45—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
* 
739 
ROSES. 
AV [ese LANE anp SON, Great Berkhampsted, 
beg to announce that their ROSE CATALOGUE may 
‘be had upon application, enclosing a 2d. postage stamp, They 
‘beg to add, that the two last pages of the Catalogue may be 
consulted with much advantage by those desirous of making a 
really good selection, as they contain the names of all the 
Roses which they have proved to be the very best for pot or 
greenhouse culture, and for covering trellis work, walls, poles, 
d&c. &c. Their potted plants are unusually strong and healthy. 
6. 
~ SHOWY HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
WOODLANDS NURSERY, MARESFIELD, UCKFIELD, 
SUSSEX. 
M. WOOD anp SON having for several years 
paid particular attention to the cultivation of HARDY 
HERBACEOUS PLANTS, duri ii i 
selves, viz.— 5 e 
Good showy kinds, all distinct m . 2s. 
Superior do. do. e. 12s. 75s. 
tageous terms, when the selection of sorts is left to them- 
Extra superb andnew do. oo 18s, 100s. 
Catalogues of the above are just published, and may be had, 
“GRATIS, On application. 
Plants presented with each order to defray the expence of 
ETNA AND ISABELLA.—The rollow- 
ing testimony to the excellence of the above Plants has 
just been received, unsolicited, from one who is a Geranium 
raiser :— «Farnham, Oct. 19, 1846. 
** Srm.—The two plants came to hand on Saturday in good 
order, and are very nice plants, particularly ‘Mount Etna,’ 
foliage good, and a fine grower. The drawings I think are 
well executed.—I am, Sir, yours respectfully, THos. EYRE.” 
“To i 
Wm, Miller.” 
Similar strong plants are now ready, 
MountEtna  .. ea .. £1 1 
0 
Isabella .. 
I. e ee 010 6 
The Two for 30s. 
** Mount Etna” has received Four Prizes and “ Isabella” 
“One, at the London Exhibitions. Plates and descriptive lists 
-can be had for twelve postage-stamps, o: 
ILLIAM MILLER, Providence Nursery, Ramsgate. 
NEW PINK. 
ORMAN'S “HENRY STEERS,” purple laced, 
extra fine form ; fine long pod; well laced and constant, 
5s. per pair, sent post free on receipt of a Post-office order on 
Woolwich. : 
Messrs. Norman feel great confidence in offering the above, 
‘feeling assured it will give satisfaction. — E 
ogues of their select Show Carnations, Picotees, Pinks, 
Tulips, &c., will be forwarded on prepaid application enclosing 
«one stamp.—Bull Fields, Woolwich. 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING WEEK. 
"WzpwwspAv, Nov. 11— Microscopical «5s ese 8 O& 
Sarunpay,  — 14—Royal Boianie 5. e 5. . a D 40M. 
Lerrers have been received from Mr. Hanrwze, 
:dated Monterey, July 28, to which port he had 
been conveyed by Sir Gro. Seymour, in his flag- 
ship. He had despatched only one box of seeds 
and bulbs to Europe, and that, having been placed 
on board a Mexican coasting vessel which had been 
captured by an American cruizer, had been wetted 
and lost. 
Ir will be in the recollection of our readers that 
a few weeks ago, when urging the advantage o 
planting the Potato in the autumn, we ventured to 
anticipate that the Potato crop, thus raised system- 
atically by Mr. Sazruznp, on Calf Island, though 
blighted in the haulm, would be found, when dug, 
to have sustained inconsiderable injury in the 
tubers (see page 675, col. 3). The following highly- 
interesting letter from Mr, Suzrnxnp shows that 
our anticipations have been justified by the event. 
“ Calf Island, Isle of Man, Oct. 25. 
