Joao 21, 1869. ] 



JOUBNAI* OF HORTIOULTUEE ANJ? COIIAGE GAUDENEB. 



42S 



ever soeu a hotter HtanJ of twenty-four trebles than tboirs sot np at any 

 show, even by Messrs. Paul .fe Son, and wo ini«ht partienlurly remark 

 that the Pink Kcctinn of Kosos wore very well rppreKPnted by Elio 

 MoroU, MousitMir Nomaii, Hurj^ierite do St. Ainnnd, Mdllo. Thf'-irse 

 JLevet, Oentifolia Uosea, and in their wtand of tw«»iity-four aini^Ies, 

 Modt^lo de Perfection, besides otherw. Aiiioujist amateurH, Mr. Perrv, 

 of Castle broiQwich, exhibited well, and also showed some of his 

 splendid setdiinj^ Vtirhuimn. Whore there 13 so mnch to praise wo 

 regrot also to havo to criticise, but wo cannot pass over in siKnco the 

 judgment as to cut Verbcuus; Mr. Perry's haviui; been placud second 

 to a very inferior collection exhibited by Mr. Dove, and the only way 

 we can acconnt for it is that Mr. Perry had raised his above the stand 

 BO as to show the roundness of tin', truss, whilo Mr. Dove's were poslied 

 down ujion the circular jtaper ou which thoy were mounted ; but wo are 

 certain that if the pips on the trusses were counted, that there would 

 be doable the number in Mr. Perry's eollectioa. and in our opiniou 

 the worst truss in his was better than tho best of Mr. Dove's. The 

 iadf^iuent in tho class of twelvo Koses (amftteurs), was also bad; but 

 with theso exceptions the p;eneral judf^raent was correct. 



Our space will n'>t periuit ne to fjive a move enlarged account ; we 

 can only conclude by wishing the Society to continue to jiroyress and 

 prosper under its present able mauagemeut.— 0. P. 



THINNING THE STEMS OF POTATOES- 

 GRAFTING SETS— RAISING SEEDLINGS. 



Some weeks ago I wag with two editors looking over a fine 

 place. They were on notes intent, and jealous of my com- 

 parative idleness, I presume, for one of those chiela said — U., 

 "Do give us some poetry!" and the other, O,, " Do write us 

 8<»iietbiiig. Give it in the lively manner that was once your 

 wout in the old Cottage Gardener." " My dear good fel- 

 lowfl," I answered, *' that style of mine was abandoned years 

 ago. Pray do not request of me now anything of the sort. It 

 is, doubtless, my own fault ; I have presented all I ever knew 

 or ever did in the horticultural way to the public for twenty 

 years and more, and now I begin to fear that my wi'itings are 

 thought stale." " A man," was the rejoinder, " should never 

 appear as a public adviser or writer for a longer period than 

 ten years." 



Now, how can I help myself? Why, I actually jumped over 

 the garden wall, left experiments to Fate, and wout to Savern- 

 ake Forest, to be on " the quiet " for a few days last week, 

 in order to " knock off " a bundle of unanswered private 

 correspondence on the subject of the; present season's be- 

 haviour in regard to Potatoes. In the meantime I managed to 

 run up to London to the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit 

 Committee, of which I happen to be an unworthy member, to 

 exhibit samples of Potatoes, so that the public might run and 

 read, and I could refer your correspondent, " J. \V. G.," to ad- 

 vice which I gave in these pages longer ago than I care to '• hark 

 back " to, on the very subject he now writes about, so I beg to 

 inform him that it is good practice " to pull away " the stems 

 of Potato haulm when too many of them appear. 



One eye to each set is sufficient to secure a fine even crop 

 when the seed is properly prepared, as I will presently point 

 oat for the benefit of "J. W. C. ;" but under the present cir- 

 cumstances I advise him to leave three or four of the strongest 

 stems to each stool, and by delving with his fingers 2 or 

 3 inches into the soil, to separately remove each weakly super- 

 numerary shoot by a steady, straight, even pull, as one would 

 diaw a 3 lb. trout from the edge of a stream — minus a landing 

 net. Disconnect the spray as near as possible to the tuber. 

 "Three feet," or any other distance between the rows, will not 

 counterbalance the inevitable result of a too crowded and 

 weakly group of stems, which must be partly a crop of small 

 onmarketable Potatoes. 



" J. W. C." need not he troubled in future in fishing out 

 Bmall spray, if Le will adopt a prepsration for his seed as 

 follows : — At liftiug time let him select medium-sized tubers 

 of his sorts — viz., those we may consider as being scarcely 

 arrived at perfect ripeness, which I find always answer best 

 for seed, and let them lay exposed on dry ground — in the shade 

 preferably, for two or three days, to become slightly greened, 

 and then to be stowed away from that time till the day on 

 which they are to be planted upon wooden slabs formed into 

 platforms, or old doors havinglaths nailed round their edges to 

 seoure the tubers from rolling olif, as they are placed upon them 

 in single layers. The slabs or doors should be adjusted in a 

 dry cellar, garret, or outhouse secure from frosts, in a twilight, 

 and a temperature ranging from 40' to 50', and during very 

 severe frosts they should be covered over with matting or straw, 

 or something of the sort handy. About three weeks before 

 planting time every eye, excepting the. most prominent one on 



each tuber, should bo scooped out to the very quick with a pen- 

 knife. Then, when the set is placed in the soil, the seed will 

 havo already healthy young shoots attached to them, almost a« 

 Hturdy as one's little finger, incapable of becoming detached 

 from the seta, unless by the roughest treatment. From this 

 single sprout three or four sturdy stems will branch out and 

 bear a fine and an even abundant crop, with a flourishing 

 though not a profuse foliage, which will amply compensate for 

 the extra care and trouble, and tho plan has also tho advantage 

 of expediting the maturity of tho crop some three weeks 

 sooner than the usual " happy-go-lucky " enervated sets, 

 tumbled about anywhere and in any way, probably from the 

 time they are taken up till they are tumbled into the soil again 

 with scarcely a tithe of their natural stamina, on account of 

 the " spurtings " they have undergone. Appropriately to the 

 present question, it may be repeated that when a first shoot is 

 rubbed off from a Potato, a ])lurality of inferior eyes are al- 

 most sure to spring up in its place ; hence inferior, weakly 

 foUage. 



Besides, the seed tubers prepared a? above may be planted 

 later by a fortnight or three weeks, and by so much we avoid 

 the coldness or wetness of backward soils or seasons, and avoid 

 altogether the disposition to "club" or "Bobbin-Junes" of 

 the times previous to the appearance of the disease. 1 can 

 safely say I lost more Potatoes before 1847 by the former than 

 I have ever experienced since by the latter ; so I cannot do 

 otherwise than attribute my success to the practice I recom- 

 mend, for a worse soil as regards the Potato disease than that 

 which I have had to deal with for tho last twenty-three years, 

 I suppose it would be impossible to find. 



I have 109 sorts this season growing in this garden, 102 of 

 which are of my last batch of seedlings, besides twenty-seven 

 old friends, which I could not find heart to shake off, growing 

 in various allotments in the fields. I have also my grafted 

 Potatoes of last year, growing side by side with their originals, 

 in order that I may study their features of growth and tubers, 

 and learn what is to be the result. This year I have " gone in " 

 for colour, by grafting the Red Ashleaf on Dickson's Premier, 

 a white Kidney, and Patersou's Scotch Blue on Royal Albert, 

 which for symmetry as a round white is unequalled, but defi- 

 cient in flavour. At the end of tno years I thiuk some decided 

 judgment may be formed on this interesting subjtct. I could 

 perceive a decided difference in the colour of the shoots of my 

 seedling Onwards, which I grafted last year ou Almond's York- 

 shire Hero, and they maintain up to the present time a marked 

 difference of foliage by the side of the true sets. In the other 

 sorts I can also perceive a difference of foliage, though not BO 

 decided as in the Onwards grafted. 



As regards the latter seedling, you may probably remember 

 it is the only one I thought worthy of being kept out of a 

 batch of 105, after seven years' proving. The cross was be- 

 tween Jackson's Seedliug Kidney and the old Fluke. Mr. 

 Rivers informed me this spring that it does very well with 

 him at Sawbridgeworth. "It is as early as the Karly Batty, 

 but a better Potato." It will do well for small gardens in good 

 soil, and nowhere else, except to be grown for seed. In rich 

 ground, and for summer digging, where most of our popular 

 varieties would be inclined to expend their energies in haulm, 

 the Onwards will do well, and the farther north the better. 

 It is a somewhat flat round sort, white-fleshed, of first-rate 

 flavour, crops well up to the stem like bunches of lirapes; 

 a true parlour Potato of medium size. I have lately cooked 

 a dish of it two years old, plump in tubers ; and for flavour 

 and appearance in its old ago, it may be likened in its flesh 

 to roasted Spanish Chestnuts. 



I am happy also to inform yon that not a single set out of 

 all my crop has failed to come up well and strongly this season ; 

 and the manner in which they resisted the hurricane of last 

 week, was a sight for me to be proud of. 



I have some very promising sorts amongst my set of new 

 seedlings ; and let me advise those who may in future endeavour 

 to raise new varieties, never to cross a round sort with a Kid- 

 ney ; it is the rook I split upon for years. Cross rounds with 

 rounds, and Kidneys with Kidneys, and the result, " mongrels," 

 may not have to be written. The Kev. W. F. K.dul.\tio has 

 given the text :-— " Early ripeners, good keepers, with every 

 other good attribute belonging to' the Potato.'^UpwAiujs ano 

 Onwards. ', ' ' '' ',- 



New Fumigatoe.— -We have received one of Jones' Bolanical 

 Fumigators, which is a simple and apparently useful apparatus 

 for ftmiigating houses and pits with tobacco smoke. It is 



