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JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUSE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



[ October 2G, 1871. 



Peas growing in the same row, and find tliem in every respect 

 the same ; and we observe that it has recently been shown in 

 London under a third name, and there recognised as Grotto's. 

 It is, however, a most valuable Pda for late supply, being an 

 enormous cropper, mediam-sized. and of a delicate green colour 

 — points much appreciated by kitchen artists and those they 

 have to cater for. Added to a delicious flavour, these qualities 

 make it a very desirable Pea. We have frequently gathered it 

 in fine condition at the very end of October. It has a thick 

 mossy or succulent husk, and, in consequence, the Peas remain 

 tender long after the appearance of the husk would indicate 

 that they were too old. This Pea is well worthy of being, what 

 may be called, reintroduced into all gardens where fine late 

 Peas are an object, and where tall stakes are to be had. It 

 grows 7 feet to 8 feet high. We think it best described by its 

 o.iginal name — The Mossy (podded) Pea. — (The Gardener.) 



MARKET GARDENING. 



FuLLEE shows us the beginnings of market gardening two 

 hundred years ago; he wrote in 1C62. " Since gardening hath 

 ■crept out of Holland to Sandwich in Kent, and thence into this 

 county (Surrey) where, though they have given £6 an acre 

 and upwards, they have made their rent, lived comfortably, 

 and set many people on work." The extension of garden farm- 

 ing in Essex, with horse-tillage and steam cultivation, in one 

 instance, has been rapid. A wealthy grower of vegetables is 

 only lately deceased who was among the first to emigrate from 

 the older site in Bedfordshire. He arrived in the new colony 

 without capital, and without the skill to read or write a market 

 tally, and lived to occupy a farm where more than 500 acres of 

 vegetables were grown every year. 



The Essex District extends from Stratford, bricks and mor- 

 tar permitting, to West Ham, and thence through East Ham, 

 io Barking, Eainham, Dagenham, Hornchureh, and Eomford. 

 The parishes of Aveley and Purfleet are at present, but may 

 not long be, beyond the boundary of vegetable-growing. They 

 are now famous for early Peas, and on June 19th this year 

 large gangs of women were picking the first crop. At Eiinham 

 "Strawberries were begun on the same day, and Potato-digging 

 had commenced a few days earlier. The crops are all seven or 

 •sight days earlier than they would be under ordinary farming, 

 without the warm coat of manure. The subsoil of the Thames 

 Valley is a drift of sharp small fiint, or gravel ; it is generally 

 covered with good light loam, which is in many cases several 

 •feet in depth, and is continually enriched by heavy dressings 

 of dung. 



This district takes most of the manure produced in the 

 eastern part of London, and it supplies a large portion of the 

 ■fresh, bulky vegetables consuined in the metropolis between 

 spring and autumn. The whole of the produce is sent by road, 

 and, except near a river wharf, or close to a station, the manure 

 ■is brought by the waggons on their return from market. The 

 outlay on the farms, as will presently be shown, generally 

 exceeds £20 an acre, and requires such a return as is yielded 

 only by garden crops and garden farming. The growth of corn 

 iias been almost abandoned. 



In this district of large garden-farms the fields are seldom 

 less than 10 acres in extent, and are generally from 20 to 

 ■40 acres. 



In garden-farming there are no strict rules with regard to the 

 succession of crops ; the Und is kept constantly under crop by 

 sowing, or by replanting from seed-beds as fast as the fields 

 are cleared. Cabbages may follow Cabbages ; and the loading 

 of the market waggon proceeds in one part of the field while 

 the plough teams and planters are busily employed close by. 



In the London district Potatoes are followed by a second 

 crop. The earliest may be followed by Cabbages, the later by 

 Savoys, and the latest by " CoUards," for bunching during the 

 winter months, when Cabbages are out of season. Cabbages 

 should not be planted much later than the third week in June ; 

 they will then be sent to market in November. Savoys are 

 next pricked out from the seed bed ; and Collards, which are 

 planted almost at any time when there is a piece of ground to 

 spare, follow up to the end of August. 



In dry seasons the transplanted crops require watering ; and 

 although irrigation generally is neglected, it is sometimes very 

 beneficial to garden crops. A 50-acre gardener, who grows 

 Celery, Caulifiowers, and other crops, showed me a little rivulet 

 running through his ground. It costs him £G0 a-year ; but, 

 " when other grounds are scorched," he said, " my garden is 

 as green as a Leek ! It will give some idea of speed in gardens 



if I mention that Cabbages planted in the second week in April 

 afforded a first cutting this year on the 28lh June. Another 

 example of double crops is in the case of early Cabbages, which 

 are sent to market in April and May. A month before cutting 

 them, the land being in good tilth, holes are made in the rows 

 with a spade, one hole between each two Cabbages ; a boy 

 follows and plants Potatoes, which are covered with the earth 

 taken from the next row. This plan obviates the treading 

 which occnrs when the sets are planted between the rows. 



