60 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOULTORE AND COTTAGE GABDBNKB. 



[ January 25, 1877. 



tired out of novelties wbicb come with hifili-^ounding claims 

 of recognition, but which after trial one is obliged to put on 

 one Bide in place of older and ptrbaps despised -varieties. Of 

 new kinds this year I had only Porter's Excelsior, Bennett's 

 Schoolmaster, and Sutton's Magnum Bonnm. I do not include 

 amongst new ones such varieties as Suowflake, Kector of 

 Woodstock, &c. With regard to the latter Potato, I have 

 been reluctantly compelled to discard if. It is not in this 

 locality prolific and is delicate. I know it does not bear this 

 character in other places, but I can only speak of it as I 

 find it. I have now tried it for three years and with the 

 same results, so I am reluctantly obliged to give it up. On 

 the other hand, Snowflake has still further confirmed me in 

 the good opinion I had formed of it. Although the season or 

 this soil was against it, yet the produce was large in quantity 

 and most excellent in quality. It is indeed, as far as my own 

 experience goes, the only one of the American Potatoes worth 

 growing : it shares their general quality of productiveness, and 

 is devoid of that unpleasant flavour and close grain which the 

 others, to my mind, possess. Porter's Exoeleior, received from 

 the Messrs. Carter, I found to be a very haudsome Potato 

 and prolific, always a favourite on the exhibition table, but I 

 cannot say that it possesses the quality of flavour and texture 

 that suit my notions of what a Potato ought to be ; but then 

 this is a matter of taste. A neighbour of mine thinks the 

 Lapstone flavourless, and does not hke a Potato that crumbles 

 to pieces when you cut it. Bennett's Schoolmaster, received 

 from Mr. Turner and sent out by him, is certainly a very hand- 

 some, prolific, and good round Potato. The produce was 

 fairly good, and the quality quite equal to most of the Potatoes 

 of the same section. In foliage it resembles some of the 

 American varieties : the tubers are large, skin white and rough, 

 shallow eyes, and the flesh white. It is apparently a seedling 

 of the Regent and Victoria types, and is probably a combi- 

 nation of both of those excellent sorts. Mr. Turner does not 

 send out a host of things, but when he does issue a novelty we 

 may be sure that it is something reliable. Magnum Bonum, 

 received from Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, is a kidney 

 Potato of great excellence. Its productiveness may be gathered 

 from the fact that at the Reading Exhibition the gardener of 

 Major Thoytts exhibited 267 lbs., the produce of 1 lb. of seed. 

 The Potatoes were all of good size, there being very few small 

 tubers amongst them, and its quality is excellent. I do not 

 think it equal to the Lapstone, but then I do not think any 

 Potato is. With regard to older kinds, my growth consisted of 

 Myatt's Prolific, still to my mind the beat of the early Potatoes, 

 Regents, Lapstones, Yorkshire Hero, and Victoria. To this liat 

 I see no necessity of adding. I shall gladly give a trial to new 

 sorts in small quantity, but on those named, with Snowflake, 

 I shall rely for my crop. 



And here let me say I, ex anima, endorse all that my old 

 neighbour Mr. Luckhurst has said on the subject of early 

 lifting, and have had this year stronger confirmation than ever 

 of its value. It is very difficult for our cottagers to dig their 

 Potatoes up until after hop-picking is over. But wherever my 

 advice had been followed there the Potatoes were and have 

 kept sound, but when lifting had been deferred until the end 

 of October, as, indeed, I have seen recommended by some 

 writers, then disease or second growth had done its work. I 

 am now eating Victorias which were dug up when the tubers 

 rubbed, and some people, I have no doubt, thought me a wee 

 bit crazed ; but the tubers have kept well, are mealy and well 

 flavoured, and fully vindicate the practice. But it is astonish- 

 ing how long it takes to kill some things, and this is one of 

 those deeply rooted prejudices which seem too firmly esta- 

 blished to readily give way ; and as long as writers encourage 

 the notion that it makes no difference whether Potatoes are 

 left in the ground or not, so long the practice will continue. 

 And although my opinion may be taken for little, the trenchant 

 character in which Mr. Luckiinrst disposes of the matter will, 

 I hope, do much towards tho desired end, for it is « great pity 

 that so large a portion of a valuable crop should be destroyed 

 by holding to old-eBtablished practices which prove to be 

 wrong. — D., Deal. 



salmon colour, and considerably more cupped than the former. 

