90 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c February 3 , issi 
go with the man who has no garden and who desires no garden; 
but if the desire conies there is hope of and reason to expect a 
change in him and in her for the better. None are so utterly ex¬ 
travagant as the very poor. When a man improves and prospers 
he becomes more prudent in money matters ; so I say, Help him 
to improve, landlord. Then when improved he becomes a better 
citizen, a happier more contented man ; his children better fed, 
and tidiness takes the place of dirt and discord. Another reason 
why more land may with advantage be given to a poor man is, 
that for his class he is now well off, and can afford to buy tools ; 
the farmer and landlord, for their respective positions, are far 
poorer than the able-bodied labourer. Again, in pleading for an 
increase of gardening in the country and around country towns, 
there would be no cause of jealousy in the market gardener near 
London, because there the supply is greater than the demand. 
I have some knowledge of Birmingham, some also of the cotton 
districts, and unless things are improved there is a deficiency of 
vegetable supply in both, and to my mind no faces are more sad 
to look at than a Birmingham woman’s and child’s of the lowest 
class. In the cotton districts of Lancashire bad cookery is the 
rule among the mill hands. When they are prosperous it is all 
the frying-pan with ham and eggs in it—well enough for a 
change, but unwholesome as a regular diet. My argument is, 
Supply will raise demand. If the local papers are led to notice 
the many gardens around a town, and the larger supply of fruit 
and vegetables, and as all now read newspapers, I hope the vege¬ 
table would go into the frying-pan with the bacon and ham. Mr. 
Wills tells us he has done something to advance gardening for 
“ the benefit of his fellow men let others try and do the same. 
As gardening advances among the poor vice receives a check. The 
man who works on his land during the evening cannot be at the 
public house. 
In regard to the communication of Mr. Iggulden of Orsett, 
Essex, who in parliamentary language says “ he desires to move 
an amendment to my address,” his words refer, as naturally they 
would from his nearness to London, to the London market gar¬ 
dens, with which I have shown I have nothing to do. One word 
in regard to my Cornish critic, Mr. W. Roberts of Penzance, who 
contributes a short but useful article. He says Onions are not in 
favour with Cornish gardeners ; that of course may be. I rather 
think they would find a more extensive sale in large towns where 
there is a great artisan population. One thing I am sure of, they 
are excellent additions to diet. I often eat a supper of stewed 
Onions, and so do my family. Mr. Roberts mentions Parsley as a 
profitable crop—one I should not have thought of—hence showing 
the advantage it is to set many pens to work. Asparagus he also 
mentions. This might appear oftener on the tables of the better 
class, and not be regarded as merely a rich man’s vegetable ; it is 
also very wholesome. Celery, again, is, if eaten slowly, of a 
kindly aromatic nature, good for man and of benefit to those 
suffering from rheumatism. There is one other, hardly vegetable, 
the humble Watercress, “the only indigenous weed which is 
thoroughly wholesome,” as a London physician remarked to me. 
But who gets enough Watercresses brought to his door 1 I would 
have carts go regularly through every street, and particularly the 
back streets of our towns, and vendors carry to the doors baskets 
tastely set out with specimens of all the vegetables for sale, not 
forgetting the humble Watercress. 
I thank my critics for their kindly and able remarks, and I ask 
for other pens to be set to work, for I do believe good will arise. 
A little thought is like a little seed, many thoughts like many 
seeds, and all good thoughts are productive of good ; but as seed 
must be sown, so thoughts must come to words. At present I will 
say no more, only to remark that the high price of meat should 
itself cause the thrifty to look out for other and cheaper food. 
Where shall they find it? I answer, In using in far greater 
quantities wholesome nutritious vegetables. Many people dislike 
Parsnips. Why ? Because as children they were not brought up 
to eat them. Yet a pig will do better on Parsnips than on Potatoes. 
A horse will do far better on Parsnips than on Carrots. Children 
naturally love sugared things, and sugar is abundant in the Parsnip. 
It is custom, and custom only ; thus our ancestors ate pease 
pudding habitually, now few people cat it since Potatoes came in. 
Custom again. In an advancing civilisation I want reason to 
rule in matters of diet, not custom.— Wiltshire Rector. 
Unquestionably this is a subject of great importance, and it 
has to be considered in so many aspects and is governed by so 
many circumstances that it is only natural that there should be a 
considerable divergence of opinion in regard to it. Animated by 
the best possible motives, and impelled by a desire to benefit both 
producers and consumers of vegetable produce, “ Wiltshire 
Rector” advocates the cultivation of garden crops on farms. 
