222 



THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



made to black, the variety was endless. The first amongst the exhibitors was 

 Mr. C. Turner, who obtained the first prize in three out of the four " To 

 Growefe for Sale," and also in three classes " Open to all Growers," and no 

 doubt would have gained the prizes open to amateurs, if he could have com- 

 peted in that list. In addition to the dahlias, there were some beautiful 

 specimens of hollyhocks, roses, dried flowers, &c, intermixed with the dahlias 

 at the upper end of the room, which gave an agreeable variety to this portion 

 of the exhibition. There were also some pretty floral devices formed by inge- 

 nious combinations of the " blooms " of dahlias, amongst the most prominent of 

 which was an admirably contrived Prince of Wales's plume, which stood upon 

 a royal crown, with golden tassels hanging from each corner, the whole formed 

 of dahlias of various colours. 



PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER VII. CULTURE OF THE POTATOE. 



The foregoing chapters have been 

 lengthened somewhat in the desire to 

 include all important preliminaries of 

 a general character, and with a view 

 to avoid useless repetition in the 

 directions for the culture of particular 

 crops. Unless you start fair, and 

 with some knowledge of general prin- 

 ciples, many mistakes are sure to 

 occur, for though knowledge is most 

 valuable when bought by experience, 

 it is a pity, in these days of books and 

 popular teaching, for any one to labour 

 hard to discover what is already very 

 generally known ; and though an 

 observant mind could soon master the 

 leading principles of gardening, by 

 observation and practice only, much 

 time, labour, and money, and many 

 square yards of land might be wasted 

 in arriving at conclusions, which ten 

 minutes study of a reliable book would 

 have settled at once. There is nothing 

 like practice, but if you are a beginner, 

 you have quite enough to learn by 

 practice, without wishing to begin <Ie 

 novo, as Cain did when he became first 

 tiller of the ground ; no, let us rather 

 begin at the point where others have 

 left ofT, for what is the value of other 

 people's experience if we do not 

 profit by it, and start in accordance 

 with the honest advice of those who 

 have studied the matter, and try to 

 improve upon that. Now, therefore, 

 that we have disposed of many 

 important matters in a practical way, 

 act upon the advice given, and listen 

 to the counsel of one who knows how 

 to grow a potatoe, and shape your 



culture according to my directions, 

 and if you can improve upon them, do 

 by all means, and I will be the first to 

 acknowledge it, and thank you. 



I am not going to write a disquisi- 

 tion on the potatoe disease, and pro- 

 pound a hundred remedies, nor shall I 

 broach anything particularly new or 

 strange as to potatoe culture, but I will 

 show you how to grow them safely, 

 and all bat defy disease to harm them. 

 The potatoe disease is a " great fact," 

 as the Times would say ; very well. 

 Now, it doesn't matter one straw 

 whether it is caused by electricitj', 

 or bad soil, or the sudden falling of 

 the barometer to 29 degs., or the 

 ravages of fungi, or the Aphis vastator, 

 that darling pet of Mr. Alfred Smee. 

 There it is ; somebody sees it every 

 year ; it comes in autumn, it generally 

 comes after wet weather, andwmr/f, the 

 most careless growers suffer the most 

 from its attacks. But if some one now 

 lamenting that he has lost half his crop, 

 should rise up and say he bestowed 

 every care upon it, I should say — " you 

 didn't ; " — then would follow a string 

 of questions, from the answers to 

 which, I should no doubt gather that 

 he did bestow every care, not to keep 

 it away, but to invite it ; and here let 

 me tell you what every spring I see 

 and sigh over. The ground is dug and 

 manured. In most cases it is dug but 

 one spit deep, and then not heartily. The 

 planting season is supposed to be the 

 end of March, and from thence to the 

 beginning of May. Some time during 

 that period, some sacks of seed 



