17 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ Angast 26, 1876. 



intfrest, as well as to the Bcientifio. The Feeds were presented 

 by Colonel Trevor Clarke, who obtained them as the result of 

 crosfing a Melon with Telegraph Cucumber. It partakes chiefly 

 of the character of the Cucumber, the leaves being much the 

 fame in form and roughness, while the fruit in shape has a 

 close resemblance but is covered over with a fine network, the 

 most evident trace of the mother. Sageret and Naudin seem 

 to have before tried to cross these plants, and meeting with no 

 snecess considered them as specifically distinct on that account. 

 It may seem superfluous to say anything on the point of dis- 

 tinctness, but we read in Parwin's " Animals and Plants under 

 Domestication " that " There is a race of Melons in which 

 the fruit is so like that of the Cucumber, both externally and 

 internally, that it is hardly possible to distinguish the one 

 from the other except by the leaves." Further on we have 

 information that, we venture to say, is not known to cultivators 

 as a rule. Some Melons weigh as much as CO lbs., while others 

 are no larger than small Plums. One is not more than an 

 inch in diameter, and is sometimes more than a yard long, 

 twisting about in all directions. A variety from Algiers is 

 remarkable from announcing its maturity by spontaneous and 

 almost sudden dislocation ; deep cracks suddenly appear, and 

 the fruit falls to pieces. The varieties of the Melon are endless. 

 Naudin after six years' study had not come to the end of them. 



Ou Ihe rockwork we shall mention one very charming plant 

 . — Erpetion reniformis, the Australian Violet. It is now placed 

 in the genus Viola, and has only been distinguished by the 

 lower petal wanting a spur and the anthers a dorsal appendage. 

 The leaves are reuiform, clothing the ground with a carpet of 

 preen, while the flowers rise erect on slender stalks, the centre 

 jilac, each petal tipped with white. At the Jardin des Plantes 

 of Paris a short time ago we saw a perfect specimen. It was 

 growing under a bell-glats in a shaded position, and so situated 

 is quite at home for the summer ; but not being thoroughly 

 hardy, must be preserved in a frame during winter. 



In the Succulent house are t vo plants of Decabeloneelegans, 

 each with a flower. It U closely allied to Stapelia, but has 

 funnel-shaped flowers. As a new plant we gave a detailed 

 description at page 485, June 18th, 1874. 



In the Herbaceous ground Clematis Davidiana is very attrac- 

 tive from the dense fascicles of its pale blue flowers. It is 

 allied to C. tubulosa. Campanula isophylla alba is a welcome 

 compinion for the blue-flowered species ; it originated here 

 among a batch of seedlings. Linum salfoloides is one of the 

 most choice and distinct for rockwork; the stems are very 

 slender, and support a multitude of white flowers tinged with 

 lilsc in the centre. Eucomis punctata from the Cape seems to 

 be hardy ; it now has stately flower spikes, and though green- 

 flowered it is worth growing from its distinct character. 

 Eryngium Snmbul unfortunately has not matured fruit, pro- 

 bably from the extraordinary continuance of wet weather 

 during the time of its flowering. We understand that fruit 

 has been ripened at St. Petersburgh. 



TAKING-UP AND STORING POTATOES. 



Mr. Kecoed has, on page 110, recommended a plan adopted 

 by Mr. Durey of Hothfield in order to mitigate the effects of 

 the disease. This is the very simple process of pulling-up the 

 haulm and leaving the tubers in the ground. It is a pretty- 

 well-ascertaiued fact that if the haulm is pulled away from the 

 rows soon enough — that is, before they are in any way affected 

 by the murrain — the crop itself is safe ; but if the haulm is 

 once affected, even if only slightly, the removal of the haulm 

 then is no safeguard against the disease destroying the tubers ; 

 these will decay as rapidly as if the haulm had not been 

 removed. 



By experiments extending over a series of years I have found 

 that by removing the haulm from early Potatoes in July, before 

 any signs of the disease have been manifest, the tubers if left 

 in the ground for months are not afterwards affected by the 

 murrain however virulent it may be on the later crop, and 

 also on the early crops, from which the haulm had not been 

 removed, or had not been removed soon enough. 



Cutting off the haulm is not nearly so effectual aa pulling it 

 up, and pulling off is of no real use unless it is done before the 

 plants are affected. 



