February 11, 1867. ] 



JODENAIi OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAnDENEB. 



127 



I looked carefully througli the schedules of at least a dozen 

 horticultural societies, and in every case the amateur was 

 coupled with the gentleman's gardener. Now, I see no objec- 

 tion to an amateur competing with gentlemen employing not 

 more than one gardener, and that restriction should be made 

 in a few classes to give the biim'' fule amateur a chance. As it 

 is he has none. If you can find space in your .Journal for 

 this protest against such an anomalous state of things I shall 

 be obliged, and I trust it may be the means of opening the eyes 

 of the committees of horticultural societies to the wants of the 

 genuine amateur. — Calcabia. 



IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON PROMOTED BY 

 A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PLANT. 



To ensure successful cultivation in pots under glass, I have 

 noted certain points of treatment as essential. These will be 

 embodied in the following remarks. 



Speclilly Suitable Soils. — 'Without trenching upon bota- 

 nical debatable ground, the great Gossypian family may be 

 divided into two geographical races — the Asiatic and American 

 — the first comprehending the Surats or native Cottons of 

 India and perhaps Africa, and the second represented by the 

 large-habited, robust denizens of the Western world. 



These two races seem to require two distinct kinds of soil ; 

 light and moderately manured soil for the American, and peat 

 for the Indian sorts. Strong loamy soil or an excess of manure 

 will render the American Cottons perfectly unmanageable, in- 

 ducing an unproductive luxuriance, and a tendency to drop the 

 flower-buds and young bolls. On the other hand, Gossypium 

 indicum and its varieties are much more deUcateas pot plants, 

 and will not thrive in loamy soil. Pure peat and sand must 

 be used for them while in a young state, the material being 

 strengthened by a sparing addition of loam and manure as the 

 plants advance towards maturity. Skilful gardeners may be 

 able to use other means ; I only give the safe side of the ques- 

 tion. The Americans do not require peat in any stage. Very 

 careful draining is essential for eveiy kind of Cotton. Manure 

 water may be used with advantage to full-grown fruiting and 

 flowering plants, and the agency of special manures, as, for 

 instance, nitrogenous, phosphated, and saline, might be pro- 

 fitably studied. These might be added with the final shift, or 

 apphed in a liquid state at regular intervals. 



Tempekatuee. — The Cotton is a warm stove plant, and will 

 not succeed really well unless treated as such. It may, how- 

 ever, be grown in a vinery at work, if not overshaded, during 

 the hottest month of the year. The Indian plant, although 

 grown to profit in Europe, is the tenderer race, and will require 

 the warmest berth and the greatest share of attention. 



Sowing and Eearixg. — The first half of the present month 

 of February may be considered on the whole the best time to 

 sow. January sowing has its advantages, as tending to make 

 the most of our short English summer, but the management 

 is difficult to amateurs. Any good gardener, however, who 

 has been used to grow winter Cucumbers, would find no difB- 

 culty ; indeed, I sow all the year round in the prosecution of 

 experiment. 



Where accuracy of observation is desired, and little in the 

 present state of confusion of sorts can be gained without it, 

 the greatest care should be taken to ensure the identity of all 

 seeds sown. It will be well to sow each seed separately in a 

 small pot, labelling it at once, and repeating also the name or 

 description in pencU on the side of the pot. No care or dis- 

 cipline that I know of will prevent gardening men or boys from 

 losing or confusing labels. I am in the habit myself of causing 

 all my seeds to germinate before sowing, by placing them under 

 conditions of great warmth and moisture, in various ways well 

 known to good gardeners. 



The great condition of success now depends upon the en- 

 couragement of rapid growth by a quick succession of shifts, 

 never allowing a moment's check, by over-development or 

 matting of the roots, till the plant is established in its fruiting 

 pot. The size of this will be regulated of course by the house 

 room available. What is called a '24-sized pot will be large 

 enough to afford five or six good pods of the New Orleans and 

 Sea Island breed, and will grow comparatively large specimens 

 of the Indian native sorts, which will thrive and fruit in much 

 smaller masses of soil. 



