Sheffield Independent 21 July 1906
FRUIT CULTURE NEAR SHEFFIELD.  AN INTERESTING FARM AT STOCKSBRIDGE.  

A little time ago some reference was made in the “Sheffield Daily Independent” to what was then regarded as an experimental efford in fruit culture at Stocksbridge.  Mr. Oxley, of the English Fruit Preserving Company, Hillsbro’, put to the test of experience a theory which he had developed.  He purchased a considerable acreage from the late Mr. Grayson Lowood, on the hillside above the steel works of Samuel Fox and Company, Stocksbridge.  Mr. Oxley’s theory was the possibility of growing successfully various kinds of fruit in an exposed position.  It would be difficult to find a stretch of land more open and, in the winter period, more bleak than that selected by Mr. Oxley for his fruit farm.  Practical experience has shown that it is not only possible to grow raspberries, black currants, gooseberries, and plums on the hillside above Stocksbridge, but that with proper attention and cultivation the crops and the quality of the fruit equal, if not surpass, those grown under conditions regarded as more favoured and on the very best soil in the Eastern and Southern Counties.  Mr. Oxley’s idea was that much of the south-grown fruit is spoiled or depreciated by the frosts which come after the first blossoming of the fruit trees.  In a more exposed and more northerly position the fruit trees bloom later, therefore avoiding the late frists, and the result is a more hardy plant, fruit of better flavour, and better development, which comes, perhaps, a month later than the south-grown fruit, but which pays the grower by a much greater percentage.

A representative of the “Sheffield Daily Independent” was invited by Mr. Oxley to visit his fruit farm on Thursday in this week, a day before the picking of the fruit was appointed to commence.  The drive to Stocksbridge from Hillsbro’ (our representative writes) is one of the prettiest short drives near Sheffield, passing as it does through charmingly wooded country at Wadsley and Oughtibridge.  The farm itself at first does not give one an impression of size, because the approaching road only discloses a view of one or two of the fields.”  In the first of those fields rows of raspberry canes had been planted two years ago.  There was no fruit whatever upon them, because raspberries, like asparagus, require three years to attain maturity so far as bearing is concerned.  Amongst the raspberry canes were a large number of damson plum trees.  Without exception, the raspberries and damsons are in fine, healthy condition, free from any indication of grubs or blight.  The field beyond disclosed a remarkable view of raspberry canes full of beautiful fruit which those canes were bearing.  Although the present season is the first upon which the fruit has shown itself – that is they are three-year-old plants – many of the branches were so laden that their extreme end, for additional support, rested upon the ground.  Mr. Oxley does not use sticks or supports for his raspberry plants, as is usual in ordinary fruit growing.  To do so would largely increase the labour on his farm, and the result in fruit production would not be materially increased.  He also allows each plant to grow as much wood as it will in a natural state without pruning or cutting, except when he wishes to obtain new plants.  The result of this method of cultivation is that although the raspberries are arranged in rows, each field gives one the impression of an almost solid growth of healthy leaves, being heavily splashed with brightly-coloured ripe fruit.

Other fields on the farm furnish examples of different varieties of raspberries, and of plants of older growth than those already referred to.  In this one the weight of fruit was even greater than that yielded by the younger trees.  Asked with reference to the yield in the aggregate Mr. Oxley said that he regarded two tons of raspberries to each acre of plants as an average result.  Probably the actual yield would be nearly three, counting the berries which were not of first quality.  As a ton of raspberries is worth something over £20 each acre of raspberry plants yields produce worth £40 or more.  Mr. Oxley had something over twenty acres planted with raspberry canes. 

Part of the theory of the proprietor of this interesting farm is that a great deal of the land in that neighbourhood as well as in other parts of England, where conditions are not so bleak, could be made to produce valuable fruit to a similar, or even more profitable, extent.  It needs scarcely be said that an acre of ground planted with raspberries employs much more labour than an acre upon which horses or sheep are being grazed, or which is cultivated for the production of ordinary cereal crops.  It is therefore in a double sense profitable to the community on the greater employment it gives, and the more valuable food it produces, besides the very much larger return the landowner and farmer receive for their invested capital and for managerial skill. 

It is the custom of this country to import the great bulk of the raspberries consumed, both for jam making and for table use.  These come from lands as far distant as Tasmania.  They come backed in 14lb tins.  Going back to the place of origin, labour must be employed in the picking, the carting to the nearest railway, the transhipment with similar service at the port of entry.  Mr. Oxley thinks it a very great pity that we should buy under these conditions an immense monetary value of fruit such as raspberries, which could be grown at home if the English farmer was sufficiently enterprising to wait three years for results from a new crop such as raspberries.

