By
the turn of the nineteenth century London had almost ten thousand
acres of market gardens serving the hungry metropolis.
The
gardens were richly fertilized with the dung from the streets and
stables from London - each acre had sixty cartloads of manure spread
over and dug into it each year. This contrasts with regular farming
land about London which, during this period, was only manured once
every three or four years. (During September to October.) As well
as dung, the market gardeners made copious use of marl, dug up from
Enfield chase to the north of the city. A by-product of marl production
were thousands of fossilised dinosaur bones, to be sent down to the
newly developed British Museum (although many, no doubt, were crushed
for the market gardens as well).
Manure
and/or marl was ploughed in by a clumsy swing plough, and harrowed
once ploughed over.
Working
the gardens began soon after Christmas. Once the weather was favourable,
the market gardeners began by sowing the borders with radishes, spinach,
onions as well many seed crops.
By
February the gardens were thickly planted out with cauliflowers (which
had been growing in cold frames for at least 6 weeks prior). By this
time the radishes were ready to be sent off to the markets and gentlemen's
tables of London.
Once
the cauliflowers were ready they were sent off to market as well,
and sugar-loaf cabbages planted in their place, to be followed in
turn with endives, celery (both from the seed crops planted out in
February).
Each
acre was said to produce above £200 per year in sales of vegetables,
of which £120 was sheer profit.
By
the early nineteenth century the combined annual income of London's
market gardens was £645,000, plus another £400,000 per
year earned from the fruit gardens.
As
well as fruit and vegetables, the agricultural land immediately surrounding
London also supported many dairy herds, usually comprised of Holderness
cattle, which supplied London's milk. In 1810 the numbers of these
Holderness cattle (the breed originally came from the East Riding
of Yorkshire) were approximately 8,500. Each cow produced on average
nine quarts per day. Cow-keepers were paid approximately 1 shilling
ninepence per eight quarts, but by the time the milk arrived in London's
markets it had increased dramatically in both volume and expense -
retailers usually adulterated the milk with river water (which accounted
for some of the epidemics in London of this time).
For
further information, read a description of dairy
herding in London at this time.