40 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICOIiTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



( July 17, 1873. 



they are very numerous, and in colour a rich violet blue in 

 some plants, while in others they are of a bright lavender, 

 and I have occasionally had plants with white flowers. The 

 latter, however, are not so desu'able as the darker-tinted kinds, 

 excepting for the sake of variety. The height is about 2| feet, 

 and few plants present such a mass of bloom as this, and still 

 fewer of the ordinary herbaceous plants remain longer in 

 beauty ; while In dyiug-olif it never presents an untidy appear- 

 ance, for the flower-stem looks well to the last, and when re- 

 moved a neat plant is left, more or less pleutiluUy supplied 

 with shoots, from which slips or cuttings are easily obtained. 

 These, if put into a cold pit or under a hand-glass, where 

 some protection can be afforded them in winter, make good 

 plants in the following spring. We often put in a batch of 

 cuttings in September at the same time as Pentstemons, San- 

 tolinas, and even Centaureas, and they rarely fail to strike. 



Our plan is to insert the cuttings in rows in a cold pit in 

 sandy soil, jind to shade them for a time if necessary, but 

 always giving them the benefit of the heavy dews that are 

 common then. The plant, as already stated, is also freely 

 projiagated by seed, which, however, requires to be sown in 

 pots or pans, as it is very small — perhaps one of the smallest 

 of all garden seeds, being much smaller than that of the 

 Calceolaria or Lobelia ; but it is obtained in any quantity, and 

 I have raised seedlings in the open ground often enough. 

 Seedlings, I need hardly say, make the sturdiest plants, besides 

 giving the chance of variety, but a few cuttings insure a con- 

 tinuance of a favourite kind, and, besides, there is some un- 

 certainty in so minute a seed being lost in the ground, or the 

 young plants falling a prey to insects or other enemies, so it 

 is desirable to secure a stock from cuttings. 



I have sometimes grown the plant in rows along with other 

 herbaceous plants of similar habit, as Phloxes, double Rockets, 

 and Catchflies. It likewise makes an excellent plant for the 

 mixed border ; the question, " What is this ?" being often asked 

 when its niimerous heads of flowers form a sort of balloon or 

 beehive, and this, too, without the aid of sticks or artificial 

 support. It is also sometimes met with as a pot plant, and 

 supphes a colour not at all plentiful in the conservatory. I 

 am not partial, however, to growing anything in the conserva- 

 tory that will succeed out of doors, unless it come in at a parti- 

 cular season. To those who are not acquainted with it 1 un- 

 hesitatingly say. Procure it at once ; they wUl not regret the 

 adoption of my advice. — J. Eoeson. 



POTATO PROSPECTS. 



I observed a statement in the Journal of the .^rd inst., on 

 the authority of the Yorkshire Gazette, that the Potato disease 

 had appeared in North Yorkshu-e, and that the early American 

 kinds were most affected. Last year the early American kinds, 

 especially Early Eose, were free from the disease, and happy 

 should we be had we no greater disease to contend against 

 than that which has shown itself in the June of the present 

 year in the early American kinds in North Yorkshire. The 

 disease to which our north-country papers refer is what is 

 known aU over the country as the curl, which has no relation 

 to the Potato disease that begins at the haulm and then attacks 

 the tubers. 



The American Early Eose, though not quite free from disease 

 last year in North Yorkshu-e, was the least affected, excepting 

 Eed-skiuned Flourball, whicli was quite free of disease. This 

 year Early Eose has been much affected with curl, a disease 

 quite as vu'uleut as that which attacks the Potato at a more 

 advanced stage. The curl presents itself as soon as, or very 

 shortly after, the haulm is above ground. What is it but the 

 weak enfeebled growth of a diseased tuber, the consequence of 

 planting a diseased set ? Did you ever try to get a crop of 

 Potatoes by remo%'ing the set as soon as the haulm was a few 

 inches above ground and note the result ? No Potato affected 

 with curl comes to anything ; no Potato from which the set 

 is early removed produces a crop, for in both cases the plant 

 is deprived of the support which it requires. Even a diseased 

 Potato will make an effort to continue its kind if the eyes be 

 not destroyed, but the growth is weak. 



Now that we have to deal with the curl, permit me to say 

 that I last autumn pointed out that the Potato disease is not 

 hereditary, and cannot be reproduced either by planting a 

 diseased Potato or by contact with diseased haulms or tubers. 

