OF AGRICULTURE. 127 



I could not relate here all the marvels achieved 

 in market-gardening ; so that I must refer the 

 reader to works most interesting works 

 especially devoted to the subject, and give 

 only a few illustrations.* Let us take, for 

 instance, the orchard the marais of M. Ponce, 

 the author of a well-known work on the culture 



the other hand, it was discovered lately that certain microbes 

 in the soil are a necessary condition for the growth of plants. 

 Hence the idea of sowing the beneficent microbes, which rapidly 

 develop in the soil and fertilise it. We certainly shall soon 

 hear more of this new method, which is experimented upon on 

 a large scale in Germany, in order to transform peat-boga 

 and heavy soils into rich meadows and fields. 



* Ponce, La culture maraichere, 1869 ; Gressent, Le potager 

 moderne, 7th edition in 1886 ; Courtois-Gerard, Manuel pratique 

 de culture maratchtre, 1863 ; L. G. Gillekens, Cours pratique de 

 culture maratchere, Bruxelles, 1895 ; Vilmorin, Le ban jardinier 

 (almanac). The general reader who cares to know about the 

 productivity of the soil will find plenty of examples, well classi- 

 fied, in the most interesting work La Repartition mttrique des 

 impute, by A. Toubeau, 2 vola., 1880. I do not quote many 

 excellent English manuals, but I must remark that the market- 

 gardening culture in this country has also obtained results very 

 highly prized by the Continental gardeners, and that the chief 

 reproach to be addressed to it is its relatively small extension. 

 French market-gardening having been lately introduced into 

 England, several manuals have been published for that pur- 

 pose. The little work, French Gardening, by Thomas Smith, 

 London (Utopia Press), 1909, deserves special mention, as it 

 contains the results of one year's observation of the work 

 of a French gardener, specially invited to England by Mr. 

 Joseph Fels, and gives (with illustrations) a mass of prac- 

 tical indications and numerical data as to the cost and the 

 value of the produce. A subsequent work of the same author, 

 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables for Market Gardeners, Small 

 Holders, and Others, London (Longmans, Green), 1911, deals in 

 detail with the ordinary culture of vegetables and the inten- 

 sive culture of the French gardeners. 



