22 



The Guernsey Breed 



under productive cultivation. Yet, in spite of this, the agri- 

 cultural exports from the island for the year 1909 amounted 

 to $350 per acre for every acre of the island. 



When it is considered that all of the beef, pork, grain, 

 butter, milk, poultry and eggs produced on the island are 

 needed for home consumption, and large quantities of the 

 vegetables and fruits as well, these export figures are almost 

 beyond conception to an American farmer. It is little wonder 

 that land sells at $1,000 to $2,000 per acre and rents for from 

 $50 to $75 per acre per year. This productiveness is largely 

 due to the greenhouse industry, and it is said that if the green- 

 houses now on the island were placed end to end they would 

 reach 800 miles. Some farmers run as many as 90 houses. 

 Not all of these are artificially heated, many of them being' 

 simply great cold frames. 



Some of the crops grown in these houses are grapes, figs, 

 peaches, nectarines, pears, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, cucum- 

 bers, French melons, carnations, arums and almost every other 

 kind of bulbous flower. 



It hardly seems possible that it would pay to grow po- 

 tatoes under glass, but I have seen them selling on the wharf 

 for 6d per pound, equal to 12c per pound, or $7 per bushel, 

 in American money. 



The largest single crop is tomatoes, and to gain a true 

 idea of this industry in Guernsey one must remember that 

 many of the plants cultivated here under glass to supply the 

 English markets will not grow out of doors in England at 

 all, and this is true of the tomato. 



Greenhouses on Guernsey. 

 Digitized by Microsoft® 



