IOLY 33 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



479 



FLOWER CULTUR 



IN 



the Scilly Isles. 



„ D has Keen engaged in investigating the flower-growing districts 

 W. E. Bear has been ; g g ^ Qf ^ ; - to the curren t issue 



J England, and WjfgS^ Journal. As the report is based upon personal 

 1 S?Royal Agnctfltu al 1 Society j makg few from ^ n 



g^ervatio: 



jt is of much 



After describ- 



popu 



months alone, the mean range was only 37 degrees. For the six summer 

 mu * * 'br the six winter months 



These figures indicate not 



- situation of tne isianu, — ag the islands are by the Gulf 



Job, Mr. Bear P*"* mild a nd equable, protection to tender crops 



5* theK ^ needed only Against the frequent gales of wind to which they 

 ^ jn wmter bemg nee^ ieaoy ^ ^ ^ ^ hafdly eyer heg Qn 



^subject. Frost rar Y {mt hours when k comes The rainfall is moderate ; 

 & ground more nan ^ tf ^ ^ than they get th g d 



111(3 *" the mean daily range of temperature in twenty years IS given by Dr. 



1 «S decrees. October has the lowest range, or 5.9 degrees ; April the 

 SUcklin at 6 » oegr Thfi mean maximum range was x ! -5 degrees, November 



ax winter 



-onths the mean temperaiuic W4 « 3/ ~ 



showinc a difference of only 10 degrees. _ 

 4 Iw mS but also a remarkably equable, climate. Dr. Macklin further states 

 fiirieui temperature of the Scilly Isles is I degree warmer than that of either 



the West of Cornwall or the Channel Islands. 



With respect to sunshine, recorded only during the last cen years, some com- 

 •ntive figures are given for the ten months ending with December I, 1894, during 

 £tfeh 1 «n hours' bright sunshine were registered in Scilly, or 155 per month, 

 rTocr day The total was exceeded only by Jersey, Guernsey, Newquay, 

 lid Falmouth among places in the United Kingdom for which statistics were 

 nrer. Hastings, Westbourne, Eastbourne, Torquay, places higher on the list, 

 £x>d lower than Scilly. Ocular demonstration of the mildness of the Scilly 

 climate is to be found in the tropical vegetation which flourishes in the islands. 



When the late Mr. Augustus Smith, in 1834, became, mainly from humani- 

 tarian motives, Lord Proprietor of the islands (a title given to the lessees holding 

 _Jer the Duchy of Cornwall), they were over-populated, and the people, who 

 partly lived by smuggling, were in a distressed condition. The sub-division of 

 holdings had been carried on to a disastrous extent, and very many of them con- 

 sisted of scattered plots of land. Mr. Augustus Smith set himself to the reform 

 of the abuses which he found prevalent. He stopped smuggling, made education 

 compulsory, enlarged and consolidated the small holdings, and allowed only one 

 11 in a family to succeed to his father's farm, practically forcing the rest of the 

 piths to migrate to the mainland, to emigrate to the colonies, or to go to sea. 

 Niter was a benevolent despotism better justified by results, though it was some 

 Nan before the islanders became generally prosperous. Steadily, however, Mr. 

 Smith, who spent all the rental of these islands for many years in improvements, 

 educated the people in habits of industry and ultimately of enterprise, until, from 

 being among the poorest small farmers in the United Kingdom, they became the 

 •or generally prosperous. 



The extent to which the sub-division of holdings had been carried before Mr. 

 ■upistus Smith's time may be imagined when it is mentioned that, long after the 

 cwnolidation had been in progress — namely, in 1870 — the sizes of farms in St. 

