32 THE BOOK OF MARKET GARDENING 



mostly hardy perennials, of which large quantities are 

 consigned to the markets in the early spring months. 

 The demand for these has increased greatly in recent 

 years, but the period during which they can be dealt 

 with is of limited duration. Where a combination of 

 the nursery business with market gardening is carried 

 on, as some growers do very successfully, hardy trees 

 and shrubs are included in the stock, besides a general 

 collection of fruit-trees and bushes. When a stock is 

 once raised, the space required for its maintenance 

 is comparatively small, and an annual auction sale is a 

 convenient means of disposing of the surplus. But in 

 some country markets growers make up bundles of trees 

 for the sale day throughout the winter. Unfortunately 

 so much carelessness is often displayed in the selection 

 and naming of such consignments, that they have fallen 

 generally into bad repute. The remedy for this state of 

 affairs is in the hands of every grower. 



Arrangement of Crops 



Where vegetables, fruits, and flowers are grown upon 

 one holding for market purposes, the three chief methods 

 of arrangement in use are : (i) the mixed system, where 

 the fruit trees are planted closely with bush fruits as 

 under-crops, and all intermediate spaces are filled, as 

 long as the growth of the trees and bushes will permit, 

 with vegetables or flowers ; (2) the separate method, 

 each crop being allotted distinct plots of land ; and 

 (3) the alternate system, where fruits and vegetables, or 

 fruits and flowers, are planted in alternate blocks. The 

 first is practised largely, and is regarded as the most 

 economical in some districts, but it is attended by several 

 disadvantages in connection with routine cultivation, in 

 the gathering of the fruits or under-crops, and in 

 securing the best results with them. 