Peculiar virtues have been attributed to the spade as an 

 instrument of cultivation, but the secret of the, great fertility 

 which follows the spade lies in the heavy dressings usually 

 applied to the gardens. As an example of this kind of cultiva- 

 tion, I visited a large garden of 40 or 50 acres, in the parish of 

 Bermondsey, flourishing in the midst of smoke and vile smells. 

 The larger part of the garden is planted with Eadishes, Cauli- 

 flowers, and Celery, taken from the same ground every year ; 

 and the rotation is repeated every year, with the precaution of 

 moving the site of the rows of Celery, These are planted 5 feet 

 apart, with two rows of Cauliflowers between them. The 

 ground is dug in the ordinary way, once a-year, in winter, as 

 soon as the Celery is removed. One hundred tons of dung 

 per acre are sometimes applied, at a cost of between £.30 and 

 £40. The Eadishes are sown in March ; the Cauliflowers, 

 having been sown in October in frames, and protected from 

 frost during the winter, are pricked out among the Eadishes ; 

 and the Celery follows. 



Eight acres of Ehubarb a-re cultivated with the five-tine steel 

 fork. I was told, " the more manure the more Ehubarb." 

 Asparagus is forced by frames and hot dung. Plants of three 

 years' growth afford three weeks' cutting, and are then destroyed ; 

 and a less price than 7s. Gd. for a bundle of 105 does not pay 

 the grower. 



On the 11th of July a large bed was planted with " Collards " 

 and Walcheren Broccoli in alternate rows, at 18 inches from 

 row to row. The Broccoli will be sent to market in November. 

 There is a large fenced plot for Cucumbers and Vegetable 

 Marrows. 



The very deep cultivation which is frequently heard of, and 

 occasionally practised in agriculture with more or less profit, 

 has not been found desirable in market gardens. The Cab- 

 bages, Greens, Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Onions, Potatoes, Cucum- 

 bers, &a., which fill the markets of London, are generally 

 grown on a 7 or 8 inch farrow; and as a rule, only one furrow 

 is turned for each crop. In the case of subsoiling for late 

 Carrots and for Parsnips, the object appears to be to ,give 

 mechanical assistance to the root, to enable it to run down 

 long and tapering. One of the most eminent growers of Pars- 

 nips in the metropolitan district cultivates 9 or 10 inches deep 

 by means of a common plough, followed by a subsoil plough. 

 A G or 7-inch furrow is enough for two horses, and 3 or 

 4 inches are as far as the subsoiler reaches in a gravel loam 

 with three horses. 



Mr. W. W. Glenny has been good enough to permit me to 

 give an account of his garden-farm at Barking. It consists of 

 150 acres. of gravel loam, made rich and friable with manure, 

 and kept in the highest state of cultivation. The farm is 

 entirely in vegetables, with the exception of 18 acres of per- 

 manent pasture, and 16 of wheat, on the stiffest land, which is 

 furthest from the railway station. 



At the time of my visit the acreage of the farm was thus 

 appropriated: — Potatoes, 34; permanent pasture, 18; spring- 

 sown and Lisbon Onions, 15 ; Cabbage, 12 ; Bed ditto, 2 ; seed- 

 beds, 2 ; Carrots, 7 ; Parsnips, 9J ; Dwarf Kidney Beans, 6 ; 

 Scarlet Eunners, 3 ; Vetches and green food for horses, 4 ; 

 Parsley, l.J ; Willow and Osier beds, 1* ; Wheat, 13 ; Mangold, 

 Ij ; Peas, 8 ; Asparagus, 1; men's allotments, 1 ; Cucumbers 

 and Vegetable Marrows, 2; seeds, 1; buildings, roads, brook, 

 and small crops, such as Sage, &c., 11. 



Twelve horses are kept to cultivate the farm, convey the 

 produce a distance of eight miles to London, and to cart 

 manure. The sums paid for dung, exclusive of cartnge, during 

 the past three years have been— £211 9s. 3(i, £271 16s. Id., 

 and £278 15s. 2d. From 400 to 700 bushels of soot were also 

 used in each year. About one-half of the dung is purchased 

 at 3s. or 3s Gd. a-ton, and is drawn from London in the empty 

 waggons ; the remainder is bought at 5s. per ton, at the rail- 

 way station or the quay. Some other manures, including the 

 spent hops from an adjoining brewery, are also brought on 

 this farm. 



The live stock consists of a couple of milch cows, and forty 

 or fifty pigs during the winter. 