 Maifi were reported by Messrs. Scott and Rivington to range from five to 15 

 a, with the exception of one of 30 acres, which included a large proportion of 

 •tilled land. On the other islands, the same writers stated, the farms were still 

 •taller, many covering only three acres, while the largest farm on St. Agnes was 



n extent. At the present time the smallest farm in St. Mary's is 10 



fhm ln*rr A -t J„ - ^ I • _r 1 ! 1 _ "1 i •■ _ ,i _ 



*oes, ai 

 extreme 



areas 



increased 



small 



was of the land since 1870, the enlargement of the holdings is significant 



I be ordinary farming of the period, chiefly consisting in the growth of waui 

 ■J* ol corn and a few potatos, and the keeping of stock on the grass land, was 

 r.**jy Pfohtable ; and the first extensively advantageous change which the 

 W r . opnet ° r ind uced the farmers to make was gradually to convert their 

 £J»mto market gardens for the production of early potatos, asparagus, seakale, 



PTOfitabU "dT ^ eadiness of these Products rendered them exceptionally 



garde: 



event £ n°*\ yCar earher or later ( straQ gely enough the date of the important 

 «ewajd^mH * , f e \P r f Cls *ly recorded), the father of Mr. Allen, the present 



♦ %} % ate Mn Au gustus Smith, then Lord Proprietor, a box of 

 «£jent it to Covent Garden, receiving .£1 in return. When this became 



m oTn * • far ^ ers began quietly to collect bulbs wherever they could 

 suJu n F/ n th , e fields or hedgerows, and to cultivate them so as to 



^- KS » getting a few flnnmc ™> — :~ *.u *j 



far Iom 



Tresco, the demand 



Scfl l<*ians toar if * *** P nces were not tem P 



after the £1 • Upon a Iar S e scale - It was not until 1880, about 



those referred to above, says that he packs 36 to 100 bunches in a box ; but the 

 precise accounts kept at Tresco have enabled Mr. T. (£• Brown, farm manager to 

 Mr. Dorrien-Smith, to favour me with the statement that the number of bunches 

 of flowers of all kinds averages about 7,000 to the ton of flowers and boxes, and 

 514 tons would therefore be equivalent to about 3,598,000 bunches. 



The extent to which flowers are grown is about 400 acres in St. Mary's, 43 

 acres in Tresco, 30 in St. Martin's, 15 in St. Agnes, and 15 in Bryher, making 

 about 503 acres altogether, almost all devoted to the narcissi. 



A few years ago large quantities of wallflowers and stocks were grown in St. 

 Mary's, the former flowering in February or March, and the latter a little later. 

 But now the quantities of these flowers produced in the Scilly Isles are small. The 

 several varieties of the narcissus make up the bulk of the market flowers, the 

 only others of importance being gladioli, anemones, marguerites, and arum lilies, 

 though a few freesias, Spanish irises, and white pinks, as well as the small quan- 

 tities of wallflowers and stocks already mentioned, are also grown. 



Bulbs have not been exported to any great extent from the Scilly Isles. The 

 newer varieties have been for the most part kept to increase the extent of their 

 cultivation, while the common sorts are worth only 15s. to 30s. a thousand, the 

 buyers, I believe, paying the freight to the various destinations. There is no con- 

 siderable demand for the bulbs of some of the varieties most extensively grown in 

 the Scilly Isles, and notably the polyanthus varieties, as they are not cultivated for 

 market at all commonly on the mainland. 



Mr. G. T. Brown has kindly prepared for me the following list of varieties of 

 the narcissus grown in the Scilly Isles, distinguishing the daffodil and the poly- 

 anthus varieties from the others : — 



Daffodils. 



Telamonius (the old double daffodil). Rugilobus. 



Emperor. 

 Empress. 

 Grandis. 



Scilly White. 

 Grand Monarque. 

 Soleil d'Or. 



Princeps. 

 Obvallaris. 



Polyanthus Varieties. 



Gloriosus. 

 Jaune Supreme. 

 Mozart Orientalis 



Other Varieties* 



Sir Watkin. 

 Incomparabilis (single). 



(double). 



Cynosure. 

 Stella. 



Leedsii varieties. 

 Frank Miles. 



Odorus Major (Campernelli). 

 The 



Orange Phoenix, 

 Sulphur Kroon. 

 Barri Conspicuus. 

 C. J. Backhouse. 

 Ornatus f Poeticus omatus ) 

 Poetarum. 



Poeticus Plenus (double 

 Pheasant-eve). 



violence of the frequent gales of wind renders shelter for the flowers 

 necessary, and this is provided by fences usually consisting of veronica, escallonia, 

 or euonymus, all three of which flourish in the islands. 



