50 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I Jaonary 21, 1873. 



form an elegant border round the head of our composite 

 standard. In this case also a wire trellis is needful, which, 

 when the head is perfectly moulded, either may or may not be 

 removed, according as it is clumsy or otherwise. 



The common small-leaved Myrtle as a standard in a tiny 

 tub has an antique air about it, and it is easily grown without 

 wires. 



Very beautiful also is the Lavender Cotton plant {Santolina 

 incana), with leafage like delicate silver fllligreework, more 

 especially by gaslight. 



In growing all such small ware the pots must be kept plunged, 

 and care taken that they do not root into the material used , 

 otherwise on removal they may receive a check which their 

 small stock of vitality may not be able to overcome. — E. D. 

 Taylob. 



SIZE OF SETS AND SPACES FOK PLANTING 

 POTATOES. 



The best answers to your correspondent " Kittie's " in- 

 quiries are furnished by the results of the exhaustive, costly, and 

 carefully- conducted experiments of Mr. George Maw, F.L.S., 

 on the Potato crop at Beuthall, near Brosely, in 1864 and 

 1865, and reported in the " Journal of the Boyal Agricultural 

 Society," vol. iii., part ii., as a prize essay, «nd which will 

 well repay careful perusal. 



Mr. Maw in the latter year carried out 129 experiments with 

 various kinds of Potatoes in general cultivation on as many 

 trial plots extending over many acres, using sets of various 

 sizes, both whole and cut, planted with various manures, at 

 different distances, but all in rows 2 feet apart ; and in the 

 recapitulation of the general bearing of his systematic experi- 

 ments, the results of which he describes in detail, he states 

 that — 



" Firstly, Every increase in the size of the set, from 1 oz. up 

 to 8 ozs. in weight, produces an increase in the crop much 

 greater than the additional weight of the set planted. The nett 

 profit over and above the extra weight of the sets in planting 

 4-oz. sets in lieu of 1-oz. sets, amounted on the whole series of 

 experiments to between 3 and 4 tons per acre ; and the further 

 profit on the increase of the size of the set, from 4 oza. to 8 ozs., 

 averaged about 5 tons an acre, all the intermediate steps par- 

 taking proportionately of the increase. 



" Secondly, The advantages in favour of the_ large sets are 

 more marked in the late than in the early varieties. 



" Thirdly, In the use of small sets of from 1 oz. to 3 ozs. in 

 weight, a larger balance over and above the weight of the sets 

 was obtained by planting from 6 to 9 inches apart in the rows 

 than at wider intervals. 



"Fourthly, Increasing the intervals at which the sets are 

 planted, even of the largest size, in the rows to more than 

 12 inches, diminishes the crop, and the wider intervals induce 

 no increase in the weight of the produce of the individual sets. 



" Fifthly, It may be broadly stated that the weight of the 

 crop is proportionate to the weight per acre of the sets, and that 

 small sets will produce the same crop as an equal weight per 

 acre of large seta. The fact is, however, of limited application, 

 as a weight of very small sets equal to a weight of full-sized 

 Potatoes could not be got into the ground, except by planting 

 them so close as to be prejudicial to the crop. The advantage, 

 therefore, of large sets remains practically unimpaired. 



" Sixthly, Weight for weight cut sets produce, as nearly as 

 possible, the same weight per acre as whole Potatoes ; but for 

 the reasons given above the weight of the sets should not be 

 reduced by subdivision. 



" Seventhly, Smaller sets give a larger produce in proportion 

 to their weight than the larger sets. 



" Eighthly, When the intervals between the sets in the rows 

 are diminished to less than a foot, the produce of each individual 

 set is proportionately diminished. Though this is not neces- 

 sarily accompanied by a diminution of the weight of the crop, 

 no increase in the produce of each individual set is caused by 

 placing the sets at intervals wider than a foot. 



" Ninthly, With reference to ihe relative produce of different 

 varieties, a late red sort takes the precedence throughout the 

 experiments ; and of the several varieties of Fluke, ' Spencer's 

 King of Flukes ' and ' The Queen of Flukes ' are much more 

 prolific than the ordinary variety." 



