January  1,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
11 
- ■  • - 
A  Reverie  of  Christmas  Time. 
Hop-picking  brings  large  number’s  of  women  from  the 
poor  parts  of  London  to  the  districts  of  Kent,  &c.  in  the 
late  autumn.  Thej^  take  the  outing  partly  as  a  cheap 
holiday,  and  partly  as  a  means  of  earning  money.  Their 
accommodation  is  often  of  the  roughest.  Payment 
usually  runs  at  the  rate  of  Is.  for  six  to  seven  and  a  half 
bushels.  With  good  Hops  a  fair  worker  can  pick  twelve 
or  fourteen  bushels  a  day;  where  the  Hops  are  small 
or  thin  the  average  is  lower.  Some  of  the  workers 
in  the  Potteries  also  engage  in  Hop-picking  in  the 
Midlands. 
On  pages  8,  10,  and  11  are  given  photographs  of  the 
women  employed  on  the  great  market  gardens  around 
London.  Often  in  our  pages  have  desci’iptive  articles 
appeared  in  reference  to  the  fruit-pickers  of  Kent,  at 
least.  Even  the  “Wandering  Willie”  has  made  the 
fruit-picker  his  theme  for  notice  on  occasion,  and  some 
lines  of  his  on  the  itinerant  employe  in  this  direction 
may  be  read  with  a  new  interest  now.  He  referred  first 
of  all  to  the  use  of  motor-cars  on  Messrs.  Wood  Bros.’ 
estate,  near  Swanley,  in  Kent,  this:  one  market-garden 
extending  to  the  huge  total  of  500,000  acres,  and  pro¬ 
ceeds  to  say  :  “The  same  firm  are  alble  to  employ  steam 
ploughs  for  tillage,  and  as  they  have  a  little  foundry 
of  their  own,  and  capable  artisans,  the  whole  of  the  neces- 
.sary  repairs  in  connection  with  their  numerous  vans, 
carts,  waggons,  as  well  as  hor.se-shoeing,  &c.,  can  be 
accomplished  expeditiously,  and  at  the  least  cost,  under 
their  own  supervision.  There  are  a  number  of  brothers 
in  the  business,  and  the  telephone  connects  all  the 
branches  of  the  great  farm.  The  state  and  needs  of 
the  London  and  other  chief  markets  being  telegraphed  to 
the  central  quarters,  he  in  command  there  at  once  telephones 
right  and  left  to  the  branch  offices  on  the  estate,  and  boys  commit 
the  orders  to  the  ‘  gangers  ’  in  the  fields.  Then  there  is  stir 
among  the  pickers  and  gatherers.  Each  is  supplied  with  a  check, 
for  piecework  is  the  rule  everywhere — so  much  iser  peck  of  fruit 
gathered.  On  delivering  this  check,  another  is  given  in  exchange 
and  the  amount  of  fruit  just  handed  in  is  put  to  the  picker’s 
credit  in  a  book  kept  by  the  foreman.  Formerly  each  picker 
was  paid  daily,  the  paymaster  visiting  the  different  fields  late 
in  the  afternoon  on  horse-back  or  in  a  dog-cart,  but  now  I  believe 
that  w’eekly  payments  are  the  rule. 
“The  pickers  are  nearly  all  from  the  slmns  of  London,  a 
ragged,  unkemjDt  crowd.  A  description  of  the  worst  of  them 
would  best  suit  the  pages  of  ‘  Punch  ’  or  ‘  Judy,’  yet  they  are 
looked  upon  by  the  farmers  as  their  great  salvation.  Labour  of 
the  usual  stamp  cannot,  absolutely  cannot,  be  got  unless  at  un¬ 
speakable  wages,  but  these  poor,  shiftless  wretches  from  the  dingy 
courts  and  alleys  flock  down  to  Kent  at  the  beginning  of  every 
summer,  and  linger  on  till  the:  Hops  are  gleaned  in  September. 
Many  of  them  journey  back  to  the  East  End  on  a  Saturday  in 
the  dirtiest  and  plainest  of  railway  carriages,  each  carriage  choked 
full  with  men,  women,  children,  old  clothes,  and  beer  and  whisky 
bottles.  To  see  them  arrive  at  London  Bridge  is  a  .sight  to 
wonder  at,  and  never  to  be  forgotten.” 
