Octo1>er SO, 1873. ] 



JOTJBNAL OF EOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



329 



ties touching the disease, its usual effects, and suggested ' 

 remedies; but from all that I gathered, the conclusion re- 

 mained, that in fact we know httle or nothing more about its 

 cause and treatment than we did some twenty years ago. As 

 a rule, it does not usually make its appearance till the crop is 

 approaching maturity. Fine bright weather retards it ; dull, 

 close, foggy days develope it rapidly, and then, once developed, 

 nothing avails to stop its ravages. The oft-suggested plan of 

 cutting away the haulm close to the roots I have myself tried 

 in various cases without any benefit. This very year, obsei'v- 

 ing patches of disease in a piece of Early Myatt's, I out to the 

 ground one portion, while an adjoining one of similar size was 

 left untouched. A fortnight later and both were dug up, when, 

 where the haulm had been left the Potatoes were considerably 

 larger, and no more disease among them than in the other. 

 As this bears out my conclusions of former years, removing 

 the haulm serves only, it would seem, to reduce the crop ; 

 and just so we might expect it would be, for probably as soon 

 as the leal is attacked the sap throughout the plant becomes 

 diseased, equally in the portions below as in those above the 

 ground. 



Soil, climate, and cnltivation may all, I believe, contribute 

 their share in fostering or resisting the Potato malady. A 

 light porous soil, a dry climate, and a moderate allowance of 

 manure, will usually produce a healthy but not too vigorous a 

 growth, while the contrary to these conditions wUl result in 

 that overluxuriant vegetation which is the first to suffer. 

 Subject, of course, to particular variations, this seems the 

 common rule, and hence I apprehend that the drier soils and 

 higher summer temperature of the mitUand and eastern dis- 

 tricts of England need fear no rivalry in late Potato-growing 

 from locaUties which, like West Cornwall, have an excess of 

 moisture and deficiency of heat. 



If accurate accounts were attainable, I believe that it would 

 be found better economy in this particular district to import 

 onr winter Potatoes rather than to grow them. But in soils 

 and cUmatea the best suited to this crop, has it not, I would 

 ask, been found that even in years when the actual disease 

 has been least felt, or even when there have been no signs 

 whatever of it, the average crops of late Potatoes are now very 

 far below the yield of ten or twenty years ago ? Where due 

 rotation has not been observed this would only be a necessary 

 result; but I ask the question, What has occurred where 

 the land has only been called upon for this particular crop in 

 its proper course ? Does this, if such is the case, point to a 

 reduced constitutional vigour of the plant? And again, if so, 

 has this resulted from the continuance of disease or from any 

 other cause ? 



Such are my Potato-jottings for this ye.ir. Seed is already 

 being purchased for next year's crops, and many complaints 

 are heard as to the difficulty of getting sound samples. This 

 strengthens my opinion that the past has generally been a bad 

 season for Potato disease, as might, indeed, have been ex- 

 pected from the prevailing character of the weather. How, 

 then, have foreign growers fared ? What supplies have France, 

 Holland, and Uelgium for us ? Can they grow an equal crop 

 to that of past years ? and is the disease less prevalent abroad 

 than with ourselves? All these are questions of interest, and 

 may throw Ught on what so much still needs it — viz., the origin, 

 conditions, and treatment of this scourge of our fields. — W. 



wait two or three years longer, and then they will send up 

 from the roots shoots 7 or 8 feet high, as straight as an arrow 

 — the very acme of perfection, and ready for the insertion of 

 his best lloses. That yeiir I put in about thh-ty cuttings, and 

 every year since have been adding to the number. 



By this means good sorts only are jiropagated — the real Dog 

 Ptose — scentless, with few prickles, and these strongly hooked 

 downwards, and not perpendicular' to the stem, with improved 

 roots. 



