2 
In the absence of current information as to the area unde: 
fruits other than those set out above, no estimate can be made 
of the production of apricots, loganberries and cultivated black: 
berries, but the value of these is probably of little account in 
comparison with the total. No estimate has been made in recent 
years of the production of nuts. 
Fruit production in the past three years has on the average 
been greater than in either 1908 or 1913, but both these latter 
years were described as considerably below average. Unlike 
other kinds, the cider apple crop appears to have fallen ofl 
substantially. 
Variation in the Area of Orchard and Small Fruit.—Neither 
the total area of orchards nor that of small fruit has changec 
very greatly during the past twenty years in this country, thougl 
a decrease is shown in both cases. 
AREA OF ORCHARD AND SMALL FRUIT IN CERTAIN Y EARS 
Orchards 
Small fruit : 
Strawberries 
Raspberries 
Currants and gooseberries 
Other and mixed 
Total small fruit - 
1908. 
Acres. 
248.007 
25,397 
6,666 
25,014 
19.873 
76.950 
19183. 
7 
1925. 
Acres. 
243.610 
Acres. 
238,081 
21,672 
7,044 
26,846 
21,295 
27,668 
6,955 
29,854 
3.875 
76.857 | 68.352 
The slow reduction in the area of orchards and small fruit 
in the last 17 years shown in the above table, however, is the 
result of an appreciable change which has occurred in the distri- 
bution over the country as a whole. The areas under orchards 
and small fruit respectively in different districts in certain years 
are shown in the table on the next page. 
Clearly the eastern counties are steadily displacing the westerr 
as the chief orchard areas of the country. In 1891 the tw¢ 
westerly groups shown above totalled 115,000 acres of orchards 
or 55 per cent. of the whole orchards of the country, while the 
two easterly groups aggregated only 32,000 acres, or 15 per cent 
Up to 1908 there was a general increase, but greatest in the 
eastern groups, which in that year possessed 22 per cent. of the 
orchard acreage as compared with the western groups 50 per 
cent. But some of the orchards of the west country have beer 
grubbed up, and some have ceased to hear and are no longel 
returned as orchards, with the result that the two western group* 
now have only 39 per cent. of the country's orchard acreage 
while the eastern groups have nearly the same proportion. Among 
the minor counties also the same tendency is evident : westert