191 1.] Promotion of Agriculture in U.S.A. 495 



large number of allotments and small areas cultivated as 

 market gardens, not a single tenant has made a claim against 

 the landlords, although changes have taken place. 



"The name of the proposed transferee is submitted to the 

 landlord, who makes the necessary inquiries as to his means, 

 &c. Occasionally the incomer seeks to make better terms as 

 to rent, or asks that the landlords shall take the fixtures on 

 payment of interest on their ascertained value, while in some 

 cases recently the outgoer has represented that he could not 

 secure a good customer on account of the rent being some- 

 what more than times permitted; but a very moderate reduc- 

 tion has usually met the case, and this has not been given 

 until the terms of the proposed transfer have been disclosed. 



"The custom is well recognised in the district, and works 

 well. It keeps up the standard of cultivation, as good clean 

 gardens are sought for and command a good price ; but there 

 are signs of an intention to ignore it. The Market Gardeners' 

 Compensation Acts were strongly urged to be necessary by 

 gardeners in the Evesham district, but I believe that they were 

 principally newcomers who were ' making ' their gardens and 

 feared disturbance." 



Information with regard to the " Evesham Custom " is 

 given in some detail in the Minutes of Evidence of the Royal 

 Commission on Agriculture, 1893 (C. 7400 — III.), and of the 

 Departmental Committee on Fruit Culture (Cd. 2719). 



Railway companies in the United States have a vital in- 

 terest in the development of agriculture in the districts 

 through which their lines pass, since 

 Promotion of an y i ncrease { n agricultural production 

 Agriculture by . r 



Railway Companies in means an mcrease in the am0Unt ° f 

 the United States.* produce carried to the towns, with' a 

 corresponding increase in the supplies 

 furnished from the towns for the upkeep of the agricultural 

 industry and a probable extension in passenger traffic owing 

 to the growth in the rural population. An idea of the im- 



k "The Transportation Companies as Factors in Agricultural Extension," 

 U.S. Dept. of Agric. Office of Expt. Stations, Circ. 112. 



