ember 12, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
229 
PROFITABLE MARKET 
GARDENING. 
That all gardening, whether followed as an occupa¬ 
tion or for the mere love of the pursuit, should be 
profitable everyone will be prepared to admit, and in 
these days when so many are engaged in the trade it 
is of the utmost importance that those of our readers 
to whom gardening is a profession should be smartly 
alive to their own interests. This does not consist 
solely in growing a large variety of plants, but in 
studying the wants of the various markets and their 
own particular localities, and in meeting those wants 
at a proper time. It is now generally acknowledged 
that a market gardener who goes about his work on 
these lines is more likely to become successful in his 
business than one who grows a little of almost every¬ 
thing, and takes his stuff to market on the chance of 
disposing of it without due regard to the require¬ 
ments of the place, the result being in many cases 
a comparatively small sale. 
As an example of what 
market gardeners can do 
we give an instance of one 
who resides within four 
miles of a large town, a 
short distance from a rail¬ 
way station, and who, per¬ 
haps, has a better advan¬ 
tage than some in this 
respect because he can 
take most of his produce to 
market by road. Although 
he has good glass accom¬ 
modation he contents him¬ 
self with growing for sale 
only eight subjects, viz. : 
Grapes, Tomatos, Mush¬ 
rooms, Cucumbers, Rhu¬ 
barb, h erns, India Rubber 
plants, and late Chrysan¬ 
themums. At the present 
time he is cutting Grapes, 
and will continue to do so 
until March. Chrysanthe¬ 
mums are also just coming 
in, but only late ones are 
grown, such as Ethel, 
Princess Teck, Fair Maid 
of Guernsey, Snowdrop, 
Meg Merrilies, etc., and 
these will occupy atten¬ 
tion until January. He 
assured us that one house 
of late white Chrysanthe¬ 
mums proved much more 
profitable than three 
houses of the mid-season 
varieties, as these are 
simply a glut on the 
market during the month 
of November, seeing that 
almost everyone who has 
a greenhouse goes in for 
Chrysanthemum culture, 
and invariably grows 
those coming into bloom 
in the middle of November. 
Rhubarb, of which he makes a specialty, will be 
ready for Christmas, and two houses are devoted to 
this. Roots are lifted in October and placed upon 
the floor of the house with soil round them, or in 
boxes; the crowns are covered with hay or straw, 
whilst the house is darkened with mats, which en¬ 
ables him to cut it in a nice-coloured condition. Heat 
is applied towards the end of October, and the roots 
are copiously supplied with water. Rhubarb in the 
early season and at Christmas time finds a ready 
sale, and is a much more remunerative crop than 
that coming in later in the spring. The roots forced 
this season are planted out, and fresh ones brought in 
another year. 
The Tomato is also one of his strong subjects, and 
the seed of this has just been sown. Large Red, 
Earliest of All, and Maincrop are the chief varieties, 
and although foreign produce is now brought into 
our markets in such large quantities, the sale of them 
does not materially affect the price of English fruit t 
as those who have once acquired the taste of an 
English Tomato do not take very readily to the 
“ unsavoury ” looking foreign fruit. The seed now 
sown will be pricked out when the seedlings are wel 
into their second leaf, and potted on as required. It 
is his custom to fruit the earliest batch of plants in 
io-in. pots, and he generally commences to cut fruit 
about the middle of May. This last season, however, 
it was the end of May before he sent them to market, 
but this may be accounted for owing to the severe 
winter. 
For the first two consignments of fruit he made 
is. per lb. in the wholesale market ; the next batches 
fetched iod. per lb., and at this stage some were sent 
to a distant market, realizing gd. per lb., and 
throughout the season, even when the foreign fruit 
was so plentiful, he never got less than 4d. per lb. 
An early crop pays better than a late one he told us, 
because at the end of the season people are getting 
somewhat tired of them, and besides this they do not 
assume so deep a colour owing to the absence of sun. 
The earliest batch of plants are grown in pots only, 
the others being planted in beds and trained over the 
rafters. 
