4G0 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



MARKET-GARDENING IN ESSEX. 



The following brief remarks on market-gardening will, I trust, prove instruc- 

 tive to some of the readers of 'The Gardener,' more especially those who may 

 not have had an opportunity of personally observing the way in which the 

 markets of our great and fast extending metropolis are supplied with veget- 

 ables. The greater proportion of the vegetables used in the city or east end of 

 London are grown in Essex, which is fast becoming a complete vegetable 

 garden. 



A more generally unfortunate season has seldom, if ever, been experienced, 

 and upon no one does this fall more severely than those who follow agricultural 

 and horticultural pursuits. Although in this immediate vicinity there are few 

 of what are termed market-gardeners, yet nearly or quite all the farmers grow 

 large quantities of the more common kinds of vegetables for London, more 

 especially for the Spitalrields and Borough markets. These vegetable crops are 

 the most expensive, but if the crops, and the prices realised, are good, they are 

 very remunerative, and also prove excellent preparations for the ordinary 

 farm crops. Peas, Runner Beans, and Potatoes are the most extensively 

 grown, but many grow a few acres of Turnips, Carrots, Beet, and Onions, &c. 

 Peas, in particular, are the most generally grown, but have not paid over well 

 lately. This is partly attributed, strange to say, to the slackness of trade in the 

 north, as well as in London, as in prosperous times many truckloads of bags 

 and sieves of Peas are bought up in the London markets and despatched north- 

 wards, better prices being the natural consequence. Early Peas are mostly 

 grown, as they generally pay best, and the land being cleared early, gives the 

 opportunity of sowing Turnips, planting Cabbage, Broccoli, &c. Sangster's No. 

 1 is most commonly sown, but Caractacus will eventually supersede it. Some 

 of the more enterprising have sown William L, and are well pleased with it. 

 For later supplies, Laxton's Supreme, Blue Scimitar, Yorkshire Hero, &c, are 

 sown. The latter is a particularly good variety, being to the farmer what 

 Veitch's Perfection is to the private gardener, and is one of the most, if not the 

 most, useful Pea in cultivation. Peas are sown on heavily manured land in drills 

 about 2 feet 6 inches apart, and of course no stakes are used. The growth is very 

 sturdy, seldom exceeding 2 feet in length, and the produce is generally heavy, 

 and the pod well filled. Xext in importance to Peas are Runner Beans : these, 

 too, are sown on land well manured, and in lines about the same distance apart 

 as Peas. They are thinned out to about 18 inches apart ; they are not allowed 

 to run, but are kept closely pinched back ; and the bloom, thrown well above 

 the foliage, presents a very pretty sight, extending, in some instances, over an 

 unbroken field 15 or more acres in extent. Treated in this way, they are 

 picked from much earlier than in private gardens. This season they com- 

 menced picking the first week in August — nearly a month later than last year. 

 The growers experienced very great difficulty in getting a good plant, — the 

 seed rotting in the ground in the first instance, and slugs destroying those 

 that did vegetate. It has.also been very difficult to keep them clear of w r eeds. 

 The large podded varieties are mostly grown, but some of the salesmen, who 

 are also growers, have found the small podded varieties the most profitable, as 

 they fetch better prices, and oftentimes selling when the coarser ones will not, 

 and being smaller, are produced in greater profusion. The farmers, as a rule, sell 

 their crops of Peas and Beans early in the season as they stand, either to the 

 market salesmen or other speculative persons, who in their turn employ gangs 

 consisting of men, women, and children, many of whom come out of towns 



