July 15, 1893. 
725 
' THE GARDENING WORLD. 
they ultimately get 2 ft. to 3 ft. long in the case of 
full sized bulbs. The whole length of the plant to 
the top of the flowers, of the Kew plant, is about 
32 in. The flowers are arranged in two pairs with 
the odd one behind. Their pedicels are purple. The 
segments are slightly crisped at the edges upwards, 
and revolute fit lhe tip. They are purplish at the 
base externally and mottled with a darker colour, 
mottled in the middle and light sky-blue upwards ; 
internally they are white at the base, mottle i with 
bluish-purple along the middle of the lower half 
without any star, and of a nearly uniform sky-blue 
upwards, deepening with age. All of these colours 
overlie a white ground, which has the effect of giving 
them a clear and clean appearance. The species is 
certainly the most distinct of the genus we have 
seen tor a long time, and we hope the new colours 
will be turned to good b.dvantage. 
allotment Gardening. 
A recent development of the system of County 
Council lectures on Gardening, which during the 
last two or three years have been given in all parts 
as much as in previous years. And as they continued 
to put into it more labour the land would continue 
to be more productive. Those who had favoured 
the provision of those allotments had been true 
prophets, for their desire had been fully and amply 
realised, and the first year of cultivation was a 
matter for the highest commendation. They had as 
profitable and as excellent a crop as was to be found 
anywhere, and if they suffered at all it was from an 
imperfect knowledge with regard to the best means 
of cultivation. Continuing, the speaker referred to 
the conditions or regulations under which the allot¬ 
ments were held, and said that they had been drawn 
up with a great deal of wisdom. He pointed out 
that the regulations were very desirable and reason¬ 
able, especially those requiring each allotment to be 
free from weeds; that they should so plant trees 
that they should not be injurious to neighbouring 
allotments ; and that they should trim and keep in 
order the whole of the edges of their allotments : and 
that either a man or a woman could have an allot¬ 
ment. He had never seen the last condition in 
connection with any other allotments ; but he was 
to expand their minds, for here they entered into a 
new world. This was a great moral advantage. Of 
the physical advantages he need say but little, except 
that such recreation was most desirable for them 
from the physical point of view, strengthening and 
refreshing them to a great degree. They received 
physical benefits of which, previously, they had but 
little conception. 
He then proceeded to give them a few practical 
hints. Cultivation consisted in taking possession of 
a piece of ground and thoroughly well working it. 
Some ground that he had seen had been cultivated 
and produced plants to a very moderate degree. 
Agriculture generally was in a very parlous state, 
and this was due to the fact that the ground was by 
no means worked as deeply and thoroughly as it 
ought to be. Instead of digging their ground some 
8 or g inches, let them dig it 15 or 18, or 20 inches, 
and then they would be able to put in a greater 
store of food (manure), and the result would be 
almost inconceivable. But if this would not do, let 
them " trench ” the ground, a practice very common 
and very successfully used on private grounds. 
A Model Gloxinia. 
of the country, is a mode of procedure which we 
gladly recognise and heartily support, in the belief 
that it is calculated to do more good among the 
particular class whom it is desiied to benefit, than 
even the winter evening lectures. The new departure 
consists in sending the lecturers directly into 
the gardens to give their advice and instruction on 
the spot, and to point out the merits and defects of 
the crops that come before them. As idustration of 
the system, we direct attention here to a character¬ 
istic address recently given to the allotment holders 
of Richmond, by Mr. A. Dean, of Kingston, one of 
the lecturers engaged by the Surrey County Council, 
and the fact that though the address was accom¬ 
panied by frequent showers of rain, some fifty of 
the allotment holders stood it out, speaks well for 
their enthusiasm and desire for improvement. 
Mr. Dean, who commenced by remarking that he 
had been a working gardener nearly the whole of his 
life, said he had been sent by the County Council, 
who took the greatest possible interest in gardening. 
He took it for granted that though the allotment 
holders had had a trying season for the first, it was 
not improper for him to say that there had been 
produced this year on their land two or three times 
glad to see it here. It showed they were getting 
somewhat nearer to the equality of the sexes. 
In urging the necessity of constant manuring, he 
said that the ground was only a medium from which 
the plants took up such food as had been put therein. 
If they refrained from manuring plants would begin 
to dwindle and weaken, simply because they had 
neglected to feed them properly. He saw no reason 
why they should not plant a few bush fruits, though 
the primary plants must be vegetables. Not only 
were they more reliable and profitable, but would be 
of more service to them and to their families. He 
supposed that some of them cultivated a few flowers. 
Let them not despise flowers by any means, for in 
them there was that which administered so much to 
the heart, to the more beautiful characteristics of 
man, and to the enjoyment of women and children. 
Proceeding, he said there were two phases in the 
provision and cultivation of allotments—first, the 
moral aspect; and, secondly, the physical aspect. 
One reason urged for the provision of allotments 
was that it would keep men out of the public houses. 
But further he thought another great advantage was 
that engaging in such v’ork served, to most of them 
who were daily engaged in work of a different kind, 
Then the ground must be, as he’jhad saidj before, 
well manured. Manure should not be left about in 
heaps in all directions, or kept during the whole of 
the winter to be put in in the spring, for in that time 
it had gone through the process of fermenting, and 
the most useful part had gone. During that time 50 
percent, of its value had been wasted. As to the 
kinds of manure to use, chemists would tell them 
that those were best that contained such properties 
as were found in plants, and animal manures, bones,. 
&c., comprised the most concentrated and distinctive 
forms of plant food. Their aim was no doubt to get 
as much out of the ground as they could, but they 
would not do this by crowding their plants. They 
must not expect to get a good crop of Potatos and a 
good crop of winter stuff at the same time. Plants 
required sustenance, and where there was only 
enough for one, and there were two there, they must 
not expect to get them of the proper quality, for 
they would both starve, being each unable to obtain 
the amount of nutriment necessary for its existence. 
Mr. Dean then proceeded to speak of the num¬ 
erous garden pests existing. He was told that 
the allotment holders had been invited to compete 
in connection with the forthcoming show of the 
