MARKET GARDENING POULTRY 37 



soil," which grows exceptional plums. Market gardeners 

 can pay from £\2 to ;^20 an acre for the preliminary 

 clearing of the land before planting ; wait for maturing 

 of trees and plants ; spend " quite ;;^38 per acre per 

 annum in rates, manure, and labour," besides the high 

 rents, and yet make a considerable profit. The profit 

 would be still greater but for the arbitrary imposition of 

 railway charges. 



On the easily-worked and productive " warp " lands in 

 the north of the Isle of Axholme, near the Humber, men 

 of capital and energy, who have in the last few years 

 taken, as tenants at fair rents, a number of small farms 

 together, are making excellent profit by substituting 

 celery and asparagus for wheat and potatoes. 



Poultry Farming. 



Mr Rew's interesting report on the poultry industry 

 in Sussex shows that its special success depends not on 

 local advantages, but on organisation and skill, which 

 could be applied with similar results in other districts. 

 Poultry farming as a specialty is generally a failure, but 

 as an adjunct to other farming pays. Cows, chickens, 

 and oats go together. Fowls' manure as a dressing 

 rapidly ripens laid down grass, and skim milk and oats 

 are used in large quantities both in rearing and fattening 

 poultry. Owing to the great demand for young fowls 

 for fattening, rearers get full prices, and, latterly, large 

 quantities are brought from Ireland. The fatteners 

 collect from a large area, fowls being reared in great 

 numbers by farmers and labourers. The marketing is 

 thoroughly organised, carriers collecting throughout the 

 district, and delivering in London at is a dozen, and 

 about IS 6d a dozen charged as commission by the sales- 

 men. The profits are considerable, and the system 

 especially tends to help intelligent labourers to rise. 

 The expenditure and receipts are relatively very high. 

 Thus, from the accounts of poultry rearing and fattening 

 only on a 200-acre farm, for 1891, as are supplied by Mr 



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