Cornwall and Middlesex each has more than 500 acres devoted to strawberry cultivation.
The following statement from returns for 1908 shows the area under different kinds of fruit in 1907 and 1908 in Great Britain, and also whether there had been an increase or decrease:
| 1907. | 1908. | Increase or Decrease. | |
| Acres. | Acres. | Acres. | |
| Small Fruit— | |||
| Strawberries | 27,827 | 28,815 | + 988 |
| Raspberries | 8,878 | 9,323 | + 445 |
| Currants and Gooseberries | 25,590 | 26,241 | + 651 |
| Other kinds | 19,880 | 20,501 | + 621 |
| 82,175 | 84,880 | +2705 | |
| Orchards— | |||
| Apples | 172,643 | 172,751 | + 108 |
| Pears | 8,911 | 9,604 | + 693 |
| Cherries | 12,027 | 11,868 | − 159 |
| Plums | 14,901 | 15,683 | + 782 |
| Other kinds | 41,694 | 40,391 | −1303 |
| 250,176 | 250,297 | + 121 |
It appears from the Board of Agriculture returns that 27,433 acres of small fruit was grown in orchards, so that the total extent of land under fruit cultivation in Great Britain at the end of 1908 was about 308,000 acres.
There are no official returns as to the acreage devoted to orchard cultivation in Ireland. The figures relating to small fruit, moreover, extend back only to 1899, when the area under this head was returned as 4809 acres, which became 4359 acres in 1900 and 4877 acres in 1901. In most parts of the country there are districts favourable to the culture of small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants, and of top fruits, such as apples, pears, plums and damsons. The only localities largely identified with fruit culture as an industry are the Drogheda district and the Armagh district. In the former all the kinds named are grown except strawberries, the speciality being raspberries, which are marketed in Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool. In the Armagh district, again, all the kinds named are grown, but in this case strawberries are the speciality, the markets utilized being Richhill, Belfast, and those in Scotland. In the Drogheda district the grower bears the cost of picking, packing and shipping, but he cannot estimate his net returns until his fruit is on the market. Around Armagh the Scottish system prevails—that is, the fruit is sold while growing, the buyer being responsible for the picking and marketing.
The amount of fruit imported into the United Kingdom has such an important bearing on the possibilities of the industry that the following figures also may be useful:
The quantities of apples, pears, plums, cherries and grapes imported in the raw condition into the United Kingdom in each year, 1892 to 1901, are shown in Table V. Previous to 1892 apples only were separately enumerated. Up to 1899 inclusive the quantities were given in bushels, but in 1900 a change was made to hundred-weights. This renders the quantities in that and subsequent years not directly comparable with those in earlier years, but the comparison of the values, which are also given in the table, continues to hold good. The figures for 1908 have been added to show the increase that had taken place. In some years the value of imported apples exceeds the aggregate value of the pears, plums, cherries and grapes imported. The extreme values for apples shown in the table are £844,000 in 1893 and £2,079,000 in 1908. Grapes rank next to apples in point of value, and over the seventeen years the amount ranged between £394,000 in 1892 and £728,000 in 1908. On the average, the annual outlay on imported pears is slightly in excess of that on plums. The extremes shown are £167,000 in 1895 and £515,000 in 1908. In the case of plums, the smallest outlay tabulated is £166,000 in 1895, whilst the largest is £498,000 in 1897. The amounts expended upon imported cherries varied between £96,000 in 1895 and £308,000 in 1900. In 1900 apricots and peaches, imported raw, previously included with raw plums, were for the first time separately enumerated, the import into the United Kingdom for that year amounting to 13,689 cwt., valued at £25,846; in 1901 the quantity was 13,463 cwt. and the value £32,350. The latter rose in 1908 to £60,000. In 1900, also, currants, gooseberries and strawberries, hitherto included in unenumerated raw fruit, were likewise for the first time separately returned. Of raw currants the import was 64,462 cwt., valued at £87,170 (1908, £121,850); of raw gooseberries 26,045 cwt., valued at £14,626 (1908, £25,520); and of raw strawberries, 52,225 cwt., valued at £85,949. In 1907 only 44,000 cwt. of strawberries were imported. In 1901 the quantities and values were respectively—currants, 70,402 cwt., £75,308; gooseberries, 21,735 cwt., £11,420; strawberries, 38,604 cwt., £51,290. Up to 1899 the imports of tomatoes were included amongst unenumerated raw vegetables, so that the quantity was not separately ascertainable. For 1900 the import of tomatoes was 833,032 cwt., valued at £792,339, which is equivalent to a fraction under 2½d. per ℔. For 1901 the quantity was 793,991 cwt., and the value £734,051; for 1906, there were 1,124,700 cwt., valued at £953,475; for 1907, 1,135,499 cwt., valued at £1,020,805; and for 1908, 1,160,283 cwt., valued at £955,983.
