June  16,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
495 
t)ill  ranges  from  £21  to  £22  ;  all  these  thousands  of  chip  punnets 
being  given  away  for  the  purpose  of  selling  the  produce  in  them. 
Then  there  is  the  seed.  The  last  order  given  was  for  50  quarters  of 
Cress,  and  75  quarters  of  Rape — not  an  ounce  of  Mustard.  To  insure 
the  best  English  Rape  a  stock  is  provided  a  year  in  advance.  The 
market  has  been  kuown  in  previous  years  to  be  drained  of  the  best 
home  samples,  and  recourse  had  to  foreign  seed.  This  did  not  satisfy. 
The  best  seed  obtainable  gives  the  best  produce  of  “  Hot  and  Cold,” 
and^  the  best  profits  to  the  grower.  Some  £300  to  £400  may  be 
resting  in  sacks  of  seed  at  the  present  moment,  but  a  germinating  time 
will  be  certain  to  come  of  seeds  and  money,  with  the  result  of  a  sure 
and  profitable  harvest — ready  for  cutting  in  five  days  from  sowing. 
The  last  named  fact  is  significant,  for  it  simply  means  that  a 
greater  number  of  crops  of  “  Hot  and  Cold”  can  be  obtained  from  any 
given  site  in  a  given  time  than  can  be  had  from  any  other  product  in 
existence,  whether  grown  in  Cucumber  or  other  houses  in  winter 
and  early  spring,  or  between  planks  on  edge  and  the  space  bridged 
over  by  moveable  sashes,  or  other  screens,  in  the  open,  after  the 
houses  are  wanted  for  summer  work.  Every  one  of  these  crops, 
Avell  grown  and  well  packed,  or,  in  other  words,  of  the  first  class  in 
bulk  and  in  quality,  leaves  a  good  profit  behind  it;  and  it  follows 
that  a  working  man  who  obtains  fifty-two  crops  a  year,  and  sells 
17,000  to  18,000  punnets  a  week,  deriving  20  per  cent.,  perhaps  more, 
on  the  outlay  has  not  made  himself  a  very  bad  business. 
“  How  are  these  quick  successional  crops  produced  ?  ”  Brains 
constitute  the  chief  factor.  They  have  told  the  grower  that  every 
weekly  crop  of  “  Hot  and  Cold  ”  must  have  an  entirely  fresh  rooting 
medium.  They  have  also  told  him  how  to  provide  a  sufficient  bulk, 
and  it  is  a  large  one,  of  the  very  best  kind  for  nothing — or  rather  at  a 
sufficient  profit  to  pay  for  the  labour  incurred  in  its  preparation  and 
use.  It  is  in  this  way.  IManure  is  bought,  prepared,  and  formed 
into  ridges,  spawned,  soiled,  and  covered,  and  a  greater  profit  is 
obtained  from  the  resulting  Mushrooms  than  could  be  derived  from 
any  other  edible  product  that  could  be  raised  on  the  same  site,  except 
perhaps  “  Hpt  and  Cold,”  and  this  could  not  be  had  so  well  without 
the  refuse  from  the  Mushroom  ridges. 
1“  This  is  wheeled  into  a  large  heap,  and  afier  a  rest  all  that  will  pass 
between  the  wires  is  rushed  with  shovels  through  a  large  slanting 
riddle.  The  shorter  of  the  fluffy  portion  that  will  not  pass  through  is 
used  as  a  bed,  2  or  3  inches  thick,  evenly  pressed  down,  on  which  is 
spread  a  layer  about  2  inches  thick  of  the  sifted  decayed  manure, 
smoothed,  surfaced  with  a  film  of  cocoa-nut  fibre  refuse,  or  preferably 
cedar  refuse — a  local  product  resulting  from  pencil-making — watered, 
sown,  matted,  kept  moist  and  dark  ;  the  previously  soaked  seed  starts 
into  growth  at  once,  the  mats  are  by  degrees  removed,  one  good  water¬ 
ing  given,  and  the  crop  is  ready  within  a  week  when  the  warmth  is 
sufficient  for  its  growth. 
