AGRICULTURE 



gardening, and will probably produce its most paying results in the hands 

 of those who understand the kitchen garden. 



Potatoes have a large and steady sale in London, but Middlesex has 

 never cultivated the crop so freely as might have been expected. Acres 

 have thus varied : 



1876 .......... 2,814 acres 



1906 .......... 1,873 ,, 



Early potatoes from the Scilly and Channel Islands, the Canary Islands, 

 and Portugal have been inimical to high-value cultivation in Middlesex, 

 and the main potato crop may safely be left to shires less fortunately 

 situated than the privileged little district within five and twenty miles of 

 the Borough market. 



Roots, such as turnips, swedes, mangolds, carrots, cabbages, kohl-rabi 

 and rape, were in 1876 thus returned : 



Turnips and swedes 



Mangolds . 



Carrots 



All other roots 



2,o i o acres 



1,985 



100 



1,203 ,, 



5,298 



The returns of 1906 show a somewhat different division : 



Turnips and swedes 

 Mangolds . 

 Cabbages . 

 Kohl-rabi . 

 Rape 



475 acres 

 1,190 



22 



18 



3,342 



Carrots appear to have lost their special market. Why turnips and 

 swedes have gone out of favour so much faster than mangolds is a little 

 difficult to determine. The cultivation of cabbages has evidently in- 

 creased materially, for ' all other roots etc.' in 1876 represented a much 

 smaller figure than cabbages by themselves stand for now. Kohl-rabi 

 wins favour very slowly. It is a hard root and not easy eating for cattle 

 even when sliced. The net decline in roots doubtless corresponds to 

 some degree with the large decline in the number of sheep kept within 

 the county. 



Tares, lucerne, and ' other green crops except clover and grass ' 

 were returned in 1876 at 5,503 acres, while 674 acres were in bare 

 fallow. In 1906 some 515 acres were under tares and 106 acres were 

 devoted to lucerne. The decline in tares is curious, for in 1906 the 

 price was seldom under 40^. per quarter, and in 1905 it was for some 

 months at 6oj. per quarter. The soil of Middlesex is by no means un- 

 friendly to this crop. The cultivation of lucerne cannot be exactly 

 estimated, because in a hot, dry season the grower makes money, in a wet 

 or chill year he loses heavily. Lucerne cultivation is a speculation in 

 weather futures. 



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