Table V.—Imports of Raw Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries and Grapes into the United Kingdom, 1892 to 1901. Quantities in Thousands of Bushels (thousands of cwt. in 1900 and 1901). Values in Thousands of Pounds Sterling.
| Year. | Quantities. | ||||
| Apples. | Pears. | Plums. | Cherries. | Grapes. | |
| 1892 | 4515 | 637 | 413 | 217 | 762 |
| 1893 | 3460 | 915 | 777 | 346 | 979 |
| 1894 | 4969 | 1310 | 777 | 311 | 833 |
| 1895 | 3292 | 407 | 401 | 196 | 865 |
| 1896 | 6177 | 483 | 560 | 219 | 883 |
| 1897 | 4200 | 1052 | 1044 | 312 | 994 |
| 1898 | 3459 | 492 | 922 | 402 | 1136 |
| 1899 | 3861 | 572 | 558 | 281 | 1158 |
| 1900 | 2129[1] | 477[1] | 423[1] | 243[1] | 593[1] |
| 1901 | 1830[1] | 349[1] | 264[1] | 213[1] | 680[1] |
| Values. | |||||
| 1892 | 1354 | 297 | 200 | 135 | 394 |
| 1893 | 844 | 347 | 332 | 195 | 530 |
| 1894 | 1389 | 411 | 302 | 167 | 470 |
| 1895 | 960 | 167 | 166 | 96 | 487 |
| 1896 | 1582 | 207 | 242 | 106 | 443 |
| 1897 | 1187 | 378 | 498 | 178 | 495 |
| 1898 | 1108 | 222 | 435 | 231 | 550 |
| 1899 | 1186 | 266 | 294 | 154 | 588 |
| 1900 | 1225 | 367 | 393 | 308 | 595 |
| 1901 | 1183 | 296 | 244 | 214 | 695 |
| 1908 | 2079 | 515 | 428 | 235 | 728 |
In 1908 the outlay of the United Kingdom upon imported raw fruits, such as can easily be produced at home, was £4,195,654, made up as follows:
| Apples | £2,079,703 |
| Grapes | 728,026 |
| Pears | 515,914 |
| Cherries | 235,523 |
| Plums | 428,966 |
| Currants | 121,852 |
| Apricots and peaches | 60,141 |
| Gooseberries | 25,529 |
In addition about £280,000 was spent upon “unenumerated” raw fruit, and £560,000 on nuts other than almonds “used as fruit,” which would include walnuts and filberts, both produced at home. It is certain, therefore, that the expenditure on imported fruits, such as are grown within the limits of the United Kingdom, exceeds four millions sterling per annum. The remainder of the outlay on imported fruit in 1908, amounting to over £5,000,000, was made up of £2,269,651 for oranges, £471,713 for lemons, £1,769,249 for bananas, and £560,301 for almond-nuts; these cannot be grown on an industrial scale in the British Isles.
It may be interesting to note the source of some of these imported fruits. The United States and Canada send most of the apples, the quantity for 1907 being 1,413,000 cwt. and 1,588,000 cwt. respectively, while Australia contributes 280,000 cwt. Plums come chiefly from France (200,000 cwt.), followed with 38,000 cwt. from Germany and 28,000 cwt. from the Netherlands. Pears are imported chiefly from France (204,000 cwt.) and Belgium (176,000); but the Netherlands send 52,000 cwt., and the United States 24,000 cwt. The great bulk of imported tomatoes comes from the Canary Islands, the quantity in 1907 being 604,692 cwt. The Channel Islands also sent 223,800 cwt., France 115,500 cwt., Spain 169,000 cwt., and Portugal a long way behind with 11,700 cwt. Most of the strawberries imported come from France (33,800 cwt.) and the Netherlands (10,300 cwt.).
Fruit-growing in Kent.—Kent is by far the largest fruit-growing county in England. For centuries that county has been famous for its fruit, and appears to have been the centre for the distribution of trees and grafts throughout the country. The cultivation
