Why Wisbech ?
Apart from any particular genius in this smallholder, the growers of the Wisbech district have an indisputable supremacy in growing this plant (though I think the last crop I ever saw myself was in Berkshire). It is always astonishing how particular climes and soils suit particular varieties as well as species, and do not suit others. The Pershore plum was the making of Pershore and refused its office in a host of other places. Wisbech is good for fruit, not least for apples ; but growers there lost a deal of money by planting Cox's and many were grubbed up later. The district is famous for a particular discovery in suitability. In a highly cultivated area was a desert patch, waterlogged and rush-grown. A labourer saw it and said : "What a grand place for celery " ; and backed his opinion by experi- ment. After a few years this rush-bog was worth an annual rent of £4 an acre. The annals of the strawberry growers of Bosham and Cornwall have like anecdotes.
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