JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ August 28, 1873. 



risk is certainly gi-eater by the storm coming when the fp-ound 

 was already moist from a still heavier rain last week — IJ inch 

 in twelve hours, with much lightning. In this case, however, 

 di-yiug winds and sun followed immediately, and no disease was 

 engendered. Hope lies in easterly or northerly winds continu- 

 ing, as they are generally cool. When I say " no disease," I 

 speak generaDy and according to ordinary acceptation, for little 

 patches in low wet places are spoken of, but so limited as to be 

 hardly worth mentioning. 



As to the crop, the earlies are up and have been very pro- 

 ductive and excellent in quality ; and the general crop of late 

 kinds, by their healthy vigour, give promise of an abundant 

 yield, supposing they withstand the ordeal through wliich they 

 are now passing. For years past the crop has not looked so 

 really well. A tine March was favourable for planting, and the 

 only check to after-growth was a touch of frost on April 2Gth. 

 May was showery, inducing a sturdy growth, and June and July 

 fine and drj' for perfecting the earlies. The second week in 

 August the late crop was in jeopardy by excessive heat and 

 drought ; but on the 18th, just at an opportune moment, before 

 the skin was set, relief came, and the drooping stems became 

 erect at once, and the tubers commenced swelling rapidly. 



Regents are more scarce than usual by last year's devastation, 

 and Eocks may be said to be the staple field kind. Victorias, 

 however, are tolerably plentiful, and Eed-skin FlourbaUs are 

 finding their way into most farms and gardens. Besides these, 

 owing to scarcity of seed, many tons of imported Dutch and 

 Belgian kinds were purchased in the markets and planted. Some 

 came up weakly, a few not at all, but the great bulk promise 

 remarkably well, and are looked forward to with special interest. 

 The table quality of all kinds which have ripened show to ad- 

 vantage under the heat and drought. American varieties are 

 better than they have ever been before, the Early Rose being 

 quite niealy and really good. But the best of all as a second 

 «arly that has been judged here by discriminating Potato palates 

 is undoubtedly Carter's Ashtop Fluke. It is quite first-rate, 

 and with plenty of room is productive, but grown too closely 

 together is a weed. Unless untoward weather overtake the crop, 

 the Lincolnshire yield of Potatoes can hardly fail to prove itself 

 amongst the best of past years. — J. Wrioiit. 



Ilfoed, Essex. — The Potato crop is only moderate this year, 

 owing, principally, to the bad state of the ground and a severe 

 frost which cut down the plants shortly after they came through. 

 I have heard of large crops, but on investigation it is found an 

 approximate calculation only had been made. On the farm at 

 Loxford they are digging about one acre per day, which on the 

 average yields about six and half tons per acre, four tons of 

 which consist of " ware," one and half ton of " middlings," and 

 the rest "pig chats." No disease has been seen as yet, but 

 symptoms of it were observed for the first time yesterday ; these 

 symptoms consist of a number of white dots scattered over the 

 Potato, and I am assured these are the certain forerunners of dis- 

 ease. The atmosphere is at present overcharged with electri- 

 city. — J. Douglas, Loxford Hall Gardens. 



BiCTos, Devonshire. — Having read about the advantages of 

 rolling Potato fields on the recurrence of disease, it may be 

 worth notice that the experiment has been tried here with the 

 most satisfactory results. Potato disease made its appearance 

 with us on the 14th of July, when a most promising field of 

 over three acres, then in full fiower, was thoroughly roUed up, 

 down, and across with a heavy one-horse roller, firming the 

 ground and bruising Potato-stalks as much as possible. From 

 careful examination it soon became evident that the plague was 

 greatly checked, if not stamped out, no extension of it having 

 been observed since the operation. Potatoes go on ripening 

 with healthy foliage, a few lateral shoots only having grown out 

 from their stems. The field under notice was planted about 

 the middle of March in rows 2 feet 6 inches apart, and with 

 medium-sized tubers 1 foot from each other. 



Early varieties are now stored, and have turned out an ex- 

 cellent crop, with scarcely any disease amongst them; the 

 quality is also all that could be desired. Late sorts also promise 

 to be an abundant crop, of good size, and with no trace of 

 disease in them at present. The exposure is open, and the 

 manure used consisted of well-rotted leaves from Pine-pit 

 Enings, to which were added a little bone dust, coal and turf 

 ashes, wood ashes, and soot, well mixed and sown in the drills. 

