210 THE POSSIBILITIES 



because Thorold Rogers' complaint about mod- 

 ern farmers keeping no accounts holds good, 

 even for the best gardening establishments, and 

 next because when the returns are known to me 

 in all details, it would not be right for me to 

 publish them. " Don't prove too much ; be- 

 ware of the landlord ! " a practical gardener once 

 wrote to me. Roughly speaking, I can only 

 confirm Mr. Bear's estimate to the effect that 

 under proper management even a cool green- 

 house, which covers 4,050 square feet, can give 

 a gross return of 180. 



As a rule, the Guernsey and Jersey growers 

 have only three crops every year from their 

 greenhouses. They will start, for instance, 

 potatoes in December. The house will, of course, 

 not be heated, fires being made only when a 

 sharp frost is expected at night ; and the potato 

 crop (from eight to ten tons per acre) will be 

 ready in April or May before the open-air potatoes 

 begin to be dug out. Tomatoes will be planted 

 next and be ready by the end of the summer. 

 Various catch crops of peas, radishes, lettuce and 

 other small things will be taken in the meantime. 

 Or else the house will be " started " in November 

 with melons, which will be ready in April. They 

 will be followed by tomatoes, either in pots, or 

 trained as vines, and the last crop of tomatoes 

 will be in October. Beans may follow and be 



