Novombor 27, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4(W 



EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO CULTURE. 



I beg to direct your attention to the accompanying report 

 from tlio Kilkenny Moderator of the (ith inat. Since its appear- 

 ance I was requested to examine the crop of Potatoes alluded 

 to, and it is with much pleasure that I find myself in a position 

 to corroborate tho statement made with reference to the sound- 

 ness of that crop. 



Mr. Butler informed mo that in raising these Potatoes his 

 mode of procoduro was to select seed from somo of tho old 

 varieties, noted for their tendency to resist the blight — such as 

 tho Skerry Blue — and to select from tho produce of that seed, 

 seedlings which he found to ho perfectly free from disease, from 

 which he again saved tho seed and raised other varieties, which 

 he found to possess still more vigour and less liability to disease. 

 I may here observe that nearly all tho varieties he found 

 capable of resisting the disease are dark-skinned. I cannot 

 vouch for the correctness of the theory upon which he bases bis 

 success, but I can do so for the success which has attended his 

 efforts to raise a crop of Potatoes perfectly free from disease, and 

 which will yield a much greater weight per acre than any other 

 crop that I have seen in this neighbourhood during the present 

 season. — H. M'Candless, Kilkenny, October 30, 1866. 



" Within the past few days, having been in the country, and 

 lamenting to an agricultural friend the difference presented in 

 the aspect of the Potato fields at this season now and that which 

 they were accustomed to present some twenty years since, when 

 the stalks used to be green and flourishing, and loaded not 

 only with leaves, but with blossoms or apples, we were sur- 

 prised at receiving the information that we might, by making 

 a slight detour in our homeward journey, behold exactly the 

 same state of things at the present moment on the lands of John 

 Butler, Esq., Maiden Hall. We accordingly proceeded to test 

 the truth of this information, and actually beheld the pheno- 

 menon ! We entered a field, near the old Castle of Annamult, 

 in which we found the Potato stalks flourishing, green, and 

 fresh, and just as we remember having seen them all over the 

 country in the month of October in the olden time ; and look- 

 ing to the adjoining fields, to the extent of some four acres, 

 similar appearances presented themselves. The recollection 

 was at once suggested of the days when sportsmen going par- 

 tridge shooting through Potato fields lost sight of their dogs, 

 from the animals being totally covered in the luxuriant foliage 

 of the vigorous stalks ; whereas in these modern and woefully 

 degenerate days there is usually not a Potato stalk, to say 

 nothing of a leaf or blossom, existing on the surface of the 

 ground, and the dogs and sportsmen have as open a country 

 before them as if they were passing through a fallow. But 

 the question was, How came these things to pass at Maiden 

 Hall? 



Mr. Butler happened to be at hand, and politely gave us all the 

 information we required. He has been for years engaged in 

 working out and putting to tangible proof the theory of the re- 

 vivification of the Potato, from the growing of seedlings ; and he 

 has on his land the plants of all ages. In bis garden are the 

 first year's seedlings, and the second and third years' growths. 

 In his fields are the Potatoes of four and five years' growth, 

 and we believe some of still more advanced age ; an acre or 

 lesser portion of land being devoted to a different variety, which 

 all came first from one single speck of seed grown in his garden. 

 And all these varieties of new seed, except one only, present 

 the vigorous stalks, the green leaves, the gay blossoms, or the 

 bunches of apples with which we were familiar in the days gone 

 by, but which have so long vanished from the land. Even the 

 one new variety which we saw withered away in the stalks like 

 the ordinary old Potatoes in the neighbourhood, however, when 

 partially dug for our inspection, did not turn out a single dis- 

 eased tuber. The tubers of the numerous varieties which re- 

 joiced in the brilliantly green stalks and leaves were all, we need 

 scarcely say, entirely free from the slightest appearance of the 

 black plague spot. One field was so planted as to afford at a 

 glance the most convincing proof of the superiority of the newly 

 raised varieties of Potato to the old kind in common use amongst 

 our farmers. The sowing bad been made in alternate strips, 

 under old and new kinds of Potatoes, of different seeds ; and an 

 alternate patch of green and of fallow-like land accordingly was 

 presented to the eye. First there was a strip of land under 

 Scotch Downs — the Potato, perhaps, in most general use in the 

 surrounding district. Mr. Butler directed a portion of a drill, 

 taken at random, to be dug in our presence, and amongst the 

 produce the occurrence of a diseased tuber was very frequent. 

