4-0 THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



sulphur, both on the under and upper surface of the leaves, at the 

 same time i2:ivin2^ them a thorough soaking with very weak liquid 

 manure. If a profusion of bloom is required, it may be obtained by 

 picking off the runners as fast as they appear ; but with attention 

 to the directions just given, good plants and a fair amount of blossom 

 may be obtained without this trouble. 



About the middle or the latter end of September the plants may 

 be taken up and transferred to the shelter of a frame, in a compost 

 consisting of two-thirds turfy loam, and one-third leaf-mould. Plant 

 them in rows nine inches apart, six inches between each plant, and 

 about two inches from the glass. Give a good soaking of water, 

 and if the sun shines brightly, shade for about a week till the plants 

 feel quite at home, when they may be freely exposed to the air. 

 From this time they will require very little attention, except protec- 

 tion from severe frost, and the amateur will insure a profusion of 

 bloom all the winter and early spring. 



They may be propagated by dividing the root, or from runners, 

 in the same manner as strawberries, the latter plan being the sim- 

 plest and the best. After the flowering season is over, in the early 

 part of May, sift about two inches of very light soil over the plants, 

 which will make the runners speedily take root. Of course as much 

 of the foliage as possible must be kept above the soil. After about 

 six weeks' exposure to the weather, the old plants should be taken 

 up, and a sufficient quantity of the most healthy runners selected 

 for the blooming plants of the ensuing season, which should be at 

 once planted in a bed, as recommended above. J. C. 



POTATOES ON HILLS. 



jOW that the planting season is coming round again, we 

 have a few observations to offer to people who grow 

 potatoes on the flat, and according to established usage. 

 We have to remark, in the first place, that potatoes are 

 always planted too dose, and disease results as much 

 through the crowding of the haulm as through any peculiarities of 

 the atmosphere. We have long been so convinced of this, that in 

 trying the merits of new varieties we have always thought it unfair 

 to plant them on the flat in rows at from 20 to 30 inches apart, as a 

 method of culture almost sure to induce disease. Even the mode- 

 rate growers completely cover the ground with haulm by the middle 

 of June when planted so close as this, yet in all the standard books 

 on gardening, the distances between the rows are stated to be 

 from " eighteen inches to two feet," Close planting of potatoes 

 is a most unprofitable and a most unreasonable practice. If we 

 happen to have heavy rain at the season when the tubets are 

 ripening, the dense mass of haulm keeps the soil about them in a 

 soddened state, by checking evaporation, and combining many of the 

 conditions that favour the production of fungi. Yet it is at that 

 moment the potato is usually stricken with disease, when its growth 



