Market- Gardening. 
431 
(4.) Onions. — The land having been heavily manured for the 
previous crop, is ph)u<The(l deeply with three horses, sown with 
5 cwts. per acre of bone-dust mixed with guano, and scarified : 
10 or 14 lbs. of seed per acre is sown broadcast at the end of 
February, or early in March. The cost of hoeing and cleaning 
the crop is ol. per acre, and bunching a great croj) costs 40s. 
Tlie spring crop of cabbages, sent to market in April, May, 
and June, is sown in the last week in July or first week in 
August, and planted at the end of September or early in October. 
The summer crop of cabbages is sown in succession, commencing 
in open weather in spring. The seed must not be sown too early, 
as the young plants become blind when frost-bitten. 
Mangold for transplanting is sown thickly in a seed-bed in the 
middle of April, or more usually it is drilled in rows one foot 
apart, with about 14 lbs. of seed per acre, and the alternate rows 
are afterwards pulled for transplanting, which may be ventured 
on until the lUth of July, and costs 12^. Qd. per acre at the 
distance of 24 inches by 12 inches. 
Three acres of Italian rye-grass, on the alluvial soil, with its 
roots reaching the water, yielded a second cutting 2 feet high 
on the 29th June this year — a result equal to what might be 
expected under irrigation. 
The Bedfordshire District. 
The Bedfordshire district lies in Biggleswade, Sandy, and 
adjoining parishes. The soil is a sandy or gravelly loam, of 
excellent quality when not too light or thin, resting on sharp 
gravel, sand, or sandstone rock. The river Ivel, formerly navi- 
gable, runs through the district, joining the Ouse at Tempsford. 
Water is generally found at a depth of 16 feet. In order to 
shelter a level tract, rows of lofty elms, trimmed into excessive 
ugliness, are allowed to disfigure the country in every direction. 
The same object might perhaps be attained, with agreement 
among proprietors, by the planting of fast-growing timber at 
salient points, to break the currents of wind, and the neighbour- 
hood might be ornamented as well as protected by such means, 
without injury to the crops. 
The district is not now particularly well situated for market- 
gardening ; certain industries, however, cling to particular lo- 
calities. Bedfordshire has long been famous, and a favourable 
soil, the railway, artificial manures, and skill together, have 
preserved its prestige, so that the labourers who come into the 
metropolitan district from all quarters in the hoeing season prefer 
to be called Bedfordshire hoers, and to enjoy the credit of having 
come from a noted district. 
