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S 
148 THE 
GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
[Man. 7, 
how many different quarters, it is impossible not to 
dread that what is coming is worse than what has 
passed. 
Nor does it appear, from the valuable documents 
now alluded to, that the Americans, with all their 
sagacity and scientific knowledge, have been able to 
discover any means of stopping its ravages, Lime, 
with them, as with us, has been much employed, 
and with no certain success. 
Under these circumstances it is probable that in 
Great Britain, where land is too valuable to waste 
in great experiments, and people too closely packed 
to be able to bear the destruction of hundreds of 
acres of food for two successive years, Potato culti- 
vation will return to the gardens, and cease to be 
relied upon as an important source of food. And 
gardens are where it should have always remained. 
But while we feel it our duty to recommend that a 
better kind of crop should be substituted for the 
Potato, we have also endeavoured to procure all 
possible information respecting the sources from 
which sound Potatoes may be had; and we now 
roduce, by permission of Government, the follow- 
ing abstract of such European consular returns as 
elucidate this question. 
An abstract of returns furnished to the Foreign Offoe by Her 
fajesty’s Consuls im Europe, showing the state of the Potato 
disease in their several Consulates. 
Alicant .. No disease, but Potatoes soapy, scarce, and dear. 
Bayonne .. Crop much diseased and unfit for use in many 
places, 
Barcelona. No disease. Crop abundant. 
Boulogne . Crop diseased and defective to the extent of $ or 3. 
Brest on ditto ditto 
Bilbao .. Crop greatly affected, 
Bordeaux . Early crop sound, Later crop half lost from 
isea; 
Carthagena No disease : but carriage difficult and dear, 
Cadiz - No disease : but none to be had. 
itto 
e iti 
Christiania Disease partial, (Nov.25). 
prohibited. 
Calais .. Much disease ; 4 lost. 
Corsica .. No disease. Good crop. 
Charente.. Much disease in heavy lands; mostly sound in 
light sandy soil. 
noa  .. No disease: none to be had. 
e 
Galicia .. No disease : crop very abundant, 
Granville . Much disease ; } lost. 
Havre  .. Disease very general; half lost near Dieppe ; nine- 
tenths near Rouen. 
Leghorn .. No disease : no supplies can be had now. 
Lisbon.... Crop diseased at Figueira and Coimbra. No ap- 
arance of it at Lisbon. Very few to be had 
Figueira district disease so 
general that few proprietors have enough left for 
d. fe 'otatoes affected in the neigh- 
bourhood of Lisbon were grown from seed re- 
ived from England! Dec. 29. 
Marseilles. No disease in Provence. Symptoms have manifested 
emselves in the neighbouring departments, 
Malaga. ... No disease; few or none e had. 
Nantes. isease considerable. ` 
- No disease ; crop abundant and excellent. 
Palermo .. No disease; none to ad; will not keep. 
Stockholm Exportation prohibited. 
It must be confessed that the prospects of Potato 
growers are not improved by these important re- 
turns ; for it is clear that no supply of seed can be 
expected at this season of the year from Mediter- 
ranean ports, where alone, with the single exception 
of Galicia, the crop is sound. No reliance can be 
placed on the Portuguese seed ; and with the ex- 
ception of north-west Spain, all the northern dis- 
tricts of Europe are evidently as badly off as our- 
selves, or worse. 
Under these circumstances we must look to this 
country, and consider whether it will be safe to use 
any sets that can be procured at home. We have 
no confidence in any one English, Welsh, or Irish 
county ; and our trust in the goodness of the Pota- 
toes from the north of Scotland, or even the Calf of 
Man, is shaken ; some localities, however, offer a 
chance of good seed, and these are to be found 
scattered in a most unintelligible manner all 
over the kingdom. We may add that among 
the mass of conflicting evidence which overwhelms 
the Potato question, two solitary facts stand alone 
in their uniformity. The first is, that the Irish Cup 
Potato has, upon the whole, suffered less than any 
other field sort, both in Great Britain and Canada ; 
the other is, that Potatoes on.mossy or peaty soil 
are far less diseased than any others. It may there- 
fore be a question whether the Irish Cup, from 
* moss" or peat land, will not supply sound seed. 
The misfortune is, that itis impossible to tell before- 
hand how such an experiment will turn out. 
Believing as we now do that the wisest course 
for the peasantry and small farmers, who cannot 
afford to speculate in so uncertain a crop as Pota- 
toes, is to discontinue their cultivation, we must 
endeavour to ascertain what substitute can be found 
for so large an article of diet ; a most serious con- 
sideration for all who value, we do not say the 
comfort of the poor, but the safety of the country. 
