VEGETABLES FOR MARKET. 



367 



"Aubergines," were seen upon the stands of some London market- 

 gardeners, and their cultivation, together with that of the outdoor Tomato, 

 bid fare to extend ; but the last two sombre seasons, that have done duty 

 for summer, have made growers realise that to speculate in such crops is 

 very much in the nature of a gamble. In the matter of Endive, English 

 growers never seem to be able to keep pace with their Continental 

 competitors, our climate seems to give it such a tendency to bolt ; nor 

 does it bleach so readily with us. Is it because our seedsmen are always 

 dependent upon seed grown on the Continent, and have not succeeded 

 in raising a variety suited to our more humid and variable climate ? 



To the Mushroom much patient attention has been devoted of late 

 years. Once it was the most uncertain crop a man could put his hand 

 to. Men obtained good crops and hardly knew why they had, and 

 again failed when they thought they had taken every means to secure 

 success. Now it is not too much to say that, after patient study and 

 careful tabulation of results, the growth of this favourite fungus has been 

 reduced to an exact science, and certain growers find no crop so easy to 

 make sure of. 



Nothing has been said about the Potato, that autocrat of the middle- 

 class dinner-table. It would demand separate treatment to deal with 

 properly. Its adaptation to cultivation in large breadths where labour is 

 not over-plentiful, and its dislike to highly manured soil, have very much 

 taken it out of the hands of the market -garden 3r, and given it over to the 

 farmer, whom in many districts it has saved from the necessity of 

 answering the question, " Does corn-growing pay ? " 



This rapid and very cursory review of vegetables for market leads to 

 the reflection that while enterprise, skill, and study have done much to 

 improve the character, increase the variety, and develop upon right Unas 

 the cultivation of vegetables, much more remains to be d}ne. Some that 

 are useful and acceptable upon our tables, but will not stand the rigours 

 of our climate, may yet, by careful selection and judicious crossing, be led 

 to develop the necessary hardihood and vigour, just as in Florida it is 

 claimed that they have developed a hardy Orange. 



There are many openings for the ingenious to invent labour-saving 

 appliances. Someone has constructed a machine for grading oranges and 

 wrapping them each in a piece of paper, and it is said the machine can 

 be adapted to fruit of any size. Is it past the wit of man to invent a 

 machine that will bind Radishes or wash the bunches ? On some German 

 farms, electricity generated at waterfalls is being used for ploughing and 

 hauling. What developments await the application of this wonderful and 

 mysterious form of energy to the growing of vegetables for market ? The 

 industry without doubt is of importance, both from the point of view of 

 public health, and also on account of the large amount of labour it employs, 

 to say nothing of the increased rent land used for market-gardening is 

 privileged to earn for its owner. With the continual growth of popula- 

 tion (which we have come now to look upon as a certainty) home-grown 

 vegetables cannot recede in importance, whether the whirligig of politics 

 brings us a change in "fiscal" policy or no. Yet the market-gardener 

 remains the agricultural pariah : " Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel 

 doth not acknowledge us." The Central Chambers of Agriculture have no 



