6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

2. THE COMMENCEMENT OF CULTIVATION AND FACTORS RESPONSIBLE

2.1 A regional inquiry was made at about the same time “Dig for Victory” inquiry proper and it was possible from this survey to estimate approximately the proportion of families who were growing vegetables for themselves. On the whole sample, which included Scotland, it was 55.5%. The proportion for England and Wales alone was higher, being 55.2%.

2.2 URBAN AND RURAL DIFFERENCES

There were very considerable differences between the urban and rural sample, whereas 50.3% of the urban sample were growing their own vegetable, 91.1% of the rural sample were so doing.

2.3 There were quite striking differences between the regions which, as might be expected, showed a greater proportion of persons growing their own vegetables in the more favoured south; the figures were:-

It is interesting to note that Scotland was very near to the North of England with a proportion of 41.4%.

A more detailed analysis by region showed that the South and South-East, East Anglia, North-East Midlands and the South West had the highest proportions, whereas Lancashire and the North West had the lowest proportion. The detailed figures are given below

2.4 CLASS DIFFERENCES

This data was analysed in rather a different way from the main inquiry. These are lower working class, working class, lower middle class, and middle and upper classes. This analysis showed quite clearly that the cultivation of vegetables was greatest in the upper-middle class and descended through this social scale.

This is due, no doubt, very largely to the fact that the lower classes live more often in houses without gardens and remote from open spaces. The following are the proportions of families growing vegetables for themselves:-

2.5 FAMILIES OF DIFFERENT SIZES

There was a very small difference between families of different sizes, the families with 4 and over having about 58% who grew their own vegetables compared with less than 54% of the families of 1 to 3 members.

2.6 WHEN THE ALLOTMENT WAS TAKEN

The Dig for Victory inquiry proper showed that some 45% of our sample took their allotments before the outbreak of war. The proportion in the rural sample was higher than the average, being nearly 63% compared with nearly 43% in the urban sample.

The times of taking allotments since the war have been grouped into seasons; autumn, winter, spring and summer. The seasonal figures show spring to be the most favoured period when allotments were taken, although the winter and autumn of 1939 and ‘40 both have a relatively high proportion.

Refers to paragraph 2.6

2.7 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

The analysis by occupation group shows considerable differences in the proportion of each sample who were pre-war allotment holders. It is, as might be expected, highest in the retired persons group who have a proportion of 75.5%. The next highest is in the skilled manual worker group, 49%, followed by the unskilled manual worker group, 45.7% and unskilled clerical workers, 33.8%. In the housewife sample it is 25.6% and among skilled clerical workers, 21.2%.

Refers to paragraph 2.7

2.8 REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

The main regional differences are between the North and the South regions. The North has the smallest proportion of pre-war allotments, 35.6% compared with 54.1% in the Midlands, 50.4% in the South, South-west and Wales and 39.4% in the East and South-east. It should be noted that East and South-east includes London (See Appendix II, the Regions).

2.9 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

This analysis showed only very small differences. The larger families, although having a smaller proportion of pre-war allotment holders, responded more quickly to the ‘‘Dig for Victory” campaign at the outbreak of the war.

2.10 WHEN THE SPACE IN THE GARDEN ALLOCATED TO VEGETABLES WAS INCREASED

The replies to questions 6 and 7 provided the information about the dates when the space given over to vegetables, in flower gardens or mixed gardens was increased. The results show that there was a very large initial change over in Autumn 1939, much more considerable than the proportion taking new allotments, but after this date there have been seasonal peaks in Spring; at first larger than the proportion of new allotments, but later, in Spring 1942 a little smaller.

2.11 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

This analysis shows that the smaller families were rather quicker to undertake further vegetable cultivation than the larger families, the proportions who did this in Autumn 1939 being 18.7% for the smaller families, compared with 14.2% for the large families. After this date, however, the differences are quite small.

2.12 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

This analysis shows that the skilled clerical workers and the unskilled clerical workers responded much more quickly than the other occupation groups. In the case of the skilled clerical workers 26.0% enlarged their vegetable space in Autumn ‘39 compared with 15.0% and 14.5% for the unskilled and skilled manual worker groups respectively.

