PREFACE vii 



of vegetables and salads a remunerative business, pro- 

 vided he is willing to do what his French neighbour does. 



Many excellent gardeners are still under the im- 

 pression that, although intensive cultivation may 

 be all very well round Paris, it is not likely to be 

 of great use in the British Islands. Even if this 

 weak argument be used against the adoption of the 

 system during the winter months, it cannot possibly 

 be urged against its practice during the summer 

 season. French and English gardeners are then 

 on a level footing. They both grow their salads in 

 the open air without the aid of artificial heat. But 

 what a difference is noticeable in the methods of 

 cultivation, and in the amount of produce taken off 

 a similar area of ground within a given period ! On 

 the English side of the Channel, Nature with the 

 help of an occasional hoeing, and a spasmodic or 

 irregular watering does most of the work on soil 

 that has been treated in the ordinary way. Around 

 Paris, however, not only is the soil made up of beautiful 

 spongy mould from old and well-decayed manure, 

 but water is given in such abundance during growth 

 that Nature is encouraged to put forth all her energies 

 in the shortest time. Added to this, there is the 

 ingenious system of intercropping, by means of 

 which the ground is covered with plants in all stages 

 of growth, and one crop succeeds another as if by 

 magic. During the summer months, at least, there 

 is therefore little to prevent this system being carried 

 out in Britain. 



At the present time there is no book in the English 

 language dealing with all the details of the French 

 system of intensive cultivation as practised in the 