 The next strip was of one of his new varieties, a mottled pink 



and white coloured tuber. A similar portion of a drill of theBe 

 was dug, and not a single ' black ' Potato made its appearance, 

 Next came a strip of Belgian Potatoes, which had been warranted 

 by the porson from whom the seed bad been bought to be ' free 

 from disease,' but when now put to tho test, by digging a portion 

 of a drill, the ' blacks,' although not so numerous as amongst 

 the Scotch Downs, soon began to manifest their presence. 

 Again camo another strip of the Potatoes grown from Mr. 

 Butler's seedlings, and here the result again was totally different, 

 as not a single diseased tuber turned up in digging. A more 

 practical or convincing test could scarcely be applied than these 

 alternate diggings of the seedling varieties and the old or im- 

 ported kinds, throughout the large field in which they were thus 

 grown in patches. Of the quality of the tubers of several of 

 the now varieties as food we are also enabled to speak, having 

 been kindly permitted to judge of them in a cooked state, and 

 we must say the result of our investigation in that respect was 

 equally satisfactory. Some were not quite sufficiently ripe for 

 present digging, but all, without exception, were most excellent 

 Potatoes, and vastly superior to the general run of the varieties 

 which our city market ordinarily supplies. 



" Thus we consider that we have ample warrant for declar- 

 ing not merely the possibility, but the actual facility, which 

 our agriculturists have of producing a Potato crop all over the 

 country fully revivified, and free from the taint of the disease." 

 — (Irish Farmers' Gazette). 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS 



The guarantee fund for the Exhibition of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society at Bury St. Edmunds, in 1867, amounted last 

 week to £1005. 



Mr. D. T. Fish, writing in the Bury and Norwich Post, says, 

 " No mere money prizeE, although on this occasion they will 

 be liberal, have such an attractive power as gold or silver cups, 

 or other prizes in kind : therefore from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society downwards I hope cups will be given. The local So- 

 cieties in East Anglia are ready to follow suit with cups for 

 their special favourites. We have already the promise of five 

 guineas from Woodbridge for Picotees. Doubtless they will 

 readily change their guineas into a silver cup if desired ; and 

 it is almost equally certain that Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, 

 Eye, Ice., will each present their cups. Then there are the 

 boroughs in East Anglia. Bury will no doubt take the lead ; 

 Ipswich, Cambridge, Sudbury, Thetford, Norwich, &c, will 

 follow. Other large towns, such as Stowmarket, Newmarket, 

 &c, ought to be represented by their cups. The borough and 

 county members would join in this graceful service to the con- 

 stituency and the county ; and this is an object in which all 

 parties might combine. I will receive subscriptions for the 

 Suffolk gardeners' cup, in postage stamps and money orders. 

 To allow as many as possible to join in this prize, I suggest 

 that the subscriptions do not exceed 5s. per gardener." 



Slate rock is ground to a fine powder, says the Builder, 



and in that state mixed with mastic or any bituminous sub- 

 stance to the consistency of a thick paint, in which condition it 

 is applied to canvas, cloth, paper, felt, or any similar substance, 

 for roofing and other purposes. This is doubtless the " elastic 

 slate" of which we have already heard from America. It soon 

 hardens, and by the action of the elements, or by means of 

 chemical action within itself, becomes, it is said, so indurated 

 as to be almost as impervious to the action of fire or water as 

 slate itself, though considerably less brittle. It has been ap- 

 plied as cement for cisterns, tanks, cellar floors, leaky hydrants, 

 pipes, and pumps. Ink-stands have been made of it while in a 

 plastic state, which have become as hard as stone. It has also 

 been applied as a cheap paint to outbuildings and fences. 



All vegetable productions seem to be on a gigantic scale 



in California, the native country of the Wellingtonia. We 

 have recorded the size of some, and have read of more of the 

 huge dimensions of the fruits and vegetables produced there, 

 and now we are told that the largest Grape Vine in the world is 

 there. The Alta Californian newspaper says that this Vine is 

 at Monticito, four miles from Santa Barbara. " Its dimensions 

 and yield would be incredible, were it not that my informant is 

 a man of veracity, and speaks from personal observation. It 

 is a single Vine, the main stock being 10 feet in circumference. 

 It is trained upon a trellis CO feet in diameter. My informant, 

 with another person, counted seven thousand bunches, and the 

 estimated yield was 18,000 lbs. of fruit ! " 



