558 



The Nation's Fruit and Vegetables. 



[Sept., 



fully taught, but always to limited numbers so that individual 

 attention may be given, and the recommendation that follows a 

 successful examination at Campden is being accepted already by 

 institutions that are looking for skilled workers. 



It must be remembered that the work when started in 1914 

 was on a very modest scale, that it was developed at first as a 

 war-time undertaking, and that it is now in a state of transi- 

 tion from activities that had in them a definite commercial side, 

 to work that is following scientific and educational lines as 

 originally intended. At the same time the Campden Experi- 

 mental Station is in the proud and rare position of being able 

 to claim that it has carried on work in the public interest at no 

 cost to the ratepayers. The profits on vegetable drying, jam- 

 making, pulping and the rest in the factories at Broom and 

 Dunnington have enabled £9.000 of the original grant to be 

 repaid, and at this present moment the remaining assets exceed 

 the balance of all liabilities by some thousands of pounds — a 

 result that in the very nature of things must be unexpected when 

 a Government undertakes emergency work in war-time and 

 proceeds to develop an industry for national ends and without 

 any care for commercial issues. It seems likely that Campden 

 will continue to pay its way. The very clear system of accounts 

 in vogue at Campden — a system that has won praise from; 

 gentlemen whose normal function is criticism — is a testimony 

 to effective business management. 



Students coming to Campden have accommodation found for 

 them, arrangements having been made with various people in 

 the neighbourhood to give board and lodging at, approximately, 

 two guineas a week, and it may be that in the course of time, 

 if the work develops, Campden will approach the status of an 

 Agricultural College and that its recommendations will have even 

 greater value than they possess to-day. Down to the present 

 the only public attention that has been drawn io the work beir" 

 done at Campden has been a circular letter from the Ministry of 

 Agriculture to Local Authorities, and as a result of this, between 

 the beginning of June and end of July 40 students took a fort- 

 night's course. It is now found necessary to establish a 

 waiting list in order that there may be no overcrowding. 



We have at Campden the beginnings of a great and significant 

 experiment, one that may recover - many half-forgotten 

 secrets of the countryside, and may teach those who produce 

 fruit and vegetables on the most modest scale some of the 

 recipes that were known of old time only to the fortunate few. 



