Glimpses of Farming in the Channel Islands. 391 
per acre ; but as there are nearly 10,000 plants to the aci'e, and 
the heads commonly sell at l^d. each in London in the middle of 
March, or at Id. clear of all expenses for carting and freight, a 
crop often realises ,40^ an acre. 
For his farm alone, Mr. Le Pelly told me, he would require 
four men, besides himself ; but he employs more hands, including 
his son or sons, as he has other business on hand besides farm- 
ing. In addition to selling milk in the to^vn, he makes a large 
quantity of cider for sale, buying the apples of his neighbours for 
the purpose. He built an excellent glass-house last year, at a 
cost of 230Z., and grew tomatoes in it the first season which 
realised 74:1. As an instance of the value of fairly good land in 
Guernsey at a distance of a few miles from the chief town of 
the island, I may mention that Mr. Le Pelly recently paid 
300^.. in cash (not the most common method of purchase) for not 
quite 24 acres. 
All authorities agree that Gruemsey farmers make their 
farms pay only by working with the men, when they employ 
any. But this is not all, for they are at work long before the 
hired men come on to the farm, and after they leave. The 
labourers' hours are from 7 a.m. to 6 P.M. ; but the master, Mr. 
Le Patourel says, is often at work from 4 a.m. to 9 P.M. in the 
spring and summer. "Wages on farms average about 3s. a day, 
with lOc^. extra when the men work two hours overtime, that 
is till 8 P.M., in busy seasons. 
A good deal of straw is imported, and some hay ; but most 
of the latter consumed in the island is grown there. Potatoes 
for winter use, as well as new potatoes for export, are grown in 
Guernsey. 
An inspection of some of the green-houses (or cool-houses) 
belonging to small growers of fruit and early vegetables was very 
interesting. Mr. Le Patourel has four of these houses, in which 
he grows grapes, potatoes, and tomatoes, without artificial heat ; 
as the term " green-house," as opposed to hot-house, implies. 
Potatoes are grown before tomatoes, and grapes commonly in the 
same houses ; but when the grapes cover the glass, the houses 
are devoted to them only. As tomatoes pay at present much 
better than unforced grapes, however, many of the constructors 
of new green-houses do not plant vines in them ; or, if they do, 
they adopt the method noticed in one of Mr. Le Patourel's houses 
— that of keeping the vines cut low down, so that they may serve 
chiefly as an insurance in the case of the tomato crop failing to 
grow or to pay. 
Some of the best managed of the cool-houses that I visited, 
were four belonging to Mr. Robin, of the Vale, who has about 
