Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-12-24
WATERCRESS FARMING.
How the Herb is Grown-A Profitable
Business.


London Mail-Watercres farming
is an industry of which few people
outside those whom it directly con-
| Germs know anything. Yet it is one
of the oldest forms of suburban enter
prise; at the same time it is one of
| the most up-to-date and scientifically
conducted business in the country,
and one of the most remunerative and
prosperous departments of agriculture
1t is safe to say that of the tons of
watercress, which the Londoner de-
YOURS each year, scarcely a single
spray is Of wild growth. The sue
culent little weed must reach its con-
! sumner in the first flush of freshness,
and as it does not flourish in the
native state near enough to the capital
to render this possible, the great
, Watercress farming industry has
sprung up all around the outskirts of
London.
| But the watercress farmer is a cul-
| tivator, not grower; he merely beds
out and improves the wild herb; he
does not raise it from seed. In
Wiltshire and Hampshire, where for
mile after mile the little water weed
grows in it's natural state.
| A watercress farm presents a spec
tacle wholly different from any other
form of land culture On a hot sum-
mer's day there are few sights so
refreshing. Acre after acre of
smooth, dark-green beds close as the
thickest velvet pile, level as a billiard
table, stretch out on every side far
as the eye can see. Here and there
the neat, trim houses of the farmers
istand out, white and glazing, against
the lush growth. Dotted about at in
most part men, but some of them
women in large, old-world sunbonnets,
kneeling with barred arms on the mar
row foCtWays, and garnering the
generous harvest A strange silence,
intensified rather than broken by the
unceasing ripple of running water,
brOOds over the whole scene. For
running water, and an unfailing sup
ply of it, is the prime essential of
WatercresS cultivation. Standing
water, in no matter what volume, is
useless. 1t is a comforting thought
that the vast quantities Of watercress
London eats are raised under con-
ditions Of idyllic cleanliness. For not
only must the water be ever moving;
1t must also be Of perfect purity.
A site, then, has to be selected
close beside some untainted stream
or else where springs bubble in
pristine freshness to the surface AS
many beds-Or ''ditches," as they are
calIed-are then laid out as the space
will permit. The usual plan is first to
cut feed channel, leading the water
in a straight line the whole length of
one boundary of the site. At right
angles to this and side by side the
Watercress bitches are cut, narrow
gress walks of from Is to Is inches
wide being left between them. The
beds vary in length from $50 feet to
half mile or more, but in width are
always about Is to 20 feet. The
watercress is set at two seasons of
the year-during the present month
for the winter harvest and during
March for the summer crop.
Two wholly different methods Of
gathering the watercress are
ognized-namely, picking" and
cutting" A fertile ditch can be
picked" about every fortnight
through the seasOn-say from the end
Of September, whereas when the
watercress is "cut" it takes not less
than six weeks to grow again, so that
approximately one cutting is reckoned
to equal three pickings, but the loss
of time thus entailed by the former
method is more thar compensated
for by the size Of the crop obtained
and by its more valuable character.
For "cut cress" is far more tender,
and consequently fetches a much
higher price than picked cress." The
watercress, when gathered, is sent to
London in flats" large square Iidded
baskets, each capable of holding about
80 pounds weight of the weed" and
nothing gives SO vivid an impression
of the importance of watercress farm
ing as the sight of thousands of these
flats pouring in Covent garden each
morning from all directions.
A good ditch in a favorable year is
a proftabel possession. One measur-
ing, say, $50 feet by 10 feet will yield
at least 80 fats in a season, fetching
on an average IS. apiece, or $40 in
all. In the spring, when the young
watercress is at its best, the price
Will range as high as 15c. or les. a
fiat, but IS. may be taken as a good
minimum average for the season all
average that is, below
which the price will not sink. In the
same way ditch, in a god year. will
yield as many as 81 fats at each
gathering, Of which there will be five
in the season, or 135 flats in all; but
so may be taken as a safe minimum
yield. The watercress for stocking
such a bed will cost &c or ST, and
after making an ample allowance for
labor, repairs and other outgoings
there should he a profit of from IS
to G10; in other words, a dozen
beds of this size, occupying exactly
of an acre with their
grass walks, should insure an income
of at least 9100 a year, and may
bring in nearly double in very favor
allie circumstances.