs. in 1880. The exportation of seeds has increased 
 in this same period from 119,060 cwts. in 1875, to 125,742 cwts. 
 in 1880, and buyers from all countries are always ready to pur- 
 chase good seeds of new varieties, or seeds of the best varieties 
 of all kinds of cultivated plants. We must endeavour in every 
 way to increase the exportation of specialities, and indeed all 
 kinds of farm produce, and to keep up the reputation which the 
 energy of the English farmers and the peculiar suitableness of 
 the soil and climate have gained. Instead of looking back to 
 Protection and turning ready ears to those who advocate unsound 
 doctrines of political economy, we must try to make our stock, 
 our wool, and all our produce as good as possible, and much 
 desired by the people of all nations. 
 
 There also is a great and an increasing demand at home for 
 the minor products of the land, some of which may now be classi- 
 fied as necessities ; others in a degree as luxuries, because of their 
 high prices. Fine qualities of cheese, good butter, milk, cream, 
 eggs, chickens and poultry of all kinds, would have an extra- 
 ordinary sale if only the prices were reasonable. And there is 
 no doubt that all these things could be produced for sale at reason- 
 able rates, and at the same time would yield a good profit if 
 farmers would direct their minds and their energies to the work. 
 
 <* 
 
 ^>tm 
 
 \
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 5 
 
 Foreign competition will not interfere with these industries. 
 This game, at all events, is in the hands of the home producers. 
 The chief drawback to the full development of this trade is the 
 unsatisfactory present mode of distribution of nearly all kinds of 
 farm produce, and especially of these minor kinds. In existing 
 circumstances, the producers get the minimum value and the 
 consumers have to pay the maximum price. The pernicious 
 system of salesmen and middlemen, and the routine of markets, 
 hinder enterprise and check production. In no cases is this 
 so much felt as in those of vegetables and fruit, which are 
 confined to a few centres — markets, for the most part, utterly 
 inadequate for anything like general distribution. Even with 
 the system now holding, it is fully believed that the production 
 of vegetables, salad plants, and fruit coull be very largely 
 extended, to the gain of the cultivators and to the infinite 
 satisfaction of would-be consumers who live in towns, and of 
 those who have no gardens, who constitute a vast proportion of 
 the population. This paper, therefore, has been written at the 
 request of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, to 
 point out the importance and advantage of adding these special 
 cultures to the ordinary farm crops, and to give some practical 
 information as to the most desirable sorts of vegetables and 
 fruits for this purpose, together with details as to the modes of 
 cultivating them, and the circumstances of soil, climate, and 
 situation that are required. 
 
 It is not by any means suggested that vegetables and fruits 
 are to be made at once to take the place of corn and other 
 customary crops of the farm, nor that their cultivation should 
 be generally and indiscriminately adopted ; but it is desired to 
 show that vegetables may be extensively grown in rotation with 
 ordinary farm crops, as the practice is in Essex and other counties ; 
 also that a few acres of fruit-land may advantageously be added 
 to almost all farms ; and in some cases large plantations may be 
 made. Before proceeding to descriptions and details, it will be 
 desirable to mention, and if possible to meet the objections that 
 are urged by interested, and, it is also fair to say, disinterested 
 persons, against a considerable increase in the vegetable supply. 
 Market-gardeners proper say that their profits have considerably 
 diminished, and also that occasionally the markets are glutted 
 with vegetables. No doubt the market-gardeners whose land 
 is situated within 20 miles of the metropolis have lately felt the 
 competition of farmers, who ought to be able to produce vege- 
 tables more cheaply, since their rents are lower and their taxation 
 is not so heavy, and they have the advantage of being able to vary 
 more frequently the courses of cropping upon the larger area of 
 a farm. Farmers also within reasonable distance of London now
 
 6 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 have equal facilities of transporting vegetables to the markets, 
 and of getting manure from the London stables and cow-sheds 
 by rail. Market-gardeners undoubtedly have made large profits, 
 and naturally object to their reduction. The amount of capital 
 they require per acre necessitates large returns, but it is main- 
 tained that farmers can produce vegetables without much ad- 
 ditional capital, at a profit that will completely satisfy them. 
 Then it is said that sometimes there are gluts of vegetables, and 
 that greenstuff is wasted or sold at unremunerative prices. As it 
 is mainly in the articles of cabbages and greens that gluts occur, 
 and it must be said that these are not of frequent occurrence, 
 farmers would be able to feed their sheep with them, and thus 
 have an advantage over market-gardeners. But gluts are chiefly 
 caused by the growers crowding all their produce into two 
 or three markets in London even from long distances, and 
 generally from the want of adequate means of distribution ; for 
 it is certain that only a comparatively small radius around the 
 London markets feels the full effect of an excessive supply of 
 vegetables. The same holds with regard to large towns, such as 
 Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, to which market growers 
 from far and near send all their vegetables without any reference 
 to the demand. The area of the distribution of a market is 
 necessarily limited. Multiplication of markets implies large 
 outlays of money and additional cost ultimately to the consumers 
 for tolls. Markets also necessitate middlemen, whose large 
 charges above the cost price of the articles are also paid by 
 the consumers. In order to get the actual market value of their 
 commodities and to give the same benefit to consumers, pro- 
 ducers must combine to form Supply Associations in various 
 parts of large towns, or make arrangements and contracts with 
 retailers to send them certain vegetables. This applies to fruit 
 equally as to vegetables and to most other products of the farm. 
 The large and increasing importation of foreign vegetables is 
 used by some as an argument against more vegetables being 
 raised in England ; but cabbages and greens of all kinds are 
 not imported to any extent, being too bulky, and the season for 
 imported cauliflowers and other vegetables practically is over 
 before the English season has begun. The season of imported 
 fruits likewise is for the most part over before those grown in 
 this country are ripe. It is thought that a large trade might be 
 established with France, Holland, and Belgium in fruit grown 
 in England, coming as it does when the season of the common 
 fruits of the Continent has passed. There also is a wide field 
 for energy in the adoption of systems like those of the market- 
 gardeners at Vaugirard and other places near Paris, of growing 
 early vegetables under bell-glasses, and frames and lights.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 7 
 
 English producers surely might supply the large towns with 
 salad-plants grown under glass, and, later on in the season, out 
 of doors, more cheaply and certainly in a more fresh condition 
 than the French gardeners. The quantity of these salad-plants 
 imported is enormous, and it is increasing, because practically 
 the importers now have the field to themselves. Early fruits 
 also could be grown on a large scale under glass to compete 
 with those that come from the Continent. In short, if well- 
 directed and well-sustained attempts were made to produce early 
 vegetables of excellent and good appearance, it is believed that 
 the foreign growers might be ousted after a time. It may be 
 thought that these are too trifling details for farmers proper to 
 worry themselves about ; but every farmhouse has its garden, 
 whose soil and situation are in nine cases out of ten the best on the 
 farm, and which is too often the worst-farmed part of the land ; 
 this entails the services of a gardener, or a workman who knows 
 something of gardening, occasionally or permanently. A better 
 gardener or an unusually intelligent labourer might be employed, 
 and the garden should be considered as a source of possible profit, 
 and tilled and tended in the most careful manner, and extended 
 to the farm land as circumstances might warrant. Near towns 
 it would be found that dealers would come out and take vege- 
 tables and fruit, until the quantity he produced would enable 
 the farmer to consign to market on his own account, or to make 
 arrangements with Supply Associations or retailers. In this 
 manner what may be called the garden of the farm woukl be 
 developed from the nucleus of the existing garden. All kinds 
 of smaller herbs could be produced. Cultivation under glass 
 might be adopted in the gardens of farms far more than it is at 
 present, and with much profit and advantage, in the production 
 of cucumbers and early salad plants, and gradually increased if 
 found desirable. This might be done not only with bell-glasses 
 and handlights, but also with frames and protection to fruit- 
 trees on walls, and with also cheaply-built greenhouses. Flowers 
 might be turned to profitable account. Upon the home gardens of 
 market-garden farms it will be found that every spare product 
 of vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs is sold, and spaces are 
 reserved for seed-beds to supply the farm with plants. The 
 cautious farmer may feel his way by means of his home-garden 
 to gardening upon a large scale on his farm. 
 
 Another objection that is raised against extending vegetable 
 culture is, that it would require a larger supply of labour than 
 ordinary villages could furnish. This undoubtedly would neces- 
 sitate additional labour, and create a demand which, however, it is 
 believed, would soon be met. The better prices which farmers 
 would be enabled to pay would attract labourers to the country.
 
 8 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 and tend to keep in their native places the young men who now 
 leave them to better themselves. Immigrants would come at busy 
 times, as they come to the Essex and Bedfordshire market-garden 
 farms, as they go turnip-hoeing and harvesting in various 
 counties, as they come into Kent for fruit-picking, potato-digging, 
 and hop-picking. The additional culture of vegetables, within 
 certain limits, would not much clash with ordinary farm work, 
 and would, if well managed, ensure constant employment for 
 labourers all the year round. Now it happens frequently 
 that unremunerative work has to be found at some periods 
 of the year for the regular staff. Upon ordinary farms a staff 
 has to be maintained principally for the important operations 
 of turnip-hoeing, hay-making, and corn-harvesting. Vegetable 
 culture could be arranged to work well in with these seasons. 
 Much of the lighter work, as picking peas, pulling and bunching 
 onions and carrots, could be done by women, who could also 
 wash those vegetables that required washing, in sheds or barns, 
 and bunch them and pack them for market. There would be 
 plenty of work for the staff of labourers in winter in sending off 
 stored carrots, or stored potatoes, or onions, or parsnips, or 
 celery, or protecting radishes or lettuces, gathering Brussels 
 sprouts, and in various other ways. 
 
