■January IS, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



27 



alike in size and shape as possible. Good cooking of Potatoes 

 depends very much on the uniformity in size. As avoiding 

 tubering rather close to the sides of the pot, the best kind 

 we ever had was a round Potato, originally brought from the 

 south-west of England, called the Wadnian ; the true name, if 

 it had one, we never knew, but in this sort the tubers formed 

 quite close to the stem, so much so that we have had fine 

 gatherings from 8-inch pots and not a tuber near the sides of 

 the pot. Fingering-out the best tubers, however, injured the 

 fibres, and the best plan with this variety was to wait until the 

 stems began to change, and then take the produce of several 

 pots at once. It was a very nice round Potato. It was not 

 so very abundant a cropper out of doors, and we therefore 

 chiefly used it for the above purpose. Its tubering so near 

 home was its chief characteristic, and by that it may be known 

 to some of our readers. Unfortunately it became diseased and 

 we lost it. The next best amongst rounds which we have found 

 is Handsworth Early Prolific, a nice little Potato, but not so 

 free a producer nor yet so large a3 that alluded to when grown 

 in pots. 



We have tried two or three old tubera in a large pot, but on 

 the whole prefer one tuber in a smaller pot, and have had good 

 crops from 8-inch pots, and even pots of less size. It is 

 best in every way to have only one strong shoot or sprout from 

 the tuber. We generally place the tuber fully half way down 

 the pot, and use sandy loam and sweet leaf mould made rather 

 firm. Until the shoot is an inch or two above ground the 

 pots may as well be in the dark as anywhere else. We have 

 had them in the Mushroom house, in stokeholes, sheds, &c. 

 We lately made a shelf in front of a Peach house, the roof 

 coming to within 18 inches of the ground, by placing a wide 

 board on some large reversed pots, the board affording room 

 for two rows of Strawberries. Most likely we shall have Pota- 

 toes in pots underneath, and draw them out as the shoots appear. 



Many of our readers with their one or two little houses 

 might obtain useful lessons by noting the scheming and con- 

 triving to make the most of the available space even in large 

 places. We can bring before our mental vision hundreds of 

 houses, where, besides such quickly-concocted shelves as the 

 above, to serve their allotted purpose, shelves at back, and 

 shelves suspended from the roof, not an available inch of 

 ground on the floor will be unoccupied so long as any degree 

 of , light can reach the plants there. Bare back walls of houses 

 furnish grand storage resources in winter when the roof is 

 comparatively free from foliage ; and shelves, <tc, can be put 

 away in summer. — R. F. 



POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA CULTURE. 



Having seen and grown this beautiful winter-flowering stove 

 plant with various results, and having this year been very 

 successful, I will describe my simple treatment. 



Having a hand-light with a moveable top, or, what is better 

 still, a small one-light bos or frame at the back of the stove, it 

 should be placed on the flue or pipes so as to have a good 

 bottom heat, as one great point in growing it well is to strike 

 the cuttings quickly. In the second week of August I take off 

 cuttings 3 inches long; the tops make the best plants. As I 

 take them off I dip the ends in silver sand or charcoal dust to 

 prevent bleeding ; I then insert the cuttings in 3-inch pot3, the 

 soil used being a mixture, in equal parts, of loam, leaf mould, 

 and silver sand. I plunge the pots if possible in the hand-light, 

 bos, or frame, then water them with a fine rose, and shut up 

 the light to prevent flagging. They must be kept thus for a 

 few days, when a little air may be given at night, always bear- 

 ing in mind to prevent flagging, and not to shade if possible. 

 In ten days or a fortnight the cuttings will be struck, they 

 must then have more air ; and as the roots come through the 

 bottoms of the pots the young plants may be potted, the strong 

 ones in 6-inch pots, and the weaker ones in 4 or 5-inch pots. 

 The soil may be composed of two parts loam, one of peat, one 

 of leaf mould, and one of sand, with a little dry cow dung. 

 They must then be watered and placed in the hand-light, keep- 

 ing them close for a day or two, then gradually increasing the 

 air, so as to harden them off ready to be set on a shelf at the 

 back of the stove. Keep them as near the glass as possible, 

 and take great care not to let them suffer from want of water. 

 At the end of October or beginning of November they will be 

 showing flower, when they may be watered occasionally with 

 clear liquid manure, that from cow dung being the best. 



