December 10, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
511 
who can do that shall have the opportunity afforded him. But it 
must not be supposed that the mere granting of allotments to every 
person who has a fancy for a “ bit of land ” will transform this 
country into an arcadia. It is not the allotment as such, but the 
labour and judgment of the man that tills it, that will render its 
acquisition of value. 
In numbers of parishes in the kingdom small allotments of land 
have been plentiful for generations, and thousands of persons have 
been benefited thereby ; 1 ut, on the other hand, the fact must be 
acknowledged, simply because it cannot be ignored, that in instances 
innumerable the plots have been of no service to the holders of 
them, because the land has not been properly tilled and cropped. 
One man will live where another will starve in this as in other 
vocations. The industrious and thrifty succeed, the loiterers and 
the careless fail, and there is unfortunately a considerable percen¬ 
tage of these in every community. It is no secret that many 
holders of allotments have failed to cultivate them remuneratively, 
and it is to be feared that these failures have had an influence, 
perhaps too great an influence, in limiting the granting of land in 
small plots to the working classes, for it cannot be otherwise than 
regretable that the industrious and thrifty should be prevented 
from investing their labour in land because of the shortcomings of 
the thoughtless and less enterprising amongst them. It is, however, 
not at all unlikely that a new start will be made in the letting of 
land in small parcels at a rent not exceeding that for larger tracts ; 
and well-meant advice will be tendered to the tillers to abandon 
old notions of growing corn and Potatoes in favour of green vege¬ 
tables for sale. 
_ It is easy to eliminate strings of figures from “ Covent Garden 
prices ” published in the newspapers, which show in an apparently 
conclusive manner how profitable vegetable culture must be ; but 
such figures by no means represent the amount that can be realised 
in small isolated plots. It can pay no one to send small consign¬ 
ments of vegetables to London or other large vegetable markets. 
It were as vain to convey the water supply to great towns in 
buckets as to send garden produce in driblets from miniature allot¬ 
ments. What may be termed the garden culture of parcels of land 
of a rood more or less can only be profitably conducted near towns 
when the cultivators make arrangements with hotel managers, 
boarding-schools, or small greengrocers to take the produce as it is 
ready for gathering. This often answers the purpose of retail 
vendors, as it prevents the necessity of their going to the wholesale 
markets for what they require ; but even to retain a connection of 
the kind indicated the supplies must be regular, as greengrocers in 
towns cannot afford to tell their customers to wait till supplies 
come in. 
In suburban localities small plots of land may be turned to 
excellent account, not only in growing vegetables, but various kinds 
of popular hardy flowers, for which there is such a great demand ; 
but it is entirely another matter in the case of allotments in obscure 
country villages, miles, it may be, even from a small market town, 
and it is precisely in those thinly inhabited districts that the great 
increase in small allotments of land will occur. By all means let 
them be provided where they do not already exist for the benefit 
of agricultural labourers, whose wages are not likely to increase, 
and whose prospects are the reverse of cheering ; but let not the 
men be misled by the golden dreams of kind-hearted persons who 
are haunted by Covent Garden prices for vegetables, and think 
these can be obtained at any time and anywhere where garden 
produce is grown. 
Those prices have no application whatever to small allotments 
in sparsely populated districts, and if a large number of these are 
induced to. rely on small patches of different kinds of vegetables 
that spoil in a week if not sold, the “ great question ” indicated by 
Mr. Hiam will assuredly arise as to “ finding markets for the dis¬ 
posal of the produce at remunerative prices.” That is a very prac¬ 
tical view, the very kernel of the question of growing vegetables 
for sale in what can only be accurately described as infinitessimal 
quantities in a number of miniature plots far from the busy haunts 
of men. Green vegetables can only be profitably sent to distant 
markets in large quantities, and then the districts must be favour¬ 
able both as regards soil and convenience of quick transit at cheap 
rates by truckloads. Even under those conditions loss has often to 
be endured as a check to profits on more fortunate consignments. 
It has further to be remembered that in many if not in most 
districts the vegetable supply of provincial towns is largely contri¬ 
buted by private gardens, not a few of which are to all intents and 
purposes market gardens, and inexperienced cultivators of plots in 
open fields, where the land is less rich, cannot possibly compete 
successfully with those specially favoured purveyors. Platform 
doctrines and newspaper lectures on profitable vegetable culture by 
small allotment holders on country farms are founded on insufficient 
evidence ; and if they should lead to anything like a general adop¬ 
tion of the practice that is made to appear so advantageous, while 
a few persons may by chance be slightly benefited, immeasurably 
the greater number, who cannot afford to make experiments, will 
assuredly be disappointed. 
