MARKET GARDEN CULTIVATION DURING QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 393 



Mr. Sutton, in reply, said much valuable work was done at 

 Chiswick, but the trials to be of value should be greatly extended. 

 It would be better to have a Pea trial once every four or five 

 years, and to do it exhaustively, than to but half do the work 

 year by year. With regard to the ' Conference ' Tomato, it was 

 one of the very finest types grown. As to the Potato, it was 

 necessary to have a good crop, but they should also be determined 

 to have the finest quality also. 



Satueday, October 2. 



The Chair was taken at 3 p.m. by William Marshall, Esq., 

 member of Council, who called upon Mr. J. Assbee, who read the 

 following paper : — 



THE PROGRESS OF MARKET GARDEN CULTIVATION 

 DURING QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



By Mr. J. Assbee, F.R.H.S. 



The memorable year of Jubilee, now drawing to its close, has 

 led to many useful and interesting comparisons between the exist- 

 ing state of things and those of sixty years ago. And this annual 

 gathering of the Royal Horticultural Society within this famous 

 Gardeners' Palace seems a most suitable opportunity for reviewing 

 gardeners' work, and it is my pleasing duty to endeavour to show 

 to what extent market gardeners — that is, those engaged in 

 cultivating vegetables, fruits, and flowers for market supply — are 

 progressing and keeping pace with the times in which we live. 

 Let us take a brief survey of the origin and growth of the 

 market gardener, the necessities which caused his existence, and 

 the important position he fills in supplying our daily wants. 

 Originally we may suppose every man to have been his own 

 gardener ; but as the world became more thickly peopled, and 

 communities became established, towns sprang into existence, 

 and with these market gardeners. In small towns even to the 

 present day the wants of those who cannot cultivate garden 

 produce for themselves are supplied by small local farmers and 

 gardeners, who bring in on market days such mixed loads of 

 farm and garden produce as the successive seasons yield, and 

 housewives largely attend such markets and purchase for them- 

 selves. In larger communities the public are mainly supplied 



G 



