THE GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 179 
JJORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—| been accidentally left in the ground all winter. In 
Notices 
e is hereby given, that the EXHIBITIONS of|cold heavy land such P 
i -| sound. Some of these might be selected, for the 
otatoes are apparently 
purpose of ascertaining whether the disease may be 
is the last day on which the usual Privileged Tickets areissued | mitigated or subdued by keeping seed Potatoes in 
the earth all the winter, or whether all those which 
d to disease will not have perished in 
The KacgMeners’ Chronicle. the operation, thd sound ones only resisting decay. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
VERRE IR e 25—Society of Arts |. . . . SPM 
PS NN 
may, April 3—Botanical 8 ra. 
We heartily sympathise with our mere horticul- 
tural friends who are weary of the Poraro question. 
We assure them that we are of the same mind as 
hey; and in proof of our sincerity we have this 
day endeavoured to dispose of the question by 
printing a double Number. Henceforward, we 
trust that it will not occupy any undue space in 
our columns, although its importance is such that 
no consideration will induce us to neglect it. 
week, therefore, we shall return to more miscel- 
aneous matters, which we frankly admit have been 
too long, though unavoidably, neglected. 
Avruouan a sense of public duty has compelled 
4. A correspondent at Abergele reports that his 
“Black American Pink eyes,” all being more or 
less diseased, planted in December, and well limed, 
are (March 4) in a very satisfactory state. Lime 
certainly produces apparently discordant results ; 
nevertheless, there are more favourable than unfa- 
vourable reports of its action, and it deserves to be 
used experimentally. It is also said that dusting 
Potatoes with lime, as soon as the disease shows 
itself, has proved advantageous. This too may be 
resorted to as an expedient for arresting mischief. 
5. Various sorts of Potatoes have been affected 
differently, to a remarkable extent. Black Scotch 
Next | Potatoes so totally failed with ourselves, that not 
onesound one could be found ; at Aberdeen the same 
sortretainedits healthiness. Irish Cups were safe toa 
greater degree than any other as extensively grown. 
Trish “Apples” on the contrary, and * Lumpers” were 
horribly diseased. Mr. PARKER, of Clyffe, near Bland- 
us to bring before the public in the strongest pos- ford, had some Salmon Kidneys grown within a yard 
sible way the uncertainty and risk that attend the 
orato Crop, under existing circumstances, yet we 
are not so insensible to the real value of the plant 
as to wish to see it disappear from cultivation. On 
the contrary, we believe it to be impossible to re- 
Place it with any crop upon the whole equally 
useful, if it is applied to its proper purpose, and not 
made the almost exclusive food of millions, as it now 
is. In the hope, therefore, of assisting in restoring 
this important article of food to its healthy condi- 
tion, we propose to offer a few suggestions as to 
the kind of experiments which it may be advisable 
to try in the present emergency. 
1. Mr. Forsyru, in his valuable pamphlet, ad- 
verted to on a former occasion (p. 132), recom- 
mends that Potatoes should be planted on raised 
ic; 
of some sound red Potatoes, and he states that the 
first were quite sound, while’ the latter were “ every 
one'so rotten as to defy any selection.” In Sussex, 
the “Mangold Wurzel” variety resisted the dis- 
temper successfully. It is, therefore, plain that all 
growers might enquire what sorts were last year 
Teast affected in their own neighbourhood, and try 
them in preference. ; 
In the view of a German writer, the Potato 
disease is owing to a deficiency of magnesia in the 
soil. Those who are of the same opinion may try 
Epsom salts (sulphate of magnesia) in doses of 
from 2 to 4 cwt. per acre. 
7. Another project is to sprout the Potato sets ; 
when the sprouts have formed a few roots, to re- 
move them from the set, and plant them in the 
beds, 4 ft. wide, running north and south, and so in- usual way. It is supposed that the young sprout 
clined, that the sun's rays shall strike the east side 
of the bed in the morning, and the west side in the 
evening. He also proposes that these beds shall be 
oi erated by trénches 3 ft. deep; and gives some 
other details, for which we must refer to thepamphlet 
itself. The principal objection to his system is the 
may be free from disease at an early period, al- 
though it may eventually derive disease from its 
parent; and it is expected that the separation of 
the sprout will enable the grower to secure a crop. 
