1876.] 
THE IRRiaATION OF KITCHEN GARDENS. 
217 
TULIPA GKEIGI. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION, 
are indebted to the New Plant and Bulb Company for the opportunity 
of figuring this remarkable novelty, which was introduced last year to 
the gardens of this country. It was met with by the Russian.collectors 
in Turkistan, and found its way here by way of the St. Petersburg 
Botanic Garden, some living bulbs having been sent there by Korolkow in 1872. 
The plant was at first referred to Tulipa altaica^ but on more close examination 
proved to be a new species, with which the name of General Greig, the President 
of the Russian Imperial Horticultural Society, was associated. 
As a garden plant, this species of Tulip is most distinct. The broad un¬ 
dulated leaves are marked in a prominent manner by brown streaks, forming a 
peculiar variegation. The flowers when expanded assume the shape of a shallow 
vase, the broad perianth segments overlapping, bright orange-red in the upper part, 
yellow towards the base, with an oblong rich brown spot on the yellow portion. 
The plant is quite an acquisition amongst out-door garden bulbs, being quite 
hardy, of a distinct character, and exceedingly ornamental.—T. Moore. 
THE IRRIGATION OF KITCHEN GARDENS. 
HE experience of the past July and August will set gardeners to think 
more seriously on the subject of irrigating their kitchen-garden crops, than 
probably they have ever done before. I do not believe that any kitchen 
garden can be said to be complete or perfect without having a good com¬ 
mand of water, either laid on in pipes or in tanks, sufficiently large to supply the 
demand required in dry warm summers. There is rarely a season when some 
of the kitchen-garden crops would not be benefited by copious waterings ; and 
in such a season as the past, it was a question of watering or having no crops at 
all,—at least on all light soils. 
In the kitchen garden here irrigation has been been 'beneficially practised for 
the last four or five years, but this year more particularly its advantages have been 
apparent. The water is brought in iron pipes from a small lake at the distance 
of five miles off, and it supplies, besides the gardens and offices, great quantities 
of water to other departments by gravitation. In the kitchen garden, hydrants 
are laid down by the side of all the principal walks, so as to command the dif¬ 
ferent plots of vegetables; and the borders of the fruit-tree walls can be watered 
and the trees syringed, as the water can be raised 16 ft. high by gravitation. 
This year I had no break in the supply of Green Peas in the hot weather, and 
Celery, Onions, Leeks, and Cauliflowers were all greatly bepefited by copious water¬ 
ings at times. They were not merely watered in showers overhead, but the water 
was allowed at times to run for two or three hours over the ground, so that the 
roots were thoroughly soaked. The soil here is very stiff and cracks in dry 
weather, and it is difficult to get the seeds of vegetables usually sown in July and 
3rd series. —IX. n 
