1870.] MY POTATO TEIALS. 179 



assumed varieties, nearly the whole of which I believe to be distinct, 

 although the points of difference in some are not very easy to deter- 

 mine. Through the kindness of valued friends, I have been enabled 

 to exchange largely with them, and thus my collection has increased 

 this season by some twenty-five new varieties, amongst which are seve- 

 ral of the new American kinds, some of which bid fair, by their cropping 

 qualities, to become ultimately famous market Potatoes for the use of 

 the million. The gathering together of this large number of kinds has 

 not been the work of a year or two, neither is the experience that will 

 be called upon to superintend their growth and rate their qualities 

 limited in its extent. For several years I have gathered about me a 

 large number of varieties of the Potato. Many of the best of my 

 earlier subjects I still continue to hold stock of, but the additions of 

 both last year and the present are so great that I feel I am called upon 

 to enter on my next trial with much heavier responsibilities, knowing 

 that I hold one of the best as well as most extensive collections of 

 Potatoes to be found in the kingdom. To enter into a minute account 

 of the various kinds I have, would be just now as useless as it would 

 be tedious to the readers of the ' Gardener.' The time for that will 

 come by-and-by, when, with the names of each kind, I trust to be able 

 to furnish also a true and correct account of the good or bad qualities 

 of the several varieties, as developed here in the south of England. 



My trial-ground is an open field, situated upon the brow of a hill, 

 and fully exposed to all the various climatic influences that arise from 

 a near approach to the sea. The soil is a moderately good yellow 

 loam of about 24 inches in depth, beneath which is a deep substratum 

 of gravel that drains the soil so effectually as to make it very dry in 

 the case of a hot summer. My trial -borders range to a length of 

 over 200 feet, and are about 14 feet in width. I select for my pur- 

 pose from each kind twelve medium-sized tubers, all of which have 

 been so cared for previously that they have just started into growth, 

 and as a consequence I am in no fear of blank rows. The soil, which 

 I previously mentioned as being but moderately good, has had spread 

 over it a light dressing of manure, consisting chiefly of road-droppings. 

 This is by no means a potent manure, but it answers my purpose, as 

 by it I am enabled to get the character of each distinct variety cor- 

 rectly developed ; and as I wish to secure clean samples rather than 

 large ones, which are too frequently accompanied by a luxuriant 

 growth of haulm that is by no means desirable, I am content to ad- 

 here to moderate culture and road-droppings. The width at which 

 the rows are placed apart is regulated somewhat by the habit of 

 growth of the variety, but I find, under my mode of culture, that 24 

 inches is enough for moderate -growing kinds, and 28 inches for 