We cannot say that this will happen; on the con- 
trary, analogy is against the plan. But in our ig- 
Cost of carrying it out ; for he states that his “active” | norance of the real cause of this murrain, we must 
ed requires six times as much digging as the Irish | not trust to analogy, and therefore the experiment 
“lazy” bed, He, however, only recommends this 
plan for gardeners, and modifies it considerably in 
field culture. As the directions for the latter are 
short we extract them entire. 
is well worth a serious trial. As Potato parings 
and Potato eyes will, in ordinary years produce a 
crop, although not a large one, there is no doubt 
that a crop of some sort may be obtained from 
“Tn preparing a field, or any portion of plough-land | Potato sprouts, if they continue healthy. This pro- 
and .Cross-ploughing, with the necessary drilling to 
receive the dung, and again drilling to cover the dung 
ad Sets, the whole process will be very easily managed, 
ES With a very few simple and inexpensive tools, if the 
in plough be made to perform all the heavy 
our, and the pointed shovel be only used to correct 
$ arrangement of the soil. 
At Wini ,in a 
vodertook to treneh a piece of land, previously to its 
von Planted with forest trees ; and, his price being 
ane much under that of his competitors, he got the job, 
ae ut 9ne envied him. his bargain. A strict look-out 
work ept to see in what manner he would perform the 
Ign and, to our surprise, his first operation on the 
T "es with the. plough; and he had a gang of men 
ren chi ace the soil which the plough loosened in right 
neste a form ;-and with this arrangement his men 
Ad to thrust either spade or mattock into the 
ce during the whole job ; but only had 
> as it was loosened by the plough : first, 
RE ty hi: AT 
turning 
for Potatoes, then, instead of the ploughing, harrowing, @position has been made by an Irish correspondent, 
at p. 150. 
8. Mr. Ross, the very intelligent gardener of Mr. 
Dawxivs Pennant, at Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor, 
has made the following statement to us. His frame 
Potatoes are “quite sound and clean; the tops 
also are as healthy and dark green as in any season. 
He planted some in the open ground in November, 
some in December, some in January; all are 
coming up strong and healthy. He did not plant 
any diseased sets, but passed them all through his 
own hands. Before they were planted he powdered 
them all over with flowers of sulphur, and he has 
hopes that this substance may be of great avail in 
the present disease ; these on which he tried flowers 
of sulphur in the beginning of winter have kept 
well? This is a new idea, and worth attention for 
reasons which we may, perhaps, advert to hereafter. 
9. We have seen small sound Potatoes, produced 
then tho Ne green sod into the bottom of the trench, and | from diseased tubers, a; Lord Porrman’s, at Bryan- 
short m furrows of fresh soil on the top. In 
hort, he trenched the land properly ; a more beautiful 
mship I never saw ; and, compared 
ep ploughing is but a poor mockery. 
T Wishes to prepare land for Po- 
trenched in the udi Nen sar Ui s 
ing, the drills may be pene qose io Winter ito Io 
ia in April, in the usual Way, with the common 
l plough, and either guano oy old d tten d 
Put in and covered along with the s RR a at 
Me v4 means of bai ie Plough.” 
„2. Since peat land has been fo, i x 
disease to Mom extent, it d id is die 
While of those who are favourably Gru e ER] on 
€ edge of heaths and drained mosses or hogs, to 
make some comparative trials between sae and 
Ordinary soil. But we advise that peat Slc be 
ets, in the ordinary 
employed, and not “ half and half” land,which is of | ous healthy shoots as ever he saw. 
an gintermediate nature. 
. In all parts of the country, Potatoes must have 
ston. ‘The tubers had been put into a small garden- 
pot in the month of September, kept in a cold 
frame till the middle of December, then shifted 
into a well-drained 8-inch pot, and kept at all times 
perfectly dry in a hothouse of a temperature vary- 
ing from 65° to 70°. The leaves and haulm were 
unhealthy indeed, but “the disease” had not ap- 
peared. This seems to indicate the value of very 
dry, warm situations, as has been pointed out in 
other cases, especially in one mentioned by Mr. 
EnniNGTON. 
10. Mr. FITZGERALD, in a letter addressed to the 
editor of the Limerick Chronicle, states that, after 
various unsuccessful experiments, he tried à solution 
of bluestone (sulphate of copper) in the proportion 
of 1 lb. to 8 gallons of water, and steeped the 
Potatoes whole for a few minutes, stirring them 
about so as to get all the clay off. He then. took 
them out and planted them in a warm place within 
doors; the result was that they put forth as vigor- 
He has some 
of them now a foot high. He planted some out, 
and they remained sound, He tried the same ex- 
periment with cut Potatoes, but it did not succeed ; 
the action of the bluestone being too powerful, it 
corroded them. He likewise tried leaving whole 
Potatoes for some hours in the liquid, but that like- 
wise failed partially. “ Although at any time it is 
preferable to plant whole Potatoes, still, after being 
steeped whole, they may be cut into two parts only ; 
cutting through the rose end, being that having the 
greater number of eyes and farthest from the root. 
