u 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENBR. 



( July U.UM. 



allbonKU it is more tban a handred to ooe tlut I should ever 

 have thoagbt it out mvself. Tbe general orop of early Potatoes 

 was out o{ tbe gruuud two moDlbs loDgsr last year tban it 

 will be tbis. If tbis were n season of rest I do not know tbat 

 it would so mucb matter : Lut it was not so. Wlieu a Potato 

 is thorougbly lipeued its next miesiou is to grow again. It 

 will not fail to do tbis, Kiren a temperature suGicieot to rouse 

 it from its slumbers. Tbe extiaoidinary boat of last summer 

 caused tbe sap to How early and continuously, so much so tbat 

 Mr. Ktcord says tbe sprouted eyes of bis tubers required " rub- 

 liiiig cil every week.'' AVbat a terribly exbauatiug process ! 

 Fancy rubbiog off tbe sprouts every week for four or five moutbs ! 

 The Potatoes planted in December bad a clear two moutbs' 

 grace over tbose wbicb bad t j undergo tbis exbausting ordeal 

 until tbey wore planted in February. Here, in my opinion, is 

 the point. It is not tbe long but tbe short season of rest, and 

 tbe long season of excitability and purposeless exhaustion, which 

 have crippled their resources. WTien put in tbe ground it was 

 their grave, from wbicb tbey had no strength to rise again. 



All tbis, however, does not so cleaily answer the case of 

 " U. H," u'bo co.nuot think his Potatoes were exhausted, as he 

 did not rub ( fl any sprouts. Well, tbis is exactly iny case, aud, 

 except on tbe theory of Mr. Berkeley, I oanuot account for it. 

 I know they were out of tbe ground too long, and were over- 

 lipened. I also know in a similar season hosv I should manage 

 ti^ seed so that it would grow as usual. That the seed Pota- 

 toes were too long out of tbe ground is proved by the fact 

 narrated by Jlr. P.ecord, tbtt tbe Potatoes dug up ou tbe 11th 

 of October and planted ia Febraary grew well, while a very 

 large per-centage of tbose taken up three months previously, 

 failed to appear above ground ; and, further, some which I 

 kept back until tbe end cf April for land which was not at 

 liberty before, have nearly all failed to appear. Again, a neigh- 

 bonr, an amateur and very successful Potato-grower, kept bis 

 out of tbe ground, waiting for fine weather, although they 

 sever bad a sprout rubbed off, and at least 80 per cent, have 

 never made their aopearance. 



My seed Potatoes were taken up in June, and spread thinly 

 in an airy chamber. They soon commenced to grow, but as 

 they were very thinly spread, and bad plenty of light, tbe eyes 

 did not elongate much. At tbe commencement of winter I 

 placed them on their ends (tbis makes them push fewer eyes 

 and much stronger), under tbe stage of a cool house ; they 

 still had plenty of light. Here tbey produced such sprouts as 

 I never before saw — not more than an inch long, and some 

 fully as thick as a man's finger, and as firmly attached as if 

 they bad been glued. I planted them in full confidence tbat 

 "upwards and onwards" was their certain and unimpeded 

 courso towards a fine yield. Now, in planting, some of tbe 

 very finest were put together in the frame, and marked to 

 note differences of produce. It is these exceptionally fine 

 one.= wbicb have not come up. In planting tbe south border, 

 what I considered tbe cream of tbe lot were picked out and put 

 in a few rows by themselves ; but the cream became sour — 

 they never came up ; while those which had not pushed so 

 strongly, and which were planted in tbe same border, as well 

 as in tlio open place befcra noticed, came up very well. Now, 

 I think, the cause herei s clearly over-ripening. On examining 

 those which refused to grow, I found tbe large stiff sprouts 

 had formed in thcrriselvee a Potato of fair size, accompanied 

 iby three or four more useless productions. 



I think, however, I have stronger evidence that the failures 

 are primarily tbe result of over-ripening; for some Potatoes 

 which had been kept iu a very cool place from the time of 

 taking up — in June, to the season of planting — in March, have 

 come up very well ; nothing could have orce up better or more 

 freely. I have giverf considerable attention to this subject ; I 

 have examined many plots, and, as far as possible, made my- 

 self acquainted with the seed and its manner of keeping, and 

 I find, without exception, ll-.'-.t the best pieces are the result of 

 seed whit h had been kept iu the coolest places, such as cellars 

 and tbe like. I have thus sirong grounds for my belief, that 

 if a snmmer similar to <he last occur, providing the seed be 

 kept in a very cool place, it will come up well in the following 

 spring, even if it be as wet and cold as tbat we have just passed 

 through. I have no experience with the early round Potatoes 

 spoken of by " H. H. ;" possibly, as he suggests, they may be 

 more hardy than tbe Kidneys. 



