480 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 25, 1866. 



Grapes, averaging 2 lbs. each. How long does " Vitis " think 

 an inside border, 3 feet deep, would have supplied food enough 

 for a Tine like this ? 



I therefore maintain, that to make a permanent Vine border 

 the directions given at pages 289 and 290 are correct, and in 

 accordance with sound practice ; for whether is it easier to 

 make one good, lasting border, or to be at the trouble and ex- 

 pense of making a fresh border every seven or ten years, be- 

 sides the great disadvantage of keeping one's employer's table 

 badly supplied with Grapes for a year or two after each renova- 

 tion? The expense is not so great to gentlemen, for there is 

 generally a piece of land from which the sods can be cut, and 

 there is* usually plenty of soil that can be spared from the 

 precincts of a garden for spreading over the ground where the 

 sods have been taken from. This being done, a few pecks of 

 grass seeds soon make all right there. Bones cost about 

 £10 10s. a ton, and one or two tons will go a long way ; as 

 for lime rubbish, this is generally found in quantities at most 

 places, and charcoal can easily be made on the spot. In cases 

 where the whole of the material has to be bought, a visit to 

 Garston* will satisfy the most confirmed grumbler that it will 

 pay to make Vine borders permanently and properly, and that 

 a thing once well done is always done. — J. Wills. 



■HONEST AS TRUTH ITSELF." 



[That should be the motto of every nurseryman's catalogue, 

 and it should contain no statement not founded on experience. 

 If it is not so characterised the issuer will lose many such de- 

 sirable customers as he who wrote to us the following. — Ens.] 



Expekiexce seems to have taught some of your correspon- 

 dents that the descriptions given by French Rose-growers of 

 their new or untried productions are not strictly to be relied 

 on. I have small sympathy with dealers of any kind who try 

 to pass off rubbish for treasure ; but if excuse is to be found 

 for any of the class, it is for the raisers of new varieties, 

 whose parental partiality unfits them for criticising fairly the 

 merits of their own seedlings. No such excuse can be made 

 for the mere growers of well-known plants ; yet their cata- 

 logues often so describe these plants, that purchasers unac- 

 quainted with them are induced to become their possessors, 

 and to place them in positions for which they are totally un- 

 fitted, and in which they eventually die. 



I have before me the catalogue of a leading nurseryman in 

 the midland counties — one who I know from experience is very 

 particular in supplying good stuff to his customers, and I find 

 he states that Larix Kn?mpferi is a noble tree, of great commer- 

 cial value, and is quite hardy ; that Sciadopitys verticillata 

 grows from 100 to 150 feet high, and has already proved itself 

 perfectly hardy ; that Mahonia japonica and JIahonia inter- 

 media are proved to be the hardiest of all plants. 



Now, sir, I believe these two Mahonias are tolerably hardy 

 in many parts of Britain ; that they are not, however, what 

 they are described to be I venture to assert, since, while many 

 evergreens and shrubs grow luxuriantly here, these Berberries 

 are half killed without fail every winter. But what do you say 

 to Larix Kaampferi towering up in these islands of ours to a size 

 that shall be of great commercial value ? or Sciadopitys verti- 

 cillata exceeding the height of our largest forest trees ? Is 

 there not some stretch of imagination here ? Or is the word 

 " hardy " used with reference to the native country of the plant 

 described, and not with reference to the country into which the 

 trees have been imported ? I have purchased so many plants 

 described as hardy, which have perished in the winter's frosts, 

 that I should feel grateful to you if you would impress upon 

 nurserymon the great advantage of being strictly honest iu 

 describing their plants. I do not mean to blame all indis- 

 criminately, but I do say the vice is not uncommon ; and 

 nothing is so exasperating to any one commencing to plant, 

 as to find that half the nice things that cost so much money 

 are dead, although they were sold as " perfectly hardy." — 

 Monticola. 



Lakge Wellingtoxia gigantea. — I send the dimensions of 

 one that is in the arboretum here, and which has a very ex- 

 posed aspect, receiving the full force of the south west wind. 

 The arboretum slopes gently to the south, and the subsoil is 

 clay and sand. The height of the Wellingtouia is 24 feet ; its 



* la my description of Mr. Meredith's large h*use, page 403, 1st column, 

 14th line, read, " There are two flank walks, 3 feet wide." 



circumference of stem at 3 inches from the ground, 5 feet 

 2 inches. It is beautifully clothed with branches from the top 

 to the bottom. 



