67 
PRACTICAL  HINTS  ON  VEGETABLE 
farming; 
Introduction. 
An  increasing  population  creates  a growing  demand  for 
vegetables  as  a necessary  food  ; increasing  wealth  causes  a 
larger  demand  for  those  vegetables  which  are  generally  looked 
upon  as  luxuries.  As  the  demand  increases  more  land  is 
recpiired  for  their  production,  a larger  number  of  persons 
embark  in  the  necessary  operations,  and  more  capital  is 
invested  annually. 
Vegetable  culture,  in  conjunction  with  fruit  growing,  is 
a profitable  undertaking  during  an  average  of  years  ; and  if 
any  reader  doubts  the  statement,  let  him  journey  to  Evesham, 
and  inspect  the  town  and  surrounding  district  in  a normal 
year.  There  are  about  nine  thousand  acres  devoted  to  market 
gardening  within  a radius  of  six  miles  of  Evesham,  and  the 
rental  value  of  the  land  varies  from  31.  to  121.  per  acre. 
Very  little  animal  manure  is  available  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  resource  has  to  be  had  to  fish  guano,  nitrate  of 
soda,  leather  dust,  shoddy,  hoof-parings,  soot,  and  mixed 
fertilisers.  In  addition  to  the  horses  necessary  for  work  on 
the  land  and  for  taking  the  produce  to  market  and  railway 
station,  pigs  and  poultry  are  kept.  By  carefully  saving  the 
residue  of  the  crops — the  value  of  which  as  plant  food  I hope 
shortly  to  show — a small  amount  of  manurial  matter  is  obtained. 
This,  supplemented  by  the  fertilisers  previously  mentioned, 
serves  to  nourish  the  splendid  crops  of  vegetables  for  which 
the  Vale  of  Evesham  is  justly  famed. 
In  these  days  the  competition  in  market  gardening  is 
very  keen,  and  the  profits  are  not  "so  large  collectively  as 
they  have  been  in  former  years  ; hence,  practical  and  shrewd 
men  keenly  watch  all  out-goings  in  the  matter  of  seeds, 
manure,  and  labour.  They  feel  that  they  cannot  afford  to 
incur  risk  of  failure  in  experimenting  with  untried  novelties, 
and  they  wisely  adhere  to  their  old  friends,  the  Offenham 
cabbage  and  the  Schofield  lettuce,  as  well  as  to  the  Pershore 
plum,  notwithstanding  all  its  traducers  have  said  and  written. 
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F 2 