Mr. Becord asks if nny '• great" grower will tell him if tbe 

 topless progeny are any use. If be will pardon tbe presump- 

 tion of a " very little" grower, I will tell him they will, where 

 Urge enough, make good seed. I once helped to plant a 



piece of Ashleafa wbioh had been left oat of the ground tmtil 

 July ; tbey produced no tops, but some good tubers, which wers 

 planted, aud turned out quite satisfactorily. — J. W., Lincoln. 



PYRETHRUM CULTURE. 

 DoDBLE Feverfew being one of the plants mentioned by Aber- 

 crombie, may bo considered to bo an old favourite ; and in soma 

 gardens it is quite a weed, especially in old ones, where the 

 soil is light and dry. Tbe Pyrethrums cf tbat day, however, 

 consisted of the double white, aud a few starry-fiowered varie- 

 ties ; but great improvements have been made since then, 

 mainly by Mr. Salter, of Hammersmith. He has converted a 

 nearly fiat into a globular form, given ub broad in place of 

 narrow Uorets ; in fact, brought them to the floricts' standard 

 of excellence^tbe Eannnculus form. The flowers are larger, 

 of good form and substance, and the colours increased. Every 

 year Mr. Salter sends out many now sorts which are great 

 advances on older varieties, and I hope tbat he will some day 

 give us a good profuse-blooming yellow, of dwarf habit, that we 

 may be less dependant ou tbe Calceolaria for yellow in oar 

 bedding arrangements. A yellov,- Pyrethrum would be valuable, 

 for in light soils the Calceolaria is of little value in dry summers, 

 but there the Pyrelbium flourishes. 



Pyrethrums are not much employed at tbe present time in. 

 flower gardens. They grow too tall, and the flowers produced 

 are not of sufiicieutly long continuance. In wet seasons, too,, 

 tbey grow too much and flower too little, but the latter draw- 

 backs might be obviated by planting them in lighter and 

 poorer soil, and I think we shall soon see them entering into. 

 the bedding arraugemcnts of every garden. The old doable, 

 white has been very serviceable as a white bedding plant, its 

 flowers being very effective in flower beds or libbon borders 

 along with Scarlet Pelargoniums, and why should we not ua« 

 Pyrethrums now that we have them with flowers of better form, 

 when the plants are of better habit, and when tbey offer a 

 greater variety of colour? Plants with rose-coloured flowers 

 are scarce ; in Pyrethrums we have them ; and unlike Zonal 

 Pelargoniums they do not run to seed iu dry summers, nor aia 

 tbey so miserable-looking after a shower. 



Apart from their claims as bedding plants, Pyrethrums are 

 most useful for tbe summer and autumn decoration of borders^ 

 and for growing in pots out of doors. Finer objects than they 

 are in 'Jincb pots cannot well be imagined, the flowers eqoal- 

 ing tbose of a Pompon Chrysanthemum in size, and the plants 

 flowering most profusely, and being cf stiff, compact habit, 

 with a form that may bo called half-pyramidal. They are in 

 perfection from June to October, and plants might be flowered 

 at any time by keeping tbe flowers pinched off until within a 

 month of the time at which they are required to bloom, not 

 pinching later than the beginning of September for a late bloom 

 under glass. A few of the older kinds suflicicnt for a beginning 

 are: — 



Hera'.f.nn Stengor, bright rose. 



Iveryana, rose. 



Madame Furtado. vbite. 



Madlle. Mcnuier, blosb. 



Mr. Calot, dark red. Fine. 



Noblissima, rose centre. Large 

 aud fine. 



Princess Mettemich, white. Large 

 and fme. 



Eev. J. Dii, bright pink. 



Rose urn plenaui, light rose. 



Salter, bright rose. Large. 



Viliuorin, rosy pink with yellow. 



Form 



Very 



Alfred Salter, reddish rose. 



fine, like a lianaucalos. 

 Ariadue, rosy lilac. Large. 

 Boole de Neige, vbite. 



doable. 

 Comte de Momy. darkreddish rose. 

 Desdemona, biosh. Large. 

 Dr. Livingstone, llesh white. 



Large. 

 Fascination, shaded pink. Fine. 

 Floribnoda plena, rosy piiik. 

 Ilendersoui, dark red. Large 



flowers. 



Pyrethrum Golden Feather, with yellow foliage, and SO 

 effective as a bedding plant, must not be omitted. It is dwarf, 

 not exceeding 1 foot in height, but it has one great defect, that 

 of producing a number of very starry white flowers, which 

 ought to be pinched off as they appear-. It is then very effective, 

 especially iu light soils, where if permitted to flower and seed 

 it reproduces itself freely, and very truly. For bedding, it is, 

 perhaps, best raised from seeds eovm in July, in light sandy 

 loam, under a frame or haud-glass, until germination takes 

 place, after which gradually harden off the young plants, and 

 prick them out undtr a wall, or in a sheltered sunny position, 

 iu light soil enriched with leaf mould. Tbey will be fit for 

 planting-out in March or April. It is also easily increased from 

 cuttings slipped off close to the stem, the heel pared smooth, 

 and inserted in sandy soil in a shady place, covering with a 

 hand-glass. When they haye rooted, plant them out in a 