It  is  a  close,  dense,  level  mass,  with  not  a  particle  of  husk,  grit, 
or  anything  else  on  the  verdant  surface.  So  thick  is  the  sowing 
and.  dense  the  growth,  that  punnets  can  be  thrown  on  it  with 
impunity  to  be  handy  for  the  cutter.  In  a  moment  his  keen,  angled 
knife  (fig.  92),  with  a  push  and  a  draw  or  two,  severs  the  stems, 
fleldom  one  too  many  or  too  few  at  a  time,  the  portion  severed 
EiG.  92. — Small  Salad  Cutter. 
not  falling;  it  is  seized  with  both  hands,  and  with  a  turn  of  the 
wrists  is  wedged  in  the  punnet  (fig.  93)  in  one  deft  quick  move¬ 
ment.  It  is  emphatically  skilled  labour,  and  the  men  are  properly 
paid  the  average  wages  of  good  gardeners. 
Lads  supply  the  cutters  with  empty  punnets,  and  the  packers  with 
full  ones.  Men  with  barrows  follow  the  cutters,  and  take  out  in 
flakes  the  material  placed  in  a  week  ago.  It  bristles  with  short  stems, 
and  is  matted  closely  with  myriads  of  roots.  It  is  heaped  for  the 
vegetable  matter  to  decay,  turned  over,  and  in  a  year  is  ready  for  use 
again,  the  remains  of  one  crop  affording  appropriate  food  for  another, 
and  so  the  round  of  work  and  rest,  of  life  and  death,  and  life  again 
goes  on — a  great  lesson  in  a  small  way  on  the  marvellous  economy  of 
Nature,  whatever  more. 
It  is  not  infrequently  advised  that  Cress  seed,  because  of  the 
comparatively  slow  growth  of  the  jdants,  should  be  sown  a  day  or  two 
in  advance  of  Mustard,  so  that  both  may  be  ready  at  the  same  time. 
In  the  larger  culture  under  notice  all  the  seed  is  soaked  for  twelve 
hours.  Tire  Rape  seed  just  swells,  but  takes  up  little  water.  The 
Cress  seed  during  the  same  time  absorbs  its  own  weight  of  water, 
swelling  from  1  bushel  into  2  bushels  in  a  day  or  a  night.  After 
being  left  to  drain  a- little  it  is  rubbed  through  with  dry  sand,  as 
if  separating  Carrot  ^seed,  sifted,  and  sown  with  the  Rape  (which 
is  not  so  treated),  and  both  crops  are  ready  for  cutting  at  the 
same  time. 
This  story  of  a  woiker,  however  incomplete,  has  extended  to 
greater  length  than  was  expected.  It  may,  perhaps,  however,  .be 
tolerated.  The  narrative  is  not  without  interest;  it  should  be 
encouraging,  and  may  possibly  be  useful.  Be  that  as  it  may,  such 
progress  by  a  son  of  toil,  who  has  made  himself  in  so  short  a  time 
the  second  largest  grower  of  “  Hot  and  Cold,”  so  far  as  is  known,  in 
the  world,  is  worthy  of  recognition  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture. 
Fig.  93. — Chip  Punnets, 
A  small  portion  of  the  work  described  is  shown  in  the  illustration 
(fig.  95,  page  503). 
Another  branch  of  Mr.  Newton’s  outdoor  culture,  in  part  on  land 
of  his  own  (the  best  part),  in  part  held  on  a  rental  of  £50  an  acre, 
may  be  referred  to  in  a  future  issue.  In  the  meantime,  those  who 
happen  to  think  the  rent  a  little  high  may  perhaps  wonder  and  guess 
what  the  crop  can  be  that  pays  it — and  the  grower,  too. 
SPRING  TRENCHING  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 
I  WOULD  like  to  say  a  tew  words  in  answer  to  Mr.  Pea’s  paragraph 
in  your  issue  of  June  the  9th.  Mr.  Pea  will  persist  in  “confounding 
things  that  differ.”  He  says  his  experience  has  been  disastrous  for  my 
arguments.  I  might  have  left  this  unnoticed,  for  your  correspondent 
“  Examiner  ”  gives  answer  sufficient  to  both  the  experience  and 
arguments  of  both  Mr.  Pea  and  Mr.  Dunn. 
