Mnroh 26, 18C8. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GAHDENEK. 



233 



RAMBLINGS IN GREENHOUSE, GARDEN, AND 

 WOODS. 



CAN testify to the soundness of the advice 

 given to " A Subscriber" in the .loiu'nal of 

 the loth ult. relative to striking cuttings 

 over a flue. If he carry out the instructions 

 tliere given, I am sure he v.-ill acknow- 

 ledge the usefulness of such a miniature 

 propagating house. I have a similar place 

 in use here. The flue from a plant stove 

 runs across the end of a span-roofed green- 

 house. The greenhouse stage is flat, and 

 about 18 inches above the flue. From the floor up to the 

 stage is closely boarded, enclosing the flue. The whole of 

 the heat is thus directed upwards tlu-ough the stage, on 

 which is placed a glass case, opening at the top with a 

 liinge. A few slates are placed inside to prevent the saw- 

 dust, in which the pots are plunged, falling through the 

 stage. The heat communicated is abundant and sweet; 

 scarcely anything which I put in fails to strike quickly; 

 in short, the place is invaluable, always ready for work, 

 and the heat quite under command by simply ha^-ing a 

 slide in the boarding which encloses the flue. Water 

 must be poured on the sawdust to keep it uniformly moist : 

 a mere sprinkling on the surface is not suflicient. Avoid 

 dryness at the bottom of the sawdust, and success is cer- 

 tain. I may add that the house in which this case is 

 placed is always gaj' with flowers, and so far from the 

 case being an eyesore, its manifest utility claims a meed 

 of praise from all visitors, who ever evince an interest in 

 its crowd of little occupants, and the progress they make 

 from day to day. 



I will now take a ramble in the open air, and spend a few 

 minutes amongst Potatoes. I can offer no remedy for the 

 disease. The mystery remains as profound as ever. Obser- 

 vation of the time of the visitation of the disease, however, 

 has been of some use to me. Of the varieties of Ashleaf 

 I have taken up for seed, I may safely say that for the last 

 eight years not more than 1 per icent. of the tubers has 

 been afl'ected with the murrain. I took my cue from an 

 old shoemaker, who for many years prided liimself on 

 producing early Potatoes a week before his neighbours. 

 His secret was this ; — " Take them up when the tops are 

 quite green ; never mind then- slipping their skins, they 

 will soon grow new ones. " Will they keep if treated 

 thus?" was my tirst question. " I never had a bad one in 

 my life," was his reply. " Come and see my stock." This 

 was in a year when the disease was unusually virulent, 

 and Ashleafs were nearly exterminated in the localitj'. 

 I went to see. and beUeved. He alone in the village had 

 a fine stock of healthy tubers. I have practised the method 

 ever since, but each time leaving a few in the ground for 

 experiment and observation. Every year has given the 

 same results. Those taken up when the tops were quite 

 green have kept perfectly sound, while those left longer in 

 the ground, until the haukn died naturally, have rotted 

 more or less according to the season. The idea of pro- 

 curing an earlier produce by this plan I tliink but little 



Ne. J«5.-Voi» XIV., New Series. 



of. It is the man's fancy, and he has a right to exercise 

 it. The keeping of the Potatoes is of greater moment, 

 especially as the produce, as sets, is in no respect deterio- 

 rated. A village shoemakers shop is a notable rendezvous: 

 " chafl' " there predominates, and the shoemaker was pro- 

 vided with a goodly share about his skinned Potatoes: 

 but he has a victorious reply when their keeping proper- 

 ties are assailed. He then slyly opens his drawer, bring 

 ing out an old friend, with the observation, " Show me one 

 older than this, then 1 11 give in." I saw this specimen 

 three years ago. If he has it yet it is in its teens. There 

 is no semblance of romance here. I believe the man is 

 stUl living, and any one can have liis address through the 

 Editcrj, and they "will find what I have stated bare un- 

 coloured fact. 



My plan is now this : About the second week in June, 

 when the atmosphere is in a highly electrical condition, 

 and a thunderstorm occurs, I take a scrutinising ramble 

 amongst the crops, and when I detect the very first speck 

 of disease on the foliage I take the I'otatoes up at once, 

 leaving in the ground a few only for daily use, or even if' 

 I see any disease in the neighbourhood the warning is 

 sufficient, and I set to work immediately. 



In 180fi, when on a visit to a neighbouring gardener, I 

 saw the disease undoubtedly at work. I took my main crop i 

 up the next day, and every tuber kept well ; a few by the • 

 side of them, and left in the ground some time longer, went 

 bad at the rate of 50 per cent. Last year I again took 

 timely warning, and up to the present time I have not 

 found one decayed tuber. A few I pm-posely left for 

 observation — parts of rows from which the above had been 

 taken— and the majority of them rotted either before or 

 after being taken up. 



I am led into this rambling by the remarks and queries 

 of '■ Hawkins " on page U'.i. I wUl now take text from 

 the latter portion of his letter, and look at late-ripening 

 kinds of Potatoes. My rambles here will be general, and 

 to a great extent speculative, I am decidedly of opinion 

 that the Onions had nothing whatever to do with the 

 exceptional soundness of the I'otatoes which had come up 

 amongst them. 1 have seen Onions, intended for seed, 

 grown amongst Potatoes, and the Potatoes were worse 

 rather than better of their company. The immunity from 

 disease I trace solely to tlie fact of the foliage not being 

 allowed to develope itself until late in the season, and 

 after the deadly scom-ge had in a great measure expended 

 its activity. I have at various times planted exceptionally 

 late, and the crop has in a great measure escaped tJie 

 disease ; but then the produce was poor, and the quality 

 poorer. The natural inference from these remarks will be, 

 that I believe the murrain to be communicated by atmo- 

 spheric agency, and through the medium of the foliage. 



The Potato, like most other plants in the early stages of 

 its growth, is dependant chiefly on its roots for its supply 

 of food. In the development of leaf-formation another 

 aU-important source of supply is unfolded. When the 

 plant is in fuU vigour the leaves are performing important 

 fimctions, not only in elaborating the sap obtained by the 

 roots, but also in inhaling the constituents of the sur- 

 No, 1017.- Vol. SXXIX., Old Seehs. 



