348 CORNISH MARKET GARDENING 



on a large estate, where he would not be subject to 

 the caprice of an owner trying to screw a quick profit 

 out of his bargain. 



The farmers were all uneasy at the sales of estates 

 that were going on, as tending still further to increase 

 the insecurity of their position. In this district lease- 

 holds of 14 to 21 years are a common form of 

 tenure, but with the rising values landlords are 

 beginning to hold out for yearly agreements. Con- 

 sidering the demand for land it was surprising to see 

 so much waste, even in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of Penzance and at low elevations gorse-covered 

 banks and tracts of marsh, wet enough in that dripping 

 summer, but surely capable of reclamation when the 

 result would be so valuable. There were orchards, 

 too, which only cumbered the ground, so old, distorted, 

 and diseased were the trees. 



West Cornwall is a bare, open country of small 

 fields divided by banks and stone walls ; as a rule, 

 the only trees grow round the homesteads or in the 

 deeply cut valleys, where they can find shelter from 

 the incessant wind. The holdings run small, about 

 40 acres being a typical size ; and though almost 

 entirely under the plough the mainstay of the business 

 is dairying. The seeds stay down for from three to 

 five years, then come three years of corn and roots, 

 and on the better land as far east as St. Ives there will 

 always be a breadth of broccoli as part of the root 

 break. Otherwise, all the produce is consumed on 

 the holding, and the Cornish farmers are great buyers 

 of artificial manure so as to get as much food as 

 possible out of the land. All the farmers sow dredge 

 corn, and spring wheat is often mixed with the barley 

 and oats to get as all round a feed as possible out of 

 the grain. The farms are heavily stocked one man 



