* * * * The Fruit Crop The Ministry of
Agriculture reports for orchard and for small fruit an increase in acreage of 1 per cent. in 1933 over 1932. The increases in orchards were confined to Kent and to the Mid-Western counties ; elsewhere there were decreases in acreage. Small fruit, too, shows a tendency towards concentration, in this case in the Eastern counties. The increase is gratifying. Fruit culture demands money and labour, and they are what are needed on the land. It gradually becomes apparent that home agriculture is tending towards the production of those crops requiring intensive cultivation, and is leaving to new and sparsely settled countries those crops which can be got cheapest by unintensive large- scale or machine-farming. We can produce at least the greater part of what we consume in fruit, vegetables, eggs, bacon and dairy-produce. All of these commodities require intensive cultivation and make for more workers and more wealth on the land. Corn-growing and beef-feeding require little labour, and can be carried out more cheaply abroad. Fruit, poultry and pigs may yet revive the small-holding. And the tendency towards concentration of these industries will lead to more efficient production and marketing. * * * *
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