42S 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ December 1, 1863. 



five Potatoes, and out of them were seven not of fit size for 

 cooking. Tliey weighed 2 lbs. 2 ozs. 



August 12th, lifted the crop. A clean, bright sample, and 

 no disease. They averaged 27J lbs. per four square yai'ds, 

 very nearly the weight of the Daintree's, which they very 

 much resembled, both in toj) and tuber, but I do not con- 

 sider them so good a Potato, because when the Daintree's 

 are half cooked, and tlie water poured away from them, they 

 will finish cooking — viz., steam themselves, and remain 

 firm thi'oughout though mealy. The Dalmahoys under this 

 treatment retain a " bone in them." They must be boiled 

 tiU done, which will take ten minutes longer than the 

 former, and then, though an excellent flowery Potato, they 

 are not so good-looking, or of so fine a flavour as Dain- 

 tree's Seedling. I shall expunge the Dalmahoys from our 

 garden, otherwise, unless under very careful management, 

 it woidd become almost an impossibility to recognise them 

 apart, and to keep them distinct. This is how I came by 

 them : Last autumn a late worthy curate paid the rector 

 a visit on his way from Marlborough into Stafl'ordshire. 

 I heard him apologise for the weight of his portmanteau, 

 on account of a good sort of Potato presented to him, 

 and brought in it from the above-named town in Wiltshii-e. 

 Of coiu-se, I was thus placed at once on the alert, and 

 the result was that part of them were exchanged for 

 some Daintree's Seedling, as well as some Shutfords, and 

 Mitchell's, into the bargain, tho portmanteau leaving the 

 rectory still heavier than it arrived there. 



July 25th, dug up a root of Lapstone Kidney — thii-ty Po- 

 tatoes, twenty -two sizeable, and eight too small for cooking. 

 Weighed 3 lbs. 



August 12th, lifted the Lapstone, and they averaged 

 26i lbs. per foiu' square yards. A clear, beautiful-looking 

 sample, and no disease. 



I ought to mention that the Shutford Seedling came in 

 before the Mitchell's Early Albion Kidney this year. I 

 began digging them on June 2nd, and the Mitchell's followed. 



SECOND PLANTING. 



March. 19th, planted the Eacehorse, Mitchell's Early 

 Albion, Wabiut-leaf Kidney, Ash-leaf Kidney, Early (or 

 Cracked) Shaw, Early Prolific, and one new seedling Fluke- 

 shaped Potato (a cross between the "White-blossomed 

 Kidneys and Wright's Kidneys," sent to me by post espe- 

 cially to try against the Ash-leaf Kidney). 



The Eacehorse and Mitchell's Early Albion I consider 

 synonymous, and the Walnut-leaf Kidney to be its cousin 

 German, coming in a little later and a little larger along with 

 the Ash-leaf Kidney. I shall give up these varieties for the 

 lidge. In fact, I shall only for the fiiture coddle vip a patch 

 or two of the Mitchell's Albion, and the Shutford Seedling, 

 as very early sorts, for the Daintree's Seedling are ready so 

 soon, and are so much more profitable as a crop. The Early 

 Shaws gave a vei-y good yield, which I used in its entirety 

 as a second early from the ground. It is too yeDow for my 

 liking. The tops of the Early Prolifics were monstrous 

 this year, and kept green and gromng to the last. I lifted 

 them on September 2Sth, when they averaged 23 lbs. per 

 four square yards. I consider this Potato to be a very good 

 and profitable sort. It is white and good-flavoured, having 

 eyes very deeply set ; but the prefix " early " is a misnomer. 

 They all appeared above ground about the same time. 



Now for the Seedling, and thereby hangs a tale. It was a 

 perfect-shaped, smooth-eyed, large Potato, and, as I just 

 mentioned, was sent to me by post. In the process of 

 stamping the tuber was split, and four of the most promi- 

 nent eyes were reduced to a pulp. What Nasmythian powers 

 our post-oifice friends appear to be possessed of when they 

 become aware of aught destructible in a letter ! Owing to 

 this circumstance I am not enabled to report so favourably 

 on the produce of the Seedling as I otherwise should have 

 done. I cut the tuber into four sets, as only four weakly 

 eyes remained to it. This caused me to scrutinise for their 

 appearance many days after the others were above ground, 

 and then they came up unequally. The haulm was distinct, 

 and the foliage something like a dwarf Lapstone. It gave no 

 blossom. It was a month after I dug the others planted at 

 the same time ere I thought it desii-able to harvest the seed- 

 lings, so I can give no just criterion as to their earliness. 