 Vegetable culture is supposed to require almost fabulous 
 quantities of manure. Without any doubt the system of grow- 
 ing vegetables practised by market-gardeners near London, who 
 are not satisfied unless they get two exhausting crops in a year 
 from each part of their holdings, entails immense manurial 
 applications. As much as 30 tons of farmyard-manure are put 
 on per acre for some crops, and even 50 tons per acre for celery. 
 Upon two market-gardens visited in Essex, the average annual 
 cost of manure was in one case 10/. and in the other 11/. per acre. 
 On the other hand, upon a profitable market-garden farm visited 
 in Essex the average annual cost of manure was only 2Z. 10^. 
 per acre ; yet all the crops on the 200 acres, including cabbages, 
 peas, Lisbon onions, broad and French beans, potatoes, wheat, 
 oats, were remarkably good. Crops of vegetables taken in rota- 
 tion with corn and other crops do not require more manure than 
 mangolds, or swedes, or beans. Neither does it follow that farm- 
 yard-manure is indispensable. Upon the market-garden farms 
 in Essex large quantities of horse-hoof parings, horn-shavings, 
 fish refuse, and other refuse, are used in alternation with farm- 
 yard-manure ; nitrate of soda and guano are also freely put on. 
 Rape-dust might be used also with great advantage for many 
 gross-feeding vegetables, as it is found to be one of the best 
 manures for hops in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and Surrey. 
 
 Upon most farms there are some spots, some fields, that are
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farmivg. 9 
 
 suited for vegetables, if well and properly cultivated. It is a 
 mistake to suppose that land for this purpose must naturally be 
 of exceptional quality. Much of the land in Essex and other 
 market-garden districts, is by no means fertile by nature ; nor 
 is the sandy soil round Biggleswade in Bedfordshire especially 
 rich. Land that will grow turnips and mangolds well will grow 
 cabbages and other plants of the Brassica order. For onions, 
 French beans, carrots, parsnips, and lettuces, fairly good soil is 
 necessary, and soil that works well and does not bind. Peas 
 for podding and broad beans flourish in those soils where 
 field-peas and beans thrive. The loams and clayey loams of 
 the Lower Greensand, of the Upper Greensand, of the Lower 
 London Tertiaries, answer well for vegetables. Also the lighter 
 marls of the Chalk, and the more friable clays of the Old and 
 New Red Sandstone, and the Lias, and the peaty lands in parts 
 of Lancashire and other counties, also much of the alluvial and 
 drift soil, would answer admirably for their growth. It would 
 perhaps not be too much to say that upon all soils where pota- 
 toes are successfully grown, the more common kinds of vegetables 
 would do well. Except in the extreme north of England, the 
 general climatic conditions of most of the counties would be 
 propitious, if judgment were exercised in the selection of favour- 
 able situations, sheltered from prevalent winds in the bleaker 
 districts. On almost all farms there are slopes and bottoms 
 where protection of this kind is afforded, and fields near the 
 farmhouse comparatively sheltered, where the best of the land is 
 generally to be found, upon which vegetables would flourish. 
 
 Vegetable Growing. 
 
 In giving a list of the crops suitable for market-garden farming, 
 and a short account of the modes of cultivating them, it will be 
 well to commence with CABBAGES, as they are easily cultivated, 
 and are the crop upon which farmers usually try their 'prentice 
 hands. These may take the place of mangolds or turnips in the 
 routine of farm crops, and, as has been suggested, they form mar- 
 vellously good food for ewes and lambs if they cannot be sold for 
 vegetables. There really is no more expense in the cultivation 
 of cabbages fit for human food than in that of cabbages for cattle, 
 and the profit from them in some seasons is highly satisfactory. 
 Supposing the plants were put out at the end of September upon 
 land well manured, they might be cut for market upon the first 
 approach of spring, or even in the winter if it were mild, they 
 might be sold as greens, known as Coleworts, or "Collards;" 
 or in May and June as perfect full -hearted cabbages. Some- 
 times coleworts make very high prices when green stuff is scarce, 
 
 B 8
 
 10 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 as much as from 8.9. to 12.<?. per dozen bunches, each bunch being 
 about a handful. As from 140 to 300 dozen bunches are grown 
 per acre, the proceeds sometimes are very large. The Blue 
 Colewort, Cock's Hardy Green, and the Rosette are sorts adapted 
 for this purpose, but these do not make good hearts ; and the best 
 sorts for cabbages proper, with good hearts, intended for spring 
 cutting, are the East Ham, Enfield Market, Sugarloaf, Battersea, 
 and Wheeler's Nonpareil, among others. 
 
 Cabbage-plants are grown in seed-beds, usually in strips about 
 5 feet wide. About 10 lbs. of seed are sown per acre on these 
 beds towards the end of July, for winter planting, and the beds 
 are carefully hoed over when the young plants are up, which 
 are slightly thinned, and all the deformed plants are pulled out. 
 For cabbages the plants are put out 22 inches by 20 inches. For 
 coleworts they are set 12 inches, or 14 inches each way. One 
 acre of seed-bed will plant about 15 acres of coleworts or about 
 20 acres of cabbages. Great care must be taken in the selection 
 of seed of full germinating power and true to sort, and much 
 attention must be paid to sow the seed deeply enough, yet not too 
 deeply, in the seed-beds. In ordinary seasons cabbages will be 
 cleared off by the end of June, and might be followed by wheat ; 
 or, if another crop of vegetables were desired, the ground might 
 be prepared for autumn-sown onions ; or a crop of potatoes might 
 be obtained by putting them in as fast as the cabbages were 
 cleared off. In early seasons sometimes a capital crop is grown 
 in this way,* and in this case the land would then come in for 
 winter tares, or be ploughed up for oats or barley. If dealers 
 do not take the cabbages, they could be carted to the nearest 
 town upon waggons with springs, made expressly for the purpose, 
 which take huge loads ; or to the railway station, where the 
 cabbage can be moved into trucks, or the waggon itself taken 
 to its destination on a truck, and brought back full of manure. 
 190 dozen of cabbages can be piled upon these vans, which are 
 drawn by two powerful horses. About 1000 dozens of cabbages 
 are produced per acre on an average, and the price ranges from 
 Id. to 1.9. ^d. per dozen, and even higher occasionally. Cabbages 
 also are planted in the spring for late summer or early autumn 
 cutting. 
 
 Onions are a most paying crop, though more risky than cab- 
 bages, being liable to mildew, and entailing more outlay for 
 labour. It is not well to crop the same field with onions more 
 than once in five years. They may be taken after spring-sown 
 cabbages, or mangolds, or carrots ; or, as is done in Essex, cucum- 
 
 * There are quick growing kinds of potatoes, suited for this piu'pose. Among 
 these is the Red Bog, which being planted at the end of April is fit to dig iu 
 August.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farmivg. 1 1 
 
 bers, which only stay in the ground a few weeks, are taken after 
 spring cabbages, and onions follow the cucumbers. For onions 
 it is required that the ground should be well worked, but at 
 the same time it must have a fairly firm surface. If they are 
 for seeding, or for pulling early, for which a sort known as the 
 " two-bladed " is the best, it is better that the farmyard-manure 
 should be scuffled in, and not buried by the plough. About 
 60 lbs. of seed are sown broadcast and harrowed lightly in, as 
 early as possible in the spring, so that there may be no danger 
 of frosts, which much injure the tender shoots. 
 
 Pickle-makers make contracts with growers for onions, and a 
 considerable amount of labour is required to pull them and peel 
 them. If onions are intended for "bulbing," that is for large 
 bulbs for storing, very much less seed is sown. It is an 
 expensive process to keep the ground free from weeds where 
 pickling or salad onions are grown, costing from 4/. to 5/. per 
 acre. The gross return in exceptionally good years amounts to 
 150/. per acre, as was shown in the Report on the Market-garden 
 Farm Competition in 1879*. Lisbon onions are sown in the 
 autumn for " bunching." About 50 lbs. of seed are sown broad- 
 cast upon well-manured and well-prepared land ; the onions are 
 pulled in May and June, and are sent to market in bundles 
 containing as many as a man can hold in his hand arranged in 
 a fanlike shape, packed in layers in baskets for salads and for 
 eating in the way in which labourers so enjoy theaa, raw with 
 bread and cheese. These return, in good seasons, as much as 
 from 50/. to 70/. per acre. 
 
 Careots are also a favourite crop of market-garden farmers, 
 who grow them upon a large scale, and it is not uncommon to 
 see fields of seven and even ten acres planted with them. 
 Gardeners who live near towns often make a good thing by 
 getting carrots early, and a iew pounds might be made in this 
 way in many farm-gardens without much trouble. Carrots are 
 extensively grown by market-garden farmers and market- 
 gardeners for " bunching " — that is for pulling when quite 
 small. They may be taken after potatoes, or coleworts, or 
 cabbages. The land requires to be well ploughed in the 
 autumn, and well-made farmyard-manure should be scuffled in, 
 and about 10 lbs. of seed, mixed with a little finely tritu- 
 rated earth sown broadcast as soon in the spring as the weather 
 allows. Pulling is commenced when they are about half an inch 
 in diameter. From twenty to forty are put in a bunch. The 
 bunches are packed in crates and baskets, and bring from 2s. 
 
 * 'Report upon the Market-garden and Market-garden Farm Competition, 
 1879,' by Charles Whitehead. 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,' 
 vol. XV. s.s. Part II. 
 
 B 4
 
 12 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 to 35. 9^/. per dozen bunches, coming to market after the French 
 early carrot season is over. From 300 to 400 dozen bunches per 
 acre are a fair crop. This crop is a very little while on the ground, 
 but entails considerable labour in keeping the land clean from 
 weeds. Cabbages may be taken after carrots, or wheat, or winter 
 oats ; the Early Horn and James's Intermediate are the sorts 
 usually grown. The Italian Early Market is also a good carrot. 
 
 Parsnips are a profitable crop upon suitable land. They 
 require a deep tilth, or they become " forked." This can be 
 obtained by means of a subsoil-plough, following the ordinary 
 plough. Manure should not be directly applied for this crop ; 
 they may, therefore, well follow late cabbages, or onions, or 
 Savoys, or even coleworts, as the most successful growers do not 
 have a " stale furrow," but prefer to plough and sow as closely 
 together as possible. The seed is drilled in with a seed-harrow, 
 in rows fifteen inches apart, in the spring as soon as the weather 
 permits, the plants being left about eleven inches apart in the 
 rows. The Hollow Crown is the sort usually grown ; indeed, 
 there is scarcely any other sort. Parsnips are not dug until 
 they are wanted for market, not being injured by frost. Parsnips 
 can be followed by spring cabbages, for which a good coat of 
 manure would be necessary, or by spring tares. 
 