Mr. Wills, who is entitled to be listened to with respect both as a 
practical cultivator and a successful business man desirous of 
benefiting his fellow men, appears to be much of the same opinion 
as “ Wiltshire Rector.” A correspondent, “W. P. B.” (p. 41), 
and Mr. Iggulden (p. 64) hold different views, and they appear 
to have very good reason for considering that the vegetable supply 
near London already exceeds the demand. I am of this opinion ; 
and knowing something of market gardening, although not now 
engaged in that vocation, I feel that I can approach the subject 
without prejudice. 
“Wiltshire Rector’s” remarks on page 1, the general tone 
of which has been so much and deservedly admired, did not, it 
appears, apply to London and the sources of its vegetable supply. 
No one who travels through the market-gardening districts within 
twenty miles of the metropolis can fail to be struck with the 
plethora of vegetables, and to observe acres and tons of produce 
decaying in the fields, and I am of opinion that this is to some 
extent an index of the state of the country generally. Not long 
ago I visited the Saturday night’s vegetable market in a county 
town in the midlands, and, as some of the vegetable growers of 
the district were known to me, I had no difficulty in becoming 
acquainted with the vegetable supply and demand there. One of 
these men in answer to an inquiry said, “ Talk about agricultural 
depression ; but if the farmers are worse off than we are they are 
bad indeed. It is only by working every hour of daylight that 
I can live ; saving a little money is out of the question.” This 
was the remark of a man as steady, industrious, and with as much 
practical knowledge of market gardening as most men. Another 
man equally steady and industrious, but who had not been 
“ brought up ” to the business, said in answer to the question 
“ How are you getting on ?” “ On ! I’m sorry to say I am not 
getting on at all. I am going back, and shall have to get out of 
this before I lose what little 1 have.” This man had been in 
business between two and three years, and was longing to again 
become a gentleman’s gardener. “ Look round the market,” said 
this man, “and judge for yourself whether half the vegetables 
can be sold.” I not only looked round then but later, and found 
that quantities were not sold, and could not be sold at any reason¬ 
able price: in fact they could not be sold at all. “We could 
manage,” said my informants, “ if it were not for the Londoners ; 
but when they send tons at a time down just a week before our 
stuff is ready they dish us completely and we can’t help ourselves.” 
There is a great deal of force in that observation ; there is no 
sentiment about it, but it is a stern, hard, business fact. 
Further north, in one of the largest manufacturing towns, I 
have a friend who is a greengrocer. On noticing his excellent 
vegetables—Lettuces, Cauliflowers, French Beans, &c., early in 
the season, he remarked, “ They are all Londoners. The growers 
about here don’t put stuff enough in the ground ; besides they are 
too late, and London grades sell the best.” I knew before he 
told me that the vegetables I was examining were grown in the 
south. I have seen tons of them sent off from the London vege¬ 
table grounds, the railway companies sending a dozen large vans 
into a field at night, which are sent away loaded before daylight 
the next morning. What chance have the local midland and 
northern growers against a system—a perfectly legitimate system 
—such as this ? and what chance—I ask the question in all 
seriousness—have farmers who “ take to ” vegetable-growing 
anywhere against these practised cultivators and born marketers 
with their splendid land and keen business aptitude ? 
If vegetable-growing is the sheet anchor of farming the farmer’s 
case is hopeless. The advice given by well-intentioned M.P.’s 
and public men generally, looks well enough “ on paper,” but put 
into practice in the fields it is found wanting. The plough cannot 
compete with the spade in vegetable culture, and farmers cannot 
“pickup” in a year or two the requisites of successful market 
gardening, while it is not in the nature of things that M.P.’s can 
teach them. Still, farmers have one advantage—if they cannot 
sell their Cabbages, &c., they can give them to their stock, which 
is what purely market gardeners cannot do. 
Mr. Wills’ admirable suggestion on page 63 to enlarge the 
gardens of cottagers in the country is another matter. These 
people could both grow and sell produce cheaply, and it is cheap¬ 
ness with quality that creates a demand for a commodity : and 
they can also deal with the consumers, which is a point of great 
importance, for whatever profit is yielded by vegetable culture 
the salesmen and middlemen get the bulk of it. Until there is a 
much greater consumption of vegetables it will not, in my opinion, 
be sound policy to induce farmers to cultivate them largely—at 
least not safe for the farmers.— An Old Hand. 
Prizes for the Improvement of Asparagus Culture.— 
With a view to improving the culture of Asparagus throughout 
