European Vegetable Production.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 13, 23 September 1927, Page 4

European Vegetable Production.

I.—ENGLISH. (By WILL R. SMITH, Member East Anglian Vegetable Growers' Association.) Growers of vegetables have probably given the finest instances of what can be done by patient experiment and research. It is a little known fact that vegetables are cheaper to-day in the big centres like London and Manchester, than in the lesser populated areas where they are grown. Twenty years ago this was not so, and the laborious research and vast outlay of capital which has made this possible is not fully appreciated by those who have not seen their mass production at close quarters. The major portion of London's winter vegetables and potatoes come from the counties of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, the Soke of Peterborough and West Norfolk. These great areas of vegetable production are at an average distance of seventy miles from London, and it speaks well for the work of the L.N.E. Railway Company, that vegetables railed in Norfolk on, say, Monday at 2.30 p.m. are being sold in Spitalfields and borough markets by 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday morning. Perhaps the finest instance of what has been done in mass production of vegetables, can be found in West Norfolk, where on the estate of the Duchy of Lancaster nearly 40,000 acres are annually devoted to the growth of the following main crops: potatoes, celery, savoys, and brussel sprouts. The writer has had the privilege of nine years' work on that estate, can testify that only by the sterling initiative of the local farmers has the wonderful progress on that estate been made possible. The estate lies in a valley, between the Wolds of Suffolk and the rivers Wissey and Little Ouse, which there join the Great Ouse to empty into the historic King's Lynn Wash. Thirty years ago less than 100 acres of this land was under the plough, the remainder being under water for three months of the year. To the noble life work of the late A. J. Keeble may be laid the credit for the enormous drainage scheme which had to be orjpr»rnKed ore. those vast acres could be cultivated. Huge banks were raised to hold back the river floods, six grert rumping stations were ir.s'-ll^d ml orui small river is continuously pumped into the Little Ouse, day and night, by the most powerful plant of its kind in England. A private railway sixteen miles in length has been laid through the estate, and each farm has a private siding of its own. Three private locomotives are engaged daily in shunting the trucks for produce to and from the L.N.E.R. Company's main line. The soil is of a peaty nature, the result of many centuries' accumulation of humus in stagnant water, and has therefore a great potential ammoniacal richness. Towards the e»d of June expert r^lant setters are at work planting the young celery inches apart in rows, that have seven feet of clear ground between them. These men plant anything from 15,000 to 20,000 plants in an eight-hour day. The width between the rows is necessary for the working of huge iron ploughs which perform the moulding up process. The growth of celery has been worked up to the highest pitch of economical production, in so far that the crop can be produced at a cost of £22 per acre. An average of 22,000 plants are set to the acre, and. of these some 18,000 mature, eventually finding themselves packed in bundles of a dozen, and dispatched post haste to the London markets. The soil is pressed around the plants by stout boards fixed on the ends of long poles and worked by men walking on opposite sides of the rows, and pressing the soil at the same spot at the same moment. The weeding is done with hoes so shaped that a sharp cutting edge can be inserted between the plants by a

man, standing in the usual position, p.nd so can be worked at a much greater rate than could a man hand veeding. .-..■. Potato production has also advanced along similar lines. Women labour is much used in this work, as it has been found that an energetic woman can plant an acre of potatoes per diem, whereas, a man being not so supple-handed cannot do more than three roods. The process of grading and sacking the potatoes is done entirely by machinery. The potato grading machine, driven by a small 15 h.p. gasoline engine, requires the attention of three men, who on a fair sample can thus deal with about 2 tons of potatoes per hour. The farmers hold debating classes at the local V.M.C.A. Club, to determine the best uses of artificial manures, and some interesting experiments have been made. It has been found that a vfew pounds of free ammonia are worth several sacks of phosphatic manures for most above-ground vegetables except brussel sprouts. On the other hand it has been found after careful experiment that potash salts are th« chief necessity of potatoes on peat soils. Three years ago Mr. Rose, a wellknown West Norfolk vegetable grower, surprised agricultural circles by the production of a bumper crop of mustard on red peat, a soil hitherto considered valueless. The secret of his success was merely three bags of gas lime per acre, and about six rollings with a four-horse crimp. Although I have drawn a very pleasant picture of West Norfolk vegetable farms, these farmers are to-day in dire straits, owing to unfair competition from mid-European producers. With the permission of your Editor I shall deal with this matter in my next article.