In allotments and small holdings there is little means 
of changing crops, and in so many cases the occu- 
pos mainly depend on their garden produce that the 
ttest substitute forthe Potato becomes a most diffi- 
cult question, the reply to which will admit of small 
delay. For that reason we venture at once to make 
some suggestions of our own, and to ask our corre- 
spondents to favour us with their views as early as 
possible in the ensuing week so that we may be 
enabled to resume the subject advantageously next 
Saturday. 
The main point in this enquiry is to secure a 
certain crop, of good quality ; the quantity of it, 
however important, is quite secondary. In this 
point of view it will probably be admitted that Oats 
offer the best resource. An acre of Oats will average, 
say 40 bushels, or 1700 lbs. of clean corn, exclusive of 
straw ; of this 1316 lbs. will conduce to human suste- 
nance ; or if we merely calculate the nitrogenous 
materials 260 lbs. In these respects it is doubtless 
inferior to Potatoes, an acre of which yielding 
8 tons, will furnish 2613 lbs. of nutritive matter of 
all kinds, or 400 lbs. of nitrogenous compounds. 
But the first is certain, and in allotments will yield 
alarger produce; the latter is worse than precarious, 
Another crop of great value is the Hollow- 
crowned Parsnip. If we assume an acre of this 
root to yield on an average 12 tons (Colonel Le 
CourEUR speaks of 27 tons in Jersey), we shall 
have 3216 lbs. of nutritive matter, of which 1200 (?) 
lbs. are nitrogenous. Altringham Carrots are also of 
much excellence; 15 tons of Carrots will yield 
4032 lbs. of nutritive matter, of which 500 (?) lbs. 
are nitrogenous ;* and if the White Relgian variety 
is sown, the produce is far higher ; Colonel Le Cou- 
TEUR mentions, we think, as much as 38 tons having 
been obtained. The main objection to Carrots 
and Parsnips seems to be that they are subject to 
therot. Itis certain that in the past year both roots 
have been partially affected by a disease analogous 
to, if not identical with, the Potato murrain. In- 
deed, a case of the kind in some long red Carrots 
from Lord Lanspowne’s, at Bowood, was produced 
last Tuesday by Mr. Spencer, at the Meeting of 
the Horticultural Society. We are not aware, how- 
ever, that this disease has appeared to any more 
serious extent than that in Turnips. The Carrot 
and Parsnip are, indeed, so perfectly hardy, that 
E can scarcely anticipate a serious risk in growing 
them. 
Very large weights of such Cabbages as the 
Drumhead and large Green Savoy may be readily 
obtained ; and although we cannot just now lay 
our hands upon any satisfactory analysis of them, it 
is well known that they are very nutritious ; in one 
place we see that they are asserted to yield 8001 
Ibs. of nitrogenous matter per acre. Scotch Kale is 
another hardy and most useful plant of the Cabbage 
race. 
Our narrow limits, however, compel us to break 
off, without pursuing this inquiry any further for 
the present. We shall next week endeavour to 
suggest some experiments which may be worth 
trying in the ensuing season, and also to make 
some more definite proposals for the benefit of small 
growers whomay wishto find asubstitute for Potatoes. 
THE COCKLE PIPPIN. 
Synonymes.—Nutmeg Cockle, Nutmeg Pippin, Brown Cockle 
Pippin, White Cockle Pippin. 
any collections consist of varieties which produce a 
superabundance of autumn and early winter fruit, 
whilst the supply for a later period is very deficient. 
Yellowish- 
Brown russet 
green tinged 
with pale 
with 
specks. 
reddish-brown, 
In order to remedy this, some good keeping sorts have 
been lately noticed in the Chronicle; and the one 
here represented will be found a very useful addition. 
It is a Sussex variety, much valued in the London 
markets on account of its sound keeping till late in the 
spring, as well as for its good qualities in other respects. 
The fruit is sometimes nearly smooth, but generally 
itis browned with russet, particularly near the base. 
Small plaits surround the eye. The flesh is firm, 
* These computations are furnished by a friend, and require 
re-examination, i 
yellowish-white, rich and sugary. Fit for use in 
January, and continues good till April, and may even 
be kept later. The tree is a good bearer. Shoots 
moderately strong, light brown. Leaves middle sized, 
oblong, somewhat acuminate, acutely crenated ; stipules 
inear. Flowers rather below medium size; petals 
oval. One ofthe few varieties of late-keeping Apples 
which acquired anything like their usual flavour in the 
past unfavourable season.—R. T 
THE AMATEUR GARDENER. 
