240 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



work could probably be very much reduced. In Japan, two 

 men and two women plant with rice three-quarters of an 

 acre in one day (Ronna, Les Irrigations, vol. Hi., 1890, p. 67 

 seq.). That means (Fesca, Japanesische Landwirthschaft ', p. 

 33) from 33,000 to 66,000 plants, or, let us say, a minimum 

 of 8250 plants a day for one person. The Jersey gardeners 

 plant from 600 (inexperienced) to 1000 plants per hour (ex- 

 perienced). 



M. IMPORTS OF VEGETABLES TO THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



That the land in this country is not sufficiently utilised for 

 market gardening, and that the largest portion of the vege- 

 tables which are imported from abroad could be grown in this 

 country, has been said over and over again within the last 

 few years. 



^It is certain that considerable improvements have taken 

 place lately the area under market gardens, and especially 

 the area under glass for the growth of fruit and vegetables, 

 having largely been increased of late. Thus, instead of 

 38,957 acres, which were given to market-gardening in Great 

 Britain in 1875, there were, in 1894, 88,210 acres, exclusive 

 of vegetable crops on farms, given to that purpose (The 

 Gardener's Chronicle, 20th April, 1895, p. 483). But that 

 increase remains a trifle in comparison with similar increases 

 in France, Belgium, and the United States. In France, the 

 area given to market gardening was estimated in 1892 by M. 

 Baltet (L* horticulture dans les cinq parties du monde, Paris, 

 Hachette, 1895) at 1,075,000 acres four times more, in pro- 

 portion to the cultivable area, than in this country, and the 

 most remarkable of it is that considerable tracts of land 

 formerly treated as uncultivable have been reclaimed for the 

 purposes of market gardening as also of fruit growing. 



As things stand now in this country, we see that very large 

 quantities of the commonest vegetables, each of which could 

 be grown in this country, are imported. 



Lettuces are imported not only from the Azores or from 

 the south of France, but they continue until June to be im- 

 ported from France, where they are mostly grown not in 



