Market-Gardening in the Scilhj Islands. 
219 
le:lge, such an observer would confer an immense benefit upon him- 
self ; for— to employ Weismann's words — "it is the quest after per- 
fected truth, not its possession, that falls to our lot, that gladdens 
us, rills up the measure of our life, nay ! hallows it." 
W. Fream. 
MARKET-GARDENING IN THE 
SCILLY ISLANDS. 
The general features of the agriculture of the Scilly Islands have 
already been described in the article by Messrs Laurence Scott and 
Harry Riviugton which appeared in the Journal for October, 1870 
(Vol. VI. 2nd Series, pp. 374 et seq.). In those days the cultiva- 
tion of early potatoes "formed the main support of the Scillonian 
farmer," and great things were expected of the trade. It is a curious 
instance of the changes of agricultural conditions caused by foreign 
competition and the opening up of new sources of supply, that 
although the growth for export of early potatoes is still an important 
industry of the Scilly Islands, it has now been superseded in the 
financial esteem of the farmers by the cultivation of flowers for 
Covent Garden Market. Last season no less than 200 tons of cut 
flowers were forwarded from the Islands to the various markets of 
England and Scotland by the steamer which plies between Scilly 
and Penzance, and in a single week ot February in this year 20 
tons were despatched. Nearly 100 acres in the Islands are devoted 
to the culture of the Narcissi, and the capital invested in this trade 
is reckoned at something like 250,000^. The following details — 
collected during a recent visit — of the cultivation of the soil in the 
Islands, as at present conducted, will, it is hoped, prove of general 
interest. 
General husbandry was never very successful in the Scilly 
Islands, for up to the time of Mr. Augustus Smith's proprietorship 
the farmers held their land on such precarious tenure that they 
refrained from all improvements, and contented themselves with 
growing a little corn and a few potatoes, and breeding inferior cattle 
and sheep. Notwithstanding the introduction subsequently of im- 
proved cattle, securer tenures, and larger holdings, farming, strictly 
so called, failed of ultimate success. It was then that market- 
gardening stepped in, and for a long time proved exceedingly 
remunerative. The cultivation of the early potato was one of 
the chief supports and occupations of the Scillonians, and every 
available space was planted with it. 
It was while the growers were in the flood-tide of this prosperity 
that the Lord Proprietor, looking ahead, recommended the Scillonians 
to turn part of their attention to the cultivation of the flowers 
which grew on the islands for Covent Garden Market. The 
