646 
THE GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
[SxPr. 26, 
I also captured a Camberwell Beauty, last week, in my 
garden (Kent). It was very feeble, uninjured, and 
made no effort to escape. s those mentioned by 
Professor Henslow were caught on the east coast, this 
caught in Kent may serve to confirm his notion, that 
the wind lately brought them over. The wind has been 
E. and N.E. for a long time.— Este. 
Lawns.—Those who are desirous to obtain a nice 
clean lawn, without weeds, would find the most effec- 
tual remedy to destroy them, and Plantains in particu- 
lar, is, when the sun shines bright and strong, to put a 
pinch of salt on the heart of the plants ; they shrivel in 
a few hours; but if applied in a moist day it fails.— 
Polypodium. 
Maize.—Many of your readers will I have no 
doubt, have grown this year some Maize. With me it 
las heen the most admired plant in the garden all the 
summer, and now I find it the most useful. At the 
suggestion of an American friend I wrenched off a cob 
‘and had it boiea ror SuPer, and a greaic? treat Ds 
had. Boil it in salt and water and eat if with butter 
and salt.—P. B. 
Supposed Substitute for the Potato (see p. 629).— 
The plant known by the Indian name Saa-gaa-ban, I 
believe to be the Apios tuberosa, or Glycine apios. 
have grown large plants of it, and found the tubers 
strung together by ligaments, in the manner described. 
The plants are natives of North America; have weak 
stems and pinnated leaves; but, if in light rich soil, the 
stems will rise 6 or 7 feet or more, if anything uphold 
them. The plants must be grown strong, otherwise the 
tubers will be small. I have seen plants at Mr. 
Knight’s and other London nurseries.—G. Thompson, 
Bramham-park, Sept. 22. 
Potatoes.—1 have seen, once or twice, a sort of 
apology made by you for introducing the subject of 
Potatoes in the Chronicle, Surely no apology can be 
deemed necessary by any one who considers that the 
subject intimately concerns the comfort and welfare of 
millions. What is the colour of a Tulip or a Fuchsia 
to the food of the masses? I can partly imagine the 
difficulty of pleasing all tastes, but on this subject there 
is not, in my opinion, any room for the editorial puzzle 
* Quid dem, quid non dem, renuis tu quod jubet alter.” 
The subject of food is paramount. I consider, there- 
fore, and probably nine-tenths of your readers coneur 
with me, that the publie gratitude is essentially due to 
the Editor of the Chronicle for his patience in examin- 
ing and considering the various discordant opinions pre- 
sented to his notice by eorrespondents, and still more 
for his ability in i igating the ph 1 
with the disease of the useful esculent under notice. I 
wish, however, that Cumberland could be added to the 
“localities in which the Potato crop is not by any 
means so bad as it was last year.’ In the western parts 
of the county the crop is ten times worse. In fact, 
many farmers around me cannot gather a cart-load from 
4 or 5, and, in some instances, from 8 acres of land. 
For my own part, my half acre of black or peat soil 
allows me not less than three cart loads, and would pro- 
ly have yielded more, if the tops had been pulled up 
from the whole, as they were from the prolific part. 
Whether my success was owing entirely to this last- 
named supposed remedy, or to dusting the “sets” with 
lime, previously to planting, or to the black soil, this 
deponent saith not. Can you state, from the letters of 
up the tops an 
bourhood of Whit 
dusting the seed with lime?—Neigh- 
aven. [We should say, that upon 
the whole, the evidenee goes against the advantage of 
lime when applied as a dressing to the crop. This is 
also Mr. Niven's opinion, and we have no doubt that 
the balance of evidence is unfavourable to the utility of 
lime dressing. As to pulling up the tops, we shall 
have a word on that subject next week. 
Potatoes.—A very sensible labouring man lately told 
me the following asa fact, He said that two men cul- 
tivated the headland of a field in Potatoes ; that one 
kept his part clean and did it well, that the other suf- 
fered his portion to be covered with weeds; that the 
crop of the former was extremely rotten, and that of 
the latter very sound. Another man, quite to be trusted, 
told me that he had just seen a cottager digging his 
Potatoes ; that in general they were very bad, but that 
d among the weeds and filth (his own 
both expeeted there would have 
t for use, they found a good crop 
quite sound. There are other statements of the same 
sort in cireulation, where thick Chickweed has been 
abundant.—C. Y. 7 
Potatoes and their Disea. So many 
tions appear upon this all-engrossing and mysterious 
subject, that I dare hardly venture to intrude any 
remarks in your columns. You have already summed 
up the matter by declaring, which indeed appears to be 
quite true, that we as yet know nothing of the remote 
cause of disease. It appears to me, however, that this 
18 a fair starting point for us to recommence our inves- 
tigation. We should not be disheartened if we fail to 
prove that the Botrytis infestans, or the atmospherical 
influences, or a new zoophyte, are at the root of the 
mischief; we shou 1 S ith di: ò 
prove what is. Have we not hitherto, as in all similar 
phænomena (human or vegetative), been too much in- 
clined to speculate? and should we not rather be in- 
duced to observe and record facts from which sound 
and useful deductions may hereafter be drawn. The 
very meagre discussion upon the subject, at the meeting 
of the British Association, has convinced me of the truth 
of my queries ; for we cannot read the various remarks, 
and the arguments by which they were supported, with- 
out at once agreeing with Dr. Lankester, that, up to 
the present date, the amount of our knowledge upon 
this dificult question is literally nothing. After this 
preface I will state these facts, without venturing at 
present to theorise, but they appear to me by no means 
unimportant. lst. My crop of Potatoes, after flourish- 
ing with great vigour during the summer, and evincing 
amore than usual degree of vital action (as shown by 
the luxuriant growth of the top, and the increase of the 
tubers to the third, or even fourth generation), were 
attacked with the prevailing disease on the 23d August, 
the same day precisely that the disease appeared last 
year. 2d. The same parts of the ground which dis- 
played the greatest intensity of disease last year, evinced 
a similar appearance this, forming patches of black 
foliage easily distinguished from the’ rest. 3d. Last 
year I mowed off the haulm directly the disease ap- 
peared, and saved the greatest part of my crop; the seed 
of the present crop was from this produce. This year 
I waited a week after the appearance of the disease 
before I mowed off the haulm, and the tubers are'now 
almost entirely sound, as far as i have yet gone. 
