November 8, 1806. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



351 



twelve hours it will bo found quite sufficient to insure a regular 

 and constant tomperature, when the ashes should first he 

 shaken down into the ash-pan by agitating the trigger h, and, 

 after waiting a few seconds for the light ashes to settle, tho 

 ash-pan may ba withdrawn, emptied, and replaced; tho stove 

 may then be replenished with peat charcoal, which should be 

 put in at tho door b ; the purifying-pan should at the same 

 time bo replenished with fresh peat charcoal, and tho charcoal 

 which has done its work, thrown into the stove on tho top of 

 theifresh charcoal just put in, as the fire is liable to be extin- 

 guished if the spent charcoal is put in first. All that is re- 

 quired now is to let it alone for twelve hours. 

 " N.B. — The charcoal should be kept dry." 



GROWING EARLY VARIETIES OF THE POTATO. 



We find that experience in New Zealand accords with our 

 own in this country. The following is from a letter published 

 at Canterbury, New Zealand : — 



A few years ago some very large tubers of this most valuable 

 esculent were grown at Kaiapoi ; forty-two Potatoes at one 

 root, the two largest tubers being nearly 3 lbs. weight, and the 

 whole weight 16 lbs. I beg to send you a few samples of a 

 variety which I have grown this season in rather sandy soil, 

 twelve tubers of which weighed when dug up 14 lbs. It is a 

 very excellent variety, which is grown very extensively in the 

 Valley of the Hutt, and has found its way here. 



I find that a very good rule is to plant only early varieties in 

 early soils, and I believe it to be a very good plan to plant late 

 varieties early in the season as well in sandy soil, and to plant 

 them pretty deeply also. I have found this practice to be very 

 successful. 



I find, also, that to produce fine tubers like those sent, the 

 best way is to plant sets cut with one single eye to each, and 

 the result is sure to be large-sized tubers. If more eyes are 

 left the crop will be heavier, but not so large. I have tried 

 them several years planted both ways. — William Swale, Avon- 

 side Botanic Garden. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS 



We are glad to find that the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 Exhibition at Bury St. Edmunds is likely to be held ; for when 

 those most pecuniarily interested in its occurrence found that 

 the Society were withdrawing they made a more determined 

 effort ; and Mr. Guy, of the " Angel " Hotel, in the " proud " 

 town, has offered a site free from charge near the new railway 

 station, and in close proximity to the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's showyard. Moreover, a good commencement has 

 been made in subscriptions to a guarantee fund. 



It has been decided by the Council of the Royal 



Horticultural Society that the examination of the students in 

 the garden at Chiswick shall take place in December next, 

 the particular date we hope to he able to announce in our 

 next. And the Council have also determined to carry out on 

 the same occasion that portion of the educational scheme, the 

 particulars of which will be found in Vol. V., page 1C2, of the 

 " Proceedings " — viz., " Candidates will be eligible for examina- 

 tion in practical gardening if they have previously obtained 

 certificates from the Society of Arts in botany and in flori- 

 culture, or in botany and fruit and vegetable culture ; and in 

 case they receive a certificate in either branch of practical 

 gardening, will have their travelling expenses paid. 



" A candidate who can present a written recommendation 

 from any Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, from the 

 President of any Floral or Horticultural Association ac- 

 knowledged by the Society, or from the Director of any public 

 park or garden, may also be examined in practical gardening ; 

 but whether he obtains a certificate or not, he must himself 

 bear the expense of the journey." 