 Peas for podding are not, as a rule, very remunerative. 
 Occasionally, however, it happens that a good hit is made, 
 when, by good management, or from advantages of situation, a 
 grower is able to keep his plant through a very hard winter, or 
 has a specially good sort. If he is near a good town, a farmer 
 might well plant a few acres of peas. Much also may be done 
 in the way of growing seed-peas for seedsmen by contract, where 
 conditions of soil allow. Sangster's William I. is a good early 
 pea, and Sangster's Imperial No. I., Fill Basket, Forty Fold, and 
 Veitch's Perfection, are suitable for growing crops to follow in 
 succession. A fair crop of peas for podding amounts to about 
 150 bushels (of pods) per acre, and an average price, ivhoksale, 
 is about 2s. per bushel. Market-gardeners put peas between 
 cabbages, and have many schemes for getting two crops from 
 the same ground in the year ; but farmers would hardly get 
 labour enough for this system of double cropping. Still, in 
 many circumstances, it would be well for them to watch their 
 opportunity, and take lessons from market-garden practice. 
 Thus, to quote the Report before alluded to, it is said of a 
 market-gardener, " He sows onions, carrots, parsnips, spinach, 
 peas and potatoes, in the early spring, after the winter green- 
 stuff — such as hardy greens, or coleworts. Savoys, and purple- 
 sprouting broccoli — has come off the land. After early cabbages, 
 which should be cut in ordinary seasons by the end of May, he
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit- Farming. 13 
 
 plants potatoes, scarlet runners, French beans, blue peas, beet, 
 marrows, cucumbers and summer lettuces." Market-gardeners 
 never lose a chance. Market-garden farmers are equally on the 
 look-out for a " catch crop," and farmers who may add vegetable- 
 growing to their business will do well to follow their example. 
 
 Cauliflowers sometimes give most satisfactory returns, but 
 as they require protection during the winter, they cannot compete 
 on anything like equal terms with those grown in Cornwall, 
 France, and the Channel Islands. Occasionally there are 
 winters through which cauliflowers would live, but the risk is 
 too great to plant them on a large scale, therefore it is better 
 to get a supply of plants grown under glass, or in protected 
 places, and plant them out as early in the spring as possible. 
 Farmhouse-gardens in many respects are admirably suited for 
 rearing and protecting these plants, and indeed for producing 
 early cauliflowers, which in some seasons are worth almost their 
 weight in coppers and pay well for care. Cauliflowers must 
 have good land and a deal of manure, with considerable moisture. 
 In other respects they are cultivated in the same way as cabbages ; 
 the plants being reared in seed-beds and set out on the land 
 when the weather permits, from 24 by 18 inches to 24 by 24 
 inches apart, depending upon the quality of the soil. Mitchell's 
 Hardy Early, Early London — more delicate — and the Dwarf 
 Mammoth, Veitch's Autumn Giant and VValcheren, are good 
 sorts ; and it is best to arrange a succession of ^rts, so that 
 the supply may be continuous. 
 
 Broccoli will bear ordinary winters, and should be sown so as 
 to ensure a proper succession of heads.* It may easily be arranged 
 that there should always be broccoli fit to cut. They are culti- 
 vated like cauliflowers, and set the same distance apart. The 
 best sorts are the Hardy White, Snow's Winter White, Adams's 
 Early, Grange's Early White, Early Penzance, and Leamington. 
 
 A few acres of cauliflowers and broccoli might be most 
 advantageously grown upon farms having good land, and within 
 reasonable distance of a town or of a railway-station, as they 
 generally are most saleable commodities. They may be tried 
 at first in a small way, and their cultivation could be extended 
 if it was found that the surroundings were suitable and that they 
 were profitable. 
 
 Brussels-sprouts — Chou de Bruxelles — are exceedingly 
 good greens to grow for winter use, and have a sweet flavour 
 after winter frosts. The habit of this is to produce many 
 
 * Mr. Shirley Hibberd, in his ' Profitable Gardening,' says, " It is a mark of 
 good management if ttie gardener can cut broccoli or cauliflowers any day in the 
 year, and to do this requires that sort of headwork which, as Cowpor says, ' Fore- 
 casts the future wliolc.' "
 
 14 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 sprouts or tiny cabbages upon a long stalk ; successions of these 
 follow on the same plant throughout the winter and the spring ; 
 when the summer comes thej go to seed. They are remarkably 
 hardy and bear the coldest winters. No farm garden, nor any 
 other garden, should be without these. They may be cultivated 
 with advantage by market-garden farmers, and are largely 
 grown in market-gardens near London. The plants are picked 
 out in April in rows 22 inches apart and 18 inches from plant 
 to plant. ,It is said that the English-grown seed is not to be 
 relied on, and that the only neighbourhood where the seed is to 
 be depended on is Brussels. 
 
 Lettuces may be deemed as hardly being vegetables for 
 growth upon a large scale ; but this crop sometimes makes a deal 
 of money, without being very expensive to cultivate, and if vege- 
 table-growing is seriously undertaken, no kind should be beneath 
 consideration. They may be specially grown in the garden of 
 the farm, in beds in the warm corner of many old farmhouses, 
 or protected by hand-glasses ; for English lettuces, fresh and 
 firm, make long prices in the early spring-time, in spite of the 
 competition of French market-gardens. The great object is to 
 get lettuces very early in the spring, and for this, of course, the 
 plants have to stand the ordeal of the winter. Lettuces require 
 a fairly good soil. Cos lettuces, or the crisp, juicy varieties, 
 with erect leaves, which the English prefer, do best upon loam, 
 or loamy clay-land, or even upon well-farmed, stiff clay. Cabbage 
 lettuces, or those more resembling cabbages in shape, of which 
 the best sorts are the Dutch, Asiatic, Hammersmith, Imperial 
 Ice, which never bolts or runs to seed, will thrive upon sandy 
 or chalky soils, if properly cultivated and well manured. The 
 best sorts to stand the winter are the Bath Cos, Hammersmith, 
 Silician, or Paris Cos. The seed should be sown about the 
 first week in August broadcast, upon a well-prepared bed. 
 About half a pound of seed is sufficient to furnish plants enough 
 for an acre. Unless the winter is very severe, these will be 
 ready in May, and almost invariably make long prices. It 
 would answer well to shake a little rough litter over them during 
 the worst winter months. Enterprising men might invest in 
 bell-glasses, which would ensure the preservation of the plants, 
 and very early readiness for market. Lettuces for summer use are 
 transplanted from frames or seed-beds in May, June, and July, 
 with due regard to the succession of sorts and supply. Lettuces 
 imported from France from January to June, make from 9</. to 
 I5. 'Id. per dozen. English lettuces coming to market in the 
 latter part of May, make from 8^. to \s. Sd. per score, and an 
 average crop is about 1400 score per acre. Autumn-sown 
 lettuces may follow onions, or late cabbages that have been
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit-Farming. 15 
 
 heavily manured. Those planted in May and June might come 
 after coleworts or spring cabbage. 
 
 Radishes are much cultivated by market-gardeners. The 
 turnip-radishes, of which the best kind is the French Breakfast 
 radish, are sown broadcast upon beds five feet wide, with a space 
 between each, either in the late autumn or in the early spring. 
 In the former case the plants must be lightly covered with litter. 
 Spring radishes are only a short time on the ground, and would 
 come off together with autumn-sown radishes in time for 
 lettuces, French beans, or marrows. They are sent to London 
 in bunches, each containing a large handful, and are sold at 
 from ^d. to 8^/. per dozen bunches. There is a great demand 
 for well-grown PZnglish radishes throughout the spring and 
 early summer, especially after the season of those imported 
 from France is over. It is not suggested that radishes should 
 be universally grown. They may, however, occasionally be 
 taken as a crop by farmers who have land of fine tilth particu- 
 larly adapted for market-garden culture, and they are just one 
 of the subjects for cultivation in the home garden. 
 
 French Beans and Scarlet Runners are grown exten- 
 sively upon market-garden farms in Essex and Surrey. Both 
 these are delicate plants, and require a fine tilth. The land is 
 ploughed twice, manure not being directly applied. The seed 
 is dropped by hand in drills made with a hand-plough. French 
 beans are set 2^ feet apart, and 8 inches or 9 inches in the drill. 
 Scarlet-runner rows are put 3 feet apart, and the seeds are dropped 
 into these about a foot distant. These are very delicate plants, 
 and are cut up by the least frost, and, when the plants are young, 
 are injured by excessive wet. Slugs do great harm to them. 
 Stakes are not put to scarlet runners in the field. Their habit 
 is dwarfed, and made upright by cutting off the tops of the 
 shoots. It should be borne in mind that French beans have 
 not much chance of ready sale when there are plenty of scarlet 
 runners ready. 
 
 Celery is most profitable in soils and situations that suit its 
 growth. Well-grown, well-blanched, short-eating celery is 
 always a most saleable commodity. The cultivation requires 
 much care and involves considerable expense, and is perhaps, 
 as it may be thought, more suited for market-gardeners than for 
 farmers, but there is no reason why it should not be more largely 
 grown in farm gardens and for market purposes. There are 
 market- gardeners near London who grow as many as 50 acres 
 of celery. The seed should be sown first in frames with a litire 
 heat, towards the end of February, from whence the plants are 
 put out into rows 5 feet apart, with a few inches between each 
 plant. Quantities of well-rotted manure must be put on before
 
 16 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 the plants are put into rows or trenches, which should be dug 
 out to a depth of from 1 foot to 15 inches. When the plants 
 are about 16 inches high they should be earthed up slightly. 
 After a short interval thej should be earthed up again, and this 
 must be repeated until the earthing-up is completed. Celery 
 may be planted after cabbage, or broccoli, or early lettuces, and 
 the plants are put in early in May. 
 