have taken up i2 sacks of Early Shaw, the foliage of 
which was quite black with disease,and I haye nota 
peck of diseased Potatoes. The rest of my crop (Red 
Kidney) is in an equally good condition, and the young 
ones, even to the third generation, are nearly as large as 
the first. A part of the crop planted in June is as fine 
or finer than that planted in February ; the foliage was 
not so much diseased as the other. I deduce from 
these facts the following inferences :—1. That the dis- 
ease appearing on the same ground, at the same time of 
year in two successive years (the seasons of which 
were totally different), and the late sown crops being 
more slightly affected than the early ones, point to 
the fact, that the disease is intimately connected with 
some change which takes place in the vital process of 
the plant. 2. The same parts of a field being more 
affected than the rest, two years in succession, leads to 
the inference, that the character of the soil has a greater 
or less influence over this change in the vital process of 
the plant. 3, The seasons of last year and this being 
of opposite character—the former wet and the present 
dry—disproves the hypothesis of atmospherical in- 
fluences being the cause of disease. 4. The foliage of 
my Potatoes being diseased and the tubers sound, 
proves that the disease commences in the leaves, and 
not in the tubers.— C. R. Bree, Stowmarket. 
Result of an Experiment made to Save Potatoes for 
Seed.—1 am fully satisfied that I have and ean check 
the disease so as to keep the tubers fit for seed. The 
Potatoes were Ash-leaved Kidneys ; they were planted 
in February, and on the 12th August I had them lifted 
and spread on a clean gravel-walk exposed to the sun 
all day. I carefully picked the sound from the unsound; 
I then put 1 lb. of guano to 1 gallon of water, stirred it 
well together, passed the Potatoes through it, and put 
them into a barrow, where they had a good dredging 
with air-slaked lime, so much so that they were well 
coated over. I then spread them on the walk, where 
they remained from the above date until September 8 ; 
I have carefully examined them, counting both the 
washed and unwashed, and the result is as follows :-— 
Number unwashed, 1525 ; sound 505, rotted 1020. 
Number washed, 654; sound 582, rotted 72. I ma; 
remark that the washed Potatoes are showing strong 
symptoms of growth, even pushing at every eye, while 
the unwashed ones are just the same as when they came 
out of the ground. I intend planting them in the end 
of October. I always plant my early crop in Novem- 
ber, ina way of my own, which proves satisfactory ; if 
my mode would be of use, you can have it at another 
time—C. W. [If you please.] 
Soot a Preventive of the Potato Disease.—Mr. Francis 
Benson, of Wolviston, Durham, planted a small garden 
with Potatoes; he gave a portion of it a liberal allow- 
ance of soot, the rest manure. The Potatoes where the 
soot was applied are perfectly free from disease, while 
those planted without soot, within a yard of the former, 
are exceedingly bad. Would soot be of any service in 
storing this year’s crop ?~Alumina. [We doubt whe- 
ther Potatoes would not acquire a bad taste by being 
packed in soot. ] 
m 
Foreign Correspondence. 
St. Petersburgh, Aug. 12.— Count Orloff's garden at 
Strelna, about 12 miles from St. Petersburgh, on the road 
to Peterhoff, is the prettiest of the few private gardens I 
have had time to see. It was first laid out about 10 years 
ago by the architect who built the house, but under the 
instruction of the Countess, alady of considerable taste 
and talent, a great patron of the arts, and who has seen 
and studied much of art in England, France, Italy, and 
Germany. The extent is but 25 acres, but it has the 
advantage of the little river Strelta, which here expands 
into a little lake, then passing under the high road 
through a two-arched stone bridge, opens into the Gulf 
of Finland, which we see under the arches, The house 
isin the semi-gothiec style of some of our villas ; the 
garden contains shrubberies and winding walks, flower- 
beds and a formal parterre, a French charmille (in 
which the Carpinus, too tender for the climate, is re- 
placed by the Lime); a labyrinth ; rock-work and a 
ruined tower (built with the porous calcareous stone 
from Ropscha) to show the view; temples and statues ; 
a considerable set of plant-houses, an Apple orchard, &e., 
and though so much is crowded in so small a space, it 
is all done with so much real taste that nothing looks 
cockney, and the passage from the formal avenue to the 
winding walk ; from the Italian to the French, or from 
that to the English gardens, so well managed that there 
is nothing to hurt the eye. The lawns, generally a 
difficult and ill und d depart gardening in 
Russia, are not even so good in thisas in other gardens; 
but the flowers would do credit to any of our own gar- 
deners—they are under the care of a young man from: 
the botanic garden. As we were here rather earlier in. 
