MEANING OF " INTENSIVE " CULTIVATION 3 



While it may not be necessary to spend anything like 

 2,000 or 3,000 when starting a French garden, it 

 is simply preposterous to imagine as some do that 

 the intensive system of cultivation can be adopted 

 on remunerative lines without incurring some expense. 

 Cloches, frames, manure, and water the four great 

 feet of the system must be provided before a start 

 can be made, and what these are likely to cost may 

 be seen from the figures given at p. 25. 



Besides the French gardens at Evesham and in 

 Essex, there are others, such as the one at the Burhill 

 Golf Club, Walton, and the notable one at Thatcham 

 in Berkshire. This garden has been much boomed 

 in the daily press, and is undoubtedly a most inter- 

 esting object-lesson as to what can be done by women. 

 It is managed entirely by ladies, with the help of a 

 French gardener or " maraicher " ; and I should 

 say that it was established on reasonable and economic 

 lines. The garden occupies about 2 acres, and is 

 on a fairly rich sandy loam, with a gentle slope to 

 the south. The land has been fenced in all round, 

 and notwithstanding the fact that most of the manure 

 has to be carted from Reading, a distance of 14 miles, 

 and works out at js. per ton, I was informed that 

 very good results were obtained. Water is obtained 

 from a well that has been sunk 40 feet deep, but it 

 is to be made deeper. Last year the storage tank 

 held only 500 gallons of water ; this was found to 

 be much too small, and it was necessary to keep 

 the oil engine pumping all day to secure a sufficient 

 supply. 



That profits are to be made out of French gardening 

 there can be no doubt, and an attempt has been made 