If Mr. Camm and nurserymen would propagate their own 

 Briars in this manner in the months of August and September, 

 there would be less outcry about the short lives of Hoses ; but 

 finding the plants a scarce commodity the briarman makes all 

 fish that comes in his net, brings home all that comes in his 

 way, provided they be young and straight, regardless how 

 many prickles there may be upon them, and with a ekin as red 

 as a soldier's coat ; these are paid for and worked, and the 

 consequence is, if the bud succeed, the Eose lives, producing 

 blooms — puny things — for two or thi'ee years, lingers on, and 

 then dies of consumption. Give the Briar fair play, and it is 

 an excellent stock. Like Mr. Reynolds Hole I am thoroughly 

 of opinion that if one can get a Rose on the Briar of the right 

 sort, and on the main shoot, it wEl far surpass that on the 

 Manetti, just in proportion as the former is more vigorous- 

 growing than the latter ; provided it will grow on the Briar at 

 all, for I find that, like many living animals, they are very 

 capricious. Some will live only on one kind of stock, others 

 on another, and many on both — (•..'/..with me Charles Lefebvro 

 will not thrive on the Briar, neither will Baroness Rothschild, 

 but both do well on the JIanetti, and on their own roots, .\gain, 

 G^nural Jacqueminot, Maurice Bernardin, and Pierre Notting 

 will not thrive on the Manetti, and succeed excellently on the 

 Briar. — D. D., Makerston, Kelso. 



N.B. — I forgot to say I propagate my Manetti stocks also by 

 cuttings, while I am budding in August and September. 



EOSE STOCKS FROM CUTTINGS. 



I KEAD very attentively every article in The Journ.il or 

 HoBTicuLTCBE treating on Roses, Briar and Manetti stocks, 

 and have just finished a perusal of Mr. Gamm's observations 

 on the latter in the number of October 16th. So far as my 

 eiperience teaches I agree with him almost entirely — that the 

 collecting of Briars is a most rugged, tiresome, and expensive 

 concern, for I have gone for them ten or twelve miles, and had 

 them conveyed home both by trains and carts. Feeling this 

 work both costly and fatigueing, I set to work in another 

 direction. 



I had sown seeds years ago which never germinated, and 

 therefore had abandoned this plan. I resolved, however, to 

 try cuttings, and falling in with a very favourite Briar (for 

 there are hundreds of varieties of them) in August, I dug a 

 piece of ground and dibbled-in the cuttings taken off mostly 

 at the joints, making them as firm as ever I could. The 

 cuttings exactly resembled those of Gooseberries. To my great 

 delight nearly every one of them lived. It is not the cuttings 

 themselves, however, that will benefit the rosarian ; he must 



LOBELIA WHITE PERFECTION. 



A KEALLY good white-floweriug bedding plant is a great 

 desideratum, whether it be a Geranium, Verbena, Lobelia, or 

 anything else. We are still very deficient of white-flowering 

 plants for the flower garden, though of white foliage we have 

 plenty ; but in cold wet situations like mine, even such plants 

 in the majority of seasons are disappointing just when we 

 want them to present the best appearance. It is, therefore, 

 with much pleasure I can recommend this welcome addition 

 to our scanty supply. Bearing in mind the wet and unfavour- 

 able season — here, throughout the summer, we have only 

 been once three days in succession without rain — and taking 

 into account the unfavourable situation, it seems wonderful 

 that this Lobelia should have done so well. It is what 

 may be called a white strain of Lobelia speciosa, and much 

 praise is due to the Messrs. Veitch, of Cheisea (from whom 

 we had our supply of seed), for sending out such an excellent 

 variety. Never did the Committee of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society award a better-merited certificate. It is not 

 to be expected that so great a flirt as the Lobelia is, should 

 be in this instance quite constant to colour from seed ; yet, 

 notwithstanding a few true blues which put in an appear- 

 ance, it is remarkably pure — none of your half pink, half 

 blue, and half-a-dozen other shades, but a white, as its name 

 denotes, to perfection. Nothing can be more even in growth, 

 standing from 5 to G inches high, and of a semi-erect habit, 

 and the whole mass a sheet of pure white. I certainly had 

 some misgivings until I saw the first blooms, but then with 

 much gratification',I beheld a genuine white Lobelia. 



As regards the few blue-flowered plants that are produced 

 amongst the seedlings, they make a pleasing mixture ; but 

 should they not be wanted they can be easily detected when 

 potting the seedlings, being much lighter, and with little if 

 any of that hairy surface that is inseparable from the blue 

 variety ; or they can be planted in little clumps, and as soon 

 as a blue is discerned let it bo pulled out. We served in this 

 way two beds edged with it, and they have been much ad- 

 mired. — J. Taylor, ilacfgu'i/nnc, Carmarlhcnahire. 



HoTEiA .TAPON'ICA, Ac. — In answer to " W. G.," page 291, X 

 have now (October IHtb) six plants of Iloteia japonica in full 

 bloom, also some two or three score of Strawberry plants, a 

 few with ripe fruit. All the above plants I forced in flower 

 early in- spring. In July I planted them out in the open 