Refers to paragraphs 2.11 & 2.12

2.13 ANALYSIS BY REGIONS

This analysis shows that the Midlands were much slower in starting than the other regions, the East and South-east, the North, and South-west and Wales all having a very much greater proportion of families who commenced further cultivation of vegetables in Autumn 1939.

Refers to paragraph 2.13

2.14 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

There was no significant difference between the families living in the town and in the country.

2.15 A COMPARISON OF HOUSEHOLDS COMMENCING GARDENING AT DIFFERENT DATES

The previous analyses of allotments and gardens, whilst showing the proportion of the total who have undertaken gardening at any single date, do not in themselves provide an index of the effect of the campaign in any particular season.

As the campaign proceeds through time the proportion of householders who are not undertaking any cultivation slowly decreases, so that the problem faced by the organizers of the campaign becomes increasingly difficult. They have a smaller public to which to appeal and this public has greater resistance to the campaign than those who have already been affected. It is also important to remember that as the war has proceeded the amount of time that people have had available in which to cultivate vegetables has decreased. (44% of gardeners had difficulty in finding time, see para.4.19).

A further calculation has, therefore, been made in which the total of gardeners and the total of allotment holders have been added together. (Allotment holders who have also gardens have only been counted once). A new table has been made showing the proportion of the total households, who were not previously growing vegetables or had not increased vegetable cultivation who have either taken over a new allotment or have enlarged the amount of space given growing vegetables at any date.

This new calculation shows that the proportion of new gardeners in Spring 1941 was somewhat higher than in Spring 1940 and that the proportion in Spring 1942 was only a little lower than that of Spring 1941, even though the difficulties of increasing the number of cultivators were vastly greater at this later date.

Refers to paragraph 2.15

Note the base in each case is different, being the number of households who at that date had not taken an allotment or increased the quantity of vegetables in their gardens.

2.16 THE CULTIVATION OF GARDENS BEFORE AND SINCE THE WAR

2.16 1 Question 5 and 6 were asked in order to find out to what extent vegetables were grown in gardens before the war and what changes have been made since the war.

As there were many possibilities:- gardens might either be flower gardens, flower and vegetable gardens, or vegetable gardens and within the category of flower and vegetable gardens different proportions might be devoted to vegetables - it was necessary to ask a series of questions to get a fairly exact idea as to how much space was devoted to vegetable cultivation.

2.16 2 PRE-WAR GARDENS

Of our sample of 1,687 gardeners 10% grew nothing in their garden before the war, 31% grew only flowers, 49% flowers and vegetables and 10% vegetables only.

2.16 3 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

This analysis shows a small difference in that the larger families have a smaller proportion growing nothing and growing flowers only. They have the same proportion growing flowers and vegetables only, compared with 7.2% in the smaller families.

Refers to text paragraph 2.16 3

18 “not answered” in Family.

2.16 4 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

This analysis shows several interesting features.

Of those households growing nothing in their gardens the two groups of manual workers had the highest proportion over 11.0%, housewives were next with a little over 10.0%, unskilled clerical workers 8.4% and skilled clerical workers and retired persons had the smallest proportion, namely 5.7%.

In contrast to this the two groups of clerical workers and housewives had the highest proportions of gardens devoted to flowers only, the unskilled manual workers having the lowest proportion in this category 22.0%.

The proportions having mixed gardens showed a somewhat different tendency. The two manual groups were almost exactly the same, 50.5% and 51.0%, whereas the two clerical groups showed a considerable difference; in the case of unskilled clerical workers a proportion of 44.8%, whereas in the case of skilled clerical workers it was nearly 57%. The proportion of housewives cultivating mixed gardens was 44% and that of retired persons was 57%.

The results for vegetable gardens only showed the most striking differences. The proportion was highest in the unskilled manual workers group, next highest in the skilled manual workers group, followed by retired persons group, the unskilled clerical workers, the housewives and the skilled clerical worker group. This last group had only 1.6% of its gardens devoted to vegetables only.

