33—1818.] 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
533 
wheel, and crop their vacant ground now with the best 
inds of winter Cabbage, &c, as previously recom- 
mended.—James Barnes, Bicton Garden, July 25. 
STATE OF THE POTATO CROP. 
ee; and even on the banks of the 
1 
SURE Og a plant but what is more or less affected ; 
in the cottage gardens worse than last year.— W. Begnell, Nant- 
teh, e 
CHICHESTER. —Crops in this neighbourhood looking remark- 
ably healthy at present, Some diggers informed me yesterday 
that they have observed no indications of disease.— W. Watkins, 
August 5. 
field attacked. Some cutting the haulm down 
.R mouth, Aug. 4.—Pota- 
toes so much diseased, the farmers meditate ploughing them 
up, and sowing Turnips.—Newton Abbott, Aug. 
DonsrTsninz.—In the whole of the neighbourhoood of Brid- 
fected ; early ones slightly diseased ; Buxton and E. 
Kidneys not at all; seedlings from a black Kidney, from Cum- 
berlaud, attacked, but those grown from my own seed at pre- 
Sent quite sound; the best remedy pulling up the diseased 
Stalks.—H. B. Mason, Aug. 4. ^ 
A AN. — Disease progressing rapidly; some in 
ardens with not a leaf on the stems, appearing as if they had 
een frosted. Tubers not as yet affected.—A. Shearer, Yester, 
Esssx.—Disease almost universal, both in cottage and other 
gardens.—Brentwood, Aug. +. 
. FrrEsHIRE.— Both garden and field crops already, to a great 
extent, more or less diseased ; produce from tubers brought 
trom Spain, London, Ross-shire, and Shetland, all diseased. 
Seedlings alike affected.—R. B. D., . 9. 
GroucESTERSHIRE.— Disease spreading; slightly upon light 
Or poor soils; but upon good and also wetland, crops will be 
very bad.—S. Collier, Witney, Aug. 3. —— Crop universally 
blighted in this parish, the extent of which is about 11,000 acres. 
A dreadful stench in the evening.—£. A. Ommaney, Vicar, 
Chew Magna, Bri. jug. 5. 
ANTS.—lEvery field more or less affected with prevailing 
disease, i 
were completely covered with vermin, as were also the 
Peas, Beans, and Apple and Cherry orchards. Now, 
may I be allowed to suggest that the clouds alluded to 
were dense masses 0: imaleule, but individually si 
minute as to elude the most powerful microscopic in- 
spection.—.4 Subscriber, Burstead House. 
Disease in Conifers.—1 observed (p. 479), that Mr. 
Bailey calls attention to a disease in some Spruce: Firs, 
assuming the drought to have been the cause of it. I 
can hardly imagine the drought of this season to have 
ioned the seared app observed by Mr. B., 
but I would attribute the effect to the mildew so gene- 
rally affecting the Conifers last season.—Jas. Barnes. 
To Flower Tall Cactii—1 send you flowers of a 
Cereus, which is known by the specifie name of C. 
pentagonus ; it is, however, only pentagonous for about 
5 feet from the root upwards; then for about 5 feet 
more it is hexagonous, and then becomes heptagonous. 
The plant is above 16 feet high ; it has been better 
flowered this season than usual. We seldom have had 
more than three or four upon it in a season until this 
year. The plant having been placed against, and tied 
to one of the pillars which supports the cornice of the 
conservatory, when the top reached the cornice at the 
height of 16 feet, it was under the lower edge, and 
more than a year ago. Knowing that Cereus specio- 
cissimus flowers freer when the points of the stems are 
ruised go as to stop their growth, induced me to leave 
the plant with its top placed where it could get no 
further. It gradually began to show by the bending of 
the stem near the top that it was fast against the under 
side of the cornice, and was suffered to remain so until 
three weeks ago, when it was released; the top was 
then rising above 2 inches where it had been confined. 
