Janunry 1, 1867. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



I am thinking of a change, and intend to try one or two of the 

 white floury kinds, which I have up to this time considered 

 deficient in flavour. I am, however, firmly convinced that soils 

 influence the quality of Potatoes to an extent greater than has 

 ever been calculated: hence the necessity of a trial before any 

 variety is planted to a large extent. I may add, that I changed 

 my seed of the Lapstone last spring. Its produce is, if anything, 

 inferior to that from my own seed. In 18G5, " The Boon " was 

 as described by " D.," page 463, and the Silverskin but little 

 better. 



The " disease " has this season assumed a curious phase. 

 Here formerly if Potatoes were taken up early, just before 

 being ripe, and exposed to the air for a few weeks, they always 

 proved sound and healthy seed. This season the converse of 

 this has t;ikeu place. A large quantity taken up at the end of 

 July and laid ou the surface of the soil for two or three weeks 

 till they were perfectly green, are now a mass of rottenness, 

 while those taliou up some weeks later and stored in the same 

 place are comparatively sound. With four early kinds — Early 

 Ten-Week, Coldstream Early, Shutford Seedling, both free- 

 bearing excellent early sorts, and Early May, all planted on 

 the same day, and all taken up at the same time fully ripe, 

 and free from the disease at the time, it has been more 

 violent and destructive than I ever remember. They were 

 spread on the surface of the soil for a week or two till green, 

 then placed in shallow baskets, which were placed in a shed 

 exposed to the sun and air. In October, on examining them 

 previous to storing them in the cellar, two-thirds of them were 

 found covered with patches of mould and perfectly rotten. The 

 state of the atmosphere which, as is well known, was con- 

 stantly overcharged with moisture, must have encouraged the 

 growth of the fungus which so mysteriously destroys one of 

 our most valuable products. Hitherto exposure has acted as 

 a_ preventive, but this season apparently as an incentive to 

 disease. Thus are science and practice alike baffled, and we 

 must bow to that which no man can comprehend, the will of 

 the great Pailer of All. — Solanum. 



HYGROMETERS. 



We can generally learn from any horticultural work the 

 temperature which will suit the plants which we wish to culti- 

 vate ; but we seek in vain for any definite directions as to the 

 degree of atmospheric moisture which they require. It was, 

 therefore, with much pleasure that I lately saw in a contempo- 

 rary a recommendation from Mr. D. Fish, that during the 

 season of active growth the wet bulb should stand 4° below the 

 dry, and during the ripening period from 10° to 15°. 



Observations upon this subject have been few, not only be- 

 cause gardeners in genaral have not been sufficiently alive to 

 its importance, but also because of the trouble of keeping in 

 working order a wet-bulb thermometer, and the difficulty of 

 finding for it a suitable position in the house, sheltered from 

 the sun and cold currents of air. Some time ago I tried a cat- 

 gut hygrometer. I spliced together two A violin strings, and 

 thus got a length of about 8 or feet, which being passed over 

 a brass pulley took up only 4} feet. One end was fixed, and 

 to the other was attached a quarter-pound weight. It acted, 

 it is true, but it did not respond sufficiently quickly to in- 

 creased moisture to be of any practical utility. 



Two years ago I had an illustration of the importance of the 

 subject. One side of an orchard-house was filled with Figs 

 ripening off their second crop ; the other side was filled with 

 plants of Physalis edulis. There was no syringing, but the 

 Figs were poor in flavour. It occurred to me that as the 

 Physalis was a thirsty plant, requiring a large quantity of water 

 at its roots, the air might be too damp, so I removed the Phy- 

 salis, and the Figs became perfect. 



It is possible that some cases of Peaches not ripening well in 

 orchard-houses may arise from some mismanagement as regards 

 moisture either in the air or at the roots ; but it also may 

 arise, as your con-espondent " G. H." thinks, from a deficiency 

 of heat. In my own case, this, I believe, is the cause why so 

 few of the Peaches in an unhealed house, though well swollen 

 and well coloured, are really sweet. The house has no sun 

 after three or four o'clock, and there are too many tall trees 

 near it. lu that exceptionally warm year, 1858, the Peaches 

 were exceptionally good, and all that could be desired. — G. S. 



hood, and in my garden (on a sunny bank, it is true), several 

 plants of Keens' Seedling have fine trusses of bloom. Be- 

 sides this, in the open garden, but in a sheltered spot, a 

 small Hampton Court Vine has not yet lost its leaves, which 

 are at this moment as green as they were at midsummer. — H., 

 J'entnor, I.W. 



