522 COTTAGE GARDENS ASSOCIATION. 



and staking his early crops in summer, and collecting and 

 storing his potatoes, onions, parsnips, and carrots in 

 autumn for winter use ? They sow pence in seeds, shil- 

 lings in rent and labour, and ordinarily gather in half- 

 crowns as the value of the produce, and this without 

 waiting for a longer period than the patience of an in- 

 differently cultivated mind is equal to. 



It would be easy to provide statistics to show that 

 the return of interest on capital invested is equal to what 

 is here stated, but there is a shorter and equally certain 

 road to this object the admission of the cultivator 

 which will probably be considered satisfactory. "A B," 

 a married man with a family, says " I hold 24 poles of 

 land, for which I pay 6d. a pole. Last year I sold off this 

 plot sufficient to pay the rent, and then had vegetables 

 enough for my own family nearly all the year round. My 

 crops were potatoes, parsnips, carrots, onions, cabbages, 

 winter material, and scarlet runners. I believe those of 

 my neighbours who work at it find the cottage plot a 

 good thing." In reply to the question, " Does your garden 

 plot pay you ?" one cottager admitted taking no less than 

 10 in one year in prizes at the cottagers' show. Another 

 " It pays those who work, but some of them do not 

 work, and they find it does not pay." Another " It pays 

 me very well, and would pay me better if I could afford 

 to buy manure. I keep fowls and rabbits, and use the 

 little manure they make, and can see to an inch where 

 it has been used." Another " My crops would pay me 

 well for my work if I could get them myself, but my 

 garden is constantly robbed ; even my peas and beans 

 are taken." Another cottager told me that 12 poles of 

 land was enough for any cottager. Another said the 

 farmers in his neighbourhood did not approve of cottage 

 gardens, as the men worked in them in the early morning, 

 and went thence tired to their regular work. Another (an 

 ungrateful man, I fear) replied as follows " They said the 

 plots were set out to help the poor, but it was the worst 