This is written with an earnest desire to see the condition of 
a large section of the community improved. Allotments of 
land a rood more or less in extent would be of great service to 
numbers of men who would gladly labour to render them produc¬ 
tive. If they can see their way to grow green vegetables profitably 
for local consumption they will of course grow them, but we are 
convinced they will make what will be to them a costly mistake if 
they crowd their ground with vegetables of a perishable nature for 
supplying distant markets What we have said will not reach in a 
direct manner the humble tillers of the soil we would hope to guide ; 
but we have the ear of a great constituency who have the disposal 
of land for allotment purposes, and to them we appeal, also to 
practical gardeners who can advise soundly on this matter, not to 
encourage hopes that cannot be realised in the great multiplication 
of patchwork market gardens as a panacea for all the inconveniences 
attending “ short time ” and a falling wage rate. 
The demands of the Education Act compel hard-working 
struggling men to make a present sacrifice that is hard to bear in 
consideration of future benefits that may accrue to their families. 
They are deprived of sums that may appear small, but which are 
really considerable that once were earned, and as some sort of 
compensation would be afforded by the granting of small plots of 
lands to be tilled well and cropped in the good old country fashion 
of growing vegetables for their families and corn and roots for the 
poor man’s best friend—the pig that pays the rent, with another 
or two for garnishing his cottage walls. A rood of land well tilled 
will grow a quarter of corn, which will pay the rent of the land 
and leave a margin besides the indispensable straw for the comforts 
of the “friends” and for conversion into manure. Another rood 
will grow from 1£ to 2 tons of Potatoes, and these if sold would 
be profitable, but the bulk can be turned to better account at home. 
The labour attending culture of this kind is mainly that of evening 
hours and odd days, or a week now and then, when through slack¬ 
ness of work men would be otherwise perforce spending their time 
uselessly and vowing vengeance against the powers that be. A 
thrifty and contented peasantry is the backbone of a nation’s 
strength. We are glad to observe a marked disposition exists to 
help those who are willing to help themselves in cultivating small 
plots of land in addition to their daily labour—not starvation 
5-acre farms instead of it. We could indicate a whole district of 
these, but the failures have been so many and the privations so 
great that the proprietors now prudently and, it may be added, 
mercifully, refuse to let the plots except to persons who have some 
trade or occupation mainly to rely on as a means of livelihood. 
With employment more or less regular to rely on, and plots of land 
in addition for the investment of spare time, it would be the fault 
of the men if they did not improve their condition and be more- 
contented in their homes. But the secret of success is high culture 
—clean land and well-supported crops. There is no other safe 
course to pursue, and those who fall into a loose and slovenly 
method, and by their neglect grow weeds instead of food, should 
be given to understand they must give up the land to others who 
prove themselves worthy and able to manage it well. 
This naturally leads to the consideration of another aspect of 
the question. It has hitherto been the rule with but few ex¬ 
ceptions to limit the extent of allotments to individuals regardless 
of the manner in which the ground is cultivated. We fail to see 
that this is a sound principle whether regarded from the landlord’s 
or tenant’s point of view. The limit is a rood or half an acre, or 
whatever the extent may be, and however well one person culti¬ 
vates his plot, he must have no more, while his slovenly neighbour 
does no good for himself and spoils the land of the owner is per¬ 
mitted to have just as much. This is not the principle on which 
land is let in larger quantities. If a farmer cultivates 100 acres 
distinctly better than his neighbour does an opportunity is found 
for increasing the holding of the former. The man who renders 
his land the most productive, and is ready with his rent, is very 
properly encouraged. But there is no corresponding incentive 
given to the allotment holder. It is evident to all practical men 
who are acquainted with a series of plots that one man is far better 
capable of cultivating three portions than another is of managing 
one. Why, then, should not he who shows his capacity be recognised 
and have the encouragement that is due to strenuous endeavour and 
proved worth ? If allotments were governed on that principle 
every striving man would have something to hope for and work for 
—an incentive for his energy—and when it was seen that he profited 
by his labour his example would be a stimulus to others wh© are 
now content to lag behind and soothe themselves by the ready ex¬ 
cuse of “ it’s no use trying.” As they have nothing to gain they 
