722 Retrospective Criticism. 



shall raise in the present year, 1828, nearly as large a tain friend near Haddington, to let us 

 produce per acre of a very well known small early know the heaviest crop of potatoes he 

 variety, the Ashleaved Kidney Potato. Of this has ever heard of having been grown in 

 variety I selected in the present spring the largest Scotland; and Mr. Fraser would much 

 tubers which I could cause to be produced in the last oblige us by similar information with 

 year; and I have planted them nearly in contact regard to Ireland, 

 with each other in the rows, and with intervals, on 



account of the shortness of their stems, of only 2 ft. — ^— 



betv/een the rows. The plants at present display an 



unusual degree of strength and vigour of growth, arising from the very large size (for that variety) 

 of the planted tubers ; and as large a breadth of foliage is exposed to the light by the small, as 

 could be exposoil by a large, variety ; and as I liave always found the amount of the jiroduce, 

 under any given external circumstance, to be regulated by the extent of foliage which was exposed 

 to light ; I think it probable that I shall obtain as large, or very nearly as large, a crop from the 

 small variety in the present year as I obtained from the large variety in the last. 1 have uni- 

 formly found, that to obtain crops of potatoes of great weight and excellence, the period of planting 

 should never be Liter than the beginning of March. 



p. s. March 23. 1829. Somewhat contrary to my expectations, the produce of the small early 



potato exceeded very considerably that of the large one above mentioned ; being per acre 665 

 bushels of 82 pounds. It is usually calculated by farmers that eighty pounds of potatoes, though 

 eaten raw% after they have begun to germinate, will afford two pounds of pork ; and I doubt much 

 if the haulm, and the whole of the manure made by the hogs, were restored to the ground, whether 

 it would be in any degree impoverished. I am not satisfied that it would not be enriched, — an 

 important subject for consideration in a counti-y of which the produce is at present unequal to sup- 

 port its inhabitants, and which produce is, I confidently believe and fear, growing gradually less, 

 whilst the number of its inhabitants is rapidly increasing. 



Whitmore Lodge. — In speaking Cp. 564.) of the high order in which we 

 found this place, we inadvertently omitted to do justice to the gardener, 

 Mr. William Dalby, who is not only skilful and diligent in his profession, 

 but, as his master writes, conducts himself " entirely to my satisfaction^ 

 and a more diligent, industrious, young man has never been in my ser- 

 vice." We have sent him Vol.1. Mag. Nat. Hist., as at once a mark of 

 our approbation, and an expression of our regret at having for a moment 

 seemed to forget him. — Cond. 



AshteadPark. — There are a few things in your notice of this place a 

 little calculated to lead to misapprehension : — 1. the grass-rake is not my 

 invention ; 2. the sketch from the flower-garden is the centre piece only, 

 not the whole ; 3. the garden ground here is not good but had for grow- 

 ing carrots, although it grows them tolerably w ell for summer use ; 4. I do 

 not so much disapprove of cropping fruit-tree borders, as of digging them, 

 which is in some measure implied in the word cropping ; but it is the 

 digging which is the direct and immediate cause of the mischief. — Johii 

 Hislop. AshteadPark, Oct. 13. 1829. 



Such mistakes are unavoidable in the hurried glances which we are often 

 obliged to take ; we were not much above a quarter of an hour at Ashtead, 

 and during the whole time it rained. The great thing is to correct these 

 mistakes as soon as we are informed of them, which we always have done, 

 without a single exception, and always shall do. No one that is eager to 

 make advances of any kind, or in any way, can e.xpect to do so without 

 committing errors : but the advance being made remains a permanent 

 good, while the error is corrected and forgotten. — Cond, 



Effect of Inoculation on the Russian Transjiarent Crab. — In p. 534. you 

 give some minutes of the Caledonian Horticultural Society : among these 

 is a communication from Captain Smith, of Dysart, describing the effect of 

 inoculating the Russian transparent crab with buds of the Ganges apple ; by 

 which union the fruit of the latter assumes the transparent property of the 

 former. How can this be accounted for ? Has any similar effect ever been 

 noticed by any of your correspondents ? It is completely in the teeth of 

 all our previous knowledge on the subject. — J. M. Chelsea, August, 18^9. 



Sweet's Hortus Pritdnnicus. — Seeing you wish to make your Magazine 

 a vehicle of public utility and improvement, I take the liberty of suggesting, 

 through this medium, to Mr. Robert Sweet, that it would be a most import- 

 ant and valuable addition to his Hortus Britdnniciis, if, in the ne.xt edition, 

 he would add a column in which might be given, after the name anil de- 

 scription of each plant, a reference to one nurseryman or more (or amateur 

 cultivators, if no nurserymen possess the species), in whose collection it is to 