After the haulm is removed the tubers do not swell, and the 

 utmost watchfulness is needed to determine when the work 

 can be the most profitably done, f jr by pulling too soon we 

 sacrifice the bulk of the crop, and by postponing even a day 

 too long the work of removing the haulm is futile. When the 



disease has once become established in the plants it spreads 

 through the tubers whether the haulm is removed or not, pro- 

 viding the weather is propitious for fungus growth. 



For the rapid increase of the Potato fungus moisture is not 

 only needed but also a high temperature. If a moist high 

 temperature is provided the tubers will decay whether they are 

 out of the ground or undug; therefore an all-important point 

 to determine, by way of arresting the murrain, is — in what 

 place the tubers can be kept the most cool, whether In thin 

 rows under ground or in stores above it. Moisture alono 

 without heat does not foster the spread of the disease germs 

 which are already in the tubers nearly so much as does heat 

 without moisture. As an example, take up tubers from an 

 affected crop and bury a portion thinly in a cool moist place 

 in the garden, and at the same time introduce another portion 

 into a heated structure of any kind having a minimum tempe- 

 rature of 7U'. Those in the heat, even if kept dry, will decay 

 with great rapidity, while those which are cool, if moist, will 

 remain apparently sound for a great length of time. 



Merely storing thinly will not check the spread of the dis- 

 ease unless the temperature is cool. A single layer in a tem- 

 perature of 70° will decay, while a layer a foot thick with a 

 temperature of 50° will remain sound, or at any rate the dis- 

 ease will be quiescent. This is an important point to bear in 

 mind in the storing of Potatoes. 



In the large Potato-growing districts it is a common prac- 

 tice to cart the Potatoes into heaps by the side of corn stacks, 

 so that poles can be leaned over them and covered with tar- 

 paulin to protect them from rains until the bulk can be sorted 

 by women and children. I have seen such heaps on the south 

 side of stacks a mass of rottenness, those on the north side not 

 being nearly so bad. The difference in temperature was plainly 

 the reason of the difference in the decay. No practice can well 

 be more reprehensible than to pile a disease-infected crop into 

 large heaps, where they must necessarily remain for a consider- 

 able time before they can be sorted. A practice such as that, 

 and it is a very common one, is really an invitation to the 

 disease to come and do its worst. It is, by the heating which 

 must inevitably take place in a large heap of newly-dug Pota- 

 toes, creating the very medium in which the Potato fungus 

 luxuriates, and which must end in the destruction of the bulk 

 of the produce. Better, far better, than this is it to leave 

 them in the ground until November, where the tubers will be 

 cooler and an infinitely greater portion of them will remain 

 sound. 



I am one who believes that there is a great deal of force in 

 the practice of Mr. Durey as quoted by Mr. Record, simple as 

 it may appear, and unlikely as, at the first glance, it may seem 

 calculated to mitigate the destruction of the tubers. 



The storing of Potatoes is an important matter, and by in- 

 judicious treatment in this respect thousands of tons of valu- 

 able produce have been ruined. So far as I have been able to 

 judge it is a vital point to keep the tubers cool. If they can be 

 stored cooler out of the ground than in, take them up ; but if 

 they are cooler in the ground than out of it, leave them undug 

 until November. This advice is not founded on theory alone, 

 but actual practice. I cannot, however, go further into the 

 matter at the present, but the question is worthy attention, 

 and cultivators would do good service by recording their ex- 

 perience of the best treatment of the crop at the time of its 

 harvesting. — Yobkshireman, 



FEUIT ROOM. 



In all large places, where a quantity of fruit has to be kept 

 in good condition until its proper time of ripening, a good 

 fiuit-room is an indispensable adjunct. This season there is 

 every prospect of good crops of fruit, and no doubt many a 

 gardener will be puzzled to know where to store it, and will 

 be compelled to make use of many makeshift plans where it 

 will he impossible to keep it, or to examine it as it ought 

 to be. It will be thrown in heaps like so many Potatoes, where 

 decay will speedily take place after it is gathered; and on the 

 first general examination, which will probably take place the 

 first wet day that happens after it is all collected, it will be 

 found that a great quantity of the fruit is iu all stages of 

 decay, and that basketful after basketful of the once beautiful 

 Pears or Apples has to be consigned to the rot-heap or a 

 dessert for the pigs — a waste which the gardener can in no 

 way avoid if a suitable structure is not provided for storing. 



Gardeners who have a large quantity of fruit to keep, and 

 who are not provided with proper structures, should point out 