Such  pickers,  of  course,  are  only  employed  where  “  labour  of 
the  usual  stamp”  cannot  cope  wdth  the  pressure  of  work  in  hand. 
The  well-known  gipsies  are  tolerated  in  rural  Kent  during  the 
Packin^^  Strawberries  for  Early  Morning  Market. 
"summer,  and  their  waggons  may  often  be  seen  snugly  disposed 
in  the  sheltering  corner  of  a  meadow,  surrounded  with  the  enor¬ 
mously  overgrown  hedges,  which  add  a  character  to  whole  Kentish 
districts.  Ihere  they  enjoy  the  Bohemian  pleasures  of  life,  as 
virtual  children  of  Nature.  These  gipsy  families  furnish  a  largo 
proportion  of  the  pickers.  The  life  seems  to  suit  them  well,  and 
happier  or  healthier  creatures  could  hardly  be  found. 
Ere  these  lines  appear  in  print  the  Christmas  bells  will  once 
more  have  rung  out  their  merry  peals,  and  the  gladsome  message 
of  “Peace  and  Goodwill”  will,  for  a  time,  banish  from  our 
minds  the  daily  cares  of  life.  Cheery  greetings  and  hearty  good 
wishes  will  flow,  like  “  honey  from  the  comb,”  from  the  lips  of 
Briton’s  sons  and  daughters,  who  throughout  the  year  face  each 
other  as  strenuous  competitors  in  the  stern  battle  of  life.  The 
rush  in  connection  with  Christmas  preparations  is  over,  and  a 
general  cessation  of  business  throughout  the  land  provides  an 
opportunity  for  the  long-parted  members  of  hosts  of  families 
to  gather  around  the  “  festive  board.” 
No  more  pleasant  sight  can  be  seen  in  town  or 
country  than  the  smiling  faces  of  those  who  return  once 
more  to  greet  friends  of  old  in  their  native  homes.  By 
this  interchange  of  individuals  many  a  quiet  village  is 
stirred  to  vigorous  mirthfulness,  and  the  town  dwellers 
catch  some  of  the  “  zest  ”  with  which  their  “  country 
cousins”  enter  into  the  gaieties  which  surround  them. 
Surely  it  is  good  for  all  of  us  to  thus  be  sometimes  taken 
out  of  the  “daily  rut,”  and,  by  change  of  scene  and 
thought,  to  renew  our  energies  for  the  work  which  lies 
ahead. 
Gardeners,  old  and  young,  necessarily  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  Christmas  time  with  as  keen  a  zest  as  any,  but 
to  them  it  is  not  always  a  season  of  unmixed  pleasure. 
In  many  establishments  house  parties  full  to  overflowing 
are  to  them  the  order  of  the  day,  and  early  and  late 
work  goes  on  to  keep  pace  with  the  constant  and  ever- 
increasing  demands  of  the  castle  or  mansion.  In  some 
instances  the  “  shoe  pinches  ”  at  such  times,  but,  as  a 
I’ule,  there  is  a  general  air  of  hilarity,  and  it  is  surprising 
with  what  speed  great  tasks  are  carried  through. 
■  It  has  been  said  that  by  contributing  to  the  liappi- 
ness  of  others  a  full  share  of  that  fleeting  blessing  may 
be  secured  by  all.  Surely,  then,  the  gardeners  of 
Britain  should  be  happy  indeed,  for  their  efforts  through¬ 
out  the  year  are  continued  with  one  great  object  in 
view,  viz.,  to  give  pleasure  in  a  thoiusand  Avays.  And 
at  all  festiA’e  times  no  small  amount  of  sacrifice  is  needed 
on  their  part  to  give  a  measure  of  it  full  to  the  ovei’- 
flowing. 
No  one  outside  the  circle  of  gardeners  knows,  or  ever 
can  know.,  the  constant  care,  the  forethought,  the  iu- 
Gang  Women  Carrying  off  Strawberries. 
