174 



JOURNAIj of HOBTICnLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 7, 1867. 



stock ; this should be done in spring after planting, and the 

 base of the cone need not extend farther from the Htem than 

 the height of the cone. The roots are not in that case buried, 

 the stem is not hidebound, and roots are emitted from the 

 covered portion of tlie stem. An annual addition of rich soil 

 cr manure all around causes an extension of the cone, and the 

 loots from the stem are near the surface, whilst the original 

 roots are not buried, for their annual extension carries them 

 farther from the stem, their fibres being all the while covered 

 no deeper than if the stem were uncovered. Trees treated in 

 this manner bear as well as those which have been worked 

 nearer the ground, and they have two sets of roots, neither of 

 them in their most important parts buried too deeply : in fact, 

 the trees have roots nearer the surface than those having one 

 get of roots only. I do not, however, recommend such trees ; 

 for in lifting, the original roots, from their greater distance 

 from the stem, have their fibres cut off, and the parts are too 

 deeply covered to form fibrous roots : hence the inutility of the 

 original roots, and though they may emit new fibres, these 

 must inevitably be destroyed at every lifting of the trees. Such 

 trees should always be planted high. 



As to "C. C. E.'s" other questions, "Whether Pears on 

 their own roots, and Apples on the Crab, are not better than 

 on the Quince and Paradise stocks," I think there can be no 

 two opinions on the subject, the choice being solely determined 

 by the size the trees are to attain and the soil they are to grow 

 in, as " C. C. E." remarks, but he should add, also by the 

 eulture thfy are to receive. I will now state my opinion on 

 these subjects so far as my experience warrants. 



With regard to the Quince as a stock for the Pear. 1st, The 

 disposition of its roots is more shallow : hence it is better 

 adapted for thin soils, also for planting where the subsoil is of 

 an unfavourable character, such as a wet, undrained, stiff clay, 

 impregnated with iron. On shallow soils the Quince, having 

 its roots near the surface, can be fed by rich top-dressings, and, 

 as its roots do not descend into the subsoil, the trees do not 

 die of canker as when the Pear stock is employed where the 

 subsoil is calculated to produce that evil. In thin soils, how- 

 ever, the Pear on the Quince should be planted on a raised 

 mound, which secures roots near the surface, and any loss 

 of moisture and coolness can be counterbalanced by rich sur- 

 face-dressings, cofims supplies of water, and liquid manure 

 occasionally in dry weather. Further, the shallow disposition 

 of the Quince roots is in its favour where the situation and 

 soil are low and wet, because Pear trees in such soil root deeply, 

 and abundance of wood is produced ; but the prospect of a crop 

 is small, and if canker do not commence the trunk and branches 

 of the tree are plentifully covered with moss. The Quince on 

 Bach soils is quite at home, requiring only to be plauted on a 

 mound or hillock twice as high as where the soil is shallow — 

 that is, in a wet soil the tree should be planted on a mound 

 twice the height of the roots, measuring from the uppermost 

 fibres to the base, which distance on an average I find-to be 

 9 inches: hence the mound should he from 1 foot to 15 inches 

 above the ground level, whilst on shallow soils the trees may 

 be placed on the ground, and the roots covered with soil. 



2nd, The tree is more dwarf in growth. This is an incal- 

 culable advantage. An amateur with but a few square yards of 

 open ground can have his Pear trees. They do not grow so 

 vigorously as to smother everything else, and though small 

 and occupjing but little space, he has not to wait years for 

 the fruit ; whilst if he were to plant trees on the Pear stock he 

 would probably have no more than room for one tree, growing 

 well, no doubt, but yjars must elapse before it can furnish an 

 abundance of fruit, and that coming in all at one time. On 

 the Quince the trees fruit in a y'ear or two at most, and as they 

 occupy less space, several varieties may be grown so as to afJord 

 a successional supply. 



3rd, The Quince will grow and thrive where the Pear will 

 not. In a cold wet situation Pears on the Quince will ripen 

 fruit when those on the Pear stock will scarcely ever do so. 

 "This result arises from the roots of the Quince tree being nearer 

 tlie surface, and consequently in a warmer medium ; moreover, 

 Hie Qiuuce is of earlier growth than the Pear. There is no 

 soil in which the Quince will not thrive with careful culture. 

 Heavy elays, it is true, are not congenial to it any more than to 

 the Pear. On dry, sandy soil it soon cankers the trees upon 

 it, unless liberal top-dressings and plentiful supplies of water 

 and liquid manure are afforded ; but it flourishes in a rich, 

 rather light soil with a wet bottom, in which the Pear cannot be 

 profitably grown. 



