A FLOURISHING FRUIT-FARM.
At Toddington, in Gloucestershire, there has been going on for a few years the cultivation of fruit on a very large scale; a fruit-farm of five hundred acres having been planted by Lord Sudeley, and which, we are glad to know, has proved so successful, that its area is about to be enlarged to the extent of other two hundred acres. An enormous number of fruit-trees of many kinds has been planted, along with thousands of currant-bushes, whilst upwards of a hundred acres of the land are devoted to the growth of strawberries. A noteworthy feature of the scheme consists of a market being found for the smaller fruits on the ground on which they have been grown. In other words, Lord Sudeley has, with great foresight, erected a suite of boiling-houses and packing-rooms, which have been let to an enterprising person, who manufactures genuine jams and jellies from the fruit grown at Toddington. In fruit-preserving, the English and Scotch boilers—and the latter class have largely increased during the last few years—have a great advantage over their brethren of the continent and the United States, because of the greater cheapness of the sugar, which is required in large quantities. It is to be hoped that the example set by Lord Sudeley will be speedily followed by some of his territorial brethren. As a nation, we could manage to consume much more fruit than we do at present, if we could obtain it at a moderate price. In the orchards at Toddington have been planted as many as thirty-two thousand plum-trees, nine thousand damson trees, and three thousand nine hundred pear and apple trees, while there are no fewer than two hundred and twenty-eight thousand black-currant bushes.