Doo.Qit.er 18,1866. 1 



■JOUUNAL OF HOKTICUXTUKK AND COTTAGE GAliDENEK. 



t; : 



former expression as to not using a round one ; but I can only 

 say that I think we ought to have good, thoroughly good, 

 varieties of the kidneys to cany as all through, the see i n 

 The soil on which I have grown them is good friable loam, the 

 situation dry and open ; we have a good deal of sun and iiik.1i 

 wind. On this ground, then, I have planted the following 

 varieties : — 



1. Mona's Pride 



2. Milky White 



.'.. Gloucestershire Kidney 

 ■1. Telegraph fWebb's) 

 •;. President (Webb's) 

 ". Salmon Kidney 

 7. iied Ashleaf 



8. Unnamed Seedling 

 '.'. Daintreo's Lapstone 



1 '. I III. t, 'Mi- 

 ll. Rivera's Koyal Ashleaf 



•12. Covent Garden Blue 



■ 18. Early Don 



•11. Covent Garden Prolific 



• Round Potatoes. 



1. Mona't Pride. — A greatly, and I think unjustly, praised 

 Potato. It is early, but in no way equal to many we have, 

 and, although an abundant bearer, coarse in flavour and very 

 yellow. I have discarded this. 



2. MiVcy White. — This I received from tho well-known firm 

 of Messrs. Wheeler ,<: Son, Gloucester. It is one of the hand- 

 somest Potatoes grown, and well deserves its name, for it is 

 most beautifully white, very floury, and as a second early Potato 

 one that I do not hesitate to rega.'d as first-rate. It is also a 

 very free bearer. 



3. Gloucestershii e Kidney.— This I also obtained from Messrs. 

 Wheeler ; and although much esteemed in their neighbour- 

 hood, it does not answer my expectations. It certainly was here 

 not equal to many others which I have grown. 



4. Telegraph. — This seems to be very like a Potato sent out 

 by Mr. Turner, of Slough, some years ago, called Glory of Eng- 

 land, which was never good for anything in my soil, although 

 it grew very large, but it was always close and unpleasant. I 

 have found Telegraph to be much the same. 



5. President. — Bearing a strong family likeness to the pre- 

 ceding, and, like it, I have condemned it. 



G. Salmon Kidney. — An excellent late Potato, a productive 

 kind, and keeping well on until the end of May. It can 

 hardly be called kidney-shaped, as it is long and roundish, 

 with a good many eyes, but it is indispensable. 



7. Hid Ashleaf. — An excellent Potato, coming in as a second 

 early, very prolific, of true Ashleaf flavour and appearance, 

 save in the colour. This I had from my good friend Mr. Kud- 

 clyfl'e, and regard it as one of the very best that I have. 



8. l'i in ,i- ! Seedling. — This appears to be of the Lapstone 

 breed. I had it also from Mr. Radojyffe, and although not 

 equal to the Lapstone, I shall give it another trial. 



9. Daintrae's Lapstone. — This I had from Mr. Daintree. It 

 is a thorough Lapstone, but stronger in the haulm and hardier 

 than its parent ; it is also more productive and somewhat later, 

 so that 1 expect it will do to follow it, as it seems a good 

 keeper. 



10. Lapstone. — I still maintain my predilection for this, I 

 believe the best Potato for a main crop that we have in this 

 part of England. It is not very hardy, the tops becoming soon 

 affected by disease, and the produce is not equal to the require- 

 ments of a market gardener ; but for symmetry, excellence of 

 flavour, and general good quality, I look upon it as unsurpassed. 

 It will keep good until the end of March. 



11. Eivers's Boyal -' >hleaf, — I wa3 not able to report favour- 

 ably of this last year, and I have not altered my opinion of it 

 from this year's experience. It is a second early Potato, fairly 

 productive, and of average quality, hut it is yellowish when 

 boiled, and not, I think, equal to others which come in at the 

 same time. 



12. Covt nt Garden Blue. — A round Potato, of the Fortyfold 

 family I imagine, very prolific and floury. The flavour is also 

 v ery good, and it seems tolerably hardy. Would be greatly 

 liked, I think. I had it from Messrs. Earr & Sugden. 



13. Early Don. — An excellent round Potato, introduced, I 

 believe, from Scotland by Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing. 

 It is an abundant bearer, very good in flavour, and the best of 

 the second early round Potatoes. 



14. Covent Garden Prolific, — This I had also from Messrs. 

 Barr & Sugden, but I could see nothing in it that merited any 

 particular notice. It was prolific, but not more so than many 

 others. 



