Asparagus beds, that he says (p. 334, 1844) .—«T 
10.—4846.] THE 
GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. i47 
SHRUBS, &c, AT VERY LOW PRICES. 
ILLIAM E. RENDLE & CO., having a very 
large stock of the following SHRUBS, &c., and wishing 
to clear the ground they occupy, offer them „at unusually low 
prices. Those gentlemen, therefore, who are in want, will find 
the present a rare opportunity for procuring stock, 
All the plants are in robust and healthy condition. 
Ilex Oak, 3 years’ seedlings, in pans .. + 30s. 0d. per 1000 
e transplanted, 6 to 9 inches T per 100 
i 6 
Chinese Avborvite, fine transplanted, 18 inches 15 0, 
Cypress Y l8inches 15 0 ^ 7; 
Bays, 1 year seedling, from pans sie $80 3) 
Arbutus do. do. +. on 5 0 » 
Cistus laurifolius, fine transplanted .. .. 15 0 » 
Spruce Firs, 3 years’ seedling ., d .. l 6 per1000 
Ash, 1 year seedling ve e. i TO ” 
Hollies do. EE m le 6070 m 
Beech, 2 years’ seedling .. s euebi B. »" 
Scarlet Oak, 3 years’ seedling kj ^. £ 0 per 100 
Seakale, fine roots ion Hegiog 
» 
Asparagus, Judd's Giant, ‘fine roots >. $5 3/6 ^ 
All orders above 31. will be delivered Sree of carriage 
to London, Liverpool, or Bristol. Post-affice order or 
reference from unknown correspondents. 
Plymouth, March 7. x 
The Gardeners’ Chconicle, 
to 
SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Wepwrspay, Mar, li—Society of Arts. H . * 8 PM. 
Tommy, — — af Horticultural e atque 
Wrpwrspay, — 18—Microscopical to) gree 
— 21—Roval Botanic [92.3 
AT page 187, 1849, were printed. some observa- 
tiens on a paper, by Captain Cuvncnrmrr, R.M., on 
the * Biscayan way of Cultivating Asparagus at 
St. Sebastian’s.” "The principal features of this 
mode are, to form beds about 5 feet in width and of 
any convenient length, and to sow the seed in March 
in two drills, 2 inches in depth and 18 inches from 
the alleys; thus leaving a space of 2 feet between 
the drills. When the seedlings are about 6 inches 
in height, they are thinned to something more than 
1 foot apart. Water is conducted once a day among 
the alleys and over the beds, so as to give these 
' seedlings an abundant and constant supply of fluid 
during the season of their growth. This is the cul- 
tivation during the first year. 
The second year, in the month of March, the beds 
are covered 8 or 4 inches in thickness with town 
Sewerage, which remains on them during the sum- 
mer, and which is lightly dug in during the succeed- 
Ing autumn; the operation of irrigation being con- 
tinued as during the first season. In the third 
Spring after sowing, the Asparagus is fit for cutting, 
all its energics being doubtless developed by the 
manure being dug in in the autumn of the second 
year; and when it does begin to sprout, it finds its 
Toots in contact with soil of inexhaustible fertility. 
Previously, however, to the cutting, each bed is 
covered, in the month of March, very lightly with 
dead leaves to the depth of about 8 inches. The 
Cutting does not commence till the plants peep 
through this covering, when. it is carefully removed 
from the stems, in order that the finest only may 
be cut, which are rendered white by the leafy cover- 
ing, and lent by the ive richness of the 
soil. 
In the autumn of the third year, after the first 
cutting, the leaves are removed, and the beds are 
again dressed with town sewerage, and these opera- 
tions are repeated annually. In ‘addition to this 
the Asparagus ground is so situated that the beds 
are half under salt water at spring tides. 
Since the above was published, several of our 
correspondents have tried. the plan in part, and, 
with one or two exceptions, with the very best 
results ; but none seem to have wholly adopted the 
System, and, therefore, it may be said never to have 
Yet been fairly put to the test of experiment. 
