54 THE FLORIST. 



the disease has been as fatal to this useful root as in most parts of the 

 country, and very much more so than in the north of England and 

 south of Scotland, where we recollect seeing the crops in full vigour of 

 growth a month or five weeks after the crops in the west of England 

 presented nothing but the bare haulm. Yet, owing to the dry and 

 warm autumn, the crop in this district is not much diseased, excepting 

 on cold, wet soils ; but it is much shortened by the untimely loss of 

 the foliage at an important period of the plant's growth. To test the 

 powers of the " Fluke" to withstand the disease, we planted them on 

 four different soils, varying from a poor sand to a clay, amongst other 

 kinds, principally Regents, Kidneys, and Cups ; and the result was 

 that the Flukes, though showing the fatal spot on the leaf towards the 

 end of August, kept the greater part of their leaves green till the last 

 week in September, when the crop was taken up — many of the tops 

 being then green, although the ordinary kinds growing close by had 

 lost their leaves upwards of a month. The yield of saleable Regents in 

 this locahty scarcely averages 5 tons per acre, while on a careful calcu- 

 lation my crop of Flukes is ten tons, very nearly all of which are 

 marketable ; the quantity of small being very small in proportion to 

 the large ones. No doubt these crops will be considered small by some, 

 and are much greater on more favourable soils : but we give only our 

 own experience, on soils by no means rich. The flavour of the Fluke 

 is excellent, much surpassing in our estimation the Regent. They boil 

 white and flowery — will keep well till July, and there is very little waste 

 in paring them, the eye being nearly even with the skin. We are 

 pleased to find there has been an immense demand for them in the 

 district where they first originated (Lancashire) for planting ; and we 

 feel sure that those who give them a trial will not be disappointed in 

 the result. 



The Fluke owes its origin to a Lancashire weaver, who obtained it 

 from seed of the • Lapstone,' a well-known Potato in the iManchester 

 district ; and who was, a year or two ago, presented by his friends with 

 a sum sufficient to purchase for him a small annuity, as a public appre- 

 ciation of its merits. We are in possession of a seedling from the 

 Fluke, called Dean's Seedling, resembling in some points the original, 

 but earlier and with rounder tubers ; it is equally good, and a heavy 

 cropper. The London public was first made acquainted with these 

 valuable kinds of Potatoes through the exertions of our valued corre- 

 spondent, Mr. P^dwards, of Holloway. 



PANSIES IN POTS. 

 I DO not know why it should be the case, but certain it is, that 

 but few of the Pansy growers with whom I am acquainted succeed 

 with the cultivation of that plant in pots. My experience is princi- 

 pally among growers in the north ; the case may be different in the 

 south, but in this neighbourhood the experiment, as some still persist 

 in calling it, has resulted, with very few exceptions, in undeniable 