Refers to text paragraph 2.16 4

2.16 5 ANALYSIS BY REGION

Analysis by region shows some interesting similarities and differences. As might have been expected, the least favourable North had the highest proportion of gardens growing nothing, followed by the East and South-east (which includes London), the Midlands with the South, South-west and Wales having smallest proportion.

In contrast the North had the highest proportions of gardens growing flowers only, followed very closely by the East and South-East. The South, South-West and Wales had the smallest proportion of these gardens.

The North had the lowest proportion of mixed gardens, followed very closely again by the East and South-East, whereas the Midlands and the South, South-West and Wales had the highest proportion over 56%.

The South, South-West and Wales had by far the highest proportion of gardens devoted to vegetables only, nearly 21.6 compared with 8.1 in the next highest region, the Midlands.

From this comparison it can be seen that the north and the east and south-east have many features in common, as have the Midlands, the South, South-West and Wales. At the same time there is a tendency observable from north to south for more vegetables to be grown in the south.

Refers to paragraph 2.16 5

2.16 6 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

The gardeners in town and country have somewhat different objectives as is shown in this analysis.

In the first instance rather less gardens are cultivated in the town than in the country. This is due, no doubt, to the less favourable conditions in towns where gardens are often smaller and natural manure is not available.

The town dweller, however, concentrates much more on flowers than does the country dweller, the proportion of gardens devoted to flowers only being twice as high in the town as in the country. The country has a much larger proportion of mixed gardens and almost double the proportion of gardens devoted to vegetables only.

Refers to paragraph 2.16 6

2.17 THE AMOUNT OF GARDENS PREVIOUSLY DEVOTED ENTIRELY TO FLOWERS WHICH ARE NOW TURNED OVER TO VEGETABLES

More than four-fifths of the sample of flower gardeners have now begun to cultivate vegetables. Of this number about one-seventh have turned over all their garden to vegetables, about one-sixth three- quarters and a quarter; half.

2.17 1 ANALYSTS BY FAMILY SIZE

This analysis shows very slight differences. Larger families on the whole have turned over somewhat less of their gardens to vegetables than the smaller families.

2.17 2 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

The manual workers groups have turned over a greater proportion of their gardens entirely to vegetables and a greater proportion of them have turned over three-quarters of their garden to vegetables, whereas the skilled clerical workers have the highest proportion who have turned over half of their garden to vegetable cultivation.

The unskilled clerical workers and the retired group have the highest proportion who have turned over none of their garden to vegetables.

Refers to paragraph 2.17 2

2.17 3 ANALYSIS BY REGION

This analysis bears out the differences seen in the answers to question 5. It was seen in Table 8 that the North had the highest proportion who were cultivating flowers only and the lowest proportion who were cultivating vegetables only. In this new analysis it was seen that the North had the lowest proportion who have given over their flower gardens entirely to vegetables and the highest proportion who have given over none of their garden to the cultivation of vegetables. The Midlands have the highest proportion who have given over all their garden and the East and South-east the highest proportion who have given over three-quarters.

Refers to paragraph 2.17 3

2.17 4 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND RURAL

This analysis like the analysis by region again reflects the same tendencies as those shown in Table 9. A much higher proportion of the rural householders have given over either all or three-quarters of their flower garden to the cultivation of vegetables.

Refers to paragraph 2.17.4

2.18 THE PROPORTION OF MIXED GARDENS WHICH WERE DEVOTED TO VEGETABLES BEFORE THE WAR

There were 835 gardeners who had mixed gardens before the war. Of these roughly equal proportions devoted three-quarters, half and a quarter of their total garden space to vegetables.

2.18 1 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

There was no difference at all in the proportions devoting different amounts of their garden to vegetables.

2.18 2 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

The differences between occupation groups which were seen in the analysis of what was grown in all gardens are further borne out in this analysis. It will be remembered from Table 7 that the skilled clerical workers had the lowest proportion who grew vegetables only. In this analysis it will be seen that this group has the highest proportion who devoted only a quarter of their mixed garden to vegetables. They have likewise the lowest proportion devoting three-quarters of their garden to vegetables. Similarly the two manual worker groups had the highest proportion who wore devoting all their gardens to vegetables and in this analysis they again have the highest proportion devoting three-quarters of their mixed garden to vegetables. The proportions in each occupation group devoting half of their mixed garden, to vegetables is highest in the retired persons group and is followed, in order of size, by the unskilled ‘ clerical workers, the housewives, the skilled manual workers, the unskilled manual workers and the skilled clerical workers.

