Market- Gardening. 
427 
shelter for cucumbers ; and instead of giving tliem artificial sup- 
port, an upstanding habit is induced by continually topping the 
vine from the period of its beginning to " run," about tlie middle 
of June. 
Unless beans and runners are gathered when very young, they 
should be sorted before sending them to market, in order that the 
broad ones may be pricked out. 
Cabbages. — A second crop in succession was planted this year, 
on June 21st, after ploughing in a second and heavy coat of dung 
with a 7-inch furrow. After rolling the land a line is used in 
setting the plants, which are put in with a short dibble, at a 
distance of 22 inches by 20 inches. In the case of " collards," 
which are planted 12 or 14 inches eacb way, a light roll after the 
plough is followed by the " fiddle" — resembling a rake with four 
or five long teeth — dragged by a boy, to mark drills for the 
plants. 
Red cabbages for pickling are planted in October, a yard 
apart in each direction, and occasionally collards are set pre- 
viously between the rows in which the cabbages will afterwards 
be planted. The catch crop is sent to market early in spring, 
before the ground is required by the main crop. 
The courtesy of Messrs. T. and J. Mathews of East Ham, 
Essex, and Wandsworth, Surrey, enables me to describe the 
management of an extensive garden-farm, lying within seven 
miles of the General Post Office, and occupying a site remark- 
able for historical memorials, and still more so for certain 
modern works. The Danes crossed it when they rowed up the 
Roding to Ilford, the Romans had a burial-place on it, and a 
few years ago the main sewer of North London was carried 
through it. These and other intrusions have cut up the farm 
to some extent, and perhaps it may some day be overwhelmed 
by works of trade and commerce. 
Acreage : 620 acres in the parishes of East Ham, Barking, and 
Little Ilford. There are about 420 acres of gravel loam and 200 
acres of alluvial land drained by " sewers," that is, open ditches 
which are under management and capable of being drained into 
the Thames at low tide. Situated in the valley of the Thames, 
within one mile of the river, and immediately opposite Wool- 
wich, this farm, like the rest of the garden district, lies on a 
flat. The nearest rising ground is at Epping, to the north, and 
Shooter's Hill across the river. Technically, however, the farm 
is divided into the light land called " upland," which is from 
10 to 20 feet above the Avater-level, and rests on a bed of gravel, 
and the marsh land in Plaistow and East Ham Levels, which is 
below the Avater-level at high tide. Eighteen inches of dry mud 
2 F 2 
