A CRESS FARMER 



is thinning to be done ; then the gathering from 

 February through the season, and the cleaning and 

 bunching-up of the cress for local retail business. 



Some springs may dry up in late summer, and 

 the cress perish, so that fresh planting will be 

 necessary when the water rises again ; at another 

 time the water flows too strong, and damages the 

 beds almost as badly as when it dries up. There is 

 the hurt too, done by the frost, which may nip and 

 turn yellow whole beds of cress, especially where 

 the water deepens. Finally, a constant anxiety about 

 price, demand, and supply. Black cress at this time 

 of year has fetched as much as eleven shillings a 

 flat. With a few weeks' profit on such a price the 

 farmer can afford to gather and sell his green cress 

 at is. 6d. or even is. a flat, and yet make a living, 

 taking the year as a whole. But if he does not win 

 his profit now, when cress is something of a luxury 

 and should fetch a good price, what chance has he 

 to make up later, when it is cheap and plentiful 

 everywhere ? 



One thing tells against this honest, hard-striving 

 man, which, rightly understood by his customers, 

 would be in his favour. The springs bring to the 

 surface much mineral powder, which darkens the 

 roots of the cress and cannot be wholly removed 

 by washing. The cress may be more nourishing 

 through these minerals, but the appearance is dis- 

 liked by the dealer, who wants white clean-looking 

 stems on the dark cress as on the green. 



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