Volume 152 — SONGS OF FOOD PRODUCTION.

Oh, for grapes a-growing In Ludgate and the Fleet! Cauliflowers blowing Down Regent's Street! Oranges and Lemons Clustered by St. Clemen's, And Sea Kale careering past the kerb on London Wall! And oh, for private Mushroom beds rolling down the Mall! Motor engines, motor engines, do not wear a bonnet! You have artificial heat—grow something on it! Precious artificial heat, costly to instal; Turn it into a hot-bed, growing food for all! Must you have a superstructure? Let it be a hot-house Forcing (say) some early peas—the only decent pot-house; Oh, if I could only see in walking down the street No unpatriotic waste of all that lovely heat! Motor lorries for Marrows! Taxis for Nectarines! No more coster-barrows, But lemon-house Limousines! Oh, to see Tomaties Skidding by Frascati's! Grand heads of Celery passing the Carlton Grill, And fine forced Strawberries—forced up Denmark Hill! Hard's the fight with Nature in our uncongenial climate, Cuddling plants and coaxing 'em, and oh, the weary time it Takes to get a slender crop—we toil the Summer through; England, needing quick returns, is looking now to you! Food that comes from tropic lands, needing heat upon it, You could grow without a thought, if you'd doff your bonnet; Thousands of you, growing food on your daily trips, Helping to economise the tonnage of our ships. Oh, to count the numbers Of Cabbages on the march, Jostling with Cucumbers Just at the Marble Arch! Oh, for Piccadilly's Capsicums and Chilies! Oh, for Peckham's Peaches (not the sort that's canned), And oh, for ripe Bananas roaring down the Strand!