the day than in most other gardens we have been to, we 
saw the pink Calystegia in full beauty, and it is certainly, 
by far the hand hardy © lvu lant 
know. Amongst the shrubs I remarked some fine 
specimens of Caragana frutescens—said to be so much 
handsomer in flower than the C. arborescens—so com- 
mon here in the north. I also observed two or three 
fine trees (of 10 years’ growth since planting), of 
Populus tristis, Fisch., from Nootka, which I think would 
e an acquisition in our p i being distinguished 
from the other Balsam Poplars by its dark foliage, and 
an Oak tree planted ten years ago being then fifteen 
years old, its branches spread over a space of 50 ft. 
diameter, it is tall in proportion, with a strong thick 
stem, and the foliage everywhere dense, deep coloured, 
and regularly vigorous. It looked like an Oak of 50 
years’ growth with us ; whilst a grove of Oaks between. 
Petersburgh and Peterhoff, planted by Peter the Great 
130 years ago, had the stems scarcely thicker, were not 
above half as high again, and showed but too plainly 
that favourable as is the soil here for young Oaks 
(Q. pedunculata), the furious storms and bitter winds 
will never admit of their attaining the size and beauty 
they do with us. 
The vast gardens and grounds of Tsarskoë Selo are 
truly befitting the magnificent palace they belong to 5. 
and as in the palace every decoration is of real value, 
and nothing allowed to be in the least out of order, out 
of place, or neglected, so in the whole of the grounds, 
gardens, houses, &c., everything is in the most perfect 
order, without a weed on the walks, drives, or beds, or 
a stake wanting to the flowers ; and this with 35 versts 
above 26 miles) of drives and walks, and 800 sajen 
(near 1900 yards) of glass, almost entirely in fruit. The 
keeping up the gardens and ground occupies about 800 
men, under the superi d f Mr. Marq iy a 
German, for the flowers ; Mr. Konnoff, a Russian, for 
the fruit, and Mr. Piper, a German, The 
grounds are laid out partly in the French, partly in the 
English style, with the advantages of undulating ground 
and water, though too far from the gulf to have any 
sea view. The flowers are the same as what I have 
seen elsewl about P burgh, but on a more exe 
tensive scale ; the fruit houses are a perfect contrast to 
those of the Tauride palace; not a pane of glass want- 
ing ; all the paint new and clean ; the trees, in or out 
of bearing, properly trained, and everything in and 
about the houses in front or at the back, kept as if they 
were laid out for show. The Grape houses, now in 
bearing, showed crops that would do credit to any of 
our own growers; the Pines were very clean and 
healthy ; the fruit not so fine as with us, and the crowns 
too large, but infinitely superior to that of the Tauride 
Gardens, 
We saw Pavlovsk under the disadvantage of comin, 
direct from the splendours of Tsarskoé Selo, The park, 
it is true, has its peculiar beauty, derived from a long: 
winding glen or little valley, with a small stream spread 
into ornamental water, and the whole is well kept ; but 
the vast palace looks plain in the interior after Tsarskoc 
Selo, and Pavlovsk having been the favourite residence 
of the universally-beloved Empress mother, the Arch- 
duke Michael, to whom it now belongs, will not allow of 
any alterations from the state in which it was left at her 
death, and many improvements now become almost 
necessary are left undone in memory of her. The 
director of the garden is Mr. Weinmann, known for his 
botanical works; he has especially studied the botany 
of the neighbourhood of Petersburg, and the Crypto- 
gams of Russia generally, on which he has lately 
published some memoirs; the collection under his 
care is therefore rather more) botanical than orna- 
mental, with the exception of the favourite gardens of 
the late Empress mother, which are very well kept up 
as flower gardens. Amongst these flowers were a good 
many pots of Sezevola macrocarpa, which had a very: 
pretty effect, and the Tagetes signata (which I believe im 
a former letter I called by mistake T. sinuata), was also 
At Tsarskoë Selo I observed a very 
railing (the furniture of the room heing in the mi de 
age style), with creepers to the height of the backs © 
being about the height of the ordinary back of the sofas. 
some of the less Tiris species, such as Maurandyam 
were planted in them and looked healthy ; flat vases 
hanging from the ceiling of a low boudoir (or one ET 
in a room railed off by creepers), with an Achime je e 
or other flowering plant, in it, and short oe 
hanging from it, &c. All these sitting-room fons eni 
require care, it is true ; trimming, and picking o 
