Market garden

“ The market gardens that surround the large cities offer work to the children of the factory operatives, and there they swarm over beet and onion fields like huge insects with an unerring instinct for weeds. Now and then a family finds a forgotten acre, builds a shack, and starts a small independent market garden. Within a few years a whole settlement of shacks grows up around it, and soon the trucking of the neighborhood is in foreign hands. Seasonal agricultural work often carries the immigrant into distant canning centers, hop fields, cranberry marshes, orchards, and vineyards. ”

“ The market gardener is usually under some kind of compulsion to sow Peas in solid pieces, just far enough apart for fair growth, and to leave them to sprawl instead of being staked, because of the cost of the proceeding. But the garden that supplies a household is not subject to the severe conditions of competition, and Peas may be said to go to the dinner table at retail and not at wholesale price. ”

“ Market gardeners233 who supply the canneries grow vegetables with a keen eye to their productiveness. If one vegetable will produce a half or a third more to an acre than another variety somewhat better, it is only human to grow that one, but the private garden is not, as a rule, grown with a sole idea of profit; it is quality and the enjoyment of the product that is looked for and only those vegetables that will produce a high grade product will be grown. ”

“ A walk, alley, or cartway, on the sides of the garden, is always better next to the fence, than to fill that space with anything else, as it is usually shaded for a portion of the day, and may be better afforded for such waste purposes than the open, sunny ground within.
It will be observed that market gardeners, men who always strive to make the most profit from their land and labor, and obtain the best vegetables, cultivate them in open fields. Not a tree, nor even a bush is permitted to stand near the growing crop, if they can prevent it ”

“ The market gardeners round the metropolis of this wen-headed country; round this Wen of all wens; [8] round this prodigious and monstrous collection of human beings; these market gardeners have about three hundred thousand families to supply with vegetables, and these they supply well too, and with summer fruits into the bargain. Now, if it demanded ten rods to a family, the whole would demand, all but a fraction, nineteen thousand acres of garden ground. We have only to cast our eyes over what there is to know that there is not a fourth of that quantity. ”

“ The market is held down the one long street, where it opens on the small garden and esplanade by the shore. This is planted with magnificent plane-trees, and nothing can be more picturesque than the groups of peasant-women, with their bright-colored kerchiefs crossed over their shoulders, and their thick woollen skirts, sitting each at her little booth of cakes, or sweets, or household utensils, and especially the charming little crocks, pots, and pans of native manufacture. ”

“ There is no real line dividing the vegetables of the market garden from those of the farm garden, but it may be assumed in a somewhat arbitrary way that those which do not yield at the gross rate of $250 per acre per year will not pay for the intense culture of high-priced land, although they will pay handsome profits in broad-acred operations under horse culture. ”

“ An old-fashioned garden lies to one side of the house, and four acres of land on the other side, on which the main crops are grown, consisting of hardy fruits, perennials, and other crops.
The farm is conducted as a market garden for business purposes. Students will thus see practical work—the object being to provide outdoor work of the healthiest kind, and at the same time to give a thoroughly practical knowledge of country life—knowledge that may be used as a means of livelihood or in superintending a garden, and will, in any case, be of unfailing interest and use in after life. ”

“ One of our morning excursions was to the Flower Market, where the fruits and flowers of the country are displayed with truly tropical profusion. The building, designed with English taste, is of great extent, surrounding a spacious 120 court, which is laid out like a garden, with fountains and ferns, and flowering shrubs and creepers growing luxuriantly. Here are offered for sale all kinds of poultry and birds, parrots, and even monkeys. The Flower Market is especially brilliant, as flowers are the customary offerings at temples. They are very cheap. ”

“ They will pursue no orderly system of agriculture or horticulture, but range from topic to topic, according to the weather and the progress of the weeds, which may drive me from one corner of the garden to the other.
The principal value of a private garden is not understood. It is not to give the possessor vegetables or fruit (that can be better and cheaper done by the market-gardeners) , but to teach him patience and philosophy and the higher virtues, hope deferred and expectations blighted, leading directly to resignation and sometimes to alienation. ”

“ We see growing potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes, beans, peas, squashes, turnips, onions, sweet corn, celery, melons, and many other things. Usually all of these will be found in one garden, but sometimes the farmer raises only a few kinds, or perhaps but one.
Market gardening is very common in Germany, Holland, Italy, China, and in other densely populated countries. Therefore we often find people who have come from these countries to America engaged in this business. ”

“ Grounds.—Part of the garden is devoted to growing for market, and students are taught how to work a market garden through all its stages—from the preparation of the ground and sowing the seeds to the packing of the produce for the market. ”

“ It was a fine morning, and while the shopkeepers and trades-men were taking their rest, the market gardeners and others were directing their waggons and carts to Covent Garden.
“Now,” said the Hon. Tom Dashall, “we will just take a turn round the Garden, and a stroll down Drury-lane, for a walk will do us no harm after our night's amusement, and we can hardly fail to find subjects worthy of observation, though; in all probability we are too early to realize all the poet's description of a market:”
“A market's the circle for frolic and glee, Where tastes of all kinds may be suited ”

“ In the month of June, large quantities are shipped from the Southern and Middle States to the North and East, where they anticipate from two to three weeks the products of the home-market gardens; the facilities afforded by steam transportation rendering nearly profitless the efforts of gardeners to obtain an early crop. ”

