1869.] THE EARLY EOSE POTATO. VANDA DENISONIANA. 249 



nuisance at some future date ; but I think even a little mischief may be allowed, 

 considering their very great service. 



As regards Eabbits, I should have thought the Australian settlers would have 

 been only too thankful there were none in the country, and would not have 

 taken the trouble to introduce such unmitigated vermin. I can only liken such 

 a proceeding to that of the countryman in the fable bringing the almost frozen 

 serpent home to be wanned at the fire, or the patriotic Scot who introduced the 

 national emblem into Canada. One might be disposed in both cases to say, 

 " Served them right!" were it not that the country generally suffers. 



South Amboy, New Jersey. James Taplin. 



THE EAELY EOSE POTATO. 



ri UCH has been written of late respecting this American variety of Potato, 

 ib and its productiveness. In April last I purchased 1 lb. (four tubers) of 

 this variety, from which I made 132 sets. The following is the method 

 I adopted. The potatos were cut into halves, planted into small pots, 

 and placed in a cucumber frame. When the shoots attained the length of about 

 1 in., I gently pulled them off, and placed them singly in small pots, and this 

 practice I continued until I made the quantity stated above ; 68 sets were planted 

 out by the end of May, and were totally destroyed by frost on June 1, before 

 they had commenced to tuber. The remainder were planted at the end of June, 

 and from these I have upwards of 100 lb. of tubers, some of them being very large. 

 Some of these were exhibited in my collection of eight varieties that obtained the 

 First Prize at Worksop on September 3, and they were greatly admired. I have no 

 doubt that had my first row not been destroyed by frost, I should have had more 

 than 200 lb. weight from a single pound of tubers. The quality is very good ; 

 but, as with other potatos, this will vary according to the nature of the soil. ' 

 Osberton. Edwaed Bennett. 



VANDA DENISONIANA. 



k/{A E have here a white Vanda, found by Colonel Benson in Burmah, introduced 

 $fe) quite recently to the collection of Messrs. Veitch and Sons, and dedicated 

 by Professor Eeichenbach to Lady Londesborough, " in appreciation of 

 Lord Londesborough's great and generous love for orchids." 

 The habit of the plant resembles that of V. Bensoni, but the plant is more 

 vigorous. The leaves are glossy, strap-shaped, with the attenuated apex unequally 

 bilobed. The racemes bear several flowers, of which the leathery reflexed cuneate- 

 oblong sepals and petals are milk-white, pale yellowish-green at the apex, and the 

 broadly pandurate lip is also white, with a stain of yellowish-green at the apex, 

 and another of deep orange round the mouth of the spur. The auricles at the 

 base of the lip are quadrate, while the anterior is bilobed and subhastate, but 

 bearing less resemblance to a heathcock's tail than the lip of V. Bensoni. A 



