SMALL HOLDERS 135 



bit of ground is certainly remarkable. There is plenty 

 of hard work done, but there is no room for doubt as 

 to the general success. In one instance a grower re- 

 lated to me that he began as a farm-labourer, then got 

 an acre of land, and was now working 6 acres, with 

 asparagus as the principal crop. He did most of the 

 work himself, being on sometimes in the summer 

 from three in the morning till nine at night ; but he 

 got help in the asparagus season. In spite of the hard 

 work, he enjoyed the life, found himself much better 

 off than when he was working for someone else, and 

 had no doubt that, if he wanted to build his own house, 

 he could find the money to do it with. 



This is really a typical illustration of what has been 

 going on at Evesham ; but in certain instances the 

 degree of success attained as the result of conspicuous 

 individual talents in the way of intelligence and busi- 

 ness aptitude is even more remarkable. Large and im- 

 portant concerns have been built up within a compara- 

 tively short time by men who began in quite a small 

 way, and one can hear at Evesham of ' examples ' as 

 striking as any that are told respecting successful settlers 

 in Canada or other new countries. The final result is 

 that, no matter in what direction one drives out from 

 Evesham, one sees for mile after mile a landscape that 

 consists almost entirely of market-gardens. 



One of the main reasons for all this expansion is 

 undoubtedly to be found in the exceptionally good 

 railway facilities enjoyed by the district. 'We have,' 

 said one of the leading local growers and traders, Mr. 

 John Idiens, to a Market Growers' Gazette interviewer, 

 ' an almost perfect train service to every point of the 

 kingdom. ... It has,' he added, ' been a unique ex- 

 perience for me to go around the district and see 

 different people, and to find that they have no com- 



