A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
4. FRUIT
The same procedure was adopted with this section of the inquiry as with the section on outdoor vegetables, but in establishing the basic figures of numbers of fruit trees and fruit bushes in gardens, the interviewer was able to count the actual number of fruit trees in the garden and the actual number of bushes without having to rely upon the memory of the gardener to supplement her figures. The question on failure was asked of gardeners in the same way as before, however, as was the question on comparison of yield with 1943, fwhile an additional question asked him if the area covered by small fruit in his garden was more, the same, or less than in 1939.
The first section that follows deals with small fruit, and the second section with fruit trees.
30% of the sample grew fruit of one kind or another. This is the equivalent of approximately 2, 850, 000 households in England and Wales.
Small Fruit
7. Small Fruit: Extent of cultivation and failure
It was impossible to measure accurately the total area covered by small fruit since the arrangement of bushes and plants in many gardens made it difficult for the interviewer to get very close to them or construct a method of measurement. Accordingly gardeners were asked if, in their judgment, the area covered by small fruit was more, the same, or less, than in 1939.
8. Area covered by small fruit in 1944 compared with area in 1939
| No. Growing Small Fruit 1939-1944 | More | Same | Less | No Information |
| % | % | % | % | |
| 661 | 8 | 34 | 18 | 40 |
The proportion of gardeners not answering the question makes it difficult to interpret the results.
Judgment of yield was not affected so much by inability to answer the question,
9. Small Fruit: Judgment of yield
Fruit Trees
This section was more satisfactory than others, in that it was easy to count the number of fruit trees accurately, but the division into mature and immature trees, made by the gardener, was often a doubtful one,
10. Fruit Trees: Extent of Cultivation and Failure
The proportion of immature apple trees is considered by the Ministry of Agriculture to be high, when compared with commercial practice. In recent years there has been an increasing sale of immature apple-trees to private growers, however, and this may have affected considerably the balance of mature to immature trees in private gardens.
11. Fruit Trees: Judgment of Yield
It is clear from the table that in the opinion of gardeners 1944 was a much poorer year for fruit trees than 1943.
A frequency distribution of the number of fruit trees in gardens shows that most of them are to be found singly, or in groups of two and three.
12. Frequency distributions of Apple, Plum, Pear and Cherry Trees in Private Gardens
The average number of named trees in each garden with fruit trees was as follows.