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JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jano 27, 1367. 



thing, bewildered by tho number of blooming beauties that are 

 soliciting our attoution. It is in winter, when all outside is 

 blenk ami bare, when tlio grnuml is hard, covered with snow, 

 or the storm rages, and the iiitiloss rains descend, that a few 

 plants in bloom in our windows or in a little greenhouse pre- 

 sent their chief charms ; and hence we would advise every one 

 who has such a greenhouse to try some simple means for keep- 

 ing the frost from his fjivourite plants. Some time ago we 

 chronicled how large jilants of Scarlet Pelargoniums stood in 

 rather a large lufty house last winter, and had no assistance 

 ■whatever in the coldest nights, except opening for a couple of 

 hours or so tho door iluit connected tho place with the living- 

 room. These plants lost most of their leaves, and looked rather 

 badly in IMarch, but now they are huge masses of scarlet, and 

 Ho one would think they had come through such an ordeal. 

 A small stove in such a place would have kept them green 

 euougli. 



Kow, to our correspondent, who is anxious to keep the 

 cold out of her house, wo will at once state that a stove, a 

 flue, or hot water will do admirably tor her ; aud as she cannot 

 have a stove that will require prepared fuel, then, as the 

 cheapest and quite effectual for all the purposes she wants, we 

 would recommend an iron stove which can be set outside in j 

 summer, aad that will burn coke or cinders, and have a pipe, i 

 3^ inches in diameter, to go out of the house ; one of the sim- 

 plest modes being removing a square of glass, and putting in j 

 a square of zinc, or galvanised or sheet iron in its place, with 

 a hole in the centre to admit the pipe passing through. Ex- 

 cept where a pipe can be taken from a kitchen boiler, it is very 

 expensive in proportion to the size to heat a small house by 

 hot water. It is much cheaper to do it by a iiue. V/e thus 

 heated a small house by a flue beneath the floor for little more 

 than as many shillings as a hot- water apparatus manufacturer 

 said he would want j)oundg. For so small a house we would 

 be satisfied with a small stove. 



To prevent tho evil eflects of diy stove heating, and to 

 insure the moisture which our correspondent desires, two 

 essentials must bo .secured. First, the stove, however small, 

 should be large enough to permit of the firebox being fixed 

 inside, free of the sides of the stove ; and, secondly, the 

 top of the stove should be flat, so as to permit of an iron 

 vessel of the same size, as to width, standing on it, supplied 

 ■with water. For this purpose it is best that the smoke-pipe 

 should issue from tho side near tho top of the stove, instead of 

 from the top itself, and that, after going a foot or 15 inches 

 horizontally, it should have a joint, and go straight up through 

 the roof. It matters not whether the atovo is round or square 

 if these conditions are attended to. For such a place as " Sub- 

 scbiber'b," the stove might bo IS or 20 inches in height, and 

 1 foot in diameter or square, aud the firebox inside be 7* or 

 8 inches in diameter or square. The evaporating-pan might 

 be the same width, aud 8 inches deep, so as always, when much 

 fire w-as used, to have a little water in it. In very severe 

 ■weather a little water could also be poured on the floor near 

 the stove. Plenty of stoves can be procured with all these 

 conditions. The reasons why the firebox should not reach the 

 sides were lately given. Were we to have a little stove of the 

 kind made, then v/e would have a double moveable top to it, 

 the inner part of rough plate iron, to go in a groove and to be 

 covered with sand, and the upper to be of a somewhat orna- 

 mental character. This will both prevent the top becoming 

 too hot, and allow of the inside centre being easily examined 

 at any time. The draught should be regulated by openings 

 in the ashpit door.] 



POTATOES. 

 Bably-planied Potatoes have been, I hear, much injured by 

 the severe May frosts. Here Rivers's Eoyal Ashleaf, which 

 ■was 9 inches high at the time of the frosts, is the only one 

 that seems to have materially suffered. I hear that the small 

 tubers of sorts cut down have put out young Potatoes. 1 

 bought a sack of Salmon Kidney to eat, and the price was 16s. 



1 hope we shall have lower prices next year. I planted the 

 following four sorts 5 inches deep on ihe 13th of February, 

 tinder grass clods freshly broken up — namely. Grammars, Had 

 Robins, Scotch Hocks, aud Salmon Kidneys, and they are un- 

 injured, and a capitul plantation. I have had them backed 

 and slightly earthed up. They were previously dressed with 



2 ozs. of blue ■vitriol to tho stable-buckeilul of water. 