Refers to paragraph 2.18.2

2.18 3 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

Like the previous analyses the tendency of rural dwellers to grow more vegetables and for urban dwellers to grow more flowers is shown very clearly in this breakdown. The rural dwellers had 46% who devoted three-quarters of their garden to vegetables compared with 28.2% of the urban householders, whereas 36.4% of the urban dwellers had only one-quarter of their garden growing vegetables compared with 14.6% of the rural householders.

Refers to paragraph 2.18 3

2.18 4 ANALYSIS BY REGION

As in the case of the total picture shown in Table 8 referring to question 5, the South, South-west and Wales show the greatest amount of vegetable cultivation and the North the least. 40% of the formers mixed gardens had three-quarters of them devoted to vegetables compared with 22.6% of the latter. The North likewise had a much greater proportion of its gardens with only one-quarter devoted to vegetables than the South, South-West and Wales.

Refers to paragraph 2.18 4

2.19 THE AMOUNT OF MIXED GARDENS GIVEN OVER TO VEGETABLES SINCE THE WAR

In the. first case this data has been divided into two groups; those whose vegetable area is the same as before the war and those who are now giving over more space than they did before the war. The total picture is that 54.2% are giving over more of their mixed gardens to vegetables now and 45.8% are giving over the same amount of space.

2.19 1 ANALYSIS BY FAMILY SIZE

Larger families in our sample have a greater proportion of cases in which the space given over to vegetables has been increased; 56.8% compared with 51.6%.

2.19 2 ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATION GROUP

This analysis shows clear differences. The group which has the greatest proportion who have increased their vegetable area are the skilled clerical workers. They are followed by the unskilled clerical workers, the unskilled manual workers, the housewives and the retired persons.

Refers to paragraph 2.19 2

2.19 3 ANALYSIS BY URBAN AND RURAL

It is in the urban areas that the greater proportion of families have increased their vegetable area. 56.6% of families having done this in the towns, compared with 44.1% in the country.

2.19 4 ANALYSIS BY REGION

The regional differences in this analysis show an opposite tendency to the one that we have observed before and a tendency which has the effect of balancing up the lower proportion of vegetable cultivation in the North and South-east and the higher proportion in the South, South-west and Wales. In this analysis the proportions who have increased their vegetable plot is highest in the Midlands, 61.7% followed by the South-east and East, 60%, North 52.7% and South, South-west and Wales 43%.

2.19 5 HOUSEHOLDS INCREASING VEGETABLE SPACE IN MIXED GARDENS

The increased space devoted to vegetables was divided between the different categories of all,¾, ½ and ¼ in the following proportions, 35%, 50%, 13% and 2%. There were no significant differences between families of different sizes or between urban and rural, and the samples in the occupation groups and region groups were too small to show significant differences.

2.19 6 MXED GARDENS BEFORE AND SINCE THE WAR

The proportions of mixed gardens given over to vegetables before the war and since the war have been compared and the result shows that a very considerable increase in the cultivation of vegetables has taken place. Now no less than 19% of gardens which before the war grew both vegetables and flowers are entirely devoted to vegetables. 5% of the gardens now have ¾ of their space devoted to vegetables compared with 32% before the war, whereas those who only devoted ½ their garden space to vegetables are only 23% compared with 36% and those who devoted only a ¼ are 8% compared with 32%.

2.19 7 CONCLUSION

The questions about gardens have shown that almost all families with gardens have been affected by the “Dig for Victory” Campaign. Of all families who formerly only grew flowers, only 20% are not now growing vegetables, where as nearly 40% are devoting ¾ or more of their garden space to vegetable cultivation.

Of those families who had mixed gardens before the war, 54% have increased the space which they devoted to vegetables and the proportion of former mixed gardens which now have more than ¾ of their space devoted to vegetables is nearly 70%.