in the North-ircst of France. 
83 
The gardens rarely exceed 2^ acres in extent, and one of that 
size would be managed entirely by a man and his wife, but then 
the work is simple slavery. In the summer the women work on 
three days in the week from half-past two in the morning until 
ten o'clock at night, and on the alternate days from 5 A.M. until 
10 P.M., making an average of about eighteen hours per day I 
In the winter they work from daylight until dark. Similar 
hours are observed by the men, and they do the heaviest portion 
of the work. If the workpeople are hired, the women receive 
about Is. bd. per day, and the men 2s. i^d. 
In some cases the gardeners are owners, and in others they are 
tenants, of their land. The drier land is let at an average rental 
of nearly 51. per acre ; and the good land, with a portion of it 
peaty and only slightly decomposed, lets at still higher prices, 
Avhile the value of the fee simple exceeds 160?. per acre. Con- 
sidering that one-fifth of the so-called acreage consists of water 
and only four-fifths of land, it should be interesting to learn how 
the gardeners manage to pay such rents and earn their livelihood 
out of such small gardens ; and how they obtain a gross pro- 
duce, estimated to average 35?. per acre, out of a peat bog. 
The following description, in which it is assumed that a 
new garden is to be made, is drawn from information which I 
obtained partly from M. Mannechets, President of the Society 
of Agriculture and Horticulture of the Somme ; but chiefly 
from M. Racquet, the Professor of Agriculture at Amiens, who 
accompanied me on my visits to the market-gardens. One of 
the largest proprietor-gardeners of the district, ;M. Maille, of 
Neuville-l' Amiens, paddled us about and amongst the" gardens, 
and very intelligently explained and practically illustrated any 
points of special interest. 
Preparation of the soil. — A certain quantity, generally a thick- 
ness of 6 inches, of peat, which forms the subsoil, is brought up 
to mix with the top soil, and thus give it a fertility which it does 
not naturally possess. The depth from which the peat is ob- 
tained varies, of course, with the nature and depth of the surface 
soil ; but from two to three feet may be taken as an average. 
Beneath the peat is a layer of impermeable clay, which is never 
touched in any case. After the peat has been mixed with the 
surface soil, and in some cases coincidently with the mixing, 
a " double dressing " of stable-dung from Amiens, namely, from 
20 to 24 tons per acre, is given. This manure costs lis. per ton, 
and probably the great demand for it is the explanation of its 
very high price. No lime is used as manure, and the great 
object of the gardeners is to preserve the vegetable fibres in the 
peat as long as possible. After a certain time, however, varying 
from 12 to 20 years or more, the land gets " tired " of the con- 
G 2 
