GROWTH OF A NEW ENGLAND. 49 



or two, and then you will have to pay me £2, 

 or £2 : 10s. an acre afterwards." The man 

 will probably begin to plant asparagus or 

 fruit - trees, or even both, and when he has 

 his second acre under good cultivation he 

 will give up working for his master, apply 

 for a third acre, and work entirely for 

 himself. He may in course of time be 

 working three or four different isolated strips 

 on the same farm cut up for small holdings. 



The other economic factor which gives the 

 cultivator an incentive to do his very best, is 

 one which operated at Evesham long before 

 market gardeners' Acts were passed to protect 

 tenants against predatory landowners. This 

 is the "Evesham custom" which from time 

 immemorial has made the new inffoinir tenant 

 pay the outgoing tenant (not the landlord) for 

 agricultural improvements. For instance, the 

 labourer who has planted out his asparagus 

 bed or planted his fruit-trees in his one, or 

 two, or three-acre plots, knows that should he 

 wish to quit he will not be robbed of the 

 fruits of his labour, or the little capital that 

 he has sunk in his holding. And here, even 

 handicapped by working on segregated hold- 

 ings, the small man manages to produce a 



4 



