95 
MARKET GARDENING AND FRUIT 
GROWING IN THE VALE OF EVESHAM. 
“The path is called the Little Abbey Lane, and divides what 
were formerly the cloisters of the gr#at church from the 
gardens of the Monastery. These gardens, which were in 
cultivation by the Monks of Evesham Abbey more than one 
thousand years ago, formed the beginning of that great 
market-garden industry which has now become so widely 
extended in the town and neighbourhood, and gives to the 
district the title of ‘ The Garden of England.’ ” The quota- 
tion from Smith’s valuable publication, “ Evesham and its 
Neighbourhood,” briefly indicates the earliest site and com- 
mencement of a most important and flourishing industry in 
the County of Worcester. And although this industry now 
extends from its centre at Evesham into Warwickshire and 
Gloucestershire, yet nearly the whole of it is in Worcestershire. 
Fifty or sixty years ago the total area of land devoted to 
market gardening and fruit growing near Evesham has been 
estimated at from 500 to 600 acres ; now (December, 1908) 
the total area within a radius of ten miles of Evesham devoted 
to this industry is estimated at 15,000 acres. The area within 
seven miles of Evesham alone is estimated at 10,000 to 12,000 
acres ; the present area being supposed to be about double what 
it was twenty-five years ago, so rapidly has the industry 
extended. 
The pioneers fifty-five years ago were men of such well- 
known names as Myatt, Masters, Field, Cole, New, and Byrd ; 
to these men. belongs the credit due for continuing and more 
firmly establishing such profitable and prosperous work. To 
the late Mr. James Myatt we are indebted for “ Myatt’s Early 
Prolific ’’ potato, “ Myatt’s Early Offenham” cabbage (the best 
for commercial purposes), “ Myatt’s Victoria” rhubarb, several 
strawberries of sterling merit, and other vegetables and fruit. 
In more recent years young men of good family and 
education have settled in the district and embarked in market 
gardening with more or less success ; but bearers of the old 
names — descendants of those previously mentioned — occupy 
the leading positions. 
It is not uncommon, also, to find instances where steady, 
industrious labourers commence with an allotment ; then take 
a larger one ; and in three or four years more we find these 
men fully developed market gardeners with their four, six, or 
ten acres of garden, horses and carts, and living in their own 
new, well-fitted, and well-furnished homes. 