 I purchased a plant of Mr. G. Paul some years since, which 

 has furnished me with some exquisite blooms for our local 

 shows and at the same time called forth the admiration of 

 many visitors. — Richaed Tapneb, Croii-Iiurst, Battle. 



GLOIRE DE DIJON KOSE. 

 In your last week's issue your correspondent, "J. B.," in- 

 quires if there are two varieties of the Gloire de Dijon Rose. 

 In reply I beg to say that the description given corresponds 

 with tho Tea Madame Berard, which is of luxuriant growth, 

 red wood and foUage. The blooms are small and of a beantif ol 



THE CAKEOT. 



This is one of the most common yet the most difficult to 

 manage of culinary roots. The farmer can grow it by the 

 acre and sell it by the ton, yet gardeners can scarcely grow as 

 many as will supply their employers' table. Not for want of 

 cultural skill, but from not being able to cope with what J8 

 known as the " maggot." It has been my only enemy for 

 years. I have tried experiments, watched the Journal, and 

 practised the most feasible preventives there set forth, in- 

 cluding McDougall's non-poisonous "sheep dip;" still all to 

 no effect. 



Last spring I sowed Early Scarlet Horn (as I was advised) 

 in an Onion bed, also a few in a prepared bed made of imported 

 soil. Towards 1st of August in the latter the " maggot " 

 began its attack, and soon accomplished its mischievous mis- 

 sion. The former I did not let have all their own way, for 

 about the same date I pulled all the largest Carrots, which 

 were about two-thirds grown, cut ofi the leaves about 2 inches 

 from the crowns, packed them in a heap outside, and covered 

 them with bog soil (moss stuff) ; but sand or leaf soil would 

 answer the same purpose. 



They have kept perfectly fresh, sweet, and clean from the 

 " maggot." I let a few remain in the bed, and some weeks 

 after they were totally destroyed by "maggot." As it is pretty 

 generally admitted that it is almost impossible to have clean 

 Carrots in old wrought-out gardens under ordinary circum- 

 stances, the above is worth trying, which at any rate will give 

 a fair supply through the greater part of the winter months, 

 not to mention the autumn, when Carrots are expected and 

 are not always to be had. Others might record their experi- 

 ence — failures as well as successes. Failures serve as red lights 

 to warn, but successes often mislead the young amateur, filling 

 him with enthusiasm without means or opportunity to experi- 

 ment. — B. G., Co. Down. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR NON-EXHIBITORS. 



Mr. Taylok's mode of culture (see page 25) may meet with 

 its advocates, but I, for one, fail to see the force of his argu- 

 ment that " the expense incurred to grow them as they are 

 grown for exhibition " deters numbers from growing this grand 

 autumnal flower, and that the expense is " ten times " the 

 amount required to grow the plants for exhibition than in 

 growing them for home decoration. The Chrysanthemum is BO 

 easily struck and so easily grown that it is everyone's flower — 

 a real amateur's flower— and owes its improvement mostly to 

 amateurs, and the only necessary appliance or convenience 

 required to grow it to perfection is a cold frame and some 

 place of shelter from frost and rains when coming into bloom. 



With these conveniences at hand we will suppose the lover 

 of this flower has some old stools which have done blooming. 

 What are to be done with these cut-down old plants from the 

 time of going out of bloom until the "last week in May?" 

 Attention, time, and " expense " are required to preserve them ; 

 therefore where is the great difference in " expense " between 

 taking cuttings as soon as ready and throwing your old plants 

 away, thereby reducing your stock to a minimum, and having 

 your pots wherein thty bloomed at your dii-posal for growing 

 many other plants ? If Mr. Taylor could assure finer bloome 

 apart from the " expense " I would give his plan a fair trial y 

 but with early-struck plants the cultivator has the assurance 

 of woU-ripened wood, without which it is impossible to obtain 

 tho desired -' perfection of bloom and as large as Dahlias." 

 Apart from this the uninitiated in the culture of Chrysanthe- 

 mums are more likely to err on being driven to so short a 

 time than if a longer time were advised for the encouragement 

 of root-action and the maturation of the wood. 



Mr. Taylor's treatment of twice stopping is very good and 

 worthy cf imitation, and has been practised by Mr. Turner of 

 Slough and other cultivators, but this stopping should not be 

 performed later than .July with many sorts. Small plants are 

 sometimes propagated as late as August, but these are not 

 expected to carry blooms as large as " Dahlias." Again I say 

 to those who have a wish to grow the Chrysanthemum, whether 

 for home decoration or exhibition, Put in your cuttings as 