Besides the above, I saw growing in the field next to mine 

 Prince of Wales, or Boon to the World ! and I must say, greater 

 rubbish I never saw. It wa3 large and prolific, but, like the 

 horse that took half a day to catch, and wasn't worth catching i 



when you hud liim. si. this Batata is worthless, at le.Kt here. 

 It turns quite black immediately it is peeled, and was close 

 and ill-flavoured. My friend and neighbour Mr. Bobltt also 

 sent me HO-nie Silver-skins to try. They were Very hand- 

 some, but I did not think them equal in quality to some other. 

 I bare named. 



M> own conclusions are— To grow fur tirtt esrly the old 

 Ashleaf; for second early, Milky White and Bed Ashleaf; for 

 the main crop, Lapstone; to be followed by Daintree'ft Seed- 

 ling Lapstone, and to finish oil with the Salmon Kidney. 

 V, h ii lad ly paying a short visit to our worthy collab w w 

 Mr. Baddyifej he gave toe two ether kinds— Yoik-ddre Hero, 

 and a very late and ugly-looking kind called Grammars, which 

 he promised to be the latest and beat-keeping at all he knew. 

 I mean to try them this year. 



I hope that your readers will bear in mind that in this 

 communication my conclusions are drawn only from my own 

 experience, which may not tally with that of others in different 

 localities. I know what suits my soil and situation, and what 

 is agreeable to my own palate, and have written accordingly. 

 — D., Deal. 



HOT AIR FROM A KITCHEN RANGE. 



I have a small glass shed at tho back of the wall in which 

 my kitchen range is set, and thinking to have the benefit, when 

 occasion may require it, of a quantity of hot air which is con- 

 stantly in the oven, I had an iron pipe of abont two-inch bore 

 introduced into the oven from the glass shed, thinking that 

 when the connection was made, tho hot air would flow in 

 freely ; but instead of the hot air flowing through the pipe 

 from the oven into the shed, cold air rushes from the shed into 

 the oven. Can you suggest a cure ? — Rusticus. 



[You do not state in what position you made the hole in your 

 oven ; but to help you we will state the following facts : — Such 

 an oven as you describe would not act as desired until a hole 

 was made close to the bottom of the oven from the outside, and 

 another hole close to the top of the oven, and then the cold air 

 went in at the bottom, and the heated air came out at the top. 

 Two iron plugs were in readiness to put into these holes when 

 heat for culinary purposes was wanted in the oven. In another 

 case over a large iron, oven in a kitchen range ; not to interfere 

 with the oven at all, two iron plates, one in front and one 

 next the fireplace, shut in a hot-air chamber of a good size 

 above the oven, and openings were made from the outside 

 house at the bottom and the top of the chamber. These were 

 2.J inches wide, and G inches long, about the size of an ordi- 

 nary brick. Much heat was thus obtained, and the Polmaise 

 system of heating in miniature realised. The dry air was 

 damped by a woollen cloth in front of the openings, on which 

 a syphon of woollen list suspended from a small cistern kept 

 constantly dropping. In muggy, damp weather, the air was 

 damp enough without any cloth or syphon. ] 



DWARF FOLNSETTIAS. 



There is, perhaps, no inhabitant of a stove in winter of such 

 striking beauty as Poinsettia pulcherrima, with its terminal 

 disk of spreading bracts of the most glowing scarlet ; but it has 

 one great drawback— the shoots always grow to an unsightly 

 length before the bracts are formed. I have at length over- 

 come this difficulty in the following manner ; —Having kept 

 the store plants in a greenhouse during the summer, that the 

 growing wood might be hardened, I cut off, at the beginning of 

 August, about G inches of the tip of each shoot, thrust the cut 

 end into dry silver sand to stop the bleeding, and immediately 

 struck them in silver sand, taking special care to prevent the 

 leaves from flagging. To some I used bottom heat, to others 

 not : almost every one, however, struck readily ; and by the 

 first week in November, when they had attained from 8 to 

 15 inches in height, they began to display the scarlet bracts. 

 These have since expanded, without any increase of height ; 

 so that we have at this moment (December 12th), half a dozen 

 handsome Poinsettias, averaging a foot in height, perfect in 

 foliage and in colour, the scarlet disks certainly of fair di- 

 mensions — one measuring in greatest diameter 10), another 

 11 inches. 



Of course the best tops must be selected for striking, and 

 the process might, perhaps, with advantage be delayed to the 

 middle of August.— James Chddlei, Gardener to P. Ii. Gos.se, 

 Esq., Sandhurst, Turquay, 



