GROWTH OF A NEW ENGLAND. 59 



hourly feuds — the expense of erectmg fences or 

 hedges. Nothing but a well-trodden footpath 

 divides one holding from another, and on most 

 of the holdings all that is seen of a building is 

 a small shed, called a hovel, where tools and 

 stores are kept under lock and key. Some- 

 times a pigsty is to be seen, for without the 

 pig the Evesham grower would be often at a 

 loss for a complete fertiliser containing humus. 



To obtain stable manure from Birmingham 

 means paying from 8s. to 10s. per ton by the 

 time the manure is carted on to the ground. 

 The gardeners here are great believers in the 

 efficiency of lime and soot — lime applied in 

 the winter, especially around the plum-trees, 

 and soot in the spring in the strawberry gardens. 

 The other favourite manures are fish guano, 

 bone, and nitrate. The grower who keeps a 

 horse and cart will probably kee]) them behind 

 his house in the town. 



Before I visited Evesham I held the 

 belief that the small holder should always have 

 his cottage on his holding, and I planned my 

 own holding of twenty acres with a cottage 

 upon it. But then I was planning for a mixed 

 small holding where stock is kept. Now that 

 I have been to Evesham and observed the 



