i88i.] CHAMPION & MAGNUM BONUM POTATOES. 569 



whole a beautiful appearance. Circumstances frequently alter cases, 

 and Mr Muir's plants would be useless for our side stages; there- 

 fore I do not think it wise to urge any one particular system as 

 right, and condemn all others. The height to which the plants 

 attain, is not sufhcient reason for a cultivator to condemn a system. 

 I have, at the time of writing, over 100 plants of Elaine and 

 James Salter, and the majority of them are between 6 and 7 feet high. 

 These are specially grown for the position they have to occupy, and 

 Mr Muir's low plants would be of no service. The plants referred to 

 have at least 3 feet of clear stem, and some of them are carrying nearly 

 100 flowers : they look natural in spite of their height — and would be 

 even more beautiful if, at least, 2 feet taller. What can be more con- 

 spicuous than a plant of Elaine, or any other good variety, rising 

 from among Palms, Ferns, Camellias, and other large permanent con- 

 servatory specimens 1 



Mr Muir evidently has not paid much attention to the growing of 

 large blooms, or he would have discovered that the plants are not grown 

 to the height he mentions without being stopped. They are stopped, 

 otherwise they would stop themselves — at least twice during the season 

 — and valuable time would be lost. Mr Muir must consider there are 

 many growers of Chrysanthemums who, if they produced only poor 

 flowers on low natural-spreading bushes, w^ould quickly be discharged. 



SCIENTIA. 



CHAMPION AND MAGNUM BONUM POTATOES. 



As might have been expected, cottagers and small growers have "gone 

 into" these varieties extensively, but with various results as regards 

 success — some declaring they have had very heavy crops, while others 

 have no crop at all, or at least none worth speaking of. In the latter 

 case, I believe the result has been due almost wholly to too close plant- 

 ing, aggravated, perhaps, by rather late seasons. In this district, 

 which is a late one, the most conflicting testimony is given regarding 

 the yield of the two sorts named. That in some cases the yield has 

 been small I have myself ascertained, but it was, as I have stated, be- 

 cause the sets were too thick on the ground. Cottagers are proverbi- 

 ally prejudiced against wide planting, thinking it is a waste of space, 

 being naturally anxious to make the most of their small plots. From 

 what I have seen of the Champion here and the Magnum Bonum, I am 

 of opinion that the rows should be 5 feet asunder, and the sets at least 

 18 inches apart. The haulm grows that height, and, so far as I have 

 noticed, the crop has always been in proportion to the space allowed to 

 the tops. Planted much thicker, both sorts get to be a tangled thicket 

 of attenuated roots. Both varieties do produce enormous crops under 

 favourable conditions, and they are the kinds for the cottager; for they 