The plant when released had sixteen flower-buds upon 
it, which have continued opening in i 
e 
14 inches ; I allowed them a few nights to get used to 
these new walks; then I placed a large earthenware 
too much of the oil of aniseed, which in excess is most 
disagreeable ; about twenty drops to four ounces of the 
mixture being quite sufficient. A friend of mine made 
a similar plaint as your pondent ; but after 
mixing it in the proportions I name, and placing it for 
two nights in a barn, from which Wheat had just been 
removed, he picked up on the second morning thirty- 
three dead rats, and it is but fair to presume at least an 
equal number died in their holes.—£. Purser, 40, New 
Bridge-street, ug. 6. 
Vegetable Marrows.—I enclose a leaf of a Vegetable 
Marrow, which was attacked as you see the day before 
the thunder-storm. And the same time last year, just 
before a day of Aurora Borealis appearance (imme- 
diately after which I heard the first complaint of the 
Potato disease), mine, i. e. Vegetable Marrows, were 
similarly attacked, and gradually died away ; the leaves 
crumbling to dried powder. Is it electrical? Tshould 
say that one Vegetable Marrow, and the only one that 
I could save for seed, showed the same marks, and 
rotted away in the house about Chrismas day.— 
M. iides. [This leaf appears to have suffered 
eve 
Whether the compressing of the top be the 
cause of its flowering so fine this season or not I cannot 
say. Making mention of the circumstance, however, 
may induce others to try similar experiments upon the 
tall kinds of Cereus that seldom flower. — David 
Cameron, Botanic Garden, Birmingham. 
Fuchsia Serratifolia.—This interesting and distinct 
species forms an important feature in the class to w 
it belongs, from its produeing such a profusion of large 
and brilliant glossy flowers, which contrast admirably 
with its dark-green and ample foliage. In regard to 
culture, it may not be needless to observe that, where 
mediocrity is the only point aimed at, it is a plant not 
at all i i ut, under good 
since, i 
e 
IDESD 
parently sound.— Subscriber, Aug. 4. 
OTTINGHAMSHIRE.—In the parish of Sutton-on-Trent, dis- 
ease has shown itself in some places, but nothing of conse- 
quence at present ; some plots showing symptoms, others look- 
ing quite well.—D., Aug. 4. Disease showing itself in the gar- 
den of his Grace the Duke of Portland. 
SowERSETSHIRE.— Potatoes not only rotting, but they do not 
grow; tops turning black in fields and gardens very generally. 
Some sets of “ Farmers’ glories” from an uninfected part of 
ms. country, and planted on uninfected ground, badly diseased, 
—R. J. 3. 
SunnEy,—Potatoes in most of the cottage gardens, in the 
neighbourhood of Dorking, diseased, commencing, in the majo- 
rity of instances, about the 25th of July; tubers as yet but 
little affected ; disease less virulent than last year. When dis- 
ease manifested itself I pulled up the haulm ; a good plan with 
all early and second early sorts. Tubers to be left in the ground 
till autumn ; then taken up and stored. Late varieties denuded 
9 foliage to be taken for present use.—J. B. Whiting, Deepdene, 
lug. 5. 
,, BUSSEX,—In several parts of the county disease worse than 
it was last year,.—H. W. 
WanwicksmiRE,— Scarcely a sound Potato in our neigh- 
bourhood. Early and late rapidly decaying, many commenced 
mowing the tops oft.—W. Brown, Merevale, Aug. 6. 
Yonxsninz.—I cannot hear anything of Potato disease. Win- 
ter Potatoes looking well; some early kinds had their tops i 
Jured by frost ; but certainly there is no disease,— C. C., Aug. 2. 
Home Correspondence. 
