66 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



apple and plum trees, with their boughs of 

 dark foliage pendent with green and red fruit, 

 the cloches and frames make a pretty picture 

 sparkling in the sun. Another French garden, 

 which is said, I believe, to be the largest in 

 England, seems to be run on the lines of a 

 highly organised factory under glass, for on 

 my asking permission to enter, the French 

 maraicher promptly demanded a fee of 2s. 6d. 

 as gate-money. This was an " Evesham custom " 

 of which I did not approve, so I bent my 

 steps towards gardens less commercially 

 organised. 



It is usual with one landowner to break 

 up a dirty field on a farm with a steam 

 cultivator before he lets it to the small holders, 

 charging them with the extra cost, which 

 amounts to about 10s. an acre. This seems 

 to me an excellent plan, for it is the arduous 

 labours of the first year, often spent in grap- 

 pling with a field smothered with couch-grass 

 and tearing out every tentacle of it, which 

 sometimes breaks the heart of the tenant. 

 The farmer generally possesses agricultural 

 machinery to enable him to clean his fields 

 well, but the small market gardener has only his 

 fork to rely upon, with his muscles in the 



