CHAPTER LII.

THE PROFITABLE UTILIZATION OF HILL SLOPES AND WASTE LANDS IN ENGLAND.

BY SAMPSON MORGAN, F.G.L.,

Editor of the "Horticultural Times"; Hon. Sec. of the National Fruit Growers' League; Author of "How to Make the Most of the Land”; “ The Secret of Fertility”; "What Ireland really Needs," etc.

IN calculating the areas that are suitable for development throughout the United Kingdom, we are at once brought face to face with the fact that a very considerable portion consists of what is usually termed unproductive or waste land, on account either of the hilly nature or impoverished condition of the soil.

In many counties there is hardly an extensive estate that can be found which does not contain within its borders some land of the nature I describe, and it is not too much to say, with regard to private land alone, that there are hundreds of thousands of acres which, for centuries, on account of the popular belief of their barrenness, have been unproductive of an ounce of fruit or an ear of corn.

In this article I am desired, not so much to ask whether such land can be utilized, or whether it can possibly be made to pay, but to show, nay, demonstrate beyond doubt, that some of these hundreds of thousands of unproductive acres may be profitably utilized, and that by the introduction of an intelligent system of culture, they may be made the medium of producing at home.

some of the fruit and food products which at present are sent us by the foreign growers.

It is here necessary for me to define what I mean by the term "waste land." From an agricultural point of view it means land such as we have by the mile in the form of hills and valleys at Chobham Common in Surrey.

In fact the waste common lands of this county may very appropriately be referred to as being the most comprehensive illustration of what is meant by the above description.

If ever there was "waste land" in England we have it here, and having been brought up on one of these solitary hill slopes, living for years in the midst of a vast expanse of idle and unproductive acres, on a ten acre fruit farm nestling under the shadow of one of the highest hills in this county, with its model farm house, which, on account of its elevated position, could be seen from the country roads around Guildford, nearly ten miles away, I am in an exceptionally favourable position to deal in a practical and comprehensive manner with a question. which is undoubtedly of paramount importance to the English landowner.

Generally speaking, the soil of the Surrey slopes and hills consists of a very light sand, shallow in some parts, deeper in others, but in most cases lying upon a subsoil of gravel, forming in the majority of cases a hard and almost impervious pan, which has first of all to be broken through before the land can be made fit for cultivation.

Of course I need hardly say that such a soil is looked upon by the local agriculturist as being totally useless, hence for ages it has remained in the same state as we find it to-day-unproductive of anything save the peat that is cut from its surface, and the fir trees which spring up in profusion and flourish to perfection midst tangled

masses of wild heather and gorse which cover the hills and valleys as thick as grass.

Now to prove that such waste, hilly land as I refer to may be utilized in a very profitable manner, in spite of local opinion, I will refer to a case independent of my own-although the crops that were raised on my ten acre holding, which when taken in hand was a fir wood, were of the most lucrative nature-to show what can be done under improved systems of culture.

Five years before I had taken up my abode on the Surrey hills, a retired London tailor had bought fifteen acres of the same land, of which he had ten acres laid down with fruit.

After this was done, he and his wife and one regular man kept the place in order without any other help, except during busy seasons. I need scarcely add that in a few years he obtained regular and profitable yields of fruit, which met a ready sale at Aldershot, every peck in fact being disposed of there.

The weight of the crops was extraordinary; the fruit itself was clean and very fine, and he was enabled to make money in fruit-growing on the proverbial waste and barren land of the Surrey hills.

I anticipate the objection-first, that high winds on hill slopes would be fatal to fruit culture; and secondly, that the dry nature of the soil on the light waste lands referred to would prevent the adoption of such a system.

To the first, I reply, that by the medium of the dwarf instead of the tall standard tree, and the protection of a bank of earth on the top of which a hedge is planted-by making which we secure a ditch for surplus rains-we are enabled to meet the difficulty referred to; and secondly, I assert that perfect and thorough drainage is positively essential to successful fruit culture.

I am now referring to sloping areas of land in elevated localities, and not to steep hills, which I am to deal with later on.

Further, the successful operations of the party previously mentioned places the suitability of the system beyond dispute.

If I am asked to mention crops, I would point out that on both fruit farms were raised the finest strawberries, raspberries, currants, apples, pears, plums, also asparagus, marrows, peas, beans, potatoes, spinach, and various other products that could be grown in the open

air.

In all these cases I can testify from personal experience as to the results that were secured. I might here mention that the farmers of the district never dream of raising in their best fields anything except the usual round of root crops and corn.

Intensive or petit culture is the panacea for which I plead, and the advantages that may be derived from the introduction of improved systems are evidenced in the case of a Mr. Rogers, near Petworth, in Sussex, a tenant under a twenty-one years lease, on the estate of Lord Leconfield, whose little fruit and nursery plantation I have inspected, and which proves in the most striking manner what can be done with the land in this country.

Originally, Mr. Rogers was a carter at Deptford, and in due course, without any agricultural knowledge whatever, found himself at an insignificant Sussex village, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery in England.

His first start, I believe, was with a cottage and one or two acres of land, which he cultivated with his brother. Industrious and energetic to a degree, steady and economical, he worked on and on, until at last when I visited his holding he held about five acres in all, had

erected five glass-houses, mostly with his own hands, and had one of the most perfect little nurseries I have ever

seen.

Pressed as to the acquirement of his horticultural knowledge, he informed me he had obtained the whole of his information from an old gardening book, by the aid of which he had been enabled to unlock a good many of the secrets of "the Art that doth mend Nature.'

The productive nature of this little place is seen at a glance when we learn that it finds occupation and a living for five workers regularly, besides which, Mr. Rogers and his brother have kept themselves and their two families, of sixteen all told, from this little fruit farm, and have a banking account besides.

He propagates all kinds of nursery stock including fruit trees, for the district, and his miniature orchard is planted with apple, pear, plum and nut trees. The trees are planted in rows, first a half standard tree, then a pyramid tree, with bush fruits between all.

Where available he raises in the land between the rows of trees, early potatoes, strawberries, violets, etc., and I am convinced that he thus obtains from one acre more in money value than the neighbouring farmers do from twenty acres at least.

The specimens of fruit raised are of high quality; at my suggestion he sent some of his cobnuts to a London market, for which he received one shilling per pound. His nut trees are unusually prolific.

From personal experience I do not hesitate to assert that this little fruit farm is as productive and profitable, acre for acre, as those worked by the petits cultivateurs of France or the Channel Island growers.

I am pleased to acknowledge that the credit of having come across this nursery is due to Thomas Bayley