Cattleya  Harrisoniana. — At the Royal Botanic 
Garden, Kew, is a ‘specimen of this, much superior to 
anything I could have imagined C. Harrisoni: 
in app 
g it has a most imposing effect. Early in 
January a small plant, established in a 4-inch pot, was 
placed in a gentle heat, to induce a reaction of the 
roots prior to its being repotted into a 6-inch pot, 
which was done a fortnight afterwards, when the plant 
assumed a healthy and robust habit. The proportions of 
soil used were, equal parts of well-decomposed manure 
and light turfy loam, with a small quantity of fibrous 
peat and sand thoroughly incorporated, and used in as 
rough state as possible. After potting, it was removed 
to a moist stove, where a temperature of 55° by day, 
and 45° by night, was maintained ; and ventilation par- 
tially given in the morning to exclude damp. Syrin 
ing was had recourse to in the early part of the day, 
when the atmosphere became warmed; and in the 
afternoon, sufficiently early for the moisture to be dried 
up before night-fall, Towards the middle of March it 
was growing vigorously, being 14 feet high, and was 
ready to receive its final shift, which was into a 
12-inch pot, adding more turfy loam than was used pre- 
viously. When repotted it was removed to the same 
situation, and placed close to the glass; durin 
this period the temperature was increased to 75° by 
day and 65° by night, and an abundant supply of di- 
luted manure water was used, syringing frequently in 
the absence of sunlight, and shading when necessary 
in midday, for it is very susceptible of injury from ex- 
cessive heat, especially if a sufficient amount of moisture 
is not kept up to counteract perspiration. After 
its growth was completed, it was placed in a high, dry 
temperature, to induce the elaboration of the sap pre- 
vious to flowering ; in a few days after being removed 
to the above situation, the ends of the lateral and ter- 
minal shoots were studded with blossom buds ; before 
they expanded, the plant was removed to an ordinary 
Y 
t 
ave attained. It was, in point of size, a goodly mass, 
Browing in the new Orchid-house, in one of Mr. Beek's 
Oblong Slate boxes. The finest pseudo-bulbs were about 
feet long ; one of them was surmounted by a flower- 
Scape a foot in length, having six expanded flowers ; 
Others bore a less number, producing in all 19 perfect, 
large, highly-coloured flowers on one plant, with 10 
others in different stages of development. Is it nota 
ne specimen 1—Z., July 30. 
Blights.—1 beg to offer the following remarks which 
Thave made on the appearance of the atmosphere pre- 
Viously to the blights which destroyed our Potato crops 
st year, and which have so seriously injured our Hop 
Plantations, Beans, Peas, and Fruit. In many localities 
Rot even the Spruce Fir trees have escaped this season. 
ast year, a few days before any disease appeared on 
he Potatoes, a dense cloud, bling i 
g , and gradually hardened until air 
was admitted all night, whieh had a tendency 
to heighten the colour of the flowers, which 
cannot be obtained when bloomed in close, 
confined situations. On June 2 its central stem was 
5 feet high, and four principal shoots at equal distances 
around it, each being 44 feet in height, with upwards 
of 60 lateral branches, which made it an uniform plant, 
upwards of 34 feet in diameter, each shoot producing 
from 15 to 30 splendid flowers, and densely clothed 
with foliage down to the pot. In reference to the sup- 
posed varieties of F. serratifolia, the various modes of 
culture makes it decidedly different in its general ap- 
pearance ; for a plant grown in a moist stove, from which 
a cutting was struck, grown, and flowered in an inter- 
mediate house, differed very considerably from the one 
(its parent) subjected to greenhouse treatment during 
the ion of its flowers.— Thomas Davis, Plants. 
in 
a thick fog, overspread the entire country. - It, how- 
Sver, differed from a common fog or mist, being quite 
Ty, and having a disagreeable smell. This season, 
When the Hops had reaehed about 4 feet high on their 
Poles, a similar cloud to the one before mentioned 
came from the same quarter, but more dense and fetid. 
