JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febraaiy 29, 1872. 



well e.-Uiblishfd, its numerous pay spikes render it a veiy at- 

 tractive object, and as these usually appear early in spring it 

 is all the more valuable. 



B. inTESoiDEA. — This is a magnificent Brazilian species, 

 erect in habit, with numerous broad, clear, bright green leaves, 

 armed at the edges with numeroiis sharp spines. It is of 

 robust hajjit, and I prefer to grow it in a pot with rather more 

 loam than usual. The gay inflorescence is erect, both flowers 

 avid bract being of an intense rich crimson. 



B. MiNiATA-EosEA is another species from the same country 

 as the last-named. I prefer growing it upon a block or in a 

 small basket. The leaves are semi-ere<;t, spreading outwards, 

 and recurved towards the apes, armed at the edges, aud'Ught 

 green, overspread with a thin farinose covering. The scape is 

 erect, producing quite a number of flowers of a deep rose 

 colour; the bracts are large, deep red tipped with blue, and 

 suffused with a white farinose powder, which gives it a pecu- 

 liarly handsome appearance as if clothed with hoar frost. 



B. MAEMOEATA. — TMs is a very strong-growing kind, which 

 should be grown in a pot or planted in an erect position in a 

 pocket in a rockery ; indeed, many species of this order make 

 charmuig objects in a similar situation. The leaves are broad, 

 regularly armed at the edges with spines, deep green, mottled 

 and blotched with dull red. The scape is erect ; the flowers 

 dark blue ; the cal.yx green at the base, but tipped with the 

 same deep blue as the flowers ; the bracts large, and, Uke the 

 stems, of a uniform briUiant scarlet. It is a native of various 

 parts of Brazil. 



B. MoEELiAXA. — Anotlipr fine plant from, Brazil and South 

 America. Tlio Itiirr^ riro broad, dark green, banded on the 

 under side with :i niiitr farinose powder. The bracts and flowers 

 are extremely iiaudsome ; the flowers are deep violet, beauti- 

 fully set-off by the large persistent rich reddish rose-coloured 

 bracts, which are its chief attraction. — Expekto Cbede. 



POTATO CULTURE. 

 The Potato-planting season is at hand. It is, perhaps, not 

 easy to say anything that is not generally known respecting 

 this the most useful of aU root crops. Change of seed is no 

 doubt good, but change of soil is better. At first sight it would 

 appear that one change involves the other ; so in one sense it 

 does, but there is a difference. If seed is procured from a 

 brown hazel loamy soil, and planted in a garden of rich black 

 vegetable mould, a benefit is derived by the mere change of 

 seed ; but if seed is saved from that black vegetable soil and 

 planted again in the same garden, but in a plot containing a 

 large admixtm-e of fresh field soil, the benefit is still greater, 

 and change of soil is, therefore, better than change of seed. 

 As an instance, I may state that the soil I have to operate on 

 is the dark vegetable mould of a very old garden. For the 

 past six years seed of the same kind has been grown and again 

 planted in the same garden, and each year the crops have been 

 better than in the past. This is a dhect result of change of soil. 

 The soil introduced was roadside trimmings and parings, or 

 faihng this, a load or two of the garden soil was exchanged for 

 field soil. The practice is mutually beneficial, and as manur'e 

 is saved, is economical also. It is surprising how soon the 

 staple of an old garden may be improved by steadily carry- 

 ing out a simple system of exchange of soil. Nothing more 

 fully proves the truth of the old maxim that " exchange is no 

 robbery " than a practice of this kind. The vegetable soil of 

 the garden improves the field, and the field soil the garden. 

 Every year, also, I have had seed grown in the field and planted 

 in the garden, but in no one instance has the jiroduce been so 

 good as from seed grown in the garden and planted in the 

 garden with a good admixture of fresh soil. Fresh soil in an 

 old garden is infinitely better than maniu-e for Potatoes, and, 

 with a limited [piantity of maniire, for aU other crops too. The 

 practice cannot be carried out in all places, but it can in many. 

 Likewise, it cannot be carried out to infiuence the entire crop 

 of Potatoes. In this event change of seed must be resorted to. 

 There is room for a few words on this subject. 



It is a popular notion that seed should be procured from a 

 light sandy soil. That impression is held so strongly and 

 authoritatively that in some districts it amounts to an absolute 

 rule. Now, in general, I do not beheve in rules relative to 

 soil, management, and general culture, and at the risk of ap- 

 pearing singular I put aside the notion or rule above stated, 

 lay down another diametrically opposite — that Potitoes for 

 seed should be drawn from a stiff soil, and assert that it is 

 as safe and sjund as the old light-soil theory. An inflexible 



adherence to either theory, however, is not wise. The soil 

 to which the Potatoes have come should be considered as well 

 as the soil whence they come, to rightly determine a change. 



