428 MIDLAND MARKET GARDENING 



original manufacture of superphosphate Henslow's 

 discovery which followed so timely on Lawes's invention 

 of superphosphate. The band of phosphatic nodules 

 is too thin and the mineral itself too poor to be worth 

 working any longer in competition with the enormous 

 supplies that are now available from Florida and 

 Tunis ; the discovery of basic slag finally put these 

 Potton pits out of action. 



From Sandy to Biggleswade and almost to Hitchin 

 the belt of market gardening prevails, nearly all of it 

 in the hands of small men, who, if the reports were to 

 be believed, are mostly rack-rented on terms that 

 leave them very little profit. It is not an attractive 

 country, a farming East-end in fact, and the occupiers, 

 small or large, work entirely by rule of thumb, looking 

 over one another's hedges but possessing no basis of 

 technical knowledge. They all depend upon town 

 manure from London, and are likely soon to be in con- 

 siderable difficulties, for the supplies are rapidly running 

 short as motors displace horses with the omnibus 

 and carrying companies. The price of manure on rail 

 in London has risen from is. to 45. 6d. a ton between 

 1905 and 1912, and the quality has become inferior; 

 yet it is difficult to see how the market gardeners are 

 going to replace it. Artificial manures alone will not 

 suffice on these thin soils that need humus ; green 

 crops will have to be turned in, and the rents are too 

 high to allow of the land remaining long unproductive 

 for such a purpose. We were most of all impressed by 

 the fierce individualism of these market gardeners ; the 

 larger men despise the small holders, and all look down 

 on the labourers, who were described as a rough drink- 

 ing lot, capable of earning by piece-work ,2 a week 

 and more, but can rarely be found on the land on 

 Mondays. There was no co-operation in the district 