 Marrows and Cucumbehs are grown upon market-garden 
 farms, but their culture is somewhat hazardous, though they do 
 not remain long on the ground. The least frost, or too much 
 wet, injures the plants. Some growers sprout the seeds in 
 flannel, but this renders them delicate. The seed is put in rows 
 4 to 5 feet apart, early in May. The plants are rarely trans- 
 planted where cucumbers are grown on market-garden farms. 
 There are special kinds of cucumber for growing in the open 
 air, and upon ridges, among which are the Early Short Prickly, 
 Sutton's Perfection, Rabley Prolific. Between the rows a drill 
 of rye is put in as a shelter. Occasionally scarlet runners are 
 grown between the rows to serve as a protection. These cucum- 
 bers make from 3^. to 4*'. per barrel ; from 175 to 200 barrels 
 are grown per acre. 
 
 Tomatoes are not grown nearly so much as they should be ; 
 the taste for this vegetable is increasing rapidly, both for eating 
 raw, according to the American fashion, or for boiling or baking. 
 They thrive well under the protection of buildings, and there 
 are many neglected corners and borders near farmhouses and 
 farm-buildings where tomatoes would flourish, protected from 
 fowls and other creatures by galvanised wire-netting. Plants 
 may be obtained by sowing seeds in shallow pans or boxes in 
 March and April, and transplanting into pots, and finally, when 
 large enough, they should be topped and planted out. The great , 
 thing in the cultivation of tomatoes is to keep pinching off the 
 heads continually and to cut away all secondary shoots on which 
 no flowers are forming. Or five or six seeds may be sown towards 
 the end of April where the plants are required, so that no trans- 
 planting is necessary, and the strongest plants should be retained 
 and trained to a wall or to a stake, and the pinching and topping 
 process done as often as necessary. The plants require watering 
 if it is dry, in their early stage. 
 
 Cabbages, Cauliflowers and Broccoli Plants may be 
 grown for sale with good results. Upon a farm in Essex, visited 
 in 1879, several acres of cabbage-plants were sold at 40Z. per 
 acre, having only been eight weeks on the ground. The seed 
 was sown in August, and the plants were cleared off by October, 
 in time for wheat to be sown. A splendid crop of carrots 
 (bunched) had been cleared off in July.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 17 
 
 The cultivation of seeds is frequently productive of much 
 profit, especially of Onion-SEED, and Mangold- and TuRNIP- 
 SEEDS, which are grown very advantageously by market-garden 
 farmers and by farmers. Mangold-seed is grown from seed 
 drilled in a seed-bed at the rate of 1 cwt. per acre, which will 
 give plants enough for 6 acres. The plants are left in the 
 seed-bed till early in April, when they are transplanted in 
 rows 20 inches apart, with intervals of 20 inches between each 
 plant, in the rows. Cutting is done in September before the 
 seed is fully ripe, as it will run out if it is allowed to become 
 too ripe. The seed-stalks are bound up in small sheaves and 
 are thrashed by a machine. An average crop of seed is about 
 18 cwt. per acre. Prices run from 285. to 6O5. per cwt. 
 
 Seed-Peas are also grown in parts of Kent, Essex, and other 
 counties to great advantage. These are generally grown for 
 seedsmen, who find the seed and pay so much per quarter for 
 the produce. In a few cases farmers grow seed-peas on their 
 own account. There is a demand in America for good sorts of 
 peas for podding, which farmers may just as well supply as the 
 seedsmen. 
 
 Turnip-Seeds of different sorts are grown from plants trans- 
 planted from a seed-bed in November, and set at about the 
 same distance as the mangold-plants. The stalks are cut in 
 July. An average yield is 25 bushels per acre, and the price 
 runs from 145. to 255. per bushel. 
 
 Radish-seed is generally obtained from seed sown in the 
 spring, with the surplus plants hoed out. An average crop is 
 22 bushels per acre, and the price is about 205. per bushel. 
 It is a bulky, troublesome crop to harvest. 
 
 There are other seeds that might be grown by the farmer, and 
 other vegetables and herbs that could be cultivated. POTATOES 
 have not been alluded to, as they are already largely grown by 
 farmers. Market-garden farmers do not, as a rule, grow many 
 potatoes. When they do grow them they generally plant early 
 sorts, and send them to market directly they are fit to dig. 
 Turnips also bring high prices in some seasons, and there would 
 be no difficulty in getting an acre or two sown with White 
 Dutch or Early Stone turnips in March for market, if prices were 
 good ; there would be no loss here, as they would come in for 
 the sheep if they could not be sold. Various small things 
 might be raised in farm-gardens which would bring in ready 
 money and be very profitable. These cultures should not be 
 despised because they are trifling and insignificant. Parsley, 
 mint, thyme, beet, asparagus, and other herbs and vegetables are 
 among these things. Those that have been enumerated above 
 are the most important, and most suitable for cultivation upon 
 
 B 5
 
 18 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 a large scale. When the cultivators have found out the pleasant 
 results of growing those that have been described, they will be 
 keen enough to adopt any others which they may think will 
 pay. . 
 
 Fruit-Gkowing. 
 
 Many of the remarks that have been made concerning vege- 
 table-growing will equally apply to fruit-growing. By far the 
 greater part of the land in England will grow fruit of some 
 sort or other. The sorts that may be peculiarly suited for cer- 
 tain districts may be ascertained from examination of the 
 fruit-trees in the gardens, and, at least in the case of quick- 
 growing bush fruit-trees, by planting some as an experiment. 
 The garden of the farm should be made the base of operations 
 with fruit-trees as with vegetables, and the extension of their 
 culture may be made large or small, with these fruits, or with 
 those fruits, according to circumstances. It would for instance 
 be most unwise to form an apple-orchard or a cherry-orchard or 
 plum-orchard in a locality where these fruit-trees had previously 
 not been cultivated, until careful inquiry had been made and 
 the opinion of experts obtained ; or to plant any particular sorts 
 of these without first finding out, as far as possible, whether 
 it were likely that the conditions of soil, climate, and situation 
 would suit them. 
 
 A tenant would hardly plant fruit-bushes or fruit-trees unless 
 he had a lease ; he should also have a guarantee of payment for 
 the increased value that he had imparted to the land. He 
 would hardly be justified in planting standard fruit-trees unless 
 he were assured of definite and sufficient compensation for this 
 improvement. In some fruit-growing counties it is customary 
 for the landlord to find the standard trees and the tenant to pay 
 for planting them, but no special compensation for unexhausted 
 improvements is allowed. In the Agricultural Holdings Act 
 planting orchards is one of the thirteen improvements of the 
 first class, which continue unexhausted for twenty years, and it 
 would give a stimulus to fruit-planting if tenants could be 
 guaranteed compensation even at this rate, which, however, is 
 not by any means adequate in the case of apple, pear, and 
 cherry-trees. The uncertainties of land-tenure have much hin- 
 dered the increase of fruit-land. Some few tenants who are of 
 a confiding nature and have " long leases and practical land- 
 lords," as a large fruit-grower remarked lately, do plant fruit- 
 trees ; but most tenants are bound to require something more 
 than this before they thus improve the property of other persons. 
 To make fruit-plantations, and apple and cherry-orchards espe-
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 19 
 
 cially, is to improve land in an extraordinary degree, more 
 particularly in these days, and owners of land should encourage 
 this by taking upon themselves a fair share of the cost, and by 
 guaranteeing just compensation. 
 
 Supposing all difficulties of this kind adjusted, the farmer 
 willing to try fruit-growing cannot do better than plant red 
 currant, or black currant, or gooseberry-bushes, either by them- 
 selves or with standard or half-standard apple-trees among them, 
 or plum- and damson-trees, or pear-trees, according to circum- 
 stances. He must select a fairly good soil and the best-sheltered 
 situation. 
 
 Gooseberry and red currant-bushes do well on light, porous 
 land or in good loam and clay-loartis. Black currants require a 
 deep soil, retentive of moisture, and will thrive in all the better 
 descriptions of clay land. These bushes should be set 6 feet 
 apart each way, which would take 1210 bushes. The land 
 should be well manured and deeply steam ploughed, or ploughed 
 deeply, with a subsoil-plough following. If standards are put 
 in they should be set, if apple-trees, from 24 to 30 feet apart 
 each way, which v/ould give 75 and 48 trees respectively 
 per acre. Plum and damson-trees would be put about 15 feet 
 apart each way, or 193 trees per acre. Should no standards 
 be planted, the bashes may be put 5J feet apart each way, 
 giving 1440 to the acre. Upon strong land black currants 
 should be set 6 feet apart, as their growth is very Ijixuriant. 
 
