- 279 ~ 



The Board of Agriculture has repeatedly pointed out the enor- 

 mous extent to which our consumption of fruit and of even the com- 

 monest vegetables is supplied from abroad. 



Comparatively little has been done to meet demand, though of 

 late years farmers have competed with market gardeners in the 

 cultivation of greens and cabbages with which they can feed their 

 stock in case of a glut in the market. 



Here is a chance for the small holder in country districts if he 

 can be induced to co-operate in marketing his produce. 



But fruit cultivation stands in most urgent needs of an impulse. 

 Little progress will be made in the improvement of cider until our 

 farm orchards, the condition of which is mostly deplorable, are 

 treated with more intelligence. At Gloucester there was an instruct- 

 ive competition in fruit-spraying. 



The principle which has been adopted in giving prizes for local 

 plantations might with advantage be extended to orchards and fruit 

 gardens. And the more effective management of small holdings, 

 of which there are believed to be some 12000 in the county of 

 Gloucester alone, would seem to be as much deserving of encourage- 

 ment as that of farms. Indirectly this would stimulate the activity 

 of the village Flower Shows which are already playing a useful part 

 in rural Education." 



WILLIAM E. BEAR. French gardening in England Trans, of 

 the Highl. and Agric. Soc. of Scotland. Vol. XXI, Vth Series, 1909,. 

 Pp. 106-122. 



The establishment of the system of French gardening in En- 

 gland dates from 1905 when a number of Evesham market-gar- 

 deners visited the gardens in the neighbourhood of Paris. 



They were struck with what they saw, and one of them, Mr. 

 Idiens. engaged at once a French expert and started at Evesham 

 the first French garden in England. 



The author describes briefly what French gardening is, namely 

 an improvement on the old system of cultivation on beds, under 

 frames or bell-glasses (cloches). 



The best account on the Paris system is that read by Mr. Wal- 

 ter F. Giles before the Alton Horticultural Society and which the 

 author summarises briefly. 



During the summer stable manure is collected in large heaps 

 to ferment. In making the beds, in November, some fresh manure 

 is added. The beds are somewhat wider than the frames which 