Porrine.—As this is the season when the plants in 
pits and frames, which have survived the winter, require 
repotting, the amateur should make himself acquainted 
with the best method of performing the operation, that 
his collection may have the best chance for future de- 
velopment. My observations on this subject will prin- 
cipally regard those who have not a greenhouse, and 
will refer to those classes of plants which may be kept 
with care during our winters in frames, such as Pelar- 
goniums, Fuchsias, Caleeolarias, Verbenas, Petunias, 
&e. These having been stored away in very small pots, 
must now be transferred to more roomy quarters, and 
finally potted previous to blooming. 
The possession of soil of the right character is indis- 
pensably requisite to the successful potting of plants, 
and the gardener must attend to this before he com- 
mences his labours in this department of his art. The 
theory is, that the compost should be of such a charac- 
ter as to continue porous as long as possible, and be 
capable of yielding suitable nutriment to the produc- 
tions committed to it. Those who have had experience 
in such matters will remember the different results 
manifested in watering plants in pots. In some cases 
the water passes rapidly through the mould, in others it 
pursues a wavy, sluggish, and lethean course to the 
bottom of the pot, and, in a few instances, it stands on 
the surface a long time after it is applied. Now, it will 
almost universally hold good that, in the first instance, 
the plant is in good health ; in the second, it is slow in 
its growth ; in the third, it is dwarfish and sickly. A 
compost must therefore be chosen which has porosity 
sufficient to allow water to move quickly off; for, if 
redundancy of water is fatal in field culture, it must be 
even more injurious in the contracted limits of a 
flower-pots 
I know that ladies who love gardening, and have a 
limited number of favourites which they tend with their 
own fair hands, are often at fault in reference to the soil 
which they should employ for potting. I will endea- 
vour to make the subject as clear as possible, and also 
as easy; for it is possible to deter from floricultural 
pursuits by a cumbrous parade of science, or an unsci- 
entific mi the position of soil I re- 
member when I became devoted to gardening some 
years back, and. tried my skill on Auriculas and Carna- 
tions, I was discouraged and disgusted with the long 
catalogue of nostrums said to be benefici eir 
growth. Night-soil and pigeons’-dung and sugar-bakers’ 
scum are rather ill-favoured materials to have to mani- 
pulate ; and although itis true such things are highly 
valuable in some circumstances, I can from consider- 
able experience aver that horticulture can be success- 
fully pursued without them. 
I shall presently point out a mode of securing a 
proper compost at a day's warning, in cases in which an 
amateur has neglected to lay up a store of materials, but 
it is necessary to insist in the first place on the import- 
ance of having a well prepared heap, which will furnish 
a supply whenever it is wanted. For this, two materials 
will be sufficient, Good turfy loam from an old meadow 
is the ne plus ultra in the estimation of all expert gar- 
deners, and its value cannot be too highly estimated. 
Get as much of the turf with it as you can, and put it in 
a heap for 12 months, when it will be fit for use. The 
other material is thoroughly-rotted stable-dung, taken 
from an old Cucumber frame, or by any other means 
brought to the state of dark friable mould. Two years 
are requisite to produce this complete rottenness. In 
the autumn these materials should be well mixed in 
equal quantities, and turned over two or three times in 
the winter. For most plants this compost will be found 
admirably suited, and there are few things which will 
not flourish in it, The turfy fibrous character of the 
loam secures a good drainage, and the rotten dung is 
pabulum adapted to the production of a vigorous growth 
and fine flowers. 
But if you have not this goodly admixture, the result 
of two years’ forethought, whatis to be done then? AS 
a substitute, take some of the best soil of your kitchen 
garden, part of an old Celery-trench, for example, ant 
give it the requisite porousness by the addition of road- 
grit or silversand. Ifyou can collect some rotten leaves 
and mix with this substitute, it will make it more effec- 
tive. Experience will soon show you whether you have 
a compost of the kind you want, and after a little prac- 
tice all will be easy. But if the past cannot be altered, 
its omissions may have a profitable bearing on the 
future, and the preparation of a proper compost should 
be as sedulously thought of as the winter care of the 
plants themselves. The operation of potting must be 
treated of in another paper.—H. B. 
Home Correspondence. ; 
Polmaise Heating.—Presuming that your desire i8 
to elicit by discussion the relative advantages of 
different systems, rather than to support any one 1n 
particular, I venture to offer one or two remarks on an 
article by Mr. Meeke, in your Paper of February 28. 
He says, “ The question of the production of heat is not 
