FRUIT PRODUCTION IN GREAT BRITAIN The climate of England permits of outdoor culture of but a portion of the fruits eaten, these being known as the hardy fruits. The following table gives in detail the output of fruits from hold ings over one acre in size in England and Wales for 1925, the year when the last census of production was made:— The apple crop is therefore by far the most valuable ; next come plums, followed closely by strawberries and gooseberries.
The climate is a handicap to the production of fruit on a com mercial scale in Scotland. Nevertheless, there is an important fruit industry at Blairgowrie, Perthshire, where the largest rasp berry area in the United Kingdom exists. There is also a straw berry industry in the Clyde valley.
Special Fruit Areas.—Most of the fruit of England is the output of a comparatively few districts where growers have specialized on fruit production. Orchard fruits and small fruits are produced in most counties of England, but experience has shown that crops of a satisfactory size and quality are only secured in certain areas where the soil and climatic conditions are favour able, and where growers have a knowledge of the technique of fruit growing. In fact, there is a tendency against widening the areas over which fruit is produced in favour of securing a re latively more intense production in the few selected centres. (See subsequent section : Fruit Plantations.) No doubt, the oldest fruit area lies in the south-west of England, in Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Hereford, where orchard fruit has been grown since Norman times. In these counties each farm has its orchard of apple trees, the numbers of which by the terms of the lease have to be kept constant. The orchard is laid down to grass, and often provides grazing for pigs, calves, ewes and lambs. Formerly grass orcharding was used for the production of cider fruits only, but in recent years both cider and market varieties of fruit have been cultivated. Some of the commercial fruit plantations of market varieties have also been laid down to grass, so that grass orcharding must now be regarded as one of the recognized sys tems of English fruit production. The method, though found suitable for apples, damsons, plums and cherries, cannot be used with success either for bush fruits or for the best dessert pears and plums.