 Gooseberries. — The plants are easily raised by taking 
 straight pieces of the cuttings 8 inches in length from the 
 bushes, and setting them in rows, in a nursery in the autumn, 
 without taking out any of the eyes, or buds. In two years they 
 will be fit to plant out if carefully tended, and in two years 
 after they will have fruit worth picking. Good plants can be 
 bought in fruit-growing districts at from 65. ^d. to 125. per 100. 
 Pruning is done from October until the end of January. The 
 rank-growing shoots and branches are cut away, and a moderate 
 supply of young wood is left in the bush, which should be 
 shaped like a cup. The branches should be trained to droop 
 somewhat. If cut in this way they do not feel the effects of 
 spring frosts so much as if they were left to grow quite upright. 
 The choice of the sorts of gooseberries must in a degree depend 
 upon the locality, but in most places those named below may 
 safely be planted. For example, the Whitesmith is a capital 
 gooseberry for picking green, and comes early, but is not so 
 good for sale when ripe, as consumers like red fruit best, 
 which always has a bitter flavour. The Early Sulphur is also 
 good for picking green. When ripe it is yellow, and of second- 
 rate quality. The Crown Bob is a famous sort, with a large
 
 20 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 red fruit, and answers for picking green or ripe. Probably 
 the best of all is the Warrington for picking green or for 
 picking ripe for preserving. It is an early sort for picking 
 green, yet is about one of the last to come to full ripeness. A 
 good proportion of a farm plantation should be planted with this. 
 The Lancashire Lad is a useful sort for farms, as also are the 
 Red Rifleman, Golden Drop and Monarch. There are other 
 sorts raised in Lancashire, the great centre of prize gooseberries 
 concerning which fables are narrated. Of these the best are the 
 Roaring Lion, Leveller, Leader, Napoleon, and Careless. These 
 may be cultivated with good results in the gardens attached to 
 farms, and should be sent for sale in small quantities, being 
 showy fruit, and should be packed in neat baskets and tastefully 
 set off. The garden may also be turned to good account in the 
 production of early gooseberries in sheltered spots, for sending 
 to market green for puddings and tarts, for which sometimes as 
 much as %d. or ^d. per lb. is given. The ground is dug with a 
 three-pronged spud in the winter, and is manured with rags or 
 shoddy, or refuse substances. It is hoed in the summer once, 
 or twice if necessary. Directly the berries are large enough the 
 bushes are picked over, and the largest are sent to market, when 
 they make from '6d. to 2)\d. per lb., or even more at the 
 beginning of the season ; but the price soon falls to 2d. and l\d. 
 per lb., and even to 1^6?. per lb. An average crop from goose- 
 berry-bushes in full vigour would be between 6500 and 7500 lbs. 
 per acre, and the price between l^d. and 2c/. per lb. Occasionally, 
 when the soil is well suited for these bushes, very large profits 
 and very quick returns are made. The expense would depend 
 upon the amount of the crop, in respect of picking, carriage, and 
 salesmen's charges. The expenses in connection with the culti- 
 vation alone would range from 10/. to 12/. per acre, and all other 
 charges in the case of an average crop would amount to 11. or 8/. 
 per acre. There is a very great demand for this fruit for 
 bottling and preserving, as well as for eating. Gooseberry- 
 bushes are liable to be attacked in the early spring by the larvae 
 of an insect known to entomologists as the gooseberry sawfly 
 {Nematus Rihesii). To prevent this, it is desirable after an 
 attack to dig quicklime, or lime-ashes or soot, close round the 
 bushes in the late autumn. Syringing with soft soap and soda 
 and water has been found efficacious. Sprinkling with powdered 
 hellebore also is effective, but it is dangerous to apply this 
 when there is fruit on the bushes, as hellebore is a deadly 
 poison.* 
 
 * See ' Manual of Injurious Insects, and Methods of Prevention,' by E. A. 
 Ormerod. Sonnenschein and Allen, Paternoster Square.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 21 
 
 Red CurkaNTS. — These bushes are propagated in the same 
 way as gooseberry-bushes, from cuttings put in a nursery. The 
 length of the stem can be regulated by the number of " eyes " 
 retained on the cutting ; but it is generally better to let the 
 stocks be short. Bushes may be taken out from the nursery after 
 the second year, and put 5 J feet apart, or 6 feet if standard trees 
 are planted with them. The distance at which currants and 
 gooseberries are put, whether 5 J feet or 6 feet, must depend upon 
 the quality of the soil to some extent. Currant-bushes must be 
 kept cup-shaped, and the terminal shoots should be pruned to 
 lengths of from 6 inches to 9 inches, according to their vigour. 
 Laterals should not be pruned away, as in gooseberry-bushes, 
 but cut back, so that spurs may be formed, upon which the 
 fruit is grown. The best sorts are the Scotch, the Imperial, 
 Red Dutch, and the Raby Castle. There is a kind of red 
 currant known as the Queen Victoria, whose bunches and 
 berries are exceedingly large and fine. This is particularly 
 adapted for growing in the gardens of farms, as it requires 
 rather more care than other kinds, and the fruit makes a good 
 display. If it were packed in small neat boxes, or baskets, and 
 set off with coloured paper, the fruit would bring good prices in 
 London, Brighton, and other places. Here, again, the garden 
 of the farm may well be utilised. Bushes may be bought of 
 fruit-farmers at from 65. to 95. per 100. An average crop is 
 from 4500 lbs. to 5200 lbs. per acre, and the p^ice runs from 
 \^d. to 2^d. per lb., while the amount of expense per acre is 
 about the same as in the case of gooseberry-bushes. There is 
 a very large and increasing demand for this fruit for jelly, jam, 
 and for bottling. 
 
 Black Currant-bushes, as has been said, require a deep, 
 moist soil. They are easily propagated by cuttings. Care 
 should be taken not to cut these too long, nor to remove the 
 buds, as the bushes should have very short stems or stocks. In 
 fact, in most cases black currant-bushes do not grow from a 
 single stem, as in the case of gooseberry and red currant-bushes, 
 but are stocks close to the ground. As the fruit comes on 
 seasoned wood of the previous year, the young wood requires 
 to be pruned away. After the first year or two no shortening 
 of leading spurs is required, and the pruner need not be afraid 
 of cutting hard, at least when the bushes are on kindly land. 
 Bushes can be purchased of fruit-farmers at from 65. to 9^. per 
 100. The cultivation and manuring are exactly the same as for 
 gooseberries and red currant-bushes. The best sorts are : Naples, 
 the Green Bud, Baldwin's, and Lee's Prolific. There is a sort 
 called the Prince of Wales, which has large berries and comes
 
 22 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 later than the other sorts. This fruit occasionally pays remark- 
 ably well. In very hot seasons the berries are apt to run off, espe- 
 cially if there is not much natural moisture in the soil. An 
 average crop would be about 2800 lbs. per acre, and the average 
 price '6d. per lb. Expenses of cultivation, picking, packing, 
 carriage, and commission upon an average crop would come to 
 about 111. per acre. This fruit always is in great demand for 
 jam, jelly, lozenges and, as some say, for port wine. 
 
 Raspberries are grown upon " canes " or stems, pulled up 
 from established stocks in the autumn, and put into well- 
 ploughed or deeply-dug ground, in rows 5 feet apart, and 
 15 inches in the rows. The cultivation afterwards is like that 
 of gooseberry and currant plantations, except that some planters 
 use horse-hoes between the rows of canes. Raspberry canes cul- 
 tivated on a large scale are not staked, but are left to support 
 themselves, and are cut down in the late autumn to about 3 feet 
 in height ; the older wood is cut away, and all superfluous 
 young wood. They require a fairly good soil, not too porous, 
 as they do not bear drought well. The Red Antwerp and Fastolf 
 are usually planted. Carter's Prolific is also coming to the 
 front, having large well-coloured fruit. An average crop is about 
 3000 lbs. per acre, and the price about 2fd. per lb. There is a 
 great demand for this fruit for jam, and raspberry vinegar, and for 
 many concoctions and confections. It may be said here that many 
 of the numerous non-alcoholic beverages so much in vogue, and 
 steadily increasing in favour, are flavoured with, or partly com- 
 posed of, fruit extracts. Raspberry culture necessitates a good 
 supply of women for picking the fruit, as the canes want 
 looking over many times. Raspberries are largely grown in 
 Kent. Some growers have from 20 to 40 acres. They are 
 picked into galvanised iron pails, and sent to market in tubs, 
 with lids to them, because their juice easily escapes. Some of 
 the finer fruit is sold for dessert purposes, and should be care- 
 fully packed in small baskets, or better still, in small earthen 
 crocks, holding from 7 to 14 lbs. These are much used for 
 raspberries and strawberries by fruit-growers in Derbyshire and 
 other Midland and Northern counties, and are cleaner, and 
 retain the juice much better than baskets, and should be adopted 
 in Kent and other counties where these juicy fruits are pro- 
 duced for sending small quantities of fruit to market. 
 
 We have much to learn in the modes of packing and arranging 
 fruit. Those who intend to grow fruit extensively would do 
 well to go to Covent Garden Market, and notice the packages 
 of the French and other importers of fruit, which are much 
 smaller and neater, and, it must be said, far cleaner than the
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 23 
 
 " sieves " and " half-sieves"* in w^hich much of the English 
 fruit is packed ; many of these are dirty in the extreme, and 
 wholly unfit to put fine fruit in. 
 
 Strawbeeeies may be profitably grown in most of the 
 lighter clays, also upon loams, and upon the better sandy soils. 
 Upon loams and good descriptions of clay, the plants will con- 
 tinue to bear well and pay for several years. Upon some soils 
 they will only pay for three or four years. In parts of Kent, 
 upon the London Clay, and Greensand, they will last for six 
 or eight years. They are propagated by runners taken from 
 the best plants directly the fruit is picked, and are put in a 
 nursery, and transplanted from thence in the autumn. Or the 
 runners are left on the plants till the autumn, by which time 
 many have thrown out roots ; these are cut away and put at 
 once into the ground in rows, 30 inches apart, with a distance 
 of 18 inches between each plant. Some put the plants 30 inches 
 apart each way, or 3000 plants per acre, so that the ground 
 between may be horse-hoed. Early potatoes may precede straw- 
 berries ; the land should be well manured and deeply ploughed, 
 and subsoiled if necessary. Just before the fruit is changing 
 colour the ground is covered with rough farmyard-manure or 
 litter, laid all round the plants, to keep the fruit from the dirt, 
 to stimulate the growth of the plants, and to retain the moisture. 
 Picking is done by men and boys very early in the morning, 
 and necessitates a good supply of labour. Women pack the 
 fruit for dessert in punnets, which are put into deal boxes, 
 holding five dozen. In some districts the best fruit is put into 
 earthen crocks or pots. Inferior fruit is put in tubs, and sent 
 to jam markets. For this there is a very extensive demand. 
 The average price of the fruit is about 6c?. per lb. An average 
 crop would be about 3000 lbs. per acre. Frequently as much 
 as 5000 lbs. have been grown per acre. Keen's Seedling, Princess 
 Alice, Dr. Hogg, Refresher, La Grosse Sucree, Elton Pine, 
 Eleanor, Comte de Paris, Sir Joseph Paxton, are among the best 
 for field purposes. It is curious to notice how little attention is 
 given to strawberries in the ordinary farm-gardens. The bed, 
 in all probability, has not been changed for many years, and is 
 a thick mass of roots and runners, instead of having been moved 
 every four or five years. The fruit may be profitably grown 
 upon banks and side ground which it is difficult to cultivate. It 
 always meets with a ready sale, either raw or made into jam. 
 