" UrwAUDS AND O.NWAr.Ds " was so kind as to send me several 

 varieties, which were severely dressed with blue vitriol. Among 



them was Premier, the handsomest Potato I ever saw — a Kid- 

 ney ; I did not like it. The others, which have come up well 

 and are very strong, having been uninjured by the frosts, were 

 Fenn's Onwards, Pebble White, Gryffe Castle Seedling, Scotch 

 Rocks and Yorkshire Hero (both here before), Shutford Seed- 

 ling, and Prolific Seedling. Fenn's Onwards takes my fancy 

 much, both tuber and plant. It is marked in my book, " Bound, 

 second early, first-rate." Premier is a Kidney, marked, " Splen- 

 did, first-rate.'' Pebble White is marked, " Kidney, late, excel- 

 lent, first-rate." Gryffe Castle Seedling reads thus in my book, 

 " Roundish oblong, rough skin, which in round Potatoes in- 

 dicates fine flavour." I find that Kidney Potatoes strongly 

 vitriolised do not come up well, neither will they stand being 

 " chimped." I will report on some of the sorts sent. On the 

 whole I am satisfied with prospects here. I enclose, by per- 

 mission, the letter I received from " Upwauds and Onwards." 

 — W. F. liADCi.Yri-E, Olifford Filspame. 



P.S. — " Nameless" and Yorkshire Hero were severely vitriol- 

 ised, plnnted, and dug up again before sent to " Upwards and 

 O.NWARDS :" hence failure. Some Potatoes are more tender 

 than others about their eyes. 



[The following is an extract from the letter of " Upwards aud 

 Onwards."] 



" I have seven sorts in competition in sheltered comers ; 

 these escaped from the frosts scathless. Those in the open 

 ground, on ray usual ridge plan, fared worse, though much 

 better than those of my neighbours who planted on the fiat. 

 It is worthy of observation that one row of tho old Ashleaf 

 Kidney, which I planted on the flat between two rows of Aspa- 

 ragus, for the purpose of early household use, without earthing 

 even, were killed down to the ground, even to the destruction 

 of some of the tubers. In short, the Potatoes have suffered 

 more in these parts from the severe pinching they had than 

 has been known in the memory of the ' oldest inhabitant.' 



" I am sorry to tell you also, that the tubers to a great extent 

 are showing no signs of recovery. Mine are now looking as 

 ' sprack ' as if nothing had happened, excepting the Ashleaf 

 row, though I must own that Premier, .Sussex Kidney, Sutton's 

 Racehorse, and Empress Eugonie do not seem to have liked it. 

 The Emperor Napoleon, however, stood out the frosts trium- 

 phantly ; but whether it was by mere chance, or whether it is 

 constitutionally ' frost-resisting,' it is difficult to say, for in 

 the majority of the sorts — I have fifty kinds competing this 

 year — a solitary top or two escaped being frostbitten. Never- 

 theless, as the Emperor altogether escaped, I will give it the 

 benefit of the doubt, and call it a most 'frost-resisting' 

 variety. I'orkshiie Hero did not maintain that character with 

 me. I have tivo rows of Onwards. It has a distinct, robust 

 character, which at once distinguishes it from its compeers in 

 this garden. We had some store tubers of the sort for dinner 

 the day before yesterday ; they were quite firm before being 

 cooked, and quite up to the mark as regards appearance and 

 flavour at table. 



" I have upwards of one hundred young plants from the 

 berries produced by flowers which I fertilised last year, and 

 which will certainly yield tubers ; they are the results from 

 164 seeds sown. 



" Mr. Fish's observations about diseased Potatoes, at page 

 412, is another step in the direction of the electrical theory. He 

 saya, ' A.11 at once, after a thunderstorm, followed by some 

 days of bright sunshine, the tops showed signs of distress, &c. 

 Another puzzling circumstance is thai one end of the bed is 

 still perfectly healthy.' Evactly! those which became affected 

 were at the midstnge of their growth, the age at which I have 

 always found them most susceptible. Those at the other end 

 of the bed were vouuger, and they escaped. They would have 

 been affected like the rest it they had been of more mature 

 growth. The cool non-electric state of the air just now is very 

 favourable to the well-doing of Potatoes, and on this account 

 I trust no thunder and lightning will visit us for some time." 



At page 412 there is a description of a failure in Potato 

 stems, and the question is asked if similar manifestations have 

 been noticed. Although, probably, my garden is more than 

 three hundred miles from the place where these symptoms 

 have appeared, vet a precisely similar condition of things exists 

 here (Cornwall)"in uiv own and some neighbouring gardens. 



I have carefully examined the stems which have rotted 

 down, I find they are solely those of the Scotch Regents ; Early 

 Frames, Kidnevs, Flukes, and others have no instances amongst 

 them, and this holds good in the other gardens alluded to. 

 From watching them and from examination of the stems, I feei 



