82 KEEPING COW3. [No. 



roads, lanes, nurseries, pastures, corn-fields, and plea- 

 sure-grounds, do not, in my opinion, cover one square 

 mile. To the north and south of the Wen there is very 

 little in the way of market garden; and if, on both sides 

 of the Thames, to the eastward of the Wen, there be 

 three square miles actually covered with market gar- 

 dens, that is the full extent. How, then, could the Wen 

 be supplied, if it required ten rods to each family ? To 

 be sure, potatoes, carrots, and turnips, and especially 

 the first of these, are brought, for the use of the Wen, 

 from a great distance, in many cases. But, so they 

 are for the use of the persons I am speaking of; for a 

 gentleman thinks no more of raising a large quantity 

 of these things in his garden, than he thinks of rais- 

 ing wheat there. How is it, then, that it requires half 

 an acre, or eighty rods, in a private garden to supply a 

 family, while these market gardeners supply all these 

 families (and so amply too) from ten, or more likely, 

 five rods of ground to a family? I have shown, in 

 the last Number, that nearly fifteen tons of vegetables 

 can be raised in a year upon forty rods of ground ; 

 that is to say, ten loads for a wagon and four good 

 horses. And is not a fourth, or even an eighth, part 

 of this weight, sufficient to go down the throats of a 

 family in a year ? Nay, allow that only a ton goes to 

 a family in a year, it is more than six pound weight 

 a day; and what sort of a family must that be that 

 really swallows six pounds weight a day ? and this a 

 market gardener will raise for them upon less than 

 three rods of ground ; for he will raise, in the course 

 of the year, even more than fifteen tons upon forty 

 rods of ground. What is it, then, that they do with 

 the eighty rods of ground in a private garden ? Why, 

 in the first place, they have one crop where they ought 

 to have three. Then they do not half till the ground. 

 Then they grow things that are not wanted. Plant 

 cabbages and other things, let them stand till they be 

 good for nothing, and then wheel them to the rubbish 

 heap. Raise as many radishes, lettuces, and as much 

 endive, and as^many kidney-beans, as would serve 

 for ten families ; and finally throw nine-tenths of 



