THE EVESHAM DISTRICT 57 



IT. SMALL HOLDINGS OF NATURAL 

 ORIGIN IN RECENT TIMES. 



THE EVESHAM DISTRICT 



(INCLUDING THE PARISH COUNCIL HOLDINGS AT HAMFION). 



The Evesham district has long been celebrated 

 for its market-garden industry. That this type of 

 cultivation is specially suitable for the small man 

 is well illustrated by the fact that 75 per cent, 

 of these gardeners started life as labourers. 



There are more than 10,000 acres in the district 

 under garden cultivation in holdings from 1 to 

 8 acres, and the breaking up of farm lands for this 

 purpose has been steadily on the increase since 

 1865. 



At least half of the borough of Evesham alone is 

 cultivated as gardens and orchards, and most of 

 this land is let at from 4 to 10 an acre. Out of 

 the 567 householders mentioned in the commercial 

 directory lists for Evesham, 138 are entered as 

 market-gardeners. The same thing is found in all 

 the adjoining villages viz., in the village of Badsey, 

 two and a half miles east of Evesham, there are 

 87 market-gardeners out of 93 householders ; in 

 Aldington, two miles out, out of 19 householders, 

 18 are entered as market-gardeners ; in Offenham, 

 two miles north by east of Evesham, there are 31 

 out of 47 householders, etc. 



