146 EVESHAM AND ITS STORY 



Among those forming the deputation was Mr. John 

 Idiens, of the firm of John Idiens and Sons, Limited, 

 Evesham, and before leaving Paris that gentleman 

 engaged a French expert to come over to Evesham, 

 and there start on a portion of Messrs. Idiens' farm the 

 experiments referred to in the closing paragraph of my 

 communication to The Times. This arrangement was 

 duly carried out, and, on visiting Evesham early in 

 December, 1905, I had the opportunity of seeing, or 

 learning of, the results, so far as they had then been 

 attained. 



I found that the experiments had been initiated with 

 such expedition that actual growing in the ' French 

 garden ' was commenced in March, 1905 ; though the 

 Frenchman in charge told me that it would take about 

 two years before the manure so abundantly employed 

 had rotted down into the same quality of light peaty 

 soil as that employed in Paris. Any possible difficulty 

 in the way of obtaining straw stable manure had been 

 surmounted with the help of the Great Western Rail- 

 way Company, who were providing it to the firm at the 

 rate of 53. lod. per ton, delivered at Evesham. Water 

 was obtained from the river Avon, being pumped by 

 a gasoline engine into a large tank, from which it is 

 distributed over the garden. Thus the firm had 

 secured the two primary essentials specified by the 

 French expert when he remarked to a visitor : ' Give 

 me plenty of stable manure and water, and I will grow 

 you anything.' 



But that expert wanted also to grow in accord with 

 French principles down to the smallest details. Thus 

 the implements used have been imported from Paris, 

 the French varieties being regarded as better suited 

 than English to the particular requirements of a ' French 

 garden,' and the workers even use baskets strapped on 