Ofthose who have partly followed the Spanish 
method, one Says, p.435, 1842, * T forked into worn- 
nos beds some manure. from an old Cucumber bed, 
(e Sine surface, and completely covered. the 
n us ne salt, at least a 3 of an inch in thick- 
er mg: it to. be. washed. in by rains. The 
y? pan ^x every weed was. killed, and the 
thrian w oe oe remarkable degree, 
excellent quality? ^ eads of large size and of 
With equally good s : 
in summer at e E bolts der dE pu m 
third (see p. 429, 1844) in the ae oe 1843 which 
was cold and wet, manured his beds, 14 yards long 
and 1 wide, with salt at the rate of 9 The. to the 
yard. He adds that notwithstandi the. un- 
favourable season, his produce was n and 
finer than ever he previously. had e In the 
following year the same was | adopted, 
the spring being dry and frequently hot. m the 
Produce was even greater and better in every re- 
Spect than that of the previous year, So satisfied 
48 another correspondent with the system of salti 
ng 
ave a bed 30 feet in length, and 5 feet in width, 
On which I put one cwt. of salt about the middle 
of March for two years successively. The increase 
of crop, both in regard to size and number, is most 
extraordinary ; I intend to continue one cwt. oJ 
salt for this bed every March.” 
n like manner other writers used salt at the rate 
of from 1 Ib. to 23 lbs. per square yard with the 
most striking advantage, applying it after cutting 
off the tops, and in spring in rainy weather. 
From these and numerous other instances it 
would appear that the beneficial effects of salt as a 
manure for Asparagus is now fully established, 
provided it is applied at a proper period, which, in 
the majority of cases, has been when the plant was 
in a growing state. Mr. BREE, of Stowmarket, 
however, applied it with great advantage (see p. 
621, 1844) after dressing the beds in autumn, and 
again early in spring, using 1 lb. to a square yard. 
He argues that the salt has to be washed through 
a considerable depth of soil before it reaches the 
root, and when it does arrive there that its caustic 
character will have materially altered by dilution 
and chemical decomposition, and that it will do no 
harm then, but that it is injurious when applied to 
the delicate texture of the young shoots late in the 
spring. 
In the few cases in which salt has been said to be 
«| injurious, the beds have either been in bad condi- 
tion as regards drainage (see page 444, 1844), or it 
has been applied to beds newly formed (see page 
489 and 529, 1845), and therefore to plants with 
wounded roots, for such recently planted Asparagus 
must be considered to be, however carefully the 
plants may have been taken up. The same injurions 
effect might also be produced by the salt coming in 
contact with wounded portions of the plant, whether 
of the roots, in consequence of cutting the sides of 
the beds when throwing up the soil from the alleys 
or of the crown in cutting the shoots. A tree will 
be killed by the application of a. quantity of salt to 
a cut root, although a much larger quantity might 
be given with impunity when the roots are in a 
sound state. 
Along with the salt some have used nightsoil ; 
liquid manure fixed and prepared with sulphuric 
acid ; Potters liquid guano at the rate of half a 
pound per square yard, following the application by 
plenty of water. These have been all employed 
with marked advantage. 
It must be mentioned, however, that it is the 
opinion of the best cultivators, that in addition to 
these substances Asparagus must have farm-yard 
manure, if it is to be grown well. "This is probably 
true in the case of heavy, or close land; but in 
loose, friable soil must be unnecessary, for such soils 
do not require that their texture should be improved. 
What a pity it is that up to the present time no 
one has, as far as we are aware, carried out the. Bis- 
cayan plan exactly. 
Wz wish we could this week say to our readers 
—there is not so much cause for alarm concerning 
the next Poraro Crop, and the anticipations of its 
impending ruin are unfounded. On the contrary, 
every new fact which comes to light renders the 
danger more apparent, and we must repeat our 
warning that there is no certainty that any English 
or Irish Potatoes will be fit for seed. That some 
will prove good is very probable ; we do not in the 
least doubt that many persons will again have sound 
crops ; but in the present state of our knowledge it is 
quite impossible to say who, because sound sets 
cannot be distinguished from unsound ones, and 
therefore the cultivation of the Potato is literally 
reduced to a game of chance. 
Mr. Barnes, of Apley-park, assures a contem- 
porary that he has lost his Ash-leaved Kidneys ; but 
he found watering with lime-water put a stop to the 
progress of the disease, Mr. W. Wicker, of 
Somerhill, near Tonbridge, has sent a young Po- 
tato, of advanced growth, exhibiting the disease in 
some intensity. “ It was grown in a Potato-pit, the 
bed made of leaves in the usual way, with 10 ins. 
of soil on the top (a compost made three years 
back for Vine-borders). The seed was saved from 
Potatoes grown in frames last May, and packed 
securely before disease appeared." 
Mr. Rosrar Frsu, gr. to Colonel SowERBY, at 
Putteridgebury, finds “a sixth of his frame Potatoes 
attacked ;” they were once very vigorous and 
healthy ; now the old sets are decaying, and the 
points of the leaves and stems are dying back. “ All 
the sets had been greened previously to planting.” 