 * Half-sieves are generally used for gooseberries, currants, and cherries in 
 Kent, and the weight is made up to 24 lbs. for currants and cherries, and 28 lbs. 
 for gooseberries. Raspberries are sent in tubs holding ^ cwt. In other counties 
 various sized baskets, called "pots" in some places, are used.
 
 24 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 There are fruit-growers in Kent who have from 80 to 120 acres 
 planted with strawberries. 
 
 Filberts and Cob-Nut-trees are grown from suckers or 
 spawns taken from old trees, or pieces cut from the tree, as 
 some prefer, and put in a nursery. In two or three years they 
 are planted out about 13 feet apart, or 257 trees to the acre. 
 A tolerably light soil is best for them, although they thrive 
 remarkably upon the Atherfield Clay, in Kent, which is heavy 
 and adhesive. They also do well in what is termed in Kent 
 " stone-shattery " land. It is necessary that they should be 
 in a position sheltered from the prevalent winds. Standard 
 apple- or plum- or damson-trees are usually put with them in 
 Kent, and currants and gooseberry-bushes are set between the 
 rows, which are taken away when the nut-trees attain a good 
 size. After four or five years a little crop may be expected, 
 and after eight years they will yield a good quantity. The 
 ground is dug in the winter with a three-pronged spud, and 
 hoed once or twice in the summer. Rags, fur, or fur waste, 
 shoddy and refuse manures are applied, not very lavishly. From 
 one and a half to two tons of rags or of shoddy every other year 
 form a sufficient dressing. Pruning requires great skill and 
 care to keep the trees in cup-shape, with the inside as clear as 
 possible. Every branch is examined by the *' tree-cutter," who 
 leaves the finest young wood, and cuts away the older and coarser 
 branches. In height, full-grown trees are about 6 feet. Cob- 
 nuts are more cultivated now than filberts, as the nuts are much 
 larger and are more saleable. Owners of land, or tenants with 
 long leases and agreements for compensation, might plant nut- 
 trees to great advantage in places where the soil and situation 
 are suitable. These nuts are packed in ordinary sieves, like 
 other fruit, and consigned to salesmen in London, and are in 
 great request, making from Id. to Is. Ad. per lb. An average 
 crop is about 8 cwts. per acre. A demand for cob-nuts has 
 arisen in America, and it is likely that as the nuts produced 
 in that country have not the same flavour as the English, this 
 will assume important proportions. 
 
 Apple-trees are planted either upon grass-land or in plan- 
 tations upon cultivated ground, with fruit-trees or bushes under 
 them. In Kent filbert- and cob-nut-trees are frequently put under 
 apple-trees, and sometimes gooseberry- and currant-bushes are 
 set between the filberts. There is not much difference between 
 the yield of apples upon grass-land and plantation, or culti- 
 vated land. Some hold that the fruit grown upon grass-land is 
 more plentiful and of better colour and quality ; while others 
 say the same with regard to the fruit produced in plantations. 
 Apple-trees re((uire a fairly good soil and a deep subsoil. They
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 25 
 
 will not do well, for instance, upon land with a depth of a few 
 inches upon chalk, nor with a gravelly subsoil, nor upon clay 
 with an undrained, impermeable substratum. 
 
 The aspect of the orchard or plantation should depend upon 
 local circumstances. It should not be too much exposed to the 
 prevalent wind, and a sheltered situation is desirable if it can 
 be obtained. Protection from the east wind is thought advisable, 
 as it generally happens that a cold wind prevails from this 
 quarter in the early spring, and checks the development of leaves 
 and blossoms and encourages the increase of aphides and other 
 injurious insects. 
 
 Standard apple-trees are raised from crab-stocks, grafted with 
 scions of the required sorts ; or from stocks raised from the pips of 
 apple-trees, having hard clear wood, and grafted with the sort 
 required. Crab-stocks are the best. Grafted stocks are fit for 
 planting out when they are from four to six years old. In select- 
 ing standard trees for orchards or for plantations, preference 
 should be given to those which have long stems. These ought 
 to be at least 6J feet from the fork to the ground, so that the 
 branches are out of the way of cattle in the former case, and 
 well above the under fruit in plantations. Apple-trees are 
 planted about 30 feet apart each way, which gives forty-eight 
 trees per acre, when bush fruits are to be put with them ; and 
 24 feet apart, or 75 trees per acre, upon grass-lands ; but the 
 distance must be varied in a degree according to the soil and 
 especially to the sorts planted, as some sorts have at more luxuriant 
 and widely-extending habit of growth than others. 
 
 Planting should be done early in November. It is most 
 important that the trees should be well established before the 
 frosts set in, and the practice of planting in the winter or in 
 the spring cannot be too much deprecated. Holes should be 
 dug at least 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and the subsoil should 
 be loosened by the spade or spud to a depth of 2 feet. Care 
 must be taken that the tree is not put too deeply in the ground. 
 Three or four strong branches are enough to form the heads of 
 standard trees. All other shoots must be removed. After this 
 they will require very little pruning, but should just be looked 
 over every year or two, and any superfluous shoots cut away, to 
 keep the middle of the tree from being crowded by crossing or 
 interlacing boughs. Stakes must be put to the young trees at 
 once to prevent them from being moved by the wind ; the trees 
 must be protected by wisps of straw or rags, from injury by the 
 cutting of the strings tied round them, and should be carefully 
 examined every year to see that the strings are not too tight. 
 Protection from cattle, sheep, and rabbits, is most essential. 
 Not half enough attention is paid to this and other details. If
 
 26 
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 a tree is barked by animals in the least degree, it generally 
 cankers and is unhealthy. Where no cattle are grazed,cages of 
 galvanised wire of a fine mesh put round the trees about 4 feet 
 high and 8 inches in diameter, at a very small cost, will serve to 
 keep off sheep and rabbits. A fence against cattle and horses may 
 be made by driving split fence-rails cut into "slats," or lengths 
 of 8 feet, and IJ to 2 inches in thickness and width, into the 
 ground, and fastening them at the top with braces, according 
 to the appended figure (Fig. 1). The pieces should be creo- 
 
 Fig. 1.- 
 
 -Illustration of a i^votecting Fence to a Fruit-tree. 
 
 a.n:r.&^i 
 
 soted, as all posts and parts of fencing that go into the ground 
 upon farms should be, and with care they will last pretty well 
 until the tree is out of danger. Good trees can be purchased at 
 about 4:1. 5s. per 100 ; but fruit-planters should not mind a little 
 extra cost to ensure good trees of the sorts desired. They must 
 be careful to buy only of respectable nurserymen, or of fruit- 
 growers of standing, and should require full guarantees. The 
 cost of planting, staking, and fencing would be from 4/. to 8/. 
 per acre. In plantations the trees only require to be protected 
 against rabbits by cages of galvanised wire-netting. The best 
 manure for apple-orchards is farmyard -manure laid round the 
 trees, or manure from sheep, cake or corn fed. Superphosphate, 
 bones, nitrate of soda, and potash may be occasionally used witli
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 27 
 
 advantage. Rags, fur waste, and refuse manure are used in 
 plantations. As to the sorts of apples much must depend upon 
 the locality. As a rule, however, the following may be planted : 
 — Foi" cooking purposes, the Early Julien (ready in August) ; 
 Keswick Codlin (September) ; Manx's Codlin (September) ; Lord 
 Suffield, a famous apple (September and October) ; Cellini Pippin 
 (September). The Ecklinville Seedling, Old Hawthorndeh, 
 Stone's Apple, or Loddington Seedling, New Hawthornden — 
 a capital apple, follow on in November ; and for the winter 
 months, keeping up to the spring, there are none better than the 
 Blenheim Orange, Northern Greening, Lady Henniker, Golden 
 Noble, Lord Derby, — a magnificent apple, Winter Queening, 
 Grenadier, Wellington, Warner's King, Norfolk Beaufin, and 
 Gooseberry Pippin. Among dessert apples, the best and earliest 
 is Mr. Gladstone, a new and beautifully-coloured fruit, ripe in 
 August. The Red Juneating, the Early Strawberry — a perfect 
 picture, and the Red Quarrenden, also handsome, are ripe in 
 September. For September and October the sorts would be the 
 Worcester Pearmain, one of the most brilliantly-coloured apples 
 that can be seen ; the Red Astrachan, a lovely combination of 
 red and white ; and the Summer Nonpareil ; and for keeping, 
 the Ribston Pippin, Cox's Orange Pippin and the Margil, both 
 these last being of exquisite flavour, exceeding that of the 
 American New Town Pippin ; Court of Wick, Claygate Pear- 
 main, Mannington Pearmain, King Pippin and Blenheim 
 Orange, Gascoyne's Seedling and the Golden Kftob. Some of 
 these, notably Lord Suffield, Stones and Keswick Codlin, come 
 into bearing after a year or two. In ten years there would be 
 a good return from most of the trees, if they had been well- 
 selected, well-planted, and properly managed. Half-standards 
 are sometimes put in plantations. These trees should be formed 
 by working upon a stock known as the Doucin, which exercises 
 a dwarfing influence upon the habit of growth, and causes early 
 fruiting. These stocks are worked close to the ground, whereas, 
 in the case of standards, the crab- or apple-stocks, grown from 
 pips, are worked standard high. The trees may be allowed to 
 grow up with a single stem as high as it is wished, and a head 
 formed as in standards ; while the side growth should not be cut 
 away, but pruned, or tipped, and its growth regulated according 
 to fancy. The advantages of these, both for gardens and planta- 
 tions made by tenants, are that they come to fruit quickly, that 
 they may be set much more closely together, and are less liable 
 to cankered disease, and that the fruit is finer. Their cost is 
 about the same as that of standards, and they may be set 16 feet 
 apart each way without any fear of crowding, if they are war- 
 ranted to be upon the proper Doucin stocks. For gardens apple-
 