■We have also a large Juniperus recurva ; but in July and 

 August it turned very brown. Is it a tree subject to the attacks 

 of red spider? if so, how could this be destroyed? or is it a 

 characteristic of the Junipers to turn brown during those 

 months? — J. Sharp, Gardener to A. Barton, Esq., Bislwpstoke, 

 Hants. 



ADVANTAGE OF PLANTING EARLY WHOLE 

 POTATOES. 



About twenty-four years ago I planted several rows of the 

 same variety of Potatoes, some with small cut sets, some with 

 large cut sets, others with small and large whole Potatoes. 

 When dug it was ascertained that the largest whole sets yielded 

 the weightiest crop, and the small cut sets the lightest. Since 

 that time I have been in favour of planting large whole Pota- 

 toes, notwithstanding the large proportion of unsaleable Pota- 

 toes generally produced by planting them. Perhaps this is one 

 of the reasons that cut sets are generally resorted to by the 

 great majority of farmers and others. With the view of im- 

 proving the quality and increasing the quantity of those raised 

 from large whole sets, about seven years ago I caused all the 

 stems, except the best one, to be pulled from each of the seta 

 while the Potatoes were being hoed, and in this I succeeded far 

 beyond my expectations. From a series of trials 1 have found 

 that it is most unwise and unprofitable to plant cut Potatoes 

 of any kind, and more especially those of the early sorts, 

 which are frequently disbudded twice, and sometimes thrice 

 before being planted, consequently the sets are so much drained 

 and weakened by the cutting and disbudding, that many of 

 them perish from exhaustion or dry rot, and those that grow 

 are generally weak and unproductive. Besides, cut Potatoes, 

 although not destroyed by disbudding, are frequently damaged 

 with dry rot when planted in drills that have been much ex- 

 posed to the sun, owing to the sap of the Potatoes being ab- 

 sorbed by the dry material in which they are planted : hence 

 the propriety of planting whole Potatoes to avoid the risk of 

 being so damaged. Early Potatoes would be much more pro- 

 ductive than they usually are if proper means were taken to 

 prevent them from sprouting before they are planted. This 

 may be accomplished by storing them in cold cellars, or in dry 

 ground, sufficiently deep to exclude the heat of the sun from 

 them, or in an out-house, where they must be frequently turned 

 to prevent them from sprouting. 



I have long been impressed with the idea that good results 

 would follow from autumn planting, especially in the case of 

 early Potatoes in dry ground, where the tubers would remain 

 fresh and without budding until the soil became more or less 

 heated. If they are planted 5 or 6 inches deep they will not 

 be injured by frost although they should be frozen ; the frost 

 would leave the Potatoes undamaged at the same time that it 

 leaves the ground, provided that they are excluded from the 

 sun and air. They will, however, not be so early as those of 

 the same variety taken carefully from a pit or other Potato- 

 store, with sprouts on them, and planted about the beginning of 

 April. Some persons may doubt this ; but they have only to 

 make one fair trial to be convinced of the truth of this assertion. 



On the 20th of April of this year I resolved to ascertain by 

 a fair trial the difference between planting cut sets and whole 

 sets. The Potatoes used in the trial were Smith's Earliest, 

 which had been left in the ground during the winter, having 

 been missed by the digger, consequently they were fresh and 

 in good condition ; from these I selected seventy-two sets, 

 twenty-four of them being cut sets, weighing 1J lbs., twenty- 

 four small whole sets, weighing 2 lbs., and twenty four large 

 whole sets, weighing 5 lbs. The whole were planted at the 

 same time and on the same ground, and grown with the same 

 quantity and strength of liquid manure. The cut sets were 

 planted in two drills, 10 feet long by 2 wide, and 10 inches 

 apart. The small whole and large sets were planted respec- 

 tively in two drills adjoining each other, of the same dimen- 

 sions in every respect as those referred to, and of course the 

 large whole sets, as well as the small whole sets, were set only 

 10 inches apart, the same distance as the cuts. It will thus be 

 observed that twenty-four of either of the sets only occupied 

 40 square feet of ground. During the time of hoeing all the 

 shaws were pulled away from each of the whole sets, except 

 one, and that one had ample room to grow ; indeed, I am 

 convinced that if they had been planted 2 or 3 inches wider 



