HOW TO MAKE SMALL FARMING PAY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9168, 11 June 1908, Page 6

HOW TO MAKE SMALL FARMING PAY.

The London Daily Mail has been publishing some facta about intensive culsiration in Franco. It says:—“lt is a commonplace that in France by intensive culture market gardeners often contrive to obtain £SOO worth of produce fiom' »u acre of land. The secret of success lies in raising the temperature of the soil by placing beneath the surface stratum a deep layer of manure and covering: the beds with frames, which again are embedded in manure. By thismeans a temperature of 90 degrees ■ has been maintained in January and the asperity of the winter air is soothed and tamed. The system is not, as some might suppose, a mere plaything or an experiment. It has been tried in Franc© for many years, while in 1905 it was introduced at Evesham upon a fairly largo scale, with the result shat, according to a local firm, the grots produce of an acre works out at £6OO to £7OO. The expenses, of course, are heavy, but, according to the frame authority, there is a good margin of jjrofit. Within the past year the system has been introduced at Thatcham, in Berkshire, by aJJFrenoh market gardner, M. Ooq. His intention is to produce fruit and vegetables out of season, when they fetch a fabulous price. Lettuces, young carrots, and, melons are among the crops which he grows, but there is an almost infinite variety from which enterprising Imitators can choose. When wo remember that during the season tho export of new potatoes from the Breton ports reaches 1000 tons per day, and that whola trainloads of early French potatoes are made up at Southampton far London, we obtain some idea of the opportunities which await the enterprising English agriculturist. Though complaints of the British railways are common, the gardener makes money, despite the fact that ho pays quite twice the freight that the English smallholder would have to face. Early asparagus is conveyed by fast trains from countries as far aiold as Italy, aud sold in London at 9s per bundle. The imports of early lettuce from Paris and Northern Franco reach hundreds of crates a day and fetch a high price. Yet there is really no reason why the asparagus and lettuce should not be grown upon British soil, or why the profits of their culture should not pas# into British pockets. It is N true that if the business were carried on upon a very large scale in England the price might somewhat decline, but there would still remain a good margin, as experience shews that with each fall in the price tho market expands: ' No occupation is more healthful,’ than that of the market gardener,.. and probably no one derives greater pleasure from hi» work when it can bo made to pay- -4 man who displays such ‘prodigies of labour, intelligence, and imagination’ cannot b« aaid to vegetate er merely to exist. The true art of life is", to enjoy your work, and this he does.