Cucumbers are a remunerative crop, especially in 
the early spring. These are grown well, and are sent 
to several markets, £ the |first'icrop realizing 5s. per 
dozen, which reduce as the season advances, until at 
its height the price falls to 2s. per dozen. Of course 
these prices include all sizes, i.e., big and little are 
sold together, and the retailer reaps the advantage. 
They are grown on the express system, and as soon 
as one plant has finished bearing it comes out, the 
bed is replenished with some fresh material, and 
another plant takes its place, so that no time is lost. 
Ventilation is a thing almost unknown in Cucumber 
growing nowadays, steam, light and heat being the 
chief elements, and this is the system adopted by the 
market gardener to whom we are alluding. Tele¬ 
graph is the variety cultivated, and as a cropper for 
market takes a deal of beating ; in fact, it is a ques¬ 
tion whether it can be surpassed. The fruits are 
sent off in hampers in layers of hay, and packed in 
this way they travel many miles without being 
bruised. The Tomatos, I should have mentioned, 
are sent off in wicker baskets similar to those sent 
into Covent Garden market from the Channel 
Islands. 
Mushrooms are grown under the stages, and ar¬ 
rangements are made to ward off the drips from the 
occupants of the stages by boards being placed over 
the beds. This is usually a good crop, but they are 
not grown so extensively as other things for the rea¬ 
son that they are such difficult stuff to pack and send 
away, hence it is that they are disposed of as far as 
possible in the immediate neighbourhood. 
Ferns are given a long house to themselves. Of 
the varieties grown Maidenhairs are in the majority, 
being more largely used lor decorative work, bou¬ 
quets, wreaths, etc., than any other sort. Some 
thousands are grown in thnmb pots, whilst others 
are planted in terra cotta baskets, and find a ready 
sale in the towns as they are much in request for 
drawing room decoration. All the Maidenhairs are 
raised from spores, and when we visited the nursery 
we noticed some thousands of young ones in a corner 
of the house (separated from the other portion by a 
partition) in seed pans, looking the picture of health. 
India Rubber Plants (Ficus elastica) is grown 
in large quantities, as these are now so much in re¬ 
quest as window plants and for the decoration of the 
dinner table. Most of them were young stuff in 
5-in. pots, this being a 
convenient size for a win¬ 
dow or table. 
Grapes are also done 
well, many of them being 
Alicante, Gros Colmar 
and Barbarossa, and as 
we have remarked come 
in at the end of the year, 
which enables him to 
realize a good price for 
them. We were struck 
with the absence of 
Fuchsias, Begonias, Pel¬ 
argoniums, and other 
plants of a similar char¬ 
acter, and on mentioning 
this we were told that 
these subjects were left 
for others to deal with, 
as there was sadly too 
much competition, every 
nurseryman within twenty 
miles of him growing 
them. His plan appeared 
to be to cultivate only 
those subjects for which 
there was a call, and to 
get them ready for market 
at a period when other 
people were either not 
ready or had finished. 
Grapes were no use to 
them in September, when 
every grower was cutting ; 
from November to March 
is their harvest in this 
department, and they 
work accordingly. The 
same with Tomatos, the 
earlier the better. Here 
we might say that the 
houses containing the 
earliest Tomatos (those in 
pots) are cleared early in 
October, and filled with 
the first lot of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, but these are only kept from frost, the 
ventilators being left open, and heat excluded until 
there is a necessity for it. 
What subjects are taken in hand are certainly 
grown well, and although the man has not had the 
place very many years we know that he is doing a 
good trade, and one which is gradually increasing. 
Here then is a case of a gardener who, like others, has 
had difficulties to contend with, but by persevering 
and watching his opportunities, shows that it is 
possible for market gardening, even in these “ hard 
times,” to be made profitable ; and we considered our 
visit to such an establishment was time wqjl spent, 
as we learnt, amongst other things, that it was 
not always the nursery with the largest variety 
of plants, etc., which proved the most successful. 
The houses are well heated with hot water pipers, 
and with the exception of one house, which is used 
as a Vinery, are all worked from one boiler. As far 
as we could see the places are never empty for long 
together, as when the Tomatos and Cucumbers are 
finished they are succeeded by Chrysanthemums, and 
when these are over the houses undergo a thorough 
cleaning and limewashing preparatory to another 
Aster Ncvi-Belgii densus.' 