 In a Potato plot a few yards off the field, where rolling the 

 ground was not resorted to, Potato stalks have nearly disap- 

 peared by disease. From this statement the inference may be 

 fairly drawn that if rolling Potatoes at the proper time — which 

 is on the very first appearance of spot on the leaves, not days 

 after, as that would be labour lost — if not preventive, is pal- 

 Hative, and I strongly recommend Potato-growers to give the 

 practice a fair trial and publish the result. — R. Beobie, Bicton 

 Gardens. 



Gaeden Netting. — Permit me to bring to your notice the 

 fact of there being another victim of garden-netting advertisers. 



1 ordered -15 yards of two-yard-wide netting, and bad sent me 

 a quantity of mended-up rubbish, which when stretched did 

 not measure 3 feet. This netting was advertised as new and 



2 yards wide, price Id. a squai'e yard. " Ejpericntia docet 

 .ituUos," and it will teach me to be more careful in avoiding 

 these rogues in future. — Ehswokih. 



THE PiOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 COMMITTEES AND ARRANGEMENTS. 



An idle rumour has got about that the CouncU of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society has decided to discontinue the fortnightly 

 meetings of the Fruit and Floral Committees in 1874. We 

 assure our readers that there is not the shadow of a founda- 

 tion for such a thing. At a meeting between the Committee of 

 Council and the Committee of exhibitors held last week, the 

 greatest solicitude was shown on the part of the Council to 

 preserve, and even to extend, the true horticultural character 

 of the Society, without which it would be u^ Horticultural 

 Society at all. 



As I have often launched my spear at the arrangements of 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society, I hope I may be allowed to 

 add my congratulations on the change which has come over 

 the face of things at South -Kensington. The curtailment of 

 the number of shows must be a relief to exhibitors, who have 

 been worried by their frequency, while it will somewhat save 

 the credit of the Society with the general public, who, having 

 paid half-a-crown to see an exhibition of which they have said 

 continually, " Is this all '/" feel generally disappointed. More- 

 over it will, we would hope, tend to reduce the expenses for 

 bands, Ac, which form so considerable an item in the Society's 

 expenditure. Nothing could be better devised than the plan 

 of forming a joint committee to decide upon the schedule for 

 next year ; and I feel quite confident that when the names of 

 the gentlemen selected shall have been made known, it will in- 

 spire the horticultural public with confidence in the honest in- 

 tentions of the Council to make the Society a real representative 

 of the horticultural interests of the kingdom. We have, let us 

 hope, seen an end of two things always injurious to any society 

 — the spirit of exchisiveness, and the ruling by cliques. A seat 

 on the Council will no longer be coveted as an entire into 

 society, but as a place where work is to be done for the good 

 of horticulture ; and notwithstanding the incubus of the Com- 

 missioners, which, like an old man of the mountain, hampers 

 the Council, they wiU, if they act in this spu-it, be so supported 

 by the good feeling of the great body of the Fellows, that they 

 will be enabled to steer clear of the difficulties which surround 

 them. — D., Deal. 



UTILISATION OF HEAT. 

 Having read in your paper on several occasions articles and 

 letters upon heating power, which plainly showed me a good 

 part of heat was lost in the present system of heating con- 

 servatories, itc, I set myself to utilise this lost heat with the 

 following results. A small gas boiler was made as follows : — 

 A chamber of copper 3 J inches square and 

 ^^jj 5 inches high, with a zigzag funnel rising 



rj l from it 4 J inches, with a hole 3i inches long 



P^ .igijll and five-eighths of an inch wide, which was 



' enclosed in a case of good galvanised iron, 



4 inches square and ',IJ inches high. This 

 arrangement allows only a httle space be- 

 tween the encased chamber, with funnel and 

 the outer case, for water to circulate in. Ths 

 chamber and funnel are connected to the 

 outer case by means of flanges. The flow- 

 ])ipe is on the right-hand side, at the top of 

 the boiler thu3 formed, and the return pipe 

 underneath it at the bottom. Pieces were cut out of the sides 

 to gain admission to the chamber; the opening thus made 

 serves as a door. Beneath the boiler is placed a piece of per- 

 forated metal, which serves as a stand, and regulates the 

 supply of air to the gas when burning. Sui-mounting the 

 boiler is a cap, from which rises the chimney. 



The latter is about 10 feet long, running obliquely and rising 

 1 foot in 10 feet. To this small boiler I have attached 30 feet 

 of 1 J-inch ordinai"y malleable iron pipe filled with water. The 

 gas IS applied in the chamber through a burner made partly 

 on Bnnseu's principle, and regulated by an ordinary gas- 

 burner, allowing 3 feet to pass hourly. The heat generated 



