17 18 19 20

3. THE REASON WHY THE ALLOTMENT WAS TAKEN OR WHY THE AMOUNT OF SPACE GIVEN OVER TO VEGETABLES WAS INCREASED

3.1 Questions 2 and 3 had the aim of first discovering what particular thing prompted the taking of an allotment and secondly what were the considerations which convinced the allotment holder that it was worth while undertaking cultivation. Questions 7 and 8 were intended to find out the same things about persons who had increased the vegetable space in their gardens.

3.1 2 Taking allotment holders as a whole the considerations which had the most force were a “pastime, or hobby”, or “being brought up to the gardening habit”; these accounted for 38.1% of the total of allotment holders. 17.6% wanted fresh vegetables and 12% were growing vegetables because of a possible shortage of food or to help in the national food situation. Only 8.7% attributed their taking of an allotment to the “Dig for Victory” campaign or other publicity and only 1.1% to wireless or newspaper advertisements; a total of under 10% attributing their change to the effects of publicity. It should, however, be noticed that the desire for fresh vegetables and the wish to help in the national food situation, which account for nearly 28%, are in themselves a reflection of the message conveyed in the ”Dig for Victory” publicity and should, therefore, be attributed directly to the campaign. A good number of the large proportion who have been brought up to the gardening habit or for whom gardening is a pastime or hobby, are holders of pre-war allotments. (At least 422 of the 635 gave this answer).

In order to get a clearer picture of the “Dig for Victory” campaign the holders of pre-war allotments have been taken out of this sample and the answers of the wartime allotment holders analysed separately. These show the following main results :-

Nearly 24% looked upon allotment gardening as a pastime or hobby. Nearly 15% attribute their taking an allotment directly to the publicity campaign, and a further 1% to wireless or newspaper advertisements, making 16% in all. 19% were growing food to help in the national food situation and 14% because they wanted fresh vegetables, that is to say that 50% of the answers can be directly traced to the message of the campaign and a further 12% to subsidiary aspects of the campaign, there were 7.9% who had an offer of an allotment, 1.7% who were persuaded by the Allotment Secretary, and 3.9% who had noticed other peoples. Altogether there is a very clear connection between the campaign and its results.

Refers to paragraph 3.1 2

3.1 3 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

This analysis shows some significant differences, the most important of which is the very high proportion of retired people for whom allotment gardening is a hobby. The influence of direct publicity is more clearly marked in the clerical groups.

Refers to paragraph 3.1 3

3.1 4 The differences between the family sizes and between urban and rural areas were too small to be significant.

3.2 THE ADVANTAGES. OF TAKING AN ALLOTMENT

The most important reason given as an advantage of taking an allotment was that it provided fresh food for the family. 55% of our sample gave this answer. The next most important reason was that it was cheaper – 18%. This was followed by a group of answers which amounted to saying that gardening was a pleasant hobby or a means of obtaining fresh air and exercise.

3.2 1 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

Refers to paragraph 3.2 1

In this analysis the larger families have a much greater proportion, 21% against 14%, who regard the economic aspect of having an allotment as being of importance and a correspondingly less proportion who are interested in gardening as a hobby.

Refers to paragraph 3.2 1

14 “Unclassified” in Family

3.2 2 The differences between the occupation groups and the urban and rural samples were too small to be significant.

3.2 3 ANALYSIS BY REGION

This analysis showed rather interesting differences between the North and the rest of the regions, particularly the South, South West and Wales, The North had the least proportion who regarded the advantage of cheapness as being an improvement – 9% compared with 21% or 22%, whereas they had the greatest proportion – 24% who considered the greatest advantage of an allotment was that it provided exercise or was a hobby. The South, South West and Wales had the least proportion with 7%. The North too had the greatest proportion who considered that helping in the war effort was an important advantage.

Refers to paragraph 3.2 3

3.3 THE DISADVANTAGES OF HAVING AN ALLOTMENT

The most remarkable feature of this analysis is that nearly 60% of our sample could find no disadvantage worth recording and the disadvantages which were mentioned were fairly evenly distributed over a large number of items showing that there is no particular problem which is outstanding in the minds of allotment holders. Worry about stolen vegetables in which the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries were particularly interested was only mentioned by 20 allotment holders.

