September 23, 18G9. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDEWKR, 



meution in feeling terms the loss which the Society had sustained in 

 Mr. Veitch, of Cbelsea^and Mr. Robert Thompson. 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley then pointed out to the meetinf* the fine 

 specimens of Pino cones from Mr. Cox, of KedJeaf, particularly Finns 

 Smithiana, commonly known as Finns Morinda, and the species under 

 the name of Ficea ccphalouica, which, however, he believed not to be 

 true to name, Ficea cephalonica leing rather tender. The fruiting of these 

 Conifers he believed to be in some measure owing to the wood being so 

 well ripened last year. A Fungus found in a sewer was next noticed 

 as being probably a singnlar form of Agaricus ostreatns; and in con 

 nection with this it was mentioned that the exhibition of eilible and 

 poisonons Fungi is fixed for the next meeting. 



Mr. Berkeley having adverted to Mr. Fenn's exhibition of Potatoes, 

 consisting of two series, in which Hogg's Coldstream and Shutford 

 Seedling, and Early Emperor and Fenn's Onwards, were respectively 

 the male and female parents, mentioned that some of the progeny had 

 actually degenerated so mnch as to resemble the wild Potato. He 

 then read tho f jilowing paper by Mr. Fenn on the results of grafting 

 Potatoes : — 



I grafted tbia year Rett Ashleaf on Dickson's Premier, Paterson's 

 Scotch Blue on Royal Albert, and vice versd. I have been unfortunate 

 this season in regard to the " taking " oi the grafts. I pliinted and kept 

 the grafted sets in 6-inch pate, contrary to ray later practice of planting 

 them in the open ground when the shoots in the pots have pushed 5 or 

 6 Inches out of the soil. This may have tended to cause non-success 

 as regards the cicatrisation of the skins ; nevertheless, suffieiout results 

 have been arrived at to aflord conclusive evidence as to the possibility 

 of grafting one Potato with the eye of another. 



On July 14th, I examined two sets, an eye of Royal Albert (a handsome, 

 round, white Potato), grafted on Paterson's Scotch Blue. The eye had 

 held perfectly i;ist to the tuber, thereby giving hope of some inflaence 

 being exerted between the stock and the graft. I made the ^raft fit as 

 perfectly as possible into the wedge-'ike, sliced-out cavity in the tuber, 

 but at the above date tho gi-nft liad swelled-out of its first position, 

 though not sufficiently to disunite itself from the cicatrix of its own skin 

 and that of the stock on one side. I gave several good tugs at the graft, 

 but I could not displace it, and I sent it to Dr. Masters to verify this 

 result. Dr. Masters wrote me in answer, " In one case the cohesion was 

 evident, but I do not see that the new tuber or the haulm is at all 

 afl'ected by the grafting process. We must have more conclusive evidence 

 than that. I see the union is not merely along the rinds, but in the 

 cellular mass of the Potato as well. I have forwarded the tubers to 

 Chiswick. Tho whole subject is very interesting." 



The other sort sent to Dr. Masters was the eye of a Paterson's Scotch 

 Blue on Royal Albert, no cicatrix, or union of the skins, had formed, 

 but some of the young tubers were half-coloured, others less coloured, 

 and one was perfectly white, none of them showing bliie all over like the 

 sort. I asked Dr. Masters to forward them to Mr. Barron, and request 

 him to plant them and note %vhether the colouring was permanent. 



Now for " more couclu'^ive evidence." I wrote on the 14th of July 

 that I durst nL>t then meddle with tho roots of my last year's grafted 

 Potatoes. Their appearance I noted thus :— Fenn's Onwards on Almond's 

 Yorkshire Hero : an Onwards bauim, but earlier, and very diminutive in 

 comparison. Hero on Onwards: I cin perceive no difi'ei-ence in the 

 haulm as compared with those not grafted, except, perhaps, that the 

 foliage of the grafted sets is of a moro g'nzcd prpt-n. Yorkshire Hero on 

 Fluke : haulm looldng like that of the true Yorkbhire Hero, with not a 

 symptom of the dark green tinge of the Fluke foliage. Milky White oil 

 Yorkshire Hero : haulm like that of a diminutive Milky White, quite 

 ripenint: off, whilst its namestike by its side was in full vigour of leaf. 

 Milky White £!rafted on Fluke (this I did fcy mistake; 1 intended to have 

 grafted the Milky White un itself, to try what would be the efl'eet, if 

 any) : haulm showing quite a different character from that of Milky 

 White, being not so branching, and of a darker, more upright, and more 

 robust habit. All tho above examples in 18G3 united at theii- rinds more 

 or less completely soon after they were planted out— a fact which I proved 

 by inspection. 



I planted tho above-named Potatoes on April I5th, when tho grRft of 

 Onwards on Hei'o showed sprouts decidedly gi-eener than those of the 

 true Onwards ; and when I dug them up, on August 9th, their haulm was 

 not nearly so ripe as that of the latter, and their produce generally, for 

 form, proved rounder than Onwards. The Milky White grafted on the 

 Fluke is the only other decided '•conclusive evidence," and that is con- 

 clusive enough in tho wrong direction ; the character, as well as the 

 Potato, being quite spoilt. In short, I may have gained {but I must wait 

 another year to prove it), an improvement by grafting tho Onwards on 

 Yorkshire Hero, and that I fear will prove at the most bat a mere penny- 

 worth of Potato to a sack of trouble, though I shall be well content if, by 

 the experiment, I have added my mite to the science of horticulture. 



