FARMING IN CORNWALL 119 



late variety of broccoli will have begun in February, 

 and lasted till the end of March. In February also 

 the flower season will have commenced, different 

 varieties of narcissi, daffodils, wallflowers, iris, gladioli, 

 etc., following one another in a continuous series, 

 lasting until August. Cabbage begins about the middle 

 of March in a good season, and lasts until the end 

 of April. In addition to all these things come the 

 peaches, the cucumbers, and the general farm produce 

 already indicated. 



Mr. Lawrey calculated that it cost him 50 an acre 

 to plant the new potatoes, but the manure laid down 

 for that crop suffices for the subsequent crop of broccoli. 

 The two, therefore, must be taken together. The details 

 of this estimate of 50 per acre work out thus : 2^ tons 

 of potato seed, 5 IDS. ; i ton of guano, 10 ; 160 loads 

 of dung,* 32 ; ploughing, IDS. ; labour 2. The return 

 per acre from the potatoes lifted should be from jo to 

 80. The cost of the broccoli crop that follows is 

 limited to two items, plants and labour, and these come 

 to a total of about 2 105. per acre, while the broccoli 

 grown should be worth from 15 to 20 an acre. As 

 against these returns, however, must be set about 12 

 per acre for rent, tithes, rates and taxes. 



Although the sale of broccoli at i the crate has 

 become a memory of the past, and although some of 

 the growers have failed to make headway, the business 

 has expanded considerably. In the coast parishes of 

 Madron, Gulval, and Ludgvan, especially, there is 

 hardly a bit of available land that has not already been 

 utilized, and for miles to the east of Penzance the 

 railway passes alongside an almost continuous series of 



* Large supplies of sea-weed are available for the purposes of 

 manure. The gathering of this sea-weed constitutes one of the 

 minor industries on the coast. 



