§ Miss Quennellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how the present harvest of hard-top fruits compares with previous years.
§ Mr. GodberProvisional estimates of this season's gross production of the major orchard fruit crops in England and Wales are shown below, together with figures for earlier years.
ENGLAND AND WALES ('000 tons) 1968–72 1972 1973 5-year average Provisional Forecast Apples—dessert 255.0 197.5 277.0 Apples—cooking 137.8 135.6 149.0 Pears 62.7 48.9 40.0 Plums 55.0 43.7 50.0 Cherries 9.7 12.4 8.0