When Lysons wrote, Battersea Rise being a salubrious locality was ornamented with several villas, also it was much admired for its pleasant situation and fine prospect. Referring to the Market Gardens, etc., he says, "About 300 acres of land in the Parish of Battersea are occupied by the market gardeners, of whom there are about twenty who rent from five or six to nearly sixty acres each." Fuller, who wrote in the year 1660, speaking of the gardens in Surrey, states, "Gardening was first brought into England for profit, about 70 years ago; before which we fetched most of our cherries from Holland, apples from France, and hardly a mess of rath ripe peas but from Holland; which were dainties for ladies, they come so far and cost so dear. Since gardening hath crept out of Holland to Sandwich, Kent, and thence to Surrey; where, though they have given £6 an acre and upwards, they have made their rent, lived comfortably, and set many people at work. Oh the incredible profit by digging of ground! for though it be confessed, that the plough beats the spade out of distance for speed, (almost as much as the press beats the pen), yet, what the spade wants in the quantity of the ground it manureth, it recompenseth with the plenty of the good it yieldeth, that which is multiplying an hundred fold more than that which is sown. 'Tis incredible how many poor people in London live thereon, so that in some seasons the gardens feed more people than the field."--_Fuller's Worthies_, Pt. 3, p. 77. "These gardeners," continues Lysons, "employ in the summer season a considerable number of labourers, though perhaps not so many as is generally supposed--on an average I am informed, not one to an acre. The wages of the men are from ten to twelve, of the women from five to seven shillings by the week. Most of the women travel on foot from Shropshire and North Wales in the spring, and as they live at a very cheap rate, many of them return to their own country richer than they left it. The soil of the ground occupied by the gardeners is sandy and requires a great deal of rain. The vegetables which they raise are in general very fine; their cabbages and asparagus particularly have acquired celebrity." The asparagus first grown in or near London was raised by the Battersea gardeners. Owing to its rich and alluvial soil, Battersea has always been noted for its fine asparagus--110 heads of extraordinary size and fit for the kitchen have been known to weigh 32 lbs.[1] There was no market at Battersea, its vegetable produce was sent to the London market. In _Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica Antiquities_ (British Museum) Vol. II. p. 227, is a brief note on Battersea by Mr. Theobald. This old writer says, "The lands are fruitful beyond most others and this Parish is famous in the London market for its asparagus, hence called _Battersea Bundles_. It also in the time of a noted man there, one Mr. Cuff, was famous for producing the finest melons. The common