The subject, Mr. Berkeley said, was one of great imjiortance, and 

 Mr. Fenn's paper very suggestive- 



Mr. Murray drew attention to a collection of Cacti from Mr. Wick- 

 ham, who was travtjlling on the banks of the Orinoco, and moved a 

 vote of thanks to the exhibitor, and this having been passed, the pro- 

 ceedings closed by the Chaii-man anuounning the next meeting would 

 be held on October 5th, when there would be an exhibition of Grapes 

 as well as that of Fungi previously referred to. 



it onght to have been two months after coming through the 

 ground.— W. T. 



[The bonefifc to the Strawberries must not be altogether 

 ascribed to the salt in this instance, for the oil and other refuse 

 from the herrings are powerful fertilisers.— Eds.] 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 



We give below the results of experiments with fourteen 

 varieties of seed Potatoes conducted under the direction of 

 Admiral Hornby. All the varieties are treated alike, and sown 

 in black soil on the Kuowsley Cottage Farm. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 

 0, 8, 9, 13, and 14, ware obtained from Scotland. AU these are 

 good eatiug Potatoes, the first particularly so ; and of this kind 

 beautifully shaped single Potatoes have been turned up from 

 28 to 31 ozs. in weight. 



Ko. ^e'd^go^f Names of Potatoes. Weit^'ht of Marketable Produce. 



1. 34 lbs. ., Paterson's Blue 618 lbs., or 44 times weight sowU. 



2. 141bs. .. Paterson's Kegent 539 lbs., or 38 times. 



3. 14]ba. .. Paterson's Red 401 lbs., or 38^ times. 



4. 14 lbs. .. Daintree's Early 394 lbs., or 28 times. 



5. 1411)3. .. Paterson's Oval Blue .. 359 lbs., or 25 times. 



6. 14 lbs. .. Puter.^on's Victoria .... 829 lbs., or ii3A times. 



7. 14 lbs. .. Webb's Imperial 272 lbs., or 19 times. 



8. 14 lbs .. Paterson's Napoleon .. 229 lbs., or 16 times. 



9. 341bs. .. Dalmahoy 221 lbs., nearly 16 times. 



1?. 14 lbs. .. Pinkeye iiemp 200 lbs., over 14 times. 



11. 14 lbs. .. Arrowsmith's Seedling 179 lbs., or 13 times. 



12. 14 lbs. .. Fluke 95 lbs., or 7 times. 



13. 14 lbs. .. Bloomer 92 lbs., or G.^ times. 



14. Bibs. .. Rosse's Early 272 lbs., or 34 times. 



— (The Gardener.) 



SALT FOR STRAWBERRIES. 



The quantity of salt used by mo for the Strawberry plants 

 (see page 218), was the contents of a hernug barrel — that is, 

 the brine that a barrel of herrings contained, and I spread it 

 between two rows of about sixteen plants on each tide, thirty- 

 two plants altogether. You will see, therefore, it was a good 

 pickling, and to all appearance yet the plants ure much bene- 

 fited by it, being the most healthy of any. There has been a 

 mistake with the Potato ripening in two months from planting ; 



GARDENS IN EAST KENT— NEWLANDS. 



Newlands, the residence of James Lake, Esq., is near the 

 direct road from Faversbam to Sittingbourne, aud about three 

 miles from Faversham. The surrounding country presents no 

 striking feature, no view on which the eje "loves to linger;" 

 the only prospect of any considerable extent being across the 

 low, flat marshes of TL\vnham, over the dreamy Swale, famous 

 for its oyster beds, with the Isle of Sheppy in the distance. 

 The soil of the neighbourhood is generally a deep rich loam, 

 but it varies very much, and would form an interesting study 

 for the geologist ; in a radius of a few miles may be found deep 

 beds of clay or brick earth nest to equal depths of a smooth 

 kind of sand containing very little gritty matter ; then may be 

 seen beds of gravel of irregular depths, and then, as at New- 

 lands, solid beds of chalk of immense thickness. 



Passing from the entrance along the carriage drive, bordered 

 with shrubs, the mansion, a modern buildiug of moderate di- 

 mensions, is before us. At the extremity of this drive, on the 

 right, advantage has been taken of a vacancy in the shrubs, 

 caused, probably, by the proximity and shade of many lofty 

 deciduous trees, to form an ornamental fernery, which struck 

 me as being in very good taste. It consists principally of a 

 prettily-constructed archway leading to a winding path which 

 is lost among tho trees ; the vacant space on each side of the 

 archway is occupied by irregular masses of brick burrs, of 

 which material the arch is also formed. The burrs are a 

 number of bricks, which, having run together in the kiln, are 

 useless for building purposes ; they are slate-coloured or bluish 

 grey, a fine neutral tint, harmonising well with the sombre 

 hue of the daik foliage of the surrounding trees. Many choice 

 Ferns were flourishing among the burrs. I particularly noticed 

 a handsome specimen of Lastrea Filix-mas cristata angustata. 



A door close to the fernery opeas into a back yard, on the 

 oppo&it,e eidecf which is the principal kitchen gardeu, enclosed 

 by walls and glass houses. Turniug to the right from the 

 entrance we at once come to the orchard house, a somewhat 

 low lean-to 80 feet long by 1-1 feet wide; it is glazed with 

 Hartley's rough plate glass, and heated by two 4-iuch pipes. 

 The front is occupied with Peach and Nectarine trees planted 

 in the border, and trained to the roof, which is supported by a 

 number of light iron pillars along the centre. At each of these 

 pillars a Vine is planted, tho principal kind boiog Blacl^JIam- 

 burgh. These Vines are trained under the upper part of the 

 roof, and were in full health and vigour, and laden with a 

 heavy crop of fine, well-t^houldered bunches, numbering fully 

 five hundred— a splendid crop, but not superior to that of last 

 year, which I saw a little later in the season. As the fruit 

 hangs on a level with the eyes of a person standing erect, the 

 number of bunches appears perfectly bewildering, but notwith- 