At Farnham Castle, in Surrey, Mr. BUTCHER has 
a pit of Potatoes, 16 ft. by 8 ft., all destroyed by the 
disease of last year. The sets when planted ap- 
peared quite sound, and went on very promising 
till the stems were about 1 foot high. AN 
Even those who have planted their Potatoes in| 
the autumn are, we fear, in no better position than 
their neighbours ; for although in some places the 
autumn-planted sets are sound at present, as, for 
instance, those in heavy London clay, and the “ Sil- 
yerskins,” near Taunton, yet we have no guarantee 
for their producing healthy plants. On the contrary, 
Mr. Barnes’s most recent observations show that 
near Sidmouth, the new crop in the open ground, 
all planted in the autumn “from selected sound 
seed, and one lot in a beautiful pulverised piece of 
ground where an old plantation, had been grubbed 
up, where a Potato has never before been 
planted,” is so entirely attacked that Mri Barnes 
failed to discover one sound shoot among hun- 
dreds that he examined in the forenoon of March 
tae 2nd. Every form of the mischief i 
itself * ten times more than among 
the order of Lady Rorrz, and were exhibi 
Tuesday, at the Meeting of the Horticultural So- 
ciety in Regent-street, the old sets were already 
in so. putrid a state that they could not be washed. 
Now it is to be remembered that this is a case where 
the sets, were apparently sound, having been pre- 
pared and selected with all the precautions which 
care and great skill could suggest; that the crops 
did not show a sign of disease till very lately ; 
that many of the plants are still uninjured, although 
surrounded by dying companions; and that ine 
evil is the same in all sorts of places, and under all 
circumstances. It rages in the open air, and has 
carried off its victims from the early Peach house, 
second Peach house, first Melon pits, second Melon 
pits, and hooped and matted beds. Manuring in 
various ways, and no manure, offer equally fatal re- 
sults; and, as Mr. BARNES justly observes, although 
the decay of the Potato may be prevented by skilful 
storing, yet “when restored to the open ground, dis- 
ease once more makes its appearance in every form 
that has been written of.” 
It is in this impossibility of telling. whether a 
crop is or is not to be diseased t the worst fea- 
ture of the mischief now resides ; for if we are to 
wait till the new crop is a foot or more high before 
we can tell whether it is safe, we not only lose the 
crop, but the use of the land for the season. 
And now we must entreat our readers not to de- 
ceive themselves with the hope that disease has 
shown itself in Devonshire, ouly because it is a 
warm damp county, and that to the northward they 
will be safe. It must be remembered that it broke 
out originally in the warmest part of northern Eu- 
rope, in the countries to the eastward, such as Ger- 
many, Holland, Belgium, and Northern France; 
and that its westerly course was to all appearance 
connected with the state of the crops to be-attacked. 
The appearance of disease at Bicton, and in forcing- 
houses, is but a repetition of the phenomenon of last 
year. M ; notwitl ling the unwilling- 
ness of some sufferers to admit what is going on, 
the want of observation in others, and but a small 
part of this crop having yet been planted—never- 
theless, we find proofs gathering around us in all 
directions. . The following: places have been already 
indicated :— 
Cumberland ..1, open ground. 
Cheshire « 3, in forcing-houses. 
Anglesea iym ditto. 
Ireland «3, Fermoy, Baltinglass, Portlaw, and 
report says more. 
Norfolk 1, in a house and in the open ground. 
Hertfordshire . 2, in frames. 
Middlesex ..2,in ditto. 
Sussex . . 2,in ditto and the open ground. 
Devonshire 2,in ditto and the open ground. 
i in ditto. 
= 
B 
Surrey . .lin ditto. 
But if these facts are in themselves most alarm- 
ing, how much more so do they become when 
connected with the evidence collected in the United 
States. From the first outbreak of the disorder 
among us, the attention of Government was directed 
to the importance of obtaining information from 
other countries concerning the disease; and we 
have now been permitted by Lord ABERDEEN to 
examine the whole of the Consular returns relating 
to this subject. z 
In Maine and New Hampshire it appears to haye 
been first noticed in 1844, and to have become 
eneral in 1845. My, Prrrns, Her Majesty's 
Consul at Philadelphia, writes December 30, 1845, 
that the disease was very general in Pennsylvaniain 
1843, and continued to prevail in 1844 and 1845, 
but only partially; Mr. Bancrav, at New York, 
states, January 10, 1846, that the disease existed in 
that quarter in 1843, 1844, and 1845; and Mr, 
Grarran, the Consul at Boston, reports it began 
in Massachussetts in 1843, increased in 1844, and 
became very general in 1845. So that if this 
murrain is to run its course here as it has in the 
United States, we have a£ least:two years more to 
suffer its visitation ; and, considering how fatal it 
proved last year, how early it appears now, and in 