Na few days afterwards the Hop bines and leaves 
man, Grantchester Nursery, Cambridge. : 
Rats.—My house has for 12 months been infested 
with these voracious visitors. I tried by traps, poisons, 
fried eork, and every other likely remedy to kill or 
banish them, but without success, till I tried the follow- 
ing plan :—I placed stages so that the rats on approach- 
ing the end had to jump down, to reach the floor, about 
from dryness, and nothing more. As thunder-storms 
are often preceded by a very high temperature and a 
dry air it is not surprising that leaves should seem to 
suffer by a storm, although in facttheir injury has been 
caused by an event anterior to it. 
Spontaneous Combustion of Wiillows.—1 had hoped 
that you would have seen through this ridiculous story, 
and not have given it currency. I know the locality 
well; and I know also that it is the constant practice 
of boys in their summer ramblings to set on fire, with a 
burning-glass or otherwise, the decayed soft paris of 
the Willow, which soon present the appearance so 
graphically described in the paragraph in question. 
Were the effects due to spontaneous combustion, should 
we not hear of many similar instantes among the thou- 
sands of pollard Willows which grow in the Fen dis- 
tricts? As it is, we never heard of such an occurrence 
except in the neighbourhood of towns or villages, where 
boys display to each other the wonderful powers of 
burning-lens, or the much more mischievous properties 
of lucifer matches,—R. J. B. 
Scarlet Runner. — What causes the blossoms of 
Scarlet Runners to fall off ere the fruit is set? Here 
in the neighbourhood jof London I have observed for 
the last 10 years that sometimes not one in a hundred, 
and this year not one in a thousand of the blossoms have 
set. In the Midland Counties, where I formerly lived, 
I never observed this evil. I have tried everything 
that I could think of, as manuring, watering, stopping, 
guano, &c., without any advantage. I should say I 
have lost millions of blossoms the last six weeks,— 
Montgomeriides. [Probably the rcots get dry.] 
Potaices Sprouting again.—There appears to be an 
excited and unnatural state of vegetation in the early 
growths of the Potato this year, which before its arrival 
at maturity forces out its sprouts or buds, upon 
which fresh tubers are formed, and these in turn emit 
their embryo shoots, and exhibit the strange phenome- 
non of a young growing crop keeping pace with its 
parent stock, or, as I may say, three generations of 
tubers growing from the same stem. I have by me 
now a Potato nearly full grown, to which are attached 
by strong shoots four lesser ones, the size of large green 
Walnuts, and a very great number of young ones just 
formed, no larger than full grown Peas, but all in a 
most healthy condition, and it is curious to note that in 
one instance the bud of the parent tuber, before it had 
perfected its young stem, shot. out (so to speak) upon 
the other side, and there formed a fresh stem or tuber, 
giving the appearance of two young Potatoes hanging 
by a chain below each other from the parent one. I 
may add that where this singular feature exhibits itself, 
I ean trace no symptoms of disease, I had planted my 
sets upon the old lazy-bed system, on well prepared 
ground, but it appears that this season the Potato is 
inclined to show itself more active in character than is 
consistent with the production of a good crop— 
T. S., Romsey, Hanis, 
Superphosphate of Lime for Cabbages.—Not having 
sufficient rotted dung to dress all my land for Cabbages, 
I planted nine rows with superphosphate of lime mixed 
with double its bulk of ashes. Boys attended the 
dibblers, and as a plant was placed in the hole the boy 
put a small quantity of the mixture round it, the men 
then pressed the plant firmly. Those plants put in with 
the mixture are so superior to those planted on well 
prepared farm-yard dung, that each now may be dis- 
tinguished at half a mile distance; expense trifling, 
compared with dung.— Lewes. 
Potatoes in Moss Land.—In regard to Potatoes suf- 
fering from the disease in Moss this year, I hasten to 
inform you that it has heen remarked as an extraordi- 
i t i i ighbourk for miles 
nary in as g 
round, that the Moss lands, which were last year in a 