 28 Hints on V^egetahle and Fruit Farming. 
 
 bushes are coming into general fashion and high favour, inas- 
 much as they come into bearing in about three years from the 
 grafting, and remain bushes without hacking and excessive 
 cutting. For these the true English Paradise stock, of dwarfing 
 nature, is used and grafted close to the ground. Bushes of this 
 kind can be put anywhere in gardens, from 7 to 10 feet apart, 
 and are things of beauty in leaf, in bloom and in fruit. A plot 
 planted with bushes of various kinds of apples is as pretty as a 
 variegated flower-bed, when the blossoms are out, and even 
 prettier when the fruit is ripening. A sketch of a Margil * 
 apple-bush, in my own garden, is given here as an illustra- 
 
 Fig. 2. — Sketch of a Margil Apple-hush. 
 
 tion of the shape of a typical bush. This is only four years 
 from the graft, and has thirty-one apples upon it of fine size 
 and lovely colour, and bore half this number last year (Fig. 2). 
 That these apple-bushes are profitable goes without saying, and 
 it is believed that they would be immensely profitable if culti- 
 vated upon a large scale, either by themselves or with goose- 
 berries and currants. They are suitable for tenants, as paying 
 at once, bearing removal ; in fact, being benefited by being lifted 
 
 * The Margil is a beautifully-coloured apple of Kibston Pippiu flavour. Dr. 
 Hogg says, " It is one of the finest dessert apples, a rival of the Kibston Pippin, 
 exceeding it in juiciness, and being a better size for dessert."
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 29 
 
 occasionally. Bushes of this kind that were transplanted last 
 March were full of rosy apples in October. Very little pruning 
 is necessary for bushes, and they may be cultivated most pro- 
 fitably in the gardens of farms, as they take up little space, and 
 their fruit is usually well-grown, and but little attention to 
 them is necessary. It would be well if farmers would grub up 
 the wide-spreading, rarely-bearing fruit-trees of common kinds, 
 which take up so much space in their gardens, and in the cus- 
 tomary orchards near their houses, and plant bushes or pyramids 
 which would be highly ornamental and certainly profitable. A 
 little pruning and pinching the shoots is all that is required. 
 Their prices range from I5. Qd. to 2s. ^d. each. But planters 
 must have a guarantee from the nurseryman that they are bond 
 fide Paradise stocks and not crab-stocks. Everything depends 
 upon the stocks in these as in other fruit-trees. 
 
 With regard to the demand for apples, it is very great and 
 increasing. Within the last few years a demand has arisen even 
 for the most common apples for mixing with other fruit for jam — 
 to serve as " stock " in fact. Dessert apples of good colour and 
 flavour are always most saleable. Consumers of such fruit well 
 know what high prices they have to give for it, even in the most 
 plentiful seasons. In short, it cannot too strongly be iterated 
 that a wide field is open to occupiers and owners of land and 
 the possessors of the humblest garden for the culture of apple- 
 trees according to the best systems ; and that by planting well- 
 selected, well-raised trees, either half-standards or pyramids, or 
 espaliers, or cordons, or bushes, a quick return may be insured. 
 
 Pear-TKEES are more delicate than apple-trees ; their blos- 
 soming is earlier, and therefore at a more critical season, while 
 they do not bear extremely hard winters so well. 
 
 Pear-trees are largely cultivated in East Kent and Gloucester- 
 shire upon grass and in plantations, and in Herefordshire and 
 Worcestershire upon grass. There is no reason why their culti- 
 vation, and especially of the finest sorts, should not be largely 
 extended in all but, perhaps, the most northern counties of 
 England. Fine-grown pears always are in great request, at 
 full prices, at least to consumers. 
 
 The methods of planting, of protecting, of the general manage- 
 ment, and pruning are very similar to those described in the 
 case of apple-trees, though the distance between the trees may be 
 somewhat lessened, unless plum-trees or damson-trees are planted 
 between the pear-trees, as sometimes is done by fruit-growers 
 in Kent, where they are set I'Z yards apart. Half-standards 
 raised upon Quince stocks may be set much more closely in 
 plantations ; and bushes may be set more closely still, and 
 planted with very good results, both in large plantations and
 
 30 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 in gardens. Pears can be grown just as well as apples 
 upon bushes and pyramids, and any one may have the finest 
 fruit in his garden, in the garden of the farm and in the fruit- 
 plantation, at a small expense, with but a little attention, and 
 quickly. The old saying that one " plants pears for his heirs " is 
 no longer applicable. For bushes, well-selected Quince stocks 
 are grafted close to the ground. For standards, clean pear-stems 
 are grafted at standard height. In America pears are exten- 
 sively grown upon bushes. Some time ago an account was 
 given in an American paper of the return of a dwarf-pear plan- 
 tation, which was 120/. per acre, at ten years old. The best 
 sorts of pears for ordinary culture are Doyenne d'Ete, Chalk 
 (July) ; Lammas, Windsor, Caillot, Rosat, Bellissime d'Au- 
 tomne (August) ; Williams' Bon Chretien, Yat, Bergamot, 
 Hessle — a very prolific pear, Marie Louise, Eyewood (Septem- 
 ber) ; Beurre Bosc (October) ; Beurre de Capiaumont, Duchesse 
 d'Angouleme, Rondelet, Catillac, Bishop's Thumb, Broom Park. 
 For pyramids or bushes, the following sorts are suited : — 
 Doyenne d'Ete, Beurre Giffard, Beurre d'Assomption, Souvenir 
 du Congres, Gratioli of Jersey, Beurre Superfin, Beurre Hardy, 
 Doyenne du Com^ice, Pitmaston Duchess, Fondante d'Automne, 
 Winter Nelis, Olivier de Serres, Easter Beurre, Beurre Ranee. 
 For the farm-garden the best kinds of pears that might be 
 grown, either on standards, pyramids, or bushes, or espaliers, 
 are the Souvenir de Congres, Beurre Clairgeau, Louis Bonne of 
 Jersey, Durondeau, Beurre Superfin. These are remarkably 
 fine pears, and may be sent to market by the dozen, and will 
 always find a sale at good prices. 
 
 Pears and apples that ripen in the winter require to be 
 carefully kept in a dry well-ventilated chamber, with an even 
 temperature, and laid upon stout laths set an inch and a half 
 apart to allow circulation of air. A series of trays placed one 
 above the other, running in grooves, is the best form, as they can 
 be pulled out and the fruit examined. They should frequently 
 be examined, and sent to market when ready.* It would pay 
 well to consign brilliant-coloured and, indeed, all the finer 
 fruit, especially that grown on bushes, in small, well-made, 
 bright-looking baskets or boxes, set off with pink or white 
 
 ♦ It is too much the custom for large fruit-growers to send their apples and 
 pears to market straight from the tree, and then they wonder that they malce 
 poor prices. No doubt they are wise in sending off the conunon kinds, for whit-h 
 there is generally a ready sale for smashing ; but it is a sacrifice to consign fruit 
 that would keep well with care until February and IMarch, to salesmen in 
 October or November. Some Kent fruit-growers keep apples and pears in oast- 
 houses, which are fairly suitable. All large fruit-growers who wish to make the 
 full value of their fruit, must arrange proi)cr places for storing it until it is 
 properly fit for use.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 31. 
 
 paper ; and for this kind of fruit, as well as for all superior fruit 
 of every kind, contracts should be made, if possible, to supply 
 it directly to the retailer. 
 
 Plum-trees and Damson-trees are grown on grass or in 
 plantations. Standards are set 15 feet apart each way, which would 
 take 193 trees per acre. In very strong land they are set 18 feet 
 apart. In Kent they are frequently put between apple- and 
 pear-trees, and are removed when these trees get large. Plum- 
 trees and damson- trees are often set with fruit-bushes. This 
 is a kind of plantation which tenants with long leases might 
 undertake without much risk, as the plum-trees will come into 
 profitable bearing after five or six years, and the damson-trees 
 after four or five years. Plum-trees are raised from common 
 plum stocks, grafted or budded with scions of the kind re- 
 quired. What is known as the Brussels stock is used for 
 producing large quick-growing trees ; the Pershore plum-tree, 
 grown so largely in Worcestershire, which can be raised from 
 cuttings, is also a good stock. For bush and small pyramids, 
 the grafts or buds are worked upon the Mirahelle petite^ a stock 
 having a bushy and prolific habit. The famous Farleigh or 
 Crittenden damson, which is so wonderfully productive and 
 profitable, can be easily raised from its own suckers or spawns 
 without grafting or budding. Nurserymen, however, hold that 
 better trees are obtained quite as quickly by grafting upon 
 ordinary stocks ; the stems of these are clean, and free from the 
 disfigurement caused by cutting away shoots from the natural 
 stocks. 
 
 Plum-bushes may be planted in plantations with gooseberry- 
 or currant-bushes with immense advantage. Wind does not 
 injure them. They bear fruit abundantly. They may be 
 planted thickly ; the fruit is of fine quality, and can be picked 
 without ladders, or breaking the trees. When the superior 
 advantages of fruit-bushes of all kinds are fully realised, we 
 shall see a great revolution in English fruit-culture. The 
 American fruit-growers are largely adopting this system, and 
 gardeners who grow fruit for market have found out its supe- 
 riority over the old method. Good sorts of plums for planta- 
 tions are the Early Rivers, Early Diamond, Blue Prolific, 
 Perdrigon,* Early Orleans, Corse's Nota Bene, Dauphine, 
 Belgian Purple, Washington, Prince of Wales, Prince Engel- 
 bert, Pond's Seedling, a magnificent plum, Coe's Golden Drop, 
 Belle de Septembre. The best damsons are the Farleigh or 
 Crittenden's, the Shropshire and the Prune. They do not last 
 
 * " It is said that the Perdrigon plum, with two kinds more, were first made 
 natives of this soil by Thomas Lord Cromwell when he returned from his 
 travels," — Hasted, ' History of Kent.'
 
 32 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 nearly so long as apple- and pear-trees, and come into good 
 bearing at from six to seven years old, when planted upon 
 good, well-drained soil. They will thrive upon loams, clay- 
 loams, the lighter marls and clays, and should not be planted 
 deeply, as their roots do not go down far into the ground, but 
 run along the surface. Nor should they be put in a situation 
 much exposed to the wind, as the branches are brittle, and 
 break off easily when laden with fruit. 
 