On the matter of change of seed I claim a lengthened ex- 

 perience, which added to some years of observation and practice 

 leads me to the conclusion that as a whole, and speaking gene- 

 rally, seed grown in a strong soil will afford a better yield than 

 those grown in Ught sandy soil. 



My father was regarded in his Uttle sphere as a "great 

 Potato man." Potatoes were a vital question with him, ha\ing 

 to bring up a family of eight on from lO.s. to 15s. per week. 

 He had Potatoes in isolated plots, in all sorts of soils. Such 

 a position made a mail look out and endeavour to turn an 

 honest penny by any possible means. His experience of flfty 

 years taught him that the plan that paid him tlie best was to 

 obtain seed from strong soils. I will add to that fifty years 

 twenty more of my own individual observation and practice, 

 and I arrive at the same conclusion. I have tried to prove it 

 and disprove it fairly, over and over again ; the last time was 

 iu the past year. I planted a rood of medium soil, fine Potato 

 laud, using one kind of Potatoes, with equal portions of seed 

 from hglit sandy laud, strong warp land, and fen land. The 

 warp seed gave the best yield, feu next ; that from the sandy 

 land coming out a bad third. If I had a thousand acres of 

 such land to jilant I would, if possible, draw all my seed from 

 warji land, and none from soil of a hght sandy nature. My ex- 

 l^erience is, that the poorer and more sandy the soil, the more 

 and the smaller the eyes in the tubers ; the stronger and 

 heavier the soil, the fewer and finer are the eyes formed. 

 Now, a fine stout stem will produce a fine root of Potatoes. 

 A cluster of wiry -looking steins jirodiices a multitude of small 

 trashy tubers. Two or three eyes, whether on a cut Potato or 

 a whole one, will give a better yield than half a dozen smaller 

 shoots springing from the same set. If, then, a whole Potato 

 is planted, it is wise to take out a number of eyes before putting 

 it in the ground. A rough and expeditious mode is to cut off, 

 by a slice, the cluster of eyes at the end of the tuber ; a slower 

 but better plan is to pick out all but two or three of the most 

 prominent. Cut Potatoes are as good as whole ones if not less 

 than two good eyes are secured to each set ; but the sets are 

 better if the whole tubers are not disbudded for the reason above 

 stated. 



It is unwise to put freshly cut Potatoes in sacks or in large 

 heaps and leave them there for a length of time, as they will 

 often heat. This kills the eyes and is the cause of many blanks 

 one meets with, and which cause some surprise. If allowed 

 to dry, and the wound to heal over before being packed away 

 for a reasouable time, no harm will result. Dusting newly cut 

 seed with lime hastens the wound heaUng and is good practice. 

 It is a bad plan to aUow seed Potatoes to lie tluckly and pro- 

 duce long weak sprouts which must be rubbed off. Allowing 

 them to be produced weakens the Potato and tends to cause 

 disease. This neglectful plan, by impairing the vital force of 

 the tubers year by year, has done more to foster disease than 

 almost anything else. Bleed the lambs and calves a few times 

 in their infancy, and continue the practice for a few years, and 

 what sort of flocks and herds would be the result ? 



As regards planting, in Ught and diy soils plant early and 

 deep; in cold, wet, and heavy soils, late and shallow. By 

 planting Ashleafs, for instance, in light soU in this dry dis- 

 trict, 5 or 6 inches deep in February, I obtain quite double the 

 crop as compared with late and shallow planting. The roots 

 take a good hold of the soU, and ai'e out of reach of the sun's 

 rays, which otherwise burn them up extensively. On the 

 other hand, iu wet strong soils the second week of April is quite 

 early enough for planting the same kinds. In such soils plant- 

 ing on the surface, and digging trenches between the rows 

 to cover the sets, cannot be too strongly recommended. I 

 have seen fine crops on this plan on ground worthless for 

 Potatoes if jilanted in any other way. For free workable soils 

 the lidge-and-trench plan has no advantages, at least I have 

 seen none, over the ordinary level system of planting. — J. 

 Weight, Gnnh-ner to Hon. A. L. Bh'hiUe. 



SPRING-BLOOMING PLANTS IN THE DUBLIN 

 BOTANIC GARDEN. 

 Among the pleasiu-es which a traveller has may be reckoned 

 the opportunities he has of visiting botanic gardens. I have 

 this afternoon (February 24;th) spent several pleasant hours 

 in those at Glasnevin, Dubhu. These have, I consider, the 