My  remarks  were  based  on  my  experience  under  entirely  different 
circumstances  to  those  under  which  my  able  literary  opponent 
practises.  He,  no  doubt,  correctly  relates  his  experience.  Does  he 
suppose  my  observations  for  the  last  sixty  years  are  not  correctly 
related  ?  He  is  a  man,  we  will  hope,  with  a  long  happy  future 
before  him,  and  may  regard  the  remarks  of  one  well  through 
his  eighth  decade  as  visionary.  He  has  persistently  ignored  the 
conditions  under  which  I  found  spring  digging  more  desirable  than 
that  of  autumn.  If  Mr.  Pea  had  ever  practised  on  a  heavy  soil, 
where  I  sometimes  experienced  25  inches  of  rain  in  two  consecutive 
winter  months,  I  venture  to  think  that  he  would  have  found  it 
impossible  to  alter  either  the  philosophy  or  the  results  that  1  have 
advanced.  He  seems  to  try  the  impossible  and  question  my  results. 
I  judge  his  remarks  more  charitably  as  to  his  practice  in  dry  Kent. 
I  presume  if  he  was  placed  on  a  similar  soil  to  that  I  originally  referred 
to,  and  where  I  sometimes  registered  nearly  6  feet  of  rain  in  twelve 
months,  I  feel  pretty  sure  he  would  fall  into  my  practice.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  I  had  to  deal  with  his  clay  I  would  take  a  very 
different  method  of  improving  it,  with  permanent  results,  by  practices 
adopted  in  some  cases  perhaps  before  Mr.  Pea  was  born,  or  at  least  ever 
handled  spade  or  fork. 
It  was  the  wet  climate  of  Drumlanrig  that  I  wrote  of,  and  nearly 
thirty  years’  practice  there  confirmed  the  correctness  of  my  methods. 
The  soil  there  now  is  permanently  very  different  to  what  I  found  it.  I 
have  old  pupils  practising  in  Kent  who  could  tell  that  I  found  a  large 
part  of  the  kitchen  garden  a  strong  yellow  clay,  from  wdiich  the  bricks 
of  the  surrounding  walls  Avere  made,  I  did  not  do  the  amelioration 
as  I  did  6  acres  of  strong  yellow  clay  in  Middlesex  by  burning  it ; 
the  climate  of  Drumlanrig  in  winter  would  have  drowned  out  the 
burning  process. 
It  was  by  wheeling  on  to  the  clay  quarters  great  ([uantities  of  old 
Vine  borders  and  other  light  materials,  such  as  the  finest  siftings  of 
ashes  and  a  great  amount  of  soot  out  of  the  flue  I  had  constructed  to 
take  the  smoke  of  the  furnaces  three-quarters  of  a  mile  away  from  the 
garden.  Anyone  who  sees  the  height  the  quarters  are  above  the 
walks  at  this  date  can  form  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  light  material 
put  on  them.  If  I  were  Mr,  Pea  I  would  not,  in  a  dry  climate  like 
Kent,  be  L  ng  bothered  with  such  a  pasty  mass  as  he  describes.  If  I 
could  get  coals  and  some  old  trees  to  set  fire  to  it,  I  would  burn  it, 
and  wheel  or  cart  on  it  all  the  light  material  I  could  lay  my 
hands  on,  and  then  turn  all  over  the  same  as  you  would  mix  soil  on  a 
potting  bench.  Expensive  work,  some  may  exclaim.  Not  half  so 
expensive  as  the  unsatisfactory  annual  work  Mr.  Pea  describes,  as  a 
few  years  of  labour  saved  and  the  increased  yield  would  soon  put  the 
credit  figures  on  the  right  side. 
As  for  ]\Ir.  Dunn’s  objections  and  criticisms,  I  really  do  not  know 