“ It should be ascertained who the most likely customers will be—schools, boarding-houses, private families, etc., and the garden should be adapted to supply their wants.
Many are the ways of arranging work in a market garden. A lady of ample means can afford to keep an experienced foreman, a large staff, and horses and vans. ”

“ Our market gardeners understand all this: they do not rest when they have drained the land and regulated the manure, nor do they place their shrubs as close as possible upon the ground. They arrange, judiciously, to give each plant its share of sunlight and of air, and even open out the centres of their trees and bushes to the sun: they cherish health, and, constantly observing nature's laws, they look for multiplied and healthy fruit. ”

“ A ray—a beam of hope will gladden the heart of the despairing home-producer of wheat, for while the American has to pay railway charges to the sea-board, charges for Atlantic transit and railway charges to the consumer, the farmer of Garden City has a market at his very doors, and this a market which the rent he contributes will help to build up. ”

“ The amateur may take lessons from both, but he is not to follow either, for the market system of plant growing is not adapted in all particulars for the private garden. But if you will purchase one of these luxurious plants, you will find that it is in a new pot, and that the soil is sandy, and will not acquire the texture of mud or paste, even when heavily watered. ”

“ In short, a luxuriance approaching to rankness, and a soil remarkable for its depth of colour and fatness, characterize every part. The abundant produce, as is usual through all this neighbourhood, is conveyed to Covent-Garden market in the night, and there disposed of by salesmen that attend on behalf of the gardeners. ”

“ There is an Artesian well under Covent Garden Market, 280 feet deep, which supplies 1,600 gallons an hour, sufficient for the needs of the market people, most of which is consumed in watering flowers and vegetables, or in giving horses to drink. There are elegant conservatories over the colonnades of the market fifteen feet broad and fifteen feet high, for the preservation of the more costly and delicate plants and flowers. From this market nearly all the button-hole flowers which are vended at from a penny to four-pence a piece are obtained for the use of the London "swells." ”

“ You can sell the products of your garden to one of the market-men who make it their business to purchase garden vegetables where they are raised, and convey them to market. Nearly all of our men gardeners sell at their doors, and have nothing to do with the market. ”

“ This vast stretch of market garden, intersected by waterways just admitting the passage of a boat, is very productive. Three pounds per hectare is often paid in rent. The early vegetables, conveyed by boat to St. Omer, are largely exported to England. Every inch of ground is turned to account, the turf-bordered, canal-bound gardens making a pretty scene, above the green levels intersected by gleaming water the fine towers of St. ”

“ A small part only of the house was attempted to be made habitable—a small part only of the garden to be cultivated, and that soon became an important branch of their domestic economy. Their honey and grapes, from the care bestowed on each, found a market at the town, which was a few leagues distant. ”

“ Market-Gardening. Formerly market-gardening was done on small tracts of land in the immediate vicinity of large cities, where supplies of stable manure could be used from the city stables. But with the great increase in the population of the cities, these small areas could no longer supply the demand, and the introduction of commercial fertilizers and the building of railroads enabled gardeners at great distances from city markets to grow and ship their products. Hence the markets, even in winter, are now supplied with fresh vegetables from regions where there is no frost. ”

“ Each family, who wished it, had a small lot of ground set apart as a garden in some district bordering upon the mountains, where those who were frugal and industrious cultivated yams, cassava, plantains, and other varieties of vegetables or fruit, which were sold to managers of estates, or carried to the nearest town on a Sunday and sold in the market place. ”

“ No one is willing to pay decent prices. Putting materials in such condition that all the good points speak loudly at first, is one way to attract notice and sell later. If you find you can sell by shipping your goods the same points hold true.
"Another way to make money is to raise young plants for sale. Jack did this with his aster plants. Lots of people wish their garden plants partly started. They either do not have the interest, or else they have not the time for initial work. Asters, stock, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, celery—all of these may be started for market purposes. ”

“ HOW TO RAISE PERENNIAL PLANTS The revival of the old-time hardy garden has become such a craze among fashionable folk that the country woman who desires to add to her income will find growing perennial plants for sale a profitable occupation, provided, remember, that there is a well-to-do community near at hand where she may find a ready market. ”

“ Of these the larger occupy entire blocks—or rather the bottoms of blocks, yards below the street. They supply "salad stuff," radishes, and a few table vegetables to Washington Market. Their crops are grown with little regard to the season; and the soil is worked to its utmost capacity. In an open winter you will often find a prosperous market-gardener with a full half-acre of glass frames. ”

“ Within this paved space rows of shops are conveniently arranged for the display of the choicest fruits of the season: the productions of the forcing-house, and the results of horticultural skill, appear in all their beauty. There are also conservatories, in which every beauty of the flower-garden may be obtained, from the rare exotic to the simplest native flower. The Floral Hall, close to Covent Garden Opera House, has an entrance from the north-east corner of the market, to which it is a sort of appendage as a Flower Market. ”

“ It must be confessed that our market at Covent Garden, in relation to capabilities for effective distribution of fresh vegetables, etc., would disgrace a town one fifth of the size of London. Nineteen twentieths of its inhabitants can not obtain fresh green food on any terms, and those who succeed pay an exorbitant price. ”

“ MARKET GARDENING
Think of the immense quantities of fruits and vegetables that are used daily on the tables of a great city such as New York or Chicago. As we travel up and down the streets of any great city, we see rows of buildings, sometimes built in solid blocks and sometimes a little distance apart. Some have trees and small lawns in front of them; others are without even this touch of nature. Nowhere, except in the outskirts, do we find gardens. ”