Hints iH Vegeialle and Fruit Farming. 
73 
Protection and turning ready ears to those who advocate unsound 
doctrines of political economy, we must try to make our stock, 
our wool, and all our produce as good as possible, and much 
desired by the people of all nations. 
There also is a great and an increasing demand at home for 
the minor products of the land, some of which may now be classi- 
fied as necessities ; others in a degree as luxuries, because of their 
high prices. Fine qualities of cheese, good butter, milk, cream, 
eggs, chickens and poultry of all kinds, would have an extra- 
ordinary sale if only the prices were reasonable. And there is 
no doubt that all these things could be produced for sale at reason- 
able rates, and at the same time would yield a good profit if 
farmers would direct their minds and their energies to the work. 
Foreign competition will not interfere with these industries. 
This game, at all events, is in the hands of the home producers. 
The chief drawback to the full development of this trade is the 
unsatisfactory present mode of distribution of nearly all kinds of 
farm produce, and especially of these minor kinds. In existing 
circumstances, the producers get the minimum value, and the 
consumers have to pay the maximum price. The pernicious 
system of salesmen and middlemen, and the routine of markets, 
hinder enterprise and check production. In no cases is this 
so much felt as in those of vegetables and fruit, which are 
confined to a few centres — ^markets, for the most part, utterly 
inadequate for anything like general distribution. Even with 
the system now holding, it is fully believed that the production 
of vegetables, salad plants, and fruit could be very largely 
extended, to the gain of the culti\ators and to the infinite 
satisfaction of would-be consumers who live in towns, and of 
those who have no gardens, who constitute a vast proportion of 
the population. This paper, therefore, has been written at the 
request of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, to 
point out the importance and advantage of adding these special 
cultures to the ordinary farm crops, and to give some practical 
information as to the most desirable sorts of vegetables and 
fruits for this purpose, together with details as to the modes of 
cultivating them, and the circumstances of soil, climate, and 
situation that are required. 
It is not by any means suggested that vegetables and fruits 
are to be made at once to take the place of corn and other 
customary crops of the farm, nor that their cultivation should 
be generally and indiscriminately adopted ; but it is desired to 
show that vegetables may be extensively grown in rotation with 
ordinary farm crops, as the practice is in Essex and other counties ; 
also that a few acres of fruit-land may advantageously be added 
to almost all farms ; and in some cases large plantations may be 
made. Before proceeding to descriptions and details, it will be 
