Janoiu? 14, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



23 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



POTATOES IN 1874. 



HE above title is intended to imply a caution 

 that the noble tuber as grown in this country 

 is variable according to the climatic con- 

 ditions of each year ; and as the past may 

 be looked upon as a test year, the season 

 having been an unusually trying one, a few 

 notes of failures and successes may deter or 

 captivate. 



I have had on trial here about seventy so- 

 called varieties — early, general crop, and late. 

 The soil on which they were grown is an adhesive but 

 well-drained calcareous loam, almost devoid of siles, and 

 the general result I will first endeavour to define. 



A batch of earlies, previously sprouted in the light, and 

 under like conditions (an important consideration in test- 

 ing early Potatoes), were planted in sunny and sheltered 

 spots in the open air on the 21st of March in land in good 

 condition, without manure. These were injured by the 

 frosts of the 11th and 17th of May, and produced little 

 more than seed again, although the quahty was good. 



Another batch of earhes and second earlies, planted in 

 deeper soil in good heart with a special Potato manure 

 mixed with about three times its bulk of burnt earth 

 and rubbish in rows 3 feet apart on the 11th of April, 

 turned out a good crop both in quality and quantity, but 

 from the extreme drought in this district in the spring 

 and summer at " dig-day," they showed a tendency to 

 supertuberate. 



On the 16th of April I planted, after the plough, a large 

 quantity of earlies on a shallower soil with the same kind 

 of manure sown in, the drills. This planting barely pro- 

 duced seed again, although the quality was very fine. 

 The land never got thoroughly pulverised, and on raising 

 the crop in August the manure turned up as sown, no 

 rain having reached it. 



The late varieties, planted from the 18th to the 24th of 

 April without manure, had, when tried in August, vigor- 

 ous haulm with scarcely any tubers, and when lifted in 

 October they turned out a heavy crop of fair quality, but 

 have since shown considerable disease, and keep other- 

 wise badly. 



Amongst the earlies and main crop I only found a 

 single instance of disease, which appeared in the robust- 

 growing kidney Excelsior. And I may, perhaps, be par- 

 doned for here observing that I have always found that 

 the more vigorous and healthy a plant is the more sus- 

 ceptible is it of an attack of parasitic fungus, in case any 

 check is sustained in its growth, and providing the seeds 

 of the fungus be present. 



On the 23rd of February I planted under lights in a 

 slight bottom heat good-sized tubers of Early Handsworth 

 and King of Earhes, both round varieties ; Mona's Pride, 

 Walnut-leaf, old Early Ashleaf (the green sprouting va- 

 riety from Messrs. Hooper & Co.), and two other early 

 varieties, which turned out to be Walnut-leaf and Early 

 Ashleaf. The Early Handsworth was the first ready to 

 lift. This variety was sent out about fifteen years ago by 



No. 720.— Vol. XXVIII., New Seeies. 



Messrs. Fisher, Holmes, & Co., of the Handsworth Nurse- 

 ries, and, after trial by the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 was then considered to be the earliest, and this was con- 

 firmed by my own trials about the same time. I after- 

 wards accidentally lost the stock, and although I ordered 

 it of several respectable firms, I could not succeed in 

 getting it true until I wrote to Messrs. Fisher, Holmes, and 

 Co. It has also the shortest top of any Potato I know. 

 It produces from four to six fair-sized tubers at each root, 

 with few small. The flesh is firm, but yellowish ; flavour 

 good. It has probably gone out of fashion from being 

 somewhat below the average in productiveness ; but for 

 earliness it is invaluable. The absence of this variety 

 and the Coldstream Early from the recent trials at Chis- 

 wick is somewhat singular ; the latter variety having also 

 obtained a high character for earliness. In my own trials 

 the Coldstream was, however, later and taller than the 

 Handsworth and several of the other early varieties. 



King of the Earhes (American) is the handsomest of 

 the early round Potatoes, having firm white flesh; is 

 nearly as early and more productive than Handsworth, 

 but the flavour is sweetish, and unsuited to English tastes. 

 With this variety I took the prize for round Potatoes at 

 Northampton in September last in competition with most 

 of the well-known sorts produced on the fine garden land 

 in that neighbourhood. The true old Ashleaf followed 

 the Handsworth next under glass, and is to be preferred 

 also, on account of its shorter haulm, to the other kidney 

 varieties for forcing. But for open-air culture Myatt's 

 Ashleaf, or— what appears to be a very fine stock of it— 

 Veitch's Ashleaf, is the only one of the class I intend to 

 grow in future. 



For the general crop I have selected for quality from 

 the second earlies Mr. Fenn's Eector of Woodstock, a 

 very handsome flatfish round Potato ; Climax, very pro- 

 hfic ; the new American Snowflake, handsome and good ; 

 Cobbler's Lapstone ; Red Emperor, from Messrs. Barr and 

 Sugden, a good-lookmg reddish Potato ; and Mr. Fenn's 

 Bountiful, a first-rate medium-sized kidney. I shall also 

 grow again President, King of Potatoes, Beaconsfield, and 

 Premier (from Mr. Gilbert), all handsome, and apparently 

 useful sorts, but not tried here in sufficient quantity at 

 present. For appearance Parker's Ashleaf, a scarce flat- 

 tish-round variety; Giant King, and Jackson's Kidney 

 I think the handsomest of all Potatoes, and in this I am 

 supported by the opinions of Mr. C. Frisby, the clever 

 gardener to Mr. Chaplin, through whom I originally 

 received the sort, and Mr. Gilbert; but it is smooth- 

 skinned, and as it has r.irely more than a single eye, it 

 requires great care in planting, for if the sprout be rubbed 

 off the tubers sometimes never start at all. 



As a special and limited selection from the above for 

 small amateurs who garden in the rich old humus of 

 towns, I would recommend for early work Early Ashleaf 

 and Early Handsworth, to be followed by Veitch's Ash- 

 leaf, and for general crop Rector of Woodstock and Cob- 

 bler's Lapstone. These are true garden Potatoes. It is 

 not advisable to plant the coarse-growing later sorts in 

 such a position, as they can usua;lly be produced more 



No. 1872.- Vol. LIU., Old Series. 