The fruit farm at Stocksbridge produces not only raspberries.  There is a large acreage under black currant cultivation.  This season all over the country black currants are acknowledged to be a failure. (They are worth £37 per ton.)  In the gardens and nurseries further south the fruit may be seen having fallen from the trees before it has obtained that dark lustrous colour which indicates ripeness.  Not so Mr. Oxley’s black currants.  In the course of a long walk in different parts of the farm devoted to this kind of fruit culture I looked carefully for fallen currants and saw extremely few.  Numbers of young plants were covered with fruit, the bulk of which was already ripe enough for gathering.  In one part of the farm raspberries had been planted on some land rather heavier than the loam which makes up the soil I had first observed.  Here the raspberries were not doing as well as on the lighter land.  The black currants on some similar land, where there is a good deal of natural moisture, were in the very best condition.  Light and fairly dry soil for raspberries; strong and moist for black currants seems to be the result of observation.  Another example of successful fruit growing at Stocksbridge was furnished by several fields of gooseberry bushes.  Two varieties were noticeable, these known as Crown Bobs being n the best condition.  Here again the remarkable weight of the crop as well as the quality was apparent.  I asked for an estimate of the wright of one or two bushes, and the proprietor, who generally errs on the safe side in reply to such a query, said that on the bush I pointed out there was at least 10lbs. weight of gooseberries.  I should have guessed the weight nearer 14lbs.

Before arriving at the farm I suggested to Mr. Oxley that the stiff breeze we encountered on our way was probably the worst enemy he had to contend with at his farm.  He replied that at one time he held the same opinion, but he had found that the wind in the fruit season was not quite as much an enemy as would be generally supposed.  He found that the wind bent the gooseberry bushes which are heavily leafed in one direction, but that the result was the leaves invariably shaded the fruit from the keenest action of the wind and yet left it exposed to the ripening rays of the sun in a more effective way than if the trees could be made to grow exactly upright.

Mr. Oxley takes a natural pride in the success of his farm, which is indeed marvellous when all the conditions are taken into consideration.  The fact that he is anxious that the possibility of growing fruit in bleak positions amongst the Yorkshire hills should be generally known shows that he has no [desire?] to be selfish in what may be almost described as his discovery.  On the contrary, he is frequently showing gardeners and progressive farmers what he has done and is doing.  His chief desire is to convince his neighbours and those agriculturists who come from a distance that it is possible to make their land, by growing fruit, more profitable in the employment of labour, more profitable in the financial results to themselves.

Although a great portion of the farm is devoted to fruit growing, it has other interesting features.  There are twenty acres of pretty wooded land where the ferns and bracken make a delightful undergrowth, the pine, the larch, the poplar a pleasant shade, and a trout stream runs along the glen.  Here Mr. Oxley pointed to an experiment which had failed, but to which he intends again to return.  Some year or two ago he attempted to graft fruit-bearing cuttings upon a number of other trees.  He is of opinion that the grafting experiment failed because of a frost which came inopportunely, which ruined the graft.   But he intends when he has made some further study of the process to again try to adapt some of the already grown trees on his woodland to the production of apples and other fruit

I saw (writes our representative) much more of interest that I would like to tell about.  How Mr. Oxley enticed the crows to a portion of his gooseberry acreage threatened by the grub of the green caterpillar, and how the crows cleared every grub - a result unattainable by syringing.  How the schoolboys from Stocksbridge come up for an hour or an hour and a half’s weeding after school, and do their work in a friendly competitive spirit.  How the gathering of the fruit is done by the boys and girls in the holiday period, who thus earn a goodly sum under most healthy conditions.  

My impression of the fruit (which I tasted freely) was that it is too good for jam-making; the raspberries and the black currants were finer dessert fruit than one usually sees in a good hotel; and the gooseberries were large enough and perfect enough to take a prize at a show.

“Some I.L.P. [Independent Labour Party, established 1893] people are coming on Saturday,” said Mr. Oxley.  “I shall be pleased to see them, although I don’t agree with their views.  Some of my friends suggest that they may want to claim the farm on Socialistic principles, but (laughing) I don’t feel afraid.  I shall have pleasure in showing them how the land, with capital and brains, and a definite object before one, can be made to produce more food of more value, more employment for labour, and more profit for the private capitalist, whose existence they don’t seem to favour.” J.C.