 Plant a diseased tuber with sound eyes, and it will grow wealdy ; 

 the leaves and the whole hav.lm will be speckled with dark 

 brown spots. The curl will bo manifested by the leaves curl- 



ing ; and the plant, if the set has not been much diseased, may 

 make an effort at flowering, but sound though small tubers, 

 capable of continuing their race, will be formed. The disease 

 has been thrown off, and will not again return until the plant 

 be in a fitting state for the development of the spores of the 

 Potato fungus. It will be found in most cases that the Potato 

 plants infested with curl have the sets partially or wholly 

 decayed ; but the curl, though generally resulting from a 

 diseased tuber, is not always to be traced to that beginning. 

 The removal of the sprouts once or twice before planting, after 

 allowing these to grow several inches long in " pies " or " hogs," 

 or on dry shelves or floors, is a taking-away of the life-blood of 

 the set, and to such an extent is this sometimes carried that 

 many kinds, especially the earlies, do not make a second 

 growth after being planted, or if they grow, the growth is 

 weak, and they begin to form tubers early. They then curl 

 uj} then' leaves as all Potatoes do when forming tubers, and 

 growth is at an end, simply because the set can afford no more 

 support. To have sound fuU crops we must plant plump, 

 healthy sets. 



I may remark that Potatoes in Cleveland present a very 

 healthy appearance. In gardens, though admitting the curl 

 in the early American kinds, especially Early Eose, which, 

 in my opinion, has no claim to special mention, I have not 

 seen them finer. We have taken up Ashleaf , Myatt's Prolific, 

 and Veitch's Improved Ashleaf from the open ground, and 

 they are fine and dry, even floury when cooked ; and the later 

 sorts, of which I have upwards of twenty, are very promising, 

 especially New Hundredfold Fluke, Eed-skinned Flourball, 

 Late Eose, Excelsior, and WLUard's, the last three American 

 sorts. I may also mention that Potatoes come from selfsowu 

 seeds here. We have cut and pulled up thousands within the 

 last few days. They came up even on trenched ground ; the 

 kind is evidently the old Pink-eye, a variety of the finest qua- 

 lity. In the fields the Potato crop promises well, especially 

 where a change of seed had been secured. 



The disease mentioned by your excellent correspondent Mr. 

 Brehaut in No. 639 as occurring in an orchard house, was, 

 I grant, the disease proper. It would be interesting to know 

 if the Potato haulms were syringed after they had attained 

 their full growth and when tubers were forming, or if the 

 trees were. Was not the haulm of the Potatoes wetted twice 

 a-day ? From the cold of the past spring and eai'ly summer 

 it is likely the house would be kept closer than usual. I had 

 similar experience in a vinery. All went well untU the haulm 

 was full grown ; then, from syringing the house, the haulm was 

 wetted, and it was clear that either the foliage of the Potatoes 

 must be kept dry or the crop would fail. They were not wetted, 

 and the crop ripened, but not well. In houses and in frames 

 I have not had a diseased tuber where the plants were not 

 wetted overhead after the tubers were well advanced, but kept 

 only moist at the roots. Continued dampness of the haulm of 

 Potatoes when ripening deteriorates the quaUty of the tubers, 

 and generally results in disease. — G. Abbey. 



GREENHOUSE GLAZING. 

 I HA^'E practised the method described by " J. P.," of Y'ork, 

 in your number of July 3rd for several years past, and I question 

 if any of the patent processes will bear comparison with it for 

 cheapness and efficiency ; in fact, a more simple, inexpensive, 

 and neat method could scarcely be devised. Your correspon- 

 dent very accurately describes the modus operandi, which, 

 however, I think I can slightly improve upon in one or two 

 particulars. In the first place an eighth-of-an-inch play on 

 each side of the glass is too much. If the rafters are put 

 quite true, and the glass cut true, an eighth of an inch will be 

 ample space to allow for expansion of rafters, which, I may 

 remark in passing, is never so much as is generally supposed ; 

 in fact, if the glass goes in easily and freely all will be weD. 

 Then, again, if large panes are used (mine are all 12 by 20) a 

 tack will be required on each side at the end of the pane to 

 prevent its slipping down, and another close to it at the ex- 

 treme point of the lower corner (not upper, as described by 

 " J. P.") to keep the glass in its proper place ; thus one tack 

 holds both panes. Nothing is better than long tin tacks. I 

 am confident that no one who gives tbe plan a trial will ever 

 return to the old system of facing-off with putty. — Willi.vm 

 WiNriED.^.NK, Bevois Mount Nursery, Soutliamjiton. 



The AncDBA. — It is probably not known that the male plants 

 raised from seeds of the old female Aucuba come into flower 



