126 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



some time before they were exhibited. One of the smaller-sized 

 frames was, in the early part of the winter, put over a portion of a 

 double row of lettuce that had been planted out in the ordinary way, 

 and the difference between those under cover and those unprotected 

 was certainly remarkable, for, with the exception of a little speck of 

 green here and there, all the plants that had been exposed to the 

 weather were dead, whilst those in the frame were as fresh and as 

 green as they usually are in the summer, although not so large. At 

 the retail price charged for lettuce during the last two months those 

 in the frame were worth at least sixpence each, and would have 

 nearly paid for the cost of the frame. 



The exhibition of the Royal Botanic Society was also remarkably 

 good, but as the exhibitors and subjects were chiefly the same as 

 those at Kensington the week before, it is not desirable to enter into 

 details. The cyclamens were unusually fine, and the first prize 

 for a collection was taken by Mr. James, gardener to "W. F. Watson, 

 Esq., Redlees, Isleworth, with specimens that have, probably, not 

 been surpassed, either as regards the size of the plants or the high 

 quality of the flowers. Mr. James also carried off the first prize for 

 Cinerarias with handsome specimens. G: Gr. 



Potatoes. — In a valuable article on tlie growth of the potato in tlie January 

 number of the Floral "World, I see the almost universally received statement 

 made " that the potato is a very exhaustive crop." When I was rector of Llan- 

 dough, near Cowbridge, Glamorgan, I observed that an old parishioner, named 

 Thomas Jones, grew his potatoes in the same plot of ground for several consecutive 

 years, and on asking him how long he had done so, he said, ever since he 

 came to the cottage, which was fourteen years before, that he had quite as 

 good crops as at first ; that he had little besides road-scrapings for manure. 

 Since I came to this parish, I have discovered a still more extraordinary case : 

 An elderly woman, named Elizabeth Matthews, whose word I can perfectly 

 rely on, assures me that she, and her mother before her, whom I knew very well, 

 have grown potatoes in the same piece of garden ground, and on the same spot for 

 upwards of sixty years, and she finds no diminution or deterioration of the crop. 

 She has nothing but coal-ashes from her cottage for manure, on which she throws 

 all the soapsuds when she washes. The soil is a very sandy loam. Thinking this 

 might interest some of your readers, I venture to trouble you with it. 



Hector of Nustox, Nottage. E. Doddridge Knight. 



A Note on the Winter. — On Christmas-morning, 9 a.m., my minimum 

 (Negretti) thermometer indicated a temperature of 5', and the lowest registered 

 during the night was l - 50. The thermometer was placed on a stand fully exposed 

 to the sky, and four feet from the ground . I knew this will be doubted, but I at 

 once got out some other superior thermometers, and they all registered within one 

 degree of each other. About a dozen yards from this stand, under a north wall, 

 planted in a peat-bed were some camellias. They have been there two winters. 

 Not a bud has been injured upon them, although a few of the top leaves look a little 

 brown. Last year the first bloom opened on the 15th of March. A plant of Hedera 

 Regneriana, near them, is quite spoilt in foliage. On a raised dry rockwork, with 

 a south aspect, Opuntia Retinesquiana appears quite uninjured, that also stood out 

 last winter. Chamcerops Fortunei, on the lawn, is quite dead ; it was only a five 

 year old plant. As I could not risk (on account of the situation it occupied) a plot 

 of Arelia Sieboldi, I put a mat over it during the severe frost, and it is now ex- 

 posed again, and quite uninjured. I have left Melianthus, Cannas, etc., under heaps 

 of clinker, and will, if it interests you, write on the return of spring, a report of 

 their condition. I expect they are dead. I find Odontoglossum uro Skinneri is as 

 hardy as Cypripedium insigne. Both were last winter in a greenhouse very often 

 down to 35' and yet bloomed well. 



Near London. F. H. 