It is important now that attention is awakened to the 



economising of our coal supply, that the value of petroleum 

 and other mineral oils as fuel is established, and we expect 

 soon to see suitable furnaces arranged for their consumption 

 in gardening structures. Government instituted experiments 

 on the heating powers of petroleum, and the Standard says that, 



" The engineers of the Woolwich Dockyard have returned to 

 the Admiralty, we hear, a statement, without comment, of what 

 Mr. Richardson has done, and have accompanied their state- 

 ment with a drawing of the apparatus by which the results 

 have been obtained. ' Good wine needs no bush,' and such 



results as the patentee, aidod by the dockyard authorities, has 

 obtained need no comment. When it is known to every prac- 

 tical engineor that 7 J lbs. of water per 1 lb. of the best steam- 

 coal is the maximum quantity in ordinary practice ; that not 

 more than 3J lbs. to i lbs. of water aro done by common coals, 

 and fij lbs. is the usual rate for railway locomotives, what need 

 could there be to add one word of remark to a table of practical 

 experiments showing 13 lbs. for American rock oils, 15 lbs. to 

 17 lbs. for Burslem, and above IB lbs. for the Torbane Hill oil 1 



" Taking the average evaporation effected by coal as 6 lbs., 

 we may fairly urge that the best mineral oil, being three times 

 as strong as coal in the quantity of heat it generates, and 

 evaporating three times tho quantity of water in the same 

 space of time, is just as cheap as coal if it cost three times as 

 much to distil it from the shale as it does to get the coal out of 

 the earth, and convey to our furnaces. It is quite a mistake 

 to say that, however valuable shale may be for the production 

 of paraffin, it can never be a satisfactory substitute for coal. 

 No one ever dreams of carting shale about with its great per- 

 centage of earthy base, any more than bones and eoprolitea 

 are expected by farmers to be carted over their lands while 

 chemists can supply them with superphosphate of lime. What 

 men have been trying to do is to burn shale-oil ; to get the oil 

 away from the mineral base, and to have as little useless matter 

 to carry about as possible. What has been done at Woolwich 

 has been to burn such oil in a boiler- furnace practically, and 

 to beat coal with it. It is no use any longer to question results. 

 The mineral oil has been burnt for days together, just as it 

 might be burnt for months together, and it has raised steam 

 effectively, efficiently, quickly, steadily, and continuously. It 

 is now only a question of time how soon the world will accept 

 the fact, and engineers begin to employ it. Already oil-works 

 are dotting with numerous manufactories considerable regions 

 in England, Wales, and Scotland, and our shales and bitu- 

 minous rocks are being fast brought into commercial use. 

 Evident it is that great will be the future supply when oil is 

 admitted as the best steam fuel— a fuel that our factories will 

 burn day and night with only a flickering glimmer of hot air 

 from their chimney-tops. Ships will carry the oil in tanks, 

 and stow it in the bilge-ways under the lower decks, and in 

 otherwise useless spaces, pumping it as wanted ; all the labour 

 of moving coal, all the dust and dirt from coal will be avoided 

 and every drop of oil will be consumed, and there will be smoke- 

 less fires ashore and afloat. As with coals, so with oils, there 

 is a difference of quality, and it is not a little remarkable that 

 England, possessing the superior qualities of the first, should 

 possess also the best of the latter. While the American oils 

 will touch 13 lbs., nearly all the English ones exceed them, and 

 the Torbane Hill oil will go nearly, if not quite up to 20 lbs. ; 

 and here we would hint to oil-distillers that their present crude 

 oils and the veriest tarry refuse will have as fuel a value in the 

 market, for most of them will do as much as ordinary coal." 



The death of Dr. Von Siebold deserves a record in our 



pages, for his botanical researches yielded many additions to 

 our floral riches from Japan. He died at Munich, aged 71. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The continued wet weather has completely saturated the soil, 

 and rendered its cultivation a matter of great difficulty. Every 

 gardener must be convinced, after such a season as this, of the 

 advantages of thorough drainage both as regards the ripening 

 of the wood of his fruit trees and the state of his crops in the 

 kitchen garden. Keep the heaps of compost well turned over, 

 as the time is approaching when every advantage must be 

 taken of frosty mornings to wheel it over the laud. As a general 

 rule, ground that is very deeply trenched should be manured 

 after the trenching, and "the manure forked in, except in the 

 case of fusiform-rooted plants, which will require the manure 

 to be trenched in deeply, and not incorporated with the surface 

 soil. Trenching all vacant quarters must be vigorously follow ed 

 up, taking care to turn in all green and decaying refuse. Broccoli, 

 lay down the tall-growing varieties. Cabbages, keep the fork at 

 work amongst the beds, and prick out all spare plants into a 

 reserve-bed. Controls, take up and store them, also Red Beet, 

 taking care not to bruise the roots. Cauliflower, continue to 

 store the best heads, and, if not already performed, plant out 

 the strongest Cauliflower plants under hand-glasses, and see 

 that those in frames have abundance of air. Keep the surface 

 stirred, and give occasional dustings with quicklime ; if there 

 be any plants to spare, they may be pricked in close to a south 