 The i^roduce was forty-four tubers counted Ijefore my friend 



MoiTis at the lifting. He is a judge of the esculent, and he 

 said "it would do." I prophesy that it -vrill become a 

 favom-ite Potato for a field, and one with which I hope next 

 year to become better acquainted. — Upwards and Onwards. 

 (To be continued.) 



HEATING- HOUSES ON DIFFERENT LEVELS 

 FROM ONE BOILER. 



I HAVE a greenhouse and a viuei-y, both heated by flues. 

 There is a difference of 5 or 6 feet in the level of the two 

 houses, owing to the steep declivity of the ground, and I 

 want to know if one boiler will heat the two houses without 

 any luidue presstu-e upon it. The most convenient place 

 for the boiler would be at the lower level, and without 

 understanding anything of fixing the hot-water pipes, it 

 appears to me that there will always be a pressirre upon the 

 boiler of a column of water of say 6 or 7 feet — i. e., the dif- 

 ference between the highest pipe and the bottom of the 

 boOer. If a tubular boiler be used, wovdd this be too great 

 for the boiler or the cemented joints of the pipe ? — A Sur- 

 FOLK Man. 



[We could advise better if you told us more about the 

 position of the boiler. It would be most conveniently placed 

 on the lower ground just where the ground rises to the 

 higher level. If the boiler there is sunk enough for the top 

 to )je lower than the lowest heating-pipe in the low house, 

 and T-flows and returns are used, you can heat the two 

 houses separately, or at the same time, by means of valves. 

 This would be the simplest mode. There will be no danger 

 as respects pressure if the pipes in the upper house were 

 made even higher; but it will be necessary that in the 

 lower-level house there should be an open air-pipe 2 or 3 feet 

 higher than the highest point of the upper-level pipes. If 

 you do not like T-pipes at the boiler you might have a flow 

 and return on each side of the boder.] 



WINTERING BEDDING-OUT PLANTS. 



At page 370 appeared a few remarks under the above 

 heading, and bearing my signature. I beg to observe that 

 they were written in March, and formed part of a paper 

 which I intended to send at that time, but somehow or 

 other I failed to do so, and they must have been sent with 

 a later communication. I trust, however, it is not too late 

 to ofl'er a word or two on the above subject, as the notes 

 referred to were not on wintering, biit on disposing of bed- 

 ding plants in the spring, when every available place is 

 filled to overflowing, and the weather is stUl too cold and 

 uncertain to trust them out of doors without some means 

 of protecting them. 



In wintering plants, although it may probably be done in 

 the way described, that plan would involve such an amount 

 of extra work that many would be inclined to give up the 

 attempt before the winter had passed. I have known many 

 instances where quantities of plants have been stored away 

 comfortably, as was supposed, in October, in such make- 

 shift places as stables, summer-houses, spai-e rooms, closets, 

 cellars, &c., where it was expected that they would sleep 

 away the winter, and prepare themselves for a fi'esh staii; in 

 sjiring ; but when spring came a very small remnant, often 

 not more than five per cent, of them, were found to be alive, 

 and those in a blanched and sickly condition. It seems 

 strange, but it is nevertheless true, that there are people 

 who entertain the notion that plants may be stored away 

 for the winter like garden-seats, and such things, that have 

 performed their office for the season. If such were the case 

 it would be a poor speculation for the hundreds of small 

 nurserymen and jobbing gardeners, around large towns, who 

 l)ut up glass structures for the pui-pose of wintering bedding 

 plants, that they may gain a few shillings by them in the 

 spi-ing. Those who have small gardens and ivish to preserve 

 a few plants, not having a pit or greenhouse or any such 

 structure, should not forget that living plants cannot be 

 stored away like pieces of furniture, to be taken down again 

 and used when required. If the plants can neither see, 

 feel, nor speak, stUl they wUl not fail to show the residt of 

 neglect ; and although a very trifling amount of attention 