But as Mr. Maw's experiments appear to have been con- 

 ducted principally in one season, and on one kind of soil, and 

 with a view to economical results as a farm crop, some allowance 

 may be made both for season and for the quality and depth of 

 soil, and also for garden cultivation, when it is sometimes found 

 economical to plant the Potatoes in rows at wider distances 

 apart for the purpose of providing for the more vigorous 



growth and taller tops, or for an intermediate cropof Broccoli, 

 Cabbage, or Brussels Sprouts, which is often secured with ad- 

 vantage by planting them between the rows of Potatoes before 

 the latter are lifted —a practice followed by many experienced 

 gardeners ; in which case the rows should not be less than 

 3 feet apart. Mr. Maw's distance of 2 feet apart may, how- 

 ever, be taken as a fair average for ordinary cultivation. A less 

 distance, taking 14 inches as a minimum, will generally secure 

 a first early crop, and 3 feet as a maximum for a late crop of the 

 coarser-growing sorts, but soil and season must not be lost sight 

 of. Wide intervals between the rows, from the extra ridging or 

 earthing they lead to, tend to make the Potato a preparatory 

 fertilising and cleansing crop, an object which Mr. Maw does 

 not appear to have had in view in calculating economically the 

 results. The preparatory and fertilising effects of the Potato 

 as a farm crop are well recognised in some of the alluvial low 

 lands of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, where it has of late 

 years become a common practice to alternate advantageously 

 Potatoes with Wheat successively for several years. 



Another paper, I believe also a prize essay, of the Boyal 

 Agricultural Society by the Bev. E. F. Manby on the cultiva- 

 tion of early Potatoes, furnishes a good deal of information as 

 to their profitable cultivation. — Thomas Laxton, Stamford. 



SELECTION OF FKUITS. 



Having under my charge about sixty varieties of Apples, I 

 have much pleasure in forwarding you a list of forty-five sorts 

 — viz., thirty dessert and fifteen kitchen varieties. All the 

 kinds herein named are good, and according to my experience 

 would not be easily beaten for succession and quahty com- 

 bined. 



Desifrt. 



Ashmead's Kernel 



Erabaut Belleflem- 



Court Pendu Plat 



l>utch Mijjuonne 



Early Harvest 



Early -Joe 



Juiieating, Red 



Maclean's Favourite 



Margil 



Nonpareil, Early 



Nonpaieil, Braddick'a 



Nonpareil, Pitmaston 



Nonpareil, Scarlet 



Pearmain, Baxter's 



Pearmain, Clay^'ate 



Peai-main, Mannington's (one of the 

 latest) 



Pippin, Cox's Orange 



Pippin, liibston 



Pippin, tjulden 



Pippin, Spring' {or Baddow) 



Pippin, Hughes' Golden 



Pippin, Stiumer (very late) 



Pippin, AVadiiurdt 



It may be well to mention that all the varieties named are 

 grown as bush or dwarf pyramids, and usually bear good crops 

 of fruit. But last season being an unusually bad one for 

 Apples, many of the trees here bore very little or no fruit, the 

 blossoms being completely out off by the late frosts of the last 

 spring. — G. A. Bkoiifield, Prittleiivll, Essex. 



Pippin, Wyken 

 Pomme Eoyale 

 Russet, byke House 

 Beiuette, Golden 

 Reinette, Grise d'Or 

 Fine Apple Russet 



KitcJten. 

 Blenheim Orange 

 Beauty of Kent 

 Bedfordshire Foundling 

 Cahnlle Blanche 

 Dutch Codiin 



Dumelow's Seedling (or Wellington) 

 Gravenstein 

 Hoilandbury Pippin (splendid 



colour-) 

 Here de Menage 

 Northern Greening (one of the 



latest) 

 Reinette dn Canada 

 Tower of Glammis (a good sort) 

 Walthara Abbey Seedling (good) 

 Warner's Ring (a very fine sort) 

 Winter Colman (very late) 



EOSES TO CLIMB UNDEB GLASS. 



Yellow. — Marcehal Niel, Gloire de Dijon, Triomphe de 

 Eennes, Celine Forestier, and MdUe. Aristide. Nankeen and 

 Copper. — Ophirie. Grlmson. — GencralJacqueminot and Charles 

 Leiebvre. liosy Crimson. — Madame Louise Carique and John 

 Hopper. Eose Colour. — Anna Alexieff, Baronne Prevost, La 

 A'ille de St. Denis, and Souvenir de la Beine d'Angleterre. 

 Bright Cherry. — Jules Margottin and Edward Morren. White. 

 — Acidalie. Briijht lied. — Vicomtesse de Vezins, Glory of Wal- 

 tham, and Madame C. Joigneaux. 3Iaroon. — Empcreur de 

 Maroc. Blood Purple. — Pierre Netting. BUu^h. — Souvenir 

 de la Malmaison. 



The five first are the strongest growers. Aristide is the 

 strongest grower of all. All wUl make fine climbers, say 

 10 feet high or more according to cultivation. The best type 

 of a pole or wall Bose is Ophirie ; it covers all its stems with 

 leaves or flowers, and blooms from its base. — W. F. Eadclyffe. 



The Connoisseur Pea.— I have been favoured last year by 

 several firms with samples of Peas for trial. One remarkable 

 Pea Mr. Laxton sent me 'with a few other kinds for trial. 



