82 THE EVESHAM DISTRICT 



consider what are the special conditions to which 

 these results are due, and whether there are not 

 other places in England equally well adapted for 

 this type of cultivation. 



The circumstances which appear to have led to 

 the present conditions are as follows : 



1. First and fundamentally, the forwardness of 

 the district, due to its altitude and position ; but it 

 is subject to all the havoc of late frosts. 



2. The nature of the soil; but it must be remem- 

 bered that much of the soil in this district is of 

 indifferent quality, and its value is due more to 

 thorough cultivation and high manuring than to 

 anything inherent in its nature. Also we have 

 several instances, two of which have been alluded 

 to, where many small men are earning a good 

 living and paying a high rent on heavy land where 

 farmers had failed. While admitting, therefore, 

 that, in the first instance, the rich soils of the Avon 

 Valley, combined with the early climate, caused the 

 introduction of market-gardening, I would add that 

 the spreading of the industry further afield has 

 educated the local men up to the discovery of how 

 to cultivate inferior soils so as to arrive at the same 

 results. 



3. This natural education of the local men, 

 emanating from the two factors already mentioned, 

 I would place as a third factor which has contri- 

 buted to present conditions. Every Evesham man 

 is a born gardener. 



4. The facilities for disposal of produce is another 



