^62 



The Worthing Fruit Growing Industry. [Apr. 



original houses are still in existence, although pro])ably rather 

 like the boy's pocket knife, which liad had four new blades and 

 two new handles. It was quickly realised that tomatoes, cucum- 

 bers and grapes could be grown to perfection under glass, and 

 the pioneers were followed by the men who had gained a little 

 experience as foremen and " hands of the earlier growers. 



The growth of the industry was rapid for twenty-hve years. 

 The houses most in favour for cucumbers were 16 ft. wide with 

 10 ft. rafters, and for tomatoes and grapes 20 ft. wide with 14 ft. 

 rafters. While probably these sizes are most suitable for 

 cucumber and grape gi'owing, the Guernsey and I.iea Valley 

 gTowers consider the Worthing tomato houses to be much too 

 small. 



The popular south coast resorts have developed greatly during 

 the past twenty years, and one would think that the fruit-growing 

 industry vrould have expanded to a commensurate degree. The 

 demand for tomatoes, cucumbers and grapes has enormously 

 increased all over the coimtry during the same period, but the 

 demand has been supplied by the Lea Valley, the Channel 

 Islands, and by Holland and Belgium, while the development 

 of the Worthing district has been slow. At one time an easy 

 first, Worthing now has to take third place to Guernsey and 

 the Lea Valley. 



It is worth while to compare the conditions ruling in the three 

 districts in order to ascertain, if possible, the reason for Worth- 

 ing's failure to advance as rapidly as other districts. The chief 

 factors are cost of land, quality of land, climate and transport. 



In the matter of cost, land in the Channel Islands costs more 

 than in the Worthing district, which in its turn is much m^ore 

 expensive than the Lea Valley; for quality, land at Worthing 

 is at least the equal of either of the othei" districts, and is almost 

 certainly superior to the Lea Valley. So far as climate is con- 

 cerned, Guernsey has an advantage over Worthing for earliness, 

 while in this respect the Lea Valley is a very bad third. Earli- 

 ness, however, is not the only factor : the Channel Islands are 

 exposed to the full force of the Atlantic south-westerly gales, and 

 growers are compelled to erect much heavier, stronger, and 

 therefore more expensive, structures than their competitors on 

 the mainland. Worthing is also exposed to the wind. and. while 

 growers can build much cheaper than Guernseymen, they are 

 compelled to build considerably heavier than the Lea Valley men. 



Transport. — It is when transport is considei-cd that one 

 realises the advantages the Lea Valley growers have over tho^^e 



