712 Crojys for PicJding and Preserving. 
The systems of growing these crops, as regards rotation anc 
manuring, are (1) as market-garden crops, (2) as market-garden- 
farming crops : the former do not include cereals, the lattei 
do. Land upon which garden crops are grown requires to be 
very heavily manured, as everything is taken off; and the high 
rents and large amount of labour required necessitate the 
raising of big crops. As, therefore, the land is kept in good 
heart it is not necessary to adhere to strict rotation, so that if 
there is a prospect of a particular crop proving more than 
ordinarily profitable it can be repeated. A typical rotation on 
a market-garden farm on light land would run somewhat as fol- 
lows : — (1) Scarlet-runner beans grown for seed ; (2) cucumbers, 
the land being dunged; (3) onions, the land again being dunged ; 
(4) turnips grown for seed, the land being heavily dressed with 
soot ; (5) wheat. 
This would be a simple five-course system not involving 
catch-crops, which, however, are often inserted after certain crops 
in rotation ; as, for instance, cauliflower, after early pickling 
onions, to be gathered in the autumn of the same year in which 
the onions were taken off in July. Peas, either for picking or 
grown as selections from the leading seed-merchants, often form 
a considerable part of the cropping, and potatoes are always an 
important crop. 
It is impossible, in discussing pickle-farming in connection 
with market-garden farming, not to recur frequently to Messrs. 
King and Sons, of Broom, near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, for 
they are the largest and most successful growers engaged in this 
industry, and are generally considered the most skilful. Last 
year Messrs. King kindly allowed me to take from their books 
many valuable and instructive details. They farm in all some 
1,100 acres, of which about 200 acres are grass, the whole of the 
arable land being devoted to the growing of special crops. The 
land rests chiefly on the greensand and alluvial gravel, and is 
throughout a light loam, with nothing except its good natural 
drainage to specially recommend it. It is only able to sustain 
the system of heavy cropping by the immense quantity of manure 
put on it. A portion of the land, having been taken in hand as 
recently as the last two or three years, is hardly yet in condition 
for the purpose ; still a very good idea of the way in which the 
land is cropped may be gathered from the following details of 
cropping in 1889 : — 
Acres Acres 
Potatoes .... 120 Cucumbers, big oues for sale, 
Turnip seed . . . .110 small oues and gherkins for 
Onions and onion seed . . 00 pickling .... 20 
Cauliflowers for pickling . CO Teas, selected varieties • 00 
