82 



Ideal Homes Exhibition. 



[APRIL, 



and the interest and enthusiasm manifested by the large 

 audiences which attended were ample recompense to all 

 concerned. 



Questions were numerous, and copies of the Ministry's 

 leaflets dealing with horticulture were distributed at the 

 Exhibition. 



The plan and photographs will give some idea of the principles 

 on which the cropping is based and the general appearance 

 of the plot with the crops in full growth. 



Potatoes were earthed up, leeks and celery were in their 

 trenches, peas were almost in bloom, and runner beans were 

 starting to climb their sticks. Onions, beet, carrots, parsnips, 

 turnips, marrows and Shallots were all several inches high, 

 while rhubarb, spring cabbage and lettuces were ready for 

 gathering. The whole plot was surrounded by an edging 

 of turf which gave a pleasing and natural finish to the exhibit. 

 The crops on the allotment are so managed as to admit of 

 one-third of the entire area becoming vacant each year to allow 

 a portion to be " double -dug " or bastard trenched, but this 

 does not do away with the necessity for deep working of the 

 entire area when the allotment is first broken up. A three 

 years' rotation is shown on the plan. 



Provision is also made for the sowing of crops which may be 

 dug into the ground in the green state to meet the great and 

 ever increasing shortage of farmyard or corporation manure. 

 The general application of artificial manures in the various 

 sections is also indicated. 



Everything connected with the exhibition was intended 

 to be educational. Thousands of people examined the plot 

 and listened to the lectures, and from the general trend of the 

 questions asked, there would appear to be still an appalling 

 amount of ignorance with regard to soil working, manuring and 

 general cultivation. There is, therefore, a very large field of work 

 open to County and Municipal Authorities in educating the 

 allotment holder and thus raising the standard of cultivation 

 all over the country. It is quite safe to assume that, taken 

 as a whole, not over 50 per cent, of the possible tonnage per acre 

 is at present being obtained from allotments, although there 

 are outstanding cases where almost maximum returns are 

 being secured. Allotments were increased during the War 

 from 500,000 to 1,500,000, and despite the fact that many 

 war areas have had to be given up, the present allotments 

 in England and Wales are computed to aggregate 1,750,000 

 and are still increasing. This is ample proof that the so-called 