After they are steeped, they should not be left in 
a heap, but spread out on a dry floor.” 
11. In another column mention is made of a @ 
German Potato-scoop, for cutting out the eyes of 
the Potatoes. It may be worth trying the effect of 
planting such eyes, by way of comparison with 
experiment No. 7. 
12. Raising new varieties from seed is a favourite 
project. Darwin long since suggested the neces- 
sity of it, as will be seen by the following extract 
from his Phytologia (p. 95, sect. vii.) :— 
* Another curious occurrence in this lateral produe- 
tion of vegetables by their buds has lately been pub- 
lished by Mr. Knight in the “ Phil. Trans. for 1795,” 
who observes, ‘ That those Apple trees which have been 
continually!propagated for above a century by ingraft- 
ing, are now become so diseased by canker or otherwise, 
that, though the fruit continues of the same flavour, the 
trees are not worth propagating, as those grafts, though 
transplanted} into other trees, he esteems to be still 
an elongation of the original tree, and must feel the 
effect of age like the tree they were taken from? If 
this idea should prove true on further examination, 
there is reason to suspect the same may occur in the 
too long propagation of plants from bulbs and wires as 
Potatoes and Strawberries, which may have occasioned 
the curled tops of Potatoes,and the black blight in the 
flowers of the; Hautbois Strawberry, which some have 
ascribed to its only bearing male flowers ; the cure of 
whieh must arise from our applying to the varieties 
more lately derived from a seminal offspring. This de- 
generacy of trees or perennial herbaceous plants propa- 
gated by buds or roof-seions, is not, I think, to be 
ascribed simply to the age of the original seedling tree, 
because each successive generation of buds or bulbs is 
as distinct from the parent as the generation by seeds. 
But as the lateral progeny of vegetables have no source 
of improvement after they have arrived at their matu- 
rity, but are liable, like other plants and animals, to 
injuries from food and climate, which injuries pro- 
duce hereditary diseases ; it is to this cireumstance 
that their degeneracy ought rather to be ascribed; 
whereas, the sexual progeny of vegetables are liable to 
D by the intermixture of individuals of the 
same or even of different species to counteract the 
effects of hereditary diseases." 
A variety of German accounts, confirmiug the 
importanee of the practice, will also bo found in 
another column. Our own view of the question is 
unfavourable, for reasons fully given at p. 855, 1845, 
to which we must refer the reader. In confirmation 
of the statement there made, we give extracts from 
two letters now before us. The first is from Mr. 
Fincn, of Great Berkhampstead, to the Council of 
the Horticultural Society. He says, that having 
observed a quantity of seedling Potatoes coming up 
last spring on a piece of ground in his garden, he 
selected about 20 plants, which were set in a fresh 
bed, with a view to obtaining some varieties. He 
was surprised to find the tubers, which were very 
small, greatly affected with the disease—more so 
indeed than any others in his fields or garden. The 
second letter is from Mr. Joi J. Wexxs, of South- 
borough, near Bromley, in Kent. He last year ob- 
tained from the seeds of the Cheshire White Potate 
about 70 or 80 seedlings, most differing in size, 
colour,&e. The haulm and leaves appeared healthy ; 
but, notwithstanding any precaution, above 30 have 
become diseased and lost during the winter, and many 
of the remainder are partially tainted. We would 
not, however, on this account discourage the raising 
Potatoes from seed. On the contrary, we would 
encourage it, in the hope that varieties of sounder 
constitution than any we now possess may be gra- 
dually obtained. We must not, however, hold out 
any prospect of our procuring in the autumn a crop 
of field Potatoes from seed now about to be sown, 
because it has been done in Prussia and Saxony, as 
we know, partly from the statements in print, and 
partly from specimens raised by Mr. ALBERT, and by 
Mr. ZANDER, Count Arnim’s gardener, at Boitzen- 
burg, which specimens, sent to the Earl of ABERDEEN 
by the Earl of Wesrmorgxanp, the British Ambassa- 
dor at the court of Berlin, we have been favoured 
with an opportunity of examining. For we must 
never forget the wide difference between the hot 
dry summer of Germany, and the cool damp seasons 
which we islanders usually experience. 
18. Far more important than any of these plans, 
or, indeed, than any that we have yet heard of is 
that which has been for 9 or 10 years pursued by 
Mr. SuepHerd, with a particular account of which 
we must bring these observations to a close. 
Of the south-west point of the Isle of Man is a 
small island of about 600 acres, called Calf. Island, 
| 
