A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



does not find a ready sale beyond the two 

 westernmost counties. 



In connexion with the cultivation of straw- 

 berries the punnet-making industry has attained 

 to large dimensions. Almost all the fruit sold 

 for dessert purposes is sent to market in small 

 chip baskets (punnets) containing less than I Ib. 

 each. These are packed in cases which hold 

 4 dozen punnets. The demand for these 

 latter is so great as to provide work for all the 

 women and children of the district during the 

 winter months. As the result of the fruit 

 industry the rent of land suitable for the purpose 

 has doubled and in some cases quadrupled in 

 value. Both fruit-growers and labourers have 

 prospered. As regards the latter, the high wages 



earned by the men, supplemented by the earn- 

 ings of their wives and children, enable them to 

 live in a way unknown to the ordinary peasant. 

 A beginning has also been made in the 

 cultivation of tomatoes under glass, and the 

 results obtained warrant the belief that it 

 will be greatly extended. The effect of the 

 fruit industry generally upon the intelligence 

 of the people is also very marked. Besides 

 educating the faculty of observation, the daily 

 business done with persons at a distance has 

 given the inhabitants a wider outlook than 

 that possessed by those who only trade with 

 their neighbours, so that, in every way, fruit- 

 growing has proved a blessing to the entire 

 district. 6 



THE FISHERIES 



Although ' Mackrell ' are mentioned by 

 R. Carew * among the fish taken off the coast of 

 Cornwall as early as 1602, the taking of them 

 was apparently at that time a matter of small 

 importance in comparison with the pilchard 

 fishery. Dr. Borlase, 2 writing in 1758, mentions 

 that ' the mackrel is taken in great plenty on the 

 southern coast of Cornwall ' ; but it would seem, 

 from his observation that the fish is ' not only of 

 use when fresh, but is salted and pickled and 

 kept all the winter to the great relief of the 

 poor,' that there was no sale except in the 

 immediate local market. This was, no doubt, 

 due to the difficulties of transport. 



The fact that such enormous quantities of 

 these fish are to be found in the western waters 

 in the spring must have been attracting attention 

 very soon after Dr. Borlase's time, and the know- 

 ledge of this led to efforts to convey the fish 

 to larger and more distant markets. In 1815 

 Dr. Paris 8 remarked of Mousehole and Newlyn 

 that 'the pilchard and mackerel fisheries are 

 here carried on to a very great extent . . . and 

 in the early part of the season they supply 

 the London market with mackerel which are 

 conveyed by way of Portsmouth.' 



The trade thus once established grew steadily 

 in importance, and as a consequence the boats 

 engaged increased both in size and numbers, 

 decked boats of 40 ft. keel and upwards taking 

 the place of the smaller open or half-decked 

 boats previously used. In 1850 a lugger large 

 enough to carry 1,400 fathoms (more than a 

 mile and a half) of nets was fitted out at Polperro. 4 

 The opening of through railway communication 

 between Penzance and London in 1859 naturally 

 had a great effect on an industry to which quick 

 transport is so essential. 'In 1860 fish to the 



1 R. Carew, Sarr. ofCornw. 35. 



* D. W. Borlase, Nat. Hist. ofCorme. 269. 



s A Guide to Mounts Say, 72. 



4 J. Couch, The Hist, of Polperro (1871), 113. 



582 



value of j8o,ooo was sent from the Land's End 

 district to the London and large provincial 

 markets.' 6 Mr. Edmonds, writing in 1862, 

 says ' there has never been so great a number of 

 men employed in building large fishing boats in 

 Mount's Bay as during the last year or two . . . 

 the boats, too, which are now built are larger by 

 some tons than their predecessors.' 



About 1875 the number of boats engaged was 

 between 300 and 400, including several from 

 Lowestoft and other ports on the east coast of 

 England, which had then recently begun to 

 come west for this object. At that time the 

 quantity of fish landed was on an average about 

 fifty tons per day amounting to 3,000 or 4,000 

 tons for the whole season, while each boat 

 carried from a half to three-quarters of a mile of 

 nets. The number of boats coming from the 

 east coast to take part has steadily increased, and 

 since 1896 they have come from Yarmouth and 

 other ports, as well as Lowestoft. During the 

 last three or four years a large number of steam- 

 boats from the east coast ports have taken part. 

 These are much larger craft than the sailing 

 boats, and carry as much as three miles of 

 nets each. 



The number of boats engaged in this parti- 

 cular fishery during the season of 1905 was 

 estimated at 500, of which 20 hailed from 



6 Beyond a few newspaper notices and magazine 

 articles, very little has been written upon horticulture 

 as a Cornish industry. For this reason the writer is 

 especially indebted to the following gentlemen who 

 have generously given him the benefit of their know- 

 ledge and experience in the composition of the 

 foregoing article : The Rev. A. T. Boscawen, of 

 Ludgvan Rectory ; Mr. J. C. Daubuz, of Killiow ; 

 Mr. Andrew Lawrey, of Varfell ; Mr. W. M. Gluyas, 

 of Scilly ; Mr. J. W. Lawrey, of Calstock ; and Mr. 

 R. M. Martyn, of Padstow. To Mr. T. A. Williams, 

 of the G.W.R. Office, Penzance, he is indebted for 

 the statistics of the flowers and vegetables sent by train. 



6 R. Edmonds, The Land's End District (1862), 226. 



