19 JANUARY 1929, Page 15

handsomely in England. One of these is cultivation under glass.

A surprising vote of confidence in glass has just been passed by one of our more progressive farming institutes- Oaklands, near St. Albans. Glass is multiplying so fast in the neighbourhood of London that one may compare some districts with the famous Valley of Glass in Guernsey, which, according to Prince Kropotkin's figures, produced at least 1700 worth of produce to the acre, at a date when food was comparatively cheap. An English acre of glass has produced, according to a Government publication, as much as £900.

In Hertfoidshire alone £3,000,000 is invested in glass ; and Oaklands is to spend £6,000 in erecting glass for instructional purposes. In justifying the sum the authorities estimate that the houses " will pay for themselves within eighteen months." Is there any other form of cultivation in which any such estimate could be ventured even by the most optimistic ?