Glimpses of Farming in the Channel Islands. 383 
both being grown in the same houses, as a rule, till the vines 
cover the glass, after which the houses are devoted to grapes. 
In some houses, however, vines are not planted. Last year, 
Mr. Bashford sent 80 tons of tomatoes and 25 tons of grapes to 
England, and this year he expects the totals to be 100 tons of 
tomatoes and 25 tons of grapes. 
On the occasion of my first visit on March 12 of this year, 
a few tomatoes in hot-houses had already been picked, and 
22,000 plants were about to be put in between rows of potatoes 
in cool-houses, in addition to a number previously planted. On 
my second visit, at the end of the third week in June, these 
tomatoes were bearing fi'uit, some ripe, and making a splendid 
show, the potatoes grown with them having been dug and 
exported. The bulk of the tomatoes grown in heat begin to 
yield an abundance of ripe fruit by the end of March or eai'ly 
in April, and keep on producing till the end of June, when the 
fruit in cool-houses should begin to come in. It is usual to 
grow a crop of late tomatoes in the hot-houses after the early 
crop. Tomatoes are also grown after cucumbers, for winter use. 
The hot-house grape season is reckoned to begin in October 
and end in May, and Bashford has a constant supply, I 
believe, ready to send away during the whole period, as he has 
special facilities for storing his fruit, having built two houses 
for the purpose, with double walls lined, as are floors and roofs, 
with sawdust to keep out frost. One of these is fitted up for 
the reception of 10,000 bunches, which are preserved by putting 
the stalks in bottles of water, placed in a slanting position 
on laths, the grapes hanging down from the necks of the 
glass bottles. A similar house holds 2,000 bunches. It is 
usual to put the grapes in these houses about the middle of 
December, and they can be kept there, if necessary, till February, 
when the price is usually high. March and April are the 
months in which prices are highest ; but the supply for those 
months is grown separately by Mr. Bashford, the fruit being 
ready to be cut during that period, usually about two tons. Some 
of the glass-houses, it should have been mentioned, are 680 feet 
long. 
Mr. Bashford grows a large quantity of potatoes under glass, 
some in heat and others without. The heat, however, is not for 
the potatoes, but for the tomatoes grown with them in alternate 
rows. It does not pay, he says, to force potatoes, and those 
grown in the hot-houses are planted later than the others, no 
attempt being made to force them to come to maturity earlier 
than the tubers in cool-houses, as the yield is diminished by 
forcing. In cool-houses, Mr. Bashford reckons his average yield 
is at the rate of 11 tons per acre ; but he has grown 11^ cabots 