ICE-KEEPING. 



Should we be deficient of ice this season as we were last, I 

 think the following account of ice-keeping may be worth a 

 place in your columns. 



I was not able to take any ice from the ponds here last season, 

 till the first and second days in March, and then it was only 

 about li inch thick. As we had a fall of about 2 inches of 

 snow ou the "iTth of February, I set a man to work to put 

 together in a ridge a quantity of snow, by pushing it up with the 

 back of a wooden rake, and on the 1st and 2nd of March, I fiUed 

 our ice-house with ice and snow. I began with ice, putting in 

 three cartloads of ice, and then one load of snow. I levelled 

 the ice before putting on the snow, spread the latter over 

 the ice, and rammed all well down. For this purpose I used a 

 cylindrical piece of wood 9 inches in diameter, and 14 inches 

 long, into one end of which I had made a hole and driven in a 

 plain stake for a handle, so that a man could stand upright, 

 and, taking hold of the handle with both hands, walk over 

 the ice and snow, and ram all well down. Two or three men 

 can ram each layer well in about fifteen minutes. I kept on in 

 this way till I had filled the well, which is one of the old- 

 fashioned barrel-shaped wells, 16 feet deep, and 12 feet wide at 

 the middle. Now, all gardeners who are in the habit of storing 

 ice, know within a little how much ice and snow I had in this 

 well. Carts vary much in size ; twenty-eight of our cart- 

 loads will fill this well, if the ice is thick enough to build up 

 a little above the sides of the cart ; but when ice is very thin 

 we cannot do so. I have stored away ice in wells and stacks 

 for the last thirty years, and I never knew ice keep so well as 

 the snow and ice have done. I took from the well no less than 

 twelve bushels of ice every week for three months, and used 

 some before for dinner-parties, so I have since, and now 

 there is in it more than 2 feet thick of ice, and it has not 

 wasted more than 15 inches from the side walls. I took some 

 ice from this well yesterday (December 18th), and no one would 

 know that there is snow amongst it. The ice is rather rough- 

 looking, but it is all ice now. 



I do not think we shall be so short of ice this season. I 

 think we shall have plenty in .January ; but if the ice be 3 inches 

 thick when I fill the well, I will put snow with it, if I can 

 obtain it clean, but at present we have a great many leaves on 

 the park. — G. Shoet, Fluton Hall Gardens. 



Mildness of the Season. — On this shortest day of the year, 

 fine bouquets of Primroses may be gathered in our neighbour- 



VINES AND VINE BORDERS. 



So much has been written by practical men about the forma- 

 tion of Vine borders, one recommending them to be 5 feet deep, 

 another 3 feet, whilst another grows full-sized, high-coloured, 

 and fine-flavoured Grapes without any prepared border, that an 

 employer of labour who wants to lay out his money to the best 

 advantage is perplexed to know how to proceed. 



I do not think the five-feet-deep borders are the best for 

 growing Vines. Some years ago I had the management of 

 three vineries where the Vines were planted in such borders, 

 and in all three houses the Grapes were liable to shank. The 

 roots of the Vines had a tendency to go straight down to the 

 bottom of the borders in search of food instead of spreading 

 out in a horizontal direction as they ought to have done. I 

 have dug these borders over, and never found a root near the 

 surface. In the first house which I will mention were planted 

 Black Hamburgh, Red Frontignan, and Chasselas Musque ; 

 the two latter were grafted on the Black Hamburgh, but even 

 then the Grapes were liable to shank as soon as they were ripe. 

 The Black Hamburgh, being of a hardier nature, succeeded 

 better. 



In the Muscat-house matters were much the same. Some- 

 times the stalk of a single berry, sometimes the stalks uniting 

 several berries, and in some cases whole shoulders, would shank 

 without any apparent cause. In this house the Muscat of 

 Alexandria Vines were the least liable to shanking their fruit, 

 whilst the Canon Hall Muscat on its own roots was the most 

 so, and the flesh of this sort had not that degree of firmness 

 which it acquires under the best cultivation. This is a Grape 