4th, Trees upon the Quince come into bearing sooner 



than those on the Pear stock, and the fruit is larger and better 

 ripened. Upon the Quince, Pear trees come into bearing ia 

 the first or second year after planting, and produce as many 

 fruit annually, in proportion to their size, as a full-sized tree, 

 and they are capable of bearing one to two pecks of fnut by 

 the time trees on the Pear stock come into bearing ; besides, 

 the fruit is seldom if ever so fine from trees on the Pear stock 

 as from those on the Quince in the open ground. The increase 

 in the size and colour of fruit grown on the Quince is due to 

 the returning sap receiving a check when it reaches the Quince ; 

 indeed, the effect of the latter is similar to that of ringing. — 

 G. Abeet. 



(To be continaed.) 



POTATOES FOR TPIE FAR NOETH. 



" MoNTicoLA " has "a farm of five hundred acres, on a light, 

 dry soil, in a cold county in the north, and finds his Potato 

 crop has been deteriorating for many years, because he be- 

 lieves the seed has never been changed," and he is quite right 

 in the supposition. 



This garden is between two and three hundred years old ; it 

 has certainly been chiefly cultivated with Potatoes by me up- 

 wards of twenty years, and last season the crop grown in it was 

 as good in quantity, and I may say better in quality than ever. 

 Two of the sorts — viz., the old Walnut-leaved Kidney, and the 

 old Forty fold (second early), I have grown on the same spot 

 during the whole of the time ; but, then, I never fail to change 

 my seed every year. The ground is a stiff, hearty loam, and I 

 take care to procure my seed from light soil, or one of as op- 

 posite a nature as possible, from a place as near as convenient, 

 but not always from the same field, and twice during the 

 twenty years I have had quite fresh stock of the above two 

 kinds, once from Suffolk, and once from Devonshire. By so 

 doing there is no limit to the time that Potatoes may be grown 

 good and profitably on the same ground, provided it is properly 

 dug, bastard-trenched, or subsoil-ploughed often, and kept in 

 good heart. 



The sorts I recommended in my " Gossip " of February 14th, 

 for field culture, &c., are good for cultivation on almost any 

 soil. I procured them, or have had them presented to me, with 

 many other sorts, at different times, from all parts of England. 

 I selected the kinds there described, as being what I consider, 

 after trying thera by growth and palate, of superior excellence 

 to the general run. I did not intend it to be inferred by my 

 so doing, that so many sorts must necessarily be cultivated by 

 each individual, but merely as an index pointing out the way 

 for others who might be in need of infoimation or guidance, 

 on the presumption that one or more of the sorts might be 

 known, or intelUgence gained of them, in different neigh- 

 bourhoods. 



" MoNTicoLA " wants but one good market sort, and he turned 

 to the printed list of a contemporary, where he found to his 

 surprise only one sort that I recommended, the York Eegcnt, 

 quoted there, along with Flukes and Eegents from various 

 Scotch counties. I do not by any means consider the York 

 Eegent a Potato of the first quality, but I recommend it as 

 being a popular market sort, which can be grown anywhere, 

 and is easy to be procured. There are many kinds of Flukes 

 sold which are simply bad. I happen to have kept the old 

 variety by me for many years. Walker's Scotch liegent, and 

 Sutton's Finest Eegent, are very good, far superior to the old 

 Y'ork Eegent; but the Gryffe Castle Seedling stands at the 

 head of all the Eegents. I should think "Moktkola" can 

 easily procure this sort. It was sent to me about five years 

 ago from Scotland, along with some other famous Scotch 

 Potatoes, in a Stewarton b.ar-and frame bee hive, by an un- 

 known friend, "a brother bee-keeper." It is stated at pag9 

 42o, No. 297, to have been grown at Gryffe Castle, Eenfrew- 

 shire, last season, at the rate of " 2'23 bags, weighing nett 22 tons 

 5J cwts. per acre, quality first-rate, flavour excellent, causing 

 quite a run for seed in the spring." That is the Potato for 

 " MoxTicoLA." As a summer sort I would advise a trial of 

 Daintree's Seedling Eoimd ; it is a kind scarcely to be distin- 

 guished from the Dalmahoy in appearance, and whilst growing, 

 but it is superior in flavour, looks better at table, and takes 

 less time to cook. Then he could send a first-class Potato into 

 the market " all the year round" — viz., Daintree's, followed 

 by the Gryffe Castle. 



" MoNTicoLA " also requests me to " name the best Potato 

 for the Hebridean cotter." Without a moment's hesitatioij, 

 I say the Freebearer of the east, alias Grammar of the north. 