 Plum- and Damson-TKEES do not require much pruning. A 
 little tipping of strong leading shoots must be done for a few 
 years, and a little occasional judicious clearing out of the centre 
 in the case of standard trees. Bush trees must be tipped and 
 crossing shoots removed. For pruning standards, and indeed 
 for bushes in their higher branches, there is a capital cutting- 
 machine, in use on a few farms, made by a village black- 
 smith. As will be seen in the engraving (Fig. 3), there is a 
 
 Fig. 3. — Pruning Machine. 
 
 sharp oblique knife on one side, and on the other a kind of 
 hook, which has teeth or notches to grip the shoot or branch, 
 while the knife is pressed into it by the leverage of the long 
 handles. These cutters may be 2 feet or 4 feet long, or 
 any length, and it is wonderful what large boughs can be cut off 
 by them. For young trees and bushes no ladder is wanted if 
 this cutter is used, and it is most objectionable to set ladders 
 against young trees. For picking and pruning, a step-ladder 
 should be used when possible. 
 
 Plums always sell well. This year they have made capital 
 prices. They are ready when other fruits are out of season and 
 when £he foreign season is over. For damsons there appears to be 
 a practically unlimited demand, at 8*. to 12^. per sieve. Also 
 Greengages, of which the best sorts are the early Gage, Reine 
 Chiude Hative ; a late Gage, Reine Claude de Barry. J^lecker's 
 Yellow Gage is also an excellent fruit and is always in demanti. 
 Although acres of them are planted in Fast Kent, they are more 
 fitted for the farm-garden or for snug sheltered spots. As they 
 are valuable fruit, to ensure full prices for them they should be 
 packed in small boxes in single layers, and set off with a little
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 33 
 
 fringe of coloured paper, in the same way as they are sent from 
 the Continent. 
 
 Cherry-trees yield a handsome return in localities suitable 
 to their growth, as in parts of Mid Kent, near Maidstone, upon 
 the Lower Greensand, and in East Kent upon the loams and 
 brick-earth of the Tertiary soil over the Chalk, where they thrive 
 particularly well, though the situation is high and exposed. As 
 they blossom early in May, they are liable to receive injury 
 from spring frosts. These trees require a dry subsoil, there- 
 fore are not suited to heavy clay soils. The ordinary method of 
 obtaining standard trees is to graft upon stocks of the wild cherry, 
 Cerasus avium. Standard trees may be purchased at from 
 Is. 4ri. to 25. each, and should be planted about 30 feet apart, 
 or forty-eight trees to the acre, upon cultivated ground with 
 gooseberry- and currant-bushes under them, and plum-trees may 
 be set between them. After ten or eleven years the bushes 
 should be taken out and grass seeds sown, as cultivation does 
 not suit cherry-trees when they have attained a certain size; or 
 the trees may be planted at once upon grass-land. The plum- 
 trees may remain from twenty-five to twenty -eight years, at which 
 time the cherry-trees will be in full vigour. There is no reason 
 why cherry -orchards should not be made in many English 
 counties. Encouragement should be given in every way by 
 landlords to their tenants to plant them as well as apple- and 
 pear-trees. Pyramidal trees or bushes are formed by grafting 
 upon the Mahaleb stock, Cerasus mahaleb, a native' of the South 
 of Europe. These are very prolific, and may be planted in the 
 same way, and with as much advantage as apple, pear and 
 plum pyramids and bushes. 
 
 Pyramids and dwarf trees of the English red cherry, or 
 Kentish Red and Flemish, should be planted in every available 
 spot, in gardens and in plantations. They do not take much 
 room, and invariably make high prices, because their fruit has 
 a fine subacid flavour, and is peculiarly suited for bottling, 
 drying, and preserving. The Morello cherry also is recom- 
 mended to farmers for growing against north or west walls, or 
 north heads and sides of barns, or lodges, or stables, while the 
 south and east sides of buildings would be occupied by plums, 
 figs or peach, or nectarine-trees. Morello cherries always sell 
 well for making cherry-brandy, and for preserving, and should 
 be sent for sale in cardboard boxes, with two layers in each, the 
 stems being cut to about half an inch in length.* 
 
 * Cherries are usually packed in half-sieves, holding 24: lbs. Very fine 
 Bigarreaus and other kinds are sometimes put into quarter-sieves, holding 
 12 lbs. ; but it would well pay to put the very choicest fruit into 2 Ib.-boxes 
 or baskets, as is done by the French growers.
 
 34 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 The best sorts for standards are the Early Purple Gean, 
 Early Rivers, Adam's Crown Heart, Early Frog^more, Knight's 
 Early Black, Kentish Bigarreau or Amber Heart, Elton Heart, 
 Waterloo, IMack Heart, May Duke, Black Eagle, Flemish, Turkey 
 Head or Turk, Florence, Kentish Cluster or Crown, Morello. 
 These ripen in the order in which they are given above. Those 
 that are best for pyramids are the Early Purple Gean, Belle 
 d'Orleans, May Duke, Royal Duke, Flemish, Kentish Red, and 
 Morello. The three last are hardy, very prolific, and their fruit 
 always is in great demand. All cherries are most saleable. 
 The importation of cherries from France, Holland, and Algiers 
 has ceased when English cherries are ready for market. They 
 have sold remarkably well this year, having made from 145. to 
 3()5. per sieve of 48 lbs. A landowner in East Kent, who has 
 planted many acres of land with cherry-trees, cleared 420Z. in 
 the last season by the fruit from 7 acres. English cherries are 
 superior in flavour to those grown on the Continent, as indeed 
 most of the English fruit is, and they are much appreciated by 
 gourmets. As has been said before, they ripen when Continental 
 cherries are over, and at a time when there is not an abundant 
 supply of fruit in Paris, Brussels, and other cities. The same 
 applies to plums and to soft fruits. Seeing that there is no 
 duty upon fruit imported into France, and only 5 per cent, ad 
 valorem upon fruit imported to Holland, and 10 per cent, in the 
 case of Belgium, surely a trade might be established with those 
 countries. The Kentish Railway Companies have stated that 
 they are willing to give facilities of transport and a quick 
 service, and it only remains for enterprising growers to open 
 communications with dealers in the chief cities of those 
 countries. 
 
 This concludes the list of fruits that may be grown upon a 
 large scale, the cultivation of which does not entail a great 
 amount of skill or knowledge. There are other fruits whose 
 cultivation would be taken up by enterprising fruit-farmers after 
 a time, such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs, and grapes, 
 out of doors, and under glass with or without heat. A great deal 
 of money is made from these by the few who grow them, who 
 make a business of producing luxuries for the wealthy. Judg- 
 ment is necessary in the selection of suitable spots and of suitable 
 sorts of fruits for planting, and special care must be taken that 
 the sorts are true to their names. Planting must be thoroughly 
 well done in every detail, if the best results are desired. This 
 kind of ship is most easily *' spoiled for want of a halfpennyworth 
 of tar." Cultivation also must be carried out in a liberal manner, 
 and far more attention paid to packing and setting fine fruit off 
 in the best light than is now bestowed by ordinary fruit-growers.
 
 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 35 
 
 Fine apples and pears should be stored and only sent to market 
 when they are ready for use, in order to make the best prices of 
 them. Above all, fruit-growers must combine and establish a 
 better mode of selling their fruit, in order to get a price more 
 approximate to its real value. Already in Kent some growers 
 have taken steps to form an Association to alter all this, while 
 others have commenced to make contracts with retail shops to 
 supply them directly. 
 
 There is an enormous demand for fruit of all kinds, and 
 intending planters must not be frightened either by fear of the 
 foreigner or that the supply will be in excess. Jam-making 
 assumes larger proportions year by year, and, as has been sug- 
 gested, fruit is also used for flavouring drinks of all kinds, for 
 dyeing, and for making wines. Some idea of the extent of the 
 jam-making trade may be gained from the following, which 
 appeared as an advertisement in a newspaper in Kent, during 
 the whole fruit season : — 
 
 " To Fruit-growers, Dealers, and Others. Wanted for Cash — 
 
 5000 bushels Green gooseberries. 
 5000 „ Black currants. 
 8000 ,, Green gooseberries. 
 2000 „ Red currants. 
 500 „ Common apples. 
 
 Address Covent Garden, London." 
 
 It would be most desirable that fruit-growers should have 
 some conveniences for turning their fruit into jam or jelly, in 
 case of gluts in the market. The process of jam-making is 
 simple, and is understood by most housekeepers. It seems that 
 nothing but a good-sized copper would be required to convert 
 quantities of fruit into jam, which, from its bond fide character, 
 would certainly hold its own against the manufactured, strangely- 
 blended concoction of ordinary smashers, who use common 
 apples as a foundation. Indeed, it is alleged that marrows, 
 turnips, and other vegetables are used by some of the smashing 
 fraternity ; and flavoured, according to taste, with raspberries, 
 gooseberries, and currants. A landowner in the Midland counties 
 having planted hundreds of acres of land with fruit-trees has, 
 with admirable foresight, put up an apparatus for boiling down 
 fruit, if the prices offered for it, when raw, do not suit his ideas. 
 
 Fruit-growing is a most interesting and engrossing occupa- 
 tion, and, taking an average of seasons, is also most profitable. 
 As has been shown, it may be commenced in a small way, — in 
 the garden of the farm, and gradually extended as circumstances 
 may warrant. The chief objection to its adoption hitherto by
 
 36 Hints on Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
 
 tenants — that so much time elapsed before any return could be 
 made — has been removed by the introduction of trees of dwarf 
 and early fruit-bearing habit, in the shape of half-standard 
 pyramids and bushes as regards apples, pears, and plums ; and 
 a tenant protected by a long lease and by assurance of com- 
 pensation for improvement, which most landlords would be 
 glad to give in these days, may venture to cultivate these fruits. 
 In the case of other fruits, it has been shown that in two or 
 three years the bushes will begin to bear, and soon become 
 remunerative. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWKS AND SONS, LIMITED, 3TAMFOKD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS.