14S 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 27, 1868. 



requires me to take " different kinds of ground into consider- 

 ation." Well, suppose a correspondent " B " said, " I intend to 

 plant sixty acres of Potatoes on the ridge system, as I am 

 certain it will prove the right plan. The question is, How? 

 Tour garden method is, of course, out of the question. We 

 find the assistance of manure requisite for a good crop, and 

 the width of the ridges must necessarily be determined by the 

 width between cart wheels, which in most cases is 5 feet, 

 hence 2t feet must be the width of each ridge. This I contend 

 is not a fair trial, as there is not a sufficient width of earth on 

 the top to secure room for a large quantity of good tubers. 

 Supposing, however, that it is so, or is made .=;o by deep cul- 

 tivation between the ridges, and moulding-up twice, then how 

 would you plant the sets ? On the manure would not be safe. 

 Besides, it would be too deep if ridged-up with the plough (8 to 

 12 inches). Would dibbling by hand on the top of the ridge 

 after the plough do? Again, Supposing 5 cwt. of guano per 

 acre were sown broadcast and the ridges closed-up at once from 

 the winter ' till,' the guano would all be there, and the ridges 

 might be made of any width. How would the dibble do then ? 

 Is a width of i feet too much for field cultivation ?" I answer. 

 It is according to my judgment radically wrong to apply raw 

 manure iu the drills when planting the Potato. It must be 

 bad practice to place a pulpy tuber iu a mass of corruption. 

 Even should the sets escape injury, when in a poor soil dung 

 is used after the guano under the idea of making the most of 

 it, the young plants may grow very freely at first, but as the 

 loots lengthen they strike into barren soil, constituting in 

 fact an abundance of machinery with a scarcity of raw material, 

 just when the formation of young tubers and the advancing 

 state of the growth of the plants require an extra supply of 

 nourishment. The start they had at first secured a vigor- 

 ous foliage, to become unfruitful for lack of sustaining nourish- 

 ment. 



But B finds " manure necessary," whereby, I presume, his 

 land is very light. I would, therefore, advise twenty loads per 

 acre to be spread and ploughed in, and well worked into the 

 body of the soil in October or the beginning of November ; 

 and if 3 cwt. or so of superphosphate of lime were sown broad- 

 cast just before the land is ridged-up in February, so much the 

 better. If the laud is well draiued, and would allow of the sub- 

 soil plough being used to the depth of 18 inches or 2 feet, so as 

 to make the soil accessible to the warmth and moisture of the 

 atmosphere, I should consider that equivalent to au application 

 of dung if it were coupled with a top-dressing of lime or 

 gnano at planting time. Lime is especially favourable to the 

 growth of the Potato, and in some form is generally present 

 in plants. Light lands require it in less proportion than heavy 

 soils, though even light soils are rendered more compact in 

 consequence of the lime attracting moisture powerfully from 

 the air. It cannot be otherwise than beneficial in a clay soil, 

 for it not only destroys the myriads of insects to which mois- 

 ture is congenial, but speedily converts to vegetable mould the 

 stubborn fragments of previous crops. It also acts upon the 

 substances brought up by the subsoil plough, and renders a large 

 amount of inorganic substances available as food for plants. 

 I will not believe in the earth becoming barren from the ex- 

 haustion of its vegetable mould so long as there remains a soil 

 to be trenched, half-trenched, and trenched again — a subsoil to 

 Ike brought up every few years and exposed to the action of a 

 winter's frost, and then to the action of a dressing of lime 

 fresh from the kiln. To a stiff clay I would apply from seventy 

 to eighty bushels of quicklime per acre, procuring it fresh from 

 the kiln and spreading it, not over-slacked, on the surface of 

 the land just before ridging-up. If on a light soil ridges and 

 guano should be decided upon, I would sow broadcast just before 

 lidging, at the rate of 10 or 15 cwt. per acre. 



The manner in which I have said I would aj^ply the dung, 

 ftc, obviates the necessity of trundling cart wheels between the 

 ridges, and of the plough to split the ridges again for the pur- 

 pose of covering the dung. I should not like to trust to a 

 30-inch-wide ridge on good ground ; 3 feet in that case for the 

 field culture of medium-topped kinds of Potatoes, such as 

 Daintree's Seedling (round), would do very well. For the very 

 large-tubered and branching sorts, such as Paterson's Victoria, 

 Dawe's Matchless, York Regents, or Old Grammars, I should 

 prefer a ■12-inch base for my ridge to rest upon, and to have it 

 1 foot wide at the top, which could be eventually done by pass- 

 ing a light roller over the tops of the ridges. In Shropshire, 

 where they manage these things better — at least as far as re- 

 gards the cultivation of the Swede Turnip, I think — than in 

 any other county I have seen, except, perhaps, some parts of 



Forfarshire, they would put a horse to a double mould board, 

 and finish off between ridges as straight as a gun barrel almost 

 as fast as a man could walk. 



Whether upon the ridge or on the flat, the dibble with a 

 blunt point should be employed in planting Potatoes in a field ; 

 the sets should be placed 7 inches deep, and I would be 

 entirely opposed to after-mouldings. By hoe and by hand I would 

 keep down the weeds, and I would pick off the blossoms, for from 

 them we may anticipate seed, the formation of which taxes the 

 energies of the plant to the detriment of the tubers. Of these 

 in due time I would guarantee a crop on the ridge system far 

 surpassing that obtained on the old moulding-up plan, so long 

 practised. — Upwards and Onwaeds. 



CRYSTAL PALACE AUTUMN SHOW. 



AUGDST 25th to 27th. 



No one could expect that any autumn slaow held during this memor- 

 able season could be at all equal to those which are usually held at 

 this time of the year ; and althoui^h, if at any place, a gathering 

 miRht be expected at the Crystal Palace, so liberal is their schedule, 

 and 80 anxious are they to induce p;rowers to exhibit with them ; yet 

 not even they could overcome the terribly tiding nature of the season 

 that we have had. It was not only that we have experienced a drought 

 such as nouo of us who have attained middle life can remember, but 

 that on Saturday last we were visited by such a stonn of wind and 

 rain as utterly destroyed all hopes that might have existed of making 

 a good show. From east and west, north and south, came lamenta- 

 tions that Roses, Gladiolus, Dahlias were so battered to pieces, that 

 the growers could not possibly fultil their promises ; and so, many a 

 sad blank occuiTed in the generally well-filled tables in the Crystal 

 Palace. It was otherwise with the fruit, which was very fine ; and I 

 think the astonishment was not that there were so few cut flowers ex- 

 hibited, but that there were so many ; not that the quality was so poor, 

 but really that it was so good. One wondered where Mr. Hawke got 

 bis Hollyhocks, or Messrs. Kclway & Son their GlatUoli. Roses, of 

 course, nothing could save, and they were nearly all so much out of 

 character that they call for no especial remark. Some of the Gladi- 

 olus shown were very fine ; notably those exhibited by Messrs. Kelway 

 and Son and Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing. The stand of twenty- 

 four, exhibited by Mr. Kelway, contained Princess Frederick William, 

 Mr. Kenshawe, Napoleon III., Fulton, very fine ; Arabella Goddard, 

 Le Poussin, Marina, Felicien David, Euridyce, very fine ; Le Quintinie 

 Molicre, a gi-and flower ; Adolpbe Brogniart, magnificent ; James 

 Veitch, Norma, very fine ; Ktendard, splendid spike ; Ulysses, very 

 good ; Meyerbeer, grand ; Mathilde de Landevoisin, Cassandra, 

 MacMahou, Le Dant,';, and Madame Basseville. Messrs. Downie & Co. 

 had Seedling No. 2, Duchcsse de Padoue, Princess Frederick William, 

 Seedling No. 3, Mario Dumortier, Madame Vilmorin, Meyerbeer, very 

 fine ; Mathilde de Landevoisin, Le Dante, Moliere, very good ; Stella, 

 Oscar, John Waterer, Madame Furtado, and Noemie. Some of these 

 spikes were very long and fine. Messrs. Bunyard & Son, of Asbford, 

 were third with some nice flowers ; and Messrs. Paul & Son equal 

 third. 



The only exhibitor amongst amateurs was the Rev. H. H. Dombrain, 

 of the A'icarage, Westwell, Ashford, to whom was awarded first prize. 

 His box contained La Fiancee, new, a fine white ; Norma, new, white, 

 lightly tinged with lilac ; Molii-re, new, a fine flower ; Semiramis, 

 new, lovely pink, but somewhat narrow in the lip ; Stella, new ; 

 Princess Alice, beautiful shade of lavender ; Mrs. IJombrain (Stan- 

 dish), rich mauve-shaded flower; Madame Pereire, Eni7dice, Mac- 

 Mahon. Meyerbeer, Lord Byron. Sir Joseph Paxton, Galileo, Thunberg, 

 a new and fine flower ; Edulia, Belle Gabrielle, &c. 



The Rev. Edward Hawkc's Hollyhocks, as usual, were magnificent, 

 and, indeed, he was the only exhibitor. The individual flowers were 

 of groat size, and wonderfully clean. His class of twenty-four con- 

 tained Exhibition, Charles Eyre, Oetavia (seedUng), Gem (seedling), 

 WUlingham Defiance, Wilbngham Model, seedling El Dorado, Rose 

 d' Amour, seedling Edward Speed, seedling Ruby Queen, Mrs. Downie, 

 and IJueen of Yellows. In twelves he had Ruby Queen, Nonpareil, 

 George Keith, Charles |Eyre, Edward Speed, WUlingham Defiance, 

 seedling Queen of Yellows, Amber Queen seedUng, and Willingham 

 Model. 



Ml'. Perry's Verbenas fully sustained bis usual character as the 

 foremost raiser and grower in Englaud. His stand of twenty- four con- 

 tained Spot, seedlinR James Birbeck, Kate, Mrs. Jorleau, Mazeppa, 

 Little Clara, Leah, Startler, Foxhunter, Annie, Harry Law, Chieftain, 

 seedling Interesting, Madame Stenger, Rose Imperial, Lord Leigh, 

 seedUng Magnificent, .\poUo, Lilac King, H. Ward, Wonderful, and 

 Gi-ant des Batailles ; and amongst his seedlings were Mrs. Pochin, 

 fine pink, first-class certificate ; Kate ; Mrs. Reynolds Hole, fine 

 white ; Spot, pink with deep eye, first-class certificate ; Florence 

 Fiddean, Excellent, and Little Dove. Some of these were very fine, 

 and nothing could exceed the purity of the white of Mrs. Reynolds 

 Hole. 



Such are the most not.able features of these classes, and I can only 

 hope that another season with more propitious weather one may see 

 the Crystal Palace Autumn Show what it usually is. Arrangements 



