July, and is gathered in time to allow the preparation of the ground for the succeeding crop. The first or spring crop has, in general, no defence from the cold of winter, but the stable dung used for manure; and it is a very rare thing for the potatoes to be injured by the frost. Some gentlemen in the vicinity of Penzance have constantly new potatoes at Christmas, and through the whole of January and part of February, raised in the open garden, with no other shelter than some matting during the coldest nights.
4. In consequence of the two circumstances just mentioned, the rent of land in the immediate vicinity of Penzance, is remarkably high, being very commonly (in 1818) from 10l. to 12l. and, occasionally, as much as 15l. per acre.[1]
Cabbages and turnips for the table, are earlier in this district than elsewhere; the former being ready in the middle of February, and the latter in the end of March. Cabbages, indeed, as they are unaffected by the winter cold, may be so regulated as to be cut in any month in the year. The cabbage in general use (the early Cornish), is often killed by the severity of the winter in the midland counties. Brocoli is often ripe against Christmas; radishes against the first of April.
6. Owing to the comparative coldness of the late spring months and early summer months, vegetation is considerably less rapid, after it commences, than in other parts of the island. The trees in the vicinity of London, for example, are in full foliage long before they are so in this district, even in the most
- ↑ The Cornish Acre in one-sixth more than the Statute Acre.
