THE SELECTION OF LAND 



The purchase value of freehold land is reckoned on 

 the annual rent \ thus a farm or holding let at ^1 per 

 acre would be worth, at eighteen years' purchase, ^18 per 

 acre freehold ; at twenty-five years' purchase the value 

 would be ^25. Those are the two extremes. For some 

 agricultural land eighteen years' purchase has been con- 

 sidered a fair basis in recent years, and in few cases has 

 it risen above twenty-five years : the majority of sales 

 would average from twenty to twenty-two years. Rents 

 vary enormously, from 10s. or 15s. per acre for neglected 

 farm land to ^4 or £$ f° r t ^ e most fertile land without 

 permanent crops ; planted with fruit trees, the rental 

 rises from £5 to £10 per acre, depending upon the 

 age and condition of the trees. But where the tenant- 

 right custom prevails, the rent often does not exceed 

 £2, ios. per acre, though the price paid for incoming is 

 equivalent to rent. 



Situation and Accessibility 



The position selected for a market garden will be 

 partly determined by the special objects of the grower, 

 but in any case it is important to be either near a town 

 or within a moderate distance of a station on a good 

 railway line. The distance to be covered in the con- 

 veyance of produce must always be more or less of a 

 disadvantage, whatever means are at command. The 

 reduction of such distance to the minimum usually 

 brings a corresponding increase in rent, and the gain in 

 one direction has to be weighed against the loss in 

 another. It therefore becomes a question that must be 

 settled in every instance in accordance with the grower's 

 particular requirements. 



There is, however, a conspicuous cultural advantage 

 in going beyond the smoke area of large cities, and 

 many growers have thus changed their quarters with 