Refers to paragraph 3.3

3.3 1 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

In this analysis the highest proportion finding no disadvantages were the retired group. They were followed by the unskilled manual workers and by skilled manual workers, unskilled clerical workers and housewives who were roughly equal. The group having the lowest proportion finding no difficulties were the skilled clerical workers. The other differences in the table should be regarded with considerable caution as the samples are very small.

Refers to paragraph 3.3 1

3.3 2 The differences between the urban and rural samples were not significant.

3.3 3 ANALYSIS BY REGION

In this analysis the proportion finding no disadvantage was highest in the Midlands, 62% and lowest in the East and South East, 54%.

3.4 GARDENS - THE REASONS FOR INCREASING SPACE DEVOTED TO VEGETABLES IN GARDENS

This section is very like the section on allotments. The reasons which were given for increasing the amount of space devoted to vegetables followed very closely those given for taking an allotment, so that it was possible to code the questions with the same code. The most important reason given by gardeners was to help the food situation, whereas the most important reason given by allotment holders was that it was a pastime, hobby or useful exercise. The next two most important reasons which were of almost equal weight were “wanted fresh vegetables” and “affected by the “Dig for Victory” Campaign.” About one-fifth of the sample had been affected by direct publicity and were aware of it. In Table 23, Wartime Allotment Holders and Gardeners are compared.

Refers to paragraph 3.4

3.4 1 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

In this analysis the larger families show a smaller proportion who attribute their increased vegetable cultivation to publicity and a larger proportion who want fresh vegetables or mention the importance of vegetables for feeding their family

3.4 2 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP AND URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

These analyses shows no significant difference.

3.4 3 ANALYSIS BY REGION

In this analysis the Midlands appeared to be rather less conscious of the direct publicity than the other regions.

3.5 THE ADVANTAGES OF INCREASING THE SPACE GIVEN TO VEGETABLES IN GARDENS

The most important advantage given was to get fresh food for the family, followed closely by helping in the war effort and by the fact that it saved money. Avoiding shopping difficulties was also an important reason. This analysis shows some difference from the analysis given by allotment holders. In the previous analysis the main reason was the same, but the “hobby” aspect very much more important than in the case of gardeners, whereas the directly patriotic reason, helping in the war effort was given by 15% of gardeners and only 6% of allotment holders. Shopping difficulties also were considered more important by the cultivators of household gardens than allotment holders.

Refers to paragraph 3.5

3.5 1 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

Although the sample in this analysis is very small it does suggest tentatively that the patriotic reason of helping in war effort was more important in the two clerical groups and the economic reason it is cheaper was least important in the skilled manual group.

3.5 2 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND. RURAL AREAS

As in the previous analysis the sample in the rural area is small, but it does suggest that helping in the war effort was slightly more important in the rural area than in the urban, whereas to get fresh food for the family was slightly more important to the town dwellers than to those gardeners living in the country.

3.5 3 ANALYSIS BY REGION

This analysis has some similarities with the analysis of question 3. The North is again least interested in the economic aspect, although on this occasion the South, South West and Wales is very like it. The patriotic motive is most important in the North; South, South West and Wales and least important in the Midlands, East and South East.

Refers to paragraph 3.5 3

3.6 THE DISADVANTAGES OF GROWING VEGETABLES IN THE GARDEN

The proportion of gardeners who said that there were no disadvantages was almost identical with the proportion of allotment holders, 59% and in the rest there were no complaints which were of striking importance. Shortage of time, hard work and “did not want to spoil the flower garden” were the main disadvantages mentioned.

Refers to paragraph 3.6

3.6 1 There were no significant differences between the families of different sizes, the occupation groups or the urban and rural samples.

3.6 2 ANALYSIS BY REGION

The Midlands had the highest proportion who found no disadvantages, 67% compared with 55% in the North which had the lowest. This is the same as in the case of allotment holders except that the East and South East had the least proportion, followed very closely by the North.