By following the above treatment the Poinsettia will be 

 splendid in December. This week one which I measured was 



12 inches across the red floral leaves, which I think is rather 

 an unusual size ; and the foliage was of a deep green. The 

 Poinsettias are admired by all who see them, and being very 

 dwarf — from to 15 inches in height — they are very suitable 

 for dinner-table decoration. 



The points to be observed in growing Poinsettias are — 1st, 

 The cuttings should be put in duriug August, giving them 

 plenty of bottom heat ; 2nd, Never to allow them to flag ; 3rd, 

 Do not overpot the plants, but give them plenty of good 

 drainage ; 4th, Keep them growing in the warmest part of the 

 stove, giving them plenty of air. — Stephen Castle, The 

 Gardens, Bent Hill, Prestwich. 



EASTER BEURRE PEAR. 

 I wish some of your correspondents in the south of England 

 would give their actual experience of this Pear when grown 

 against a wall with an aspect between S.E. and S.W. Mr. 

 Rivers, no mean authority, says that it i3 often mealy and in- 

 sipid from a wall ; and I can only say that its seedling, Rivers's 

 Winter Beurrfi, which I thought to improve by placing against 

 a S.E. wall, produced fruit this year, fair to the eye, but quite 

 mealy and insipid. Now, Mr. Robinson, in " The Parks, &c," 

 states as a fact, that in sultry France a wall is considered very 

 needful to perfect the Easter Beurrg. It is a fruit well worth 

 growing in perfection, so I pray your correspondents to com- 

 municate their experience. — G. S 



GARDENS AND GARDENING AROUND 

 HAMBURG.— No. 2. 



Consul Schiller's, Altona. 



A short distance from Nenmiihlen, on the same road, we 

 come to the residence of Consul Schiller, a name well known 

 in the gardening world, especially to lovers of Orchids and 

 other stove plants. Who does not know of Phalrenonsis Schil- 

 leriana, for example, besides many others named after this 

 great patron of horticulture? The place is possessed of much 

 the same character as that we have already noticed, with the 

 exception of being on a somewhat smaller yet more garden-like 

 scale. It is so full of riches, so full of all that is rare, and 

 costly, and beautiful in horticulture, and all so full of health 

 and vigour, so beautifully cultivated and attended to, that 

 words fail to express our sense of the pleasure afforded us, our 

 appreciation of the worth of this splendid collection, and the 

 merits of the superb cultivation displayed in this magnificent 

 establishment. Consul Schiller is, we believe, himself well 

 versed in practical horticulture ; ably seconded, however, he 

 must be by his obergartner Herr Winckler, who, we believe, 

 was for some time previously in the establishment of Mr. 

 Rucker, at Wandsworth. The place is altogether lovely, the 

 views of the beautiful river below ever pleasing; and the 

 grounds are varied yet dressy, with here a knoll, there a dell, 

 every tree, every plant, being a specimen with a character of 

 its own. Beautiful specimens of the more choice Coniferse are 

 grouped here and there in the grounds. Araucaria irnbricata 

 is 20 feet high ; but this has to be protected from the rigours 

 of a German winter, the frosts being more severe than in this 

 country. Thuja gigantea, Thujopsis borealis, each about 15 feet 

 high, Cnpressus Lawsoniana 20 feet, with many others, are all 

 growing exceedingly well. But the great feature of the place 

 lies in its hothouses. 



Orchids occupy the lion's share of accommodation, separate 

 houses being devoted to the different families. Here we enter 

 a house mainly devoted to Vandas, containing hundreds of 

 plants — good-sized plants, too, of every variety, all growing in 

 the greatest luxuriance, their big fleshy roots hanging down 

 like great cables. One plant of Vauda caerulea would go hard 

 to beat any in this country, having ten flower stems. Another 

 house is devoted to Phalamopses, which, although good, are 

 not quite equal to the Vandas, Cattleyas, Lalias, &c, which 

 occupy another house. Here, again, is another house full of 

 Cypripediums, scores of plants in large pans 2 feet in diameter, 

 and in most superb condition. How beautiful these must be 

 when in full blossom ! Another house we find principally filled 

 with Nepenthes bearing some magnificent pitchers. Then, 

 again, in the stoves proper are all the fine new omamental- 

 foliaged plants in magnificent condition — Anthurium regale, 

 very superb, A. magnificum ; Alocasias of all sorts ; Musa 

 zebrina, very handsome ; Musa vittata ; Caladiums, &o. 



That which rivetted our attention the most was, however, the 