Scilly growers have at least three great advantages in the production of 

 bulbous flowers. The first and greatest is earliness of production ; the second is 

 suitability of soil and abundance of sunshine for bringing the flowers to a perfec- 

 tion of size and colour ; and the third is suitability of soil and climate for promoting 

 a good increase of bulbs. That these natural advantages are partially counter 

 acted by careless cultivation on the part of some of the growers does not, of course, 

 disprove their existence. On the other hand, the growers have two disadvantages 

 —the heavy cost incurred and long time occupied in conveying the flowers to 

 market. The freight from St. Mary's to London is 8s per cwt., and from bt. 

 Martin's (and presumably from the other outlying islands) it costs those who do 

 not carry their own produce is. 6d. per cwt. extra to convey it to the quay at St. 

 Mary's. Half the freight from St. Mary's to London is swallowed up in steamer 

 freight, quay dues at starting and on reaching Penzance, and cartage to Penzance 

 Station. Bearing in mind the fact that about one-third of the weight on which 

 the freight is paid consists of boxes, it will be seen that this is no s light tax upon 

 the returns ; and, in addition, there is a commission of 10 per cent on ^ Pnces 

 realised to pay the salesmen (or 5 per cent, if growers find their 

 other charges, including the cost of returning empties, which are debited to the 

 growers by the salesmen. As to the time occupied in ^nveyance f j^ ^ 

 Lamers run to Penzance only three times a week «/?f^ 



This bv itself is a disadvantage 



season. 



expand quickly ; but it is not all. Flowers loaded on the steamer at St Mar, , * 

 onZe morni/g are not in Covent Garden untU the next day, wh« he> reach 



posed 



advantag 



-ers 



at or 



he supply of narcissi from ^V^JW^—^lJ ready at 

 before Christmas, while the earhest open air varieue y ^ 



occasional! 

 1 successive 



February 



scarlet lxias 



, Holland, and the Channel 

 the narcissus. In the Channel 



Belgi 



and 



tafoogj 



nil 1883 Mr 



ST** t0 ohtair 

 jJJ^he found 



narcissi wpr*' &""»*"s very iew nowers ; wnne 



J*" 1 «1« it would f m °r later in flowerin g than in Scilly. Hence he con- 



r** 1 tolbs exteniiv-t * , - to extend the cultivation of these flowers, and he 

 *• of th. n. • tensive ly for L - 1 



mm JMCBSUS rapidly 



h « Bulb and FI 



that the industry became begin in April or May ; usua y, , u ^ mQnth ^ flower seMon 



y ; gladiolus ana in, » ™ d considerable quantity 



While most of the B***"*^ % which they keep thei flowe, 



flowers 



From that time the cultiva- 



or two before packmg t^m, tne ar« ^ 



Mr. Dorrien-Smith, m TjJJ has oy only five farmers have any consider- 

 square feet covered : w th glws. ^ , ' , ^ haye even a smaU eXte nt ; in 

 able extent of hot-houses ; in ai- J 



St. Agnes only one ; and m Bryher n . b i 0SS0I ns have expanded, 



necessary 



cases 



tc *» 1887, to ifflU^ y ^ ar ' 000 the q«»«»tity increased to 85 tons in 1886, to 



of 



It i 



^ *e climai w Jl? I 7- rea o hcd 448 tons ' after which there was a fal,in g" 

 w orth »K«*u ^ reacQc ? m 1896, when 514 tons were exported. ^ 



moment to consider what 514 tons of flowers 

 >ughly allow eight boxes to the cwt., or 160 



According to this calculation, 



9 a ^ — 



flower pots con^gwat «J » ^ ^ t ^ ; ould ta the fields, and travel 

 is warmed. The flow en ^e xpan thQu ^ ^ ^ often overd ne . 



better for being kept in wate ra snort ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ to 

 Most of the hot-houses are p ^od uced in Scilly will be referred to in 



txrarHc The extent to which tomatos arc ^ «-w . / t nr r*A. I 



— — n 



10 pause for 



e K th c wS ^fP 



^obj:''* of -h 



^ Scilly i s] *». J P* 5 ' box, and in that o 



appears to have larger boxes than 



Wi«^™drnKimiib m Soldi d'Or, Scilly White, UM 



for forcing by Mr. Dornec i sm M<)nar(lue , princeps, Cynosure, Inco: 