Afteh-ccltivation. — The plant at all times requires large 

 quantities of water. Any irregularity in this respect will tend 

 to produce the vexatious droppings of the bud, so ruinous even 



in the real Cotton fields of the planters. In watering the 

 plants never leave off pouring till the water passes through and 

 comes out at the bottom. In hot weather this will be required 

 several times a-day. The sides of the pots should never be 

 exposed to the full sunshine ; this will often destroy the root- 

 lets in contact in a few minutes, and so cheek the plant more 

 or less. After such a check, growth will recommence, but at 

 the expense of the previously formed buds, which are thrown off 

 by the effort. When plants in bud or flower require to be 

 shifted into larger pots, they should be afterwards placed in 

 the most favourable situation for shade and moisture for the 

 same reason. 



Injury ey Ixsects. — The plant is subject to red spider, and 

 is very sensitive to the attacks of the common green aphis. 

 These must be combated vigorously, but the diificulty in this • 

 respect is no more than may be readily surmounted by an in- 

 dustrious and clean gardener. 



Pekiod of Eipening, &c. — The early-ripening sorts, usually 

 grown as annuals — that is, the different kinds of New Orleans, 

 Sea Island, and Egyptian, with the majority of the Surat tribe, 

 begin to ripen their pods in succession, from the end of July 

 to the close of the year, flower and ripe fruit being often seen 

 on the same plant. Late plants will continue to ripen through 

 the winter in a warm, well-managed house. The bolls may be 

 gathered as soon as they split open. The valves will then soon 

 curl outwards from the loss of moisture, and the masses of seed 

 and fibre being relieved from their pressure will swell out and 

 show the beauty and quality of the staple. Pretty museum 

 specimens may be made by cutting ofi the boll with a small 

 branch attached to it, and then pressing the leaves between 

 plain surfaces, the pod itself being left free. Never omit 

 labelling each specimen. 



SuMiiAF.Y. — The general requisites may be summed up as 

 follows : — 



A moist, warm, and even temperature, with abundance of 

 water. 



Quick cultivation. 



Avoidance of strong or highly manured soil. 



Avoidance of any sudden check to growth. 



The use of two distinct descriptions of compost, and 



The use of light soil as a general rule. — E. Tp.evok Clakke 

 Weltoii Park, Dacentry. — [Cotton Supply Beporter.) 



A GOSSIP ABOUT POTATOES. 



{Concluded from page 100. j 



According to the orthography of my native county of Suffolk, 

 and the gentleman in " Barbox Brothers," " I larff, I dew," 

 when your famous Eose correspondents, after they have in- 

 dulged themselves with swinging gallops upon their Potato 

 hobbies, come to recommend a quiet jog-trot with three or 

 four kinds. Do you not think they would broadly smile if I 

 ■were to study Eoses for years, write long and lovingly about 

 them, and then end with a trite moral — "But after all, 

 Gloire de Dijon, and Climbing Devoniensis, for walls ; Due de 

 Eohan, and Souvenir de Malmaison, with the old Cabbage, old 

 Moss, and China Eoses, thrown in for the open borders, are all 

 that any one can in reality require in that way " ? 



Well, one of our best judges and cultivators of the Potato who 

 lives near Dorking, and who exhibited store Potatoes next to 

 mine at the Great Show last May, is also going to send me sorts 

 that I have not in my category, but which have gained his 

 good opinion. Also, my friend, Mr. Wm. Cruickshanks, o£ 

 Langleybury, promises to send me " Transell's Seedhng," a 

 sort he thinks highly of. I have long desired to try it. Mr. 

 Cruickshanks formerly sent me the Pebble White, an excellent 

 sort of the Lapstone family, and rather later than the original, 

 though equal to it, and it will keep longer. 



Practice proves to me that there are many kinds of excellent 

 Potatoes which can be produced good in almost any soil, whilst 

 there are many other equally excellent kinds that requu'e one 

 particular kind of soU to bring out their qualities. It appears 

 to me we are but just stepping on to the threshold of this 

 knowledge, and the more we search into it the more we shall 

 have to acknowledge we have very much to learn. 



Out of at least one hundred varieties of Potatoes under ex- 

 periment during a period of thirty years, I can, in the spirit of 

 the paragraph above, recommend the kinds which I exhibited at 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Gardens, South Kensington, 

 last November. They are described in a report styled " Home 

 Growths," at page 386, No. '293, first taking the precaution to 



