312 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



POTATOES. 

 Report from the experimental garden for 1856. We planted 

 this year four hundred and fifteen varieties of potatoes, (viz :) 



Round yellow, _ 161 varieties. 



Long yellow, 68 do 



Round reds, _ 112 do 



Long reds, _ 89 do 



Violet colored, 18 do 



Thistle and Roscovites, _ 3 do 



This iy surely a fair trial of the qualities of potat(^. 



HORTICULTURE IN GREENLAND. 

 Mr. H- Ring, the Danish traveller, says that in the far north 

 there are hardly two months of summer, during which the Danes 

 cultivate their gardens with great care. Naturally, this culture 

 cannot produce either fruit or seeds; but vegetables, furnishing 

 leaves only for use, succeed passably. Radishes do well, green 

 cabbage, spinach, salads and chervil vegetate vigorously, but all 

 these possess very little savour. Potatoes grow to the size of nuts. 

 Dung has no effect, for it does not decompose for want of warmth, 

 until it has been exposed to the weather for several years^ 

 then it is put on the garden. Seeds are grown in hot houses and 

 then set out in gardens, the ground being frozen only a few inches 



below the surface. 



DEEP CULTURE. 



It is only necessary to observe the depths to which plants put 



down their roots in free loose ground, to prove the necessity of 



deep culture. And the poorer the soil the deeper we should till ! 



[London Athenseura, July 19, 1856. j 



Extracts by H. Meigs. 



ROSES. 



" To the four sorts of roses first known to all natives of Greece, 



we have not added above a dozen and a half in as many centuries. 



The last was the Tea rose, first introduced into England in 1825. 



The most famous ancient roses were those of Pajstum and Samos, 



happy localities where the roses bloomed twice every year. 



Whole ship loads of roses were brought to the city of Ronae, in 

 which there were shops where nothing else but roses were sold. 

 The artistic garlands made there of roses woven together w^ere 



