London Market Gardens

Southland Times, Issue 7030, 19 January 1885, Page 4

London Market Gardens

(By CambUSLANG, in N<B. Agriculturist.) : As we proceed' down the Thames' valley the land-gradnally gets better, and 'the style. of. farmirgiinproyes,^ until at /abojat ten or twelye miles distance from London, ordinary : . farming is almost entirely^ supplanted by market gardening, Prom Windsor down, the < amjounj; of yegetableß, frnit, and flbwers which ■> are raised; for the London •marjcet.isisome- . thing enormons, and beyond: the^idea °* a^ not actually: m -the, trade. At.Twickenhaak we yidted. the eßtablishments cf Mr James Walker, Whitton, and Mr John; Poupairt, Farm. Mr Walker's land is devoted - principally- to 1 tfruitf and flowei&y:, .The fruit trees on both places are plautei'in much the same style. Standard . ap; lea or pears are in moßt cases 'planted in rows abont 35 feet 'apart; and:between these a row of plums or damsons. In the Thames valley, and in fact almost everywhere plum blossoms are very apt to^bejiipped by late frosts, whereas, when planted between the higher-growing apple or ■ pear, they are;. in great part. Bhelterad from the dreaded esst wind . Under both kinds of treas currant and gooseberry bashes of all kinds are planted ; and notwithstanding the • great amount of ..shade 1 hey thrive well, I .-.'..' can easily understand the black currant doing so, because it delights in partial' shade, bujt • . ■' was surprised to see the other butties jtHriving so well. Ilh the south of England particularly the: black ..entrant appears to do better in the ■'- Bhade, if not overdone, tlan what it dees in the opeE^-tbe.clear Bky and bright sun caos- "; ing the berries to "ripen prematurely^ Between the black currant as grown in the south • ; of England and thoW' grown in the cooler ciimate of Scotland there is a great difference in taste, so much sa that in Glaagow, English bsrries, although; in; equally gbod\cbndiiijn >\ to home-grpwn ; cnes, often do not give much orerbaLfc the price. The difference, is principally a, matter ot acidity, the English berry being sweet, while the Scotch one is more or less both sweet and acid. Mr Walker's berry bushes ate planted fairly wide, and along the sjdes i of the rows of many of them are planted long liDeVof lilies, snowdrops, narcissus; lily -... of the valley, walJfl >wer, & c . &c. In almost ' ell the bußh fruit plantations spring flowers •aie grown, which bloom and are cut before the leaves. on tie bu-hes bet ome very dense. Besidts 'he-spiing b«lbg2prbwn unHer (ha fruit trees, Mr Walker has several fields planted with liliums, iris, narcissus, carnaliuns, and other, (ree-blocming plants, the cut iilooms of which ere aU peisonally sold in J Covent Garden by Mr Walker. Mr Poupatt does not go so heavily in for cut bloom as Mr Walker, still he does a good deal in early spring flowers. On both placeß.large houses two stories hi-ih are erected foi the purpose of dryirg and keeping the bulbs and; ranunculus roots. These houses are either formed with permanent shelving round the sides and along the centre, with a path between, or shallow bases in which the bulbs are'placed, are piled up the same way rdnnd the house. Kach bos has a piece of wood standing up ab>ut 3 icches above the level of the sides at each corner, arid on which tne.nixt box rests. Thia arrangement, allows of -examining and luming the vbulbs at all times, while thoroughly exposing then to the air, aud at the s_me time they are easily carried from pl'Ce. On Marsh Farm a field of five or six - acesis entirely devoted to celery culture, for which it is extiaprdinariJ y well au'ted. It ia almost flat, and into the centre of it in le I a « urrent of sewage from an adjoining sewage filtering establishment. Every, thirty or forty feet/wPe open drains are dug. about a ■ foot and a half ! wide and. two feet deep, ii t > Vhichtbe sewage is. run. Thse drain iae k<>pt about half full for some,laye, until tbe land is thoroughly saturated' between them, when it is inn off and another Joe. filled, the eame'eourse being gone through a few days afrerwArds. . - - "•* Ihe quantity of manure used by these vege<abl». froit, and flower farms :s >otnethinsr . extraordinary, and grea f ly in fxce?s of the qnautity used on even t hie best mi ape land most highly manured ordinary cropiiuj.' jaitn?. Manure is applied^ to every _Q.rop Te.irlV 'if su«-h .can be got doce, andsoften pieces of land -are manured of tener than qnce in cpu i so o£ a year where more than one crop is grownjltiiiog the season. Inttr- :ropping i* p-a^tised to the utmost Hunt, io pece ol Jscd bfeing allowed at : : altro.it sny season to h°. witho »t crop ; one crop is ho sooner cleared off than som?tbing else is re^dy-to-repUciit, the invariable (coatjng ofemanure b ing pnt" on previous to ploughing of cligging. In London good manure , is very, cheap, much mmc so than.what it is in either Glasgow or, -Jfidinburgh. ; Among the market gardeners a rurious plan exi9t8 r regarding the manner of ' purchasing. Each waggoner who taken iv a load of jfrnit, vegetab]? s : oy flow* is, get from 48 to 5s with which to'Vuy "his back; load of m(\nu'e. He, is given this sum every time h^ po <: s jn Inwn in return for the loid of tnanure h^ tilings back, the waggprer purchasiig as cheaply as he can, and pocketing any diflVj - ence when such exists. Thrse waggon loads seldom less than s 4scwt,. and occasionally rbm 50 c^t to 6P_cwtj so that the pric- 1 may I>epatdownat about 2s»per ton; The msnter ;in all cases has to see that big man brings x 'borne '■ aj good load, both as to. quality and ' amount, and when these are both right, in few cases makes any inquiry. as to what it may cost his man. .Gas lime is also pent onf yeiy. cheap: frqmthV Lon<?on gas works. If the company have the rieit of 6ending it out S when it suit g them, they; ?generalily deliV-^ it . ■■:■-'.. long^djstan<iep^fr<)jni^ the, oi*y:;ttee^atihi- •;• nhaser Ayi^heji:it ; . ; sent at any particular time.l^y he pays lhi :^«?ay sCacriage.^ /.The^ates'fqr^ A manure charged by the London rail way com- ' ponies are considerably .less than what is - charged by f the;,Bbotch* cornpabies, so much «o ; M that;manure can be rrpingrjit Beli v^red nt rail. jW^'S^ft^f 30 ftnd 40 miles frp'U:Lp>don at iram^o to4s^|Bs;per ton, which- includes the biginal^TtieJjn the city, cjjitage to the neansst loading dpp^and^th^^rail way rate out, w)bibK..wJr!teipl^iß inbtt4«ar- Oompeti. j tibn betwom the c»nal and raiiwaj cqod. Moies lor t®|f 9JWI ©t t'«#? i* very keen;

little or nothing in artificial manures. One, would think that it it paid any one to usej artificial manures it would pay the market, gardener, who wishes to grow his produce aa t quickly ss possible, and when grown get a, sum per acre far|larger than any ordinary farm crop, ': " * /