LINCOLN BULBS.
At a recent show of the R.H.S. at Westminster a collection of narcissi grown in Lincolnshire was much admired. Bulb- growing in that prolific county is now a considerable business, some of it in the hands of small holders (the soldiers who live in the charming thatched houses designed by Mr. Bevan for the Ministry of Agriculture). You can buy bulbs from many countries. A neighbour of mine recently bought a sack from the Scilly Isles and made English lawns blossom like the rose. But an immense majority of gardeners, small and big, get all their bulbs from Holland, solely for the reason that these arc better known and more insistently advertised. Gardeners Ought to be better acquainted with the Holland that South Lincolnshire is. The great mistake made originally by the Ministry in setting up the small holdings was to omit any leadership towards co-operative marketing. Why should they not, even at this date, make good the omission by helping the smaller—and indeed bigger—Lincolnshire growers to advertise their goods ? English bulbs are as good as bulbs can be— and they are English If you do not believe, go and look at the fields of wild Lent lilies now flowering in the Home Counties.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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