* In accordance with the promise contained in my 
dast letter, to apprize you of the state of my Potato 
crop as the season advanced, I have now to report that 
they are sound and keeping perfeetly well. AsI before 
stated, however, they are very small. I may further 
remark that when the Potato haulm was affected by the 
blight, the Fern, Ragwort, Nettles, and even part of 
the Heath on the hills were entirely destroyed, as also 
some Potatoes that were growing in their natural state 
upon Grass-land that had been left in the ground since 
1844. This fact leads me to conclude that human 
‘means are unavailing, and that man has no control over 
the blight in Potatoes, I would, however, strongly 
recommend those who are about to plant Potatoes, to 
treat their sets as recommended by me in the 12th 
Number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle of the present 
year. It may be inconvenient to many parties to ob- 
tain sea-water ; in which case I would recommend them 
to wet the sets thoroughly with urine, and having done 
80, to eauterise them with hot flour of lime. If planted 
on newly-reclaimed land so much the better, provided 
it be well drained or be naturally dry. With reference 
as to whether autumn planting is to be preferred, I 
would only remark that it must entirely depend upon 
the soil and situation. Should further experience teach 
us that autumn or spring planting is the best, the land 
should then be well prepared, drilled and manured, pre- 
vious to the autumn; or on many soils and in many 
situations, and in wet seasons, such planting must 
mecessarily be up-hill work, and when finished the land 
will be found to be in but a sterile state. Under such 
circumstances autumn planting involves much heavy 
and extraordinary labour. I will only further state 
that experience has taught me that seed Potatoes should 
be planted immediately they are dug up, whether_that be 
st | ause the evil; nor is their sudden destruction ex- 
| plicable upon any principle except a disturbance of 
in autumn or in spring. I purpose to leave the whole of 
my crop in the ground till spring.—R. SHEPHERD.” | 
While this letter adds one more great fact to | 
those which are gradually accumulating in favour 
of autumn planting, for Mr. SrePuenp's is only the 
best form in which the process can be conducted, 
it also strengthens in a very striking way the theory 
of atmospheric miasm, using the latter word in its 
widest sense. Mr. Saepuern’s description of the 
destruction of the natural weeds of the soil when 
the Potato haulm was blighted is most remarkable. 
These hardy plants could not have so perished 
from the unseen frost—which some imagine to 
the usual conditions of the atmosphere. Since the 
remarks upon this subject, which we ventured to 
offer for the consideration of our readers on the 
17th of October (see p. 691) were published, other 
cireumstances, then unknown to us, have gradually 
disclosed themselves. More especially have the in- 
stances of Potato crops, sheltered by other crops, | 
or by trees or hedges, having escaped surrouuding 
destruction, increased in number. 
Another curious circumstance has occurred under 
our own observation. A few weeks since we 
received from a gentleman at King’s College some | 
specimens of that curious but well known case of 
disturbed structure to which the Potato is so 
subject. This consisted in some old Potatoes of 
1845, which had been accidentally put away in a 
box ofshavings, and kept in a dry place, having 
formed internal tubers, which by degrees burst 
through the skin. The specimens in question were 
placed on a library table where they remained for 
about a month; during which time they retained all 
the appearance of health, and gradually became 
green and purple. But on the morning of 
October 30, they were found to be, in many in- 
stances, attacked by the true Potato disease, and 
when cut acquired rapidly a deep brown colour. 
This is explicable, perhaps, upon other grounds 
than atmospheric agency, but is not at variance 
with it. No fungi appeared upon these Potatoes 
till long after they were attacked, and then the 
species which developed (rapidly) was not the 
Botrytis. 
This year’s singular affection of Apples seems to 
be analogous to the Potato blight; we do not mean 
the numerous cases of transparency, and speckiness, 
or premature woolliness, which have for some weeks 
attracted attention, for they, certainly in many 
cases, and perhaps in all, may be referred to our 
hot summer. We allude to the sudden destruction 
of a whole crop by a disease which renders them 
dark brown to the core. One of these was pro- 
duced last Tuesday at the meeting of the Horti- 
cultural Society, and the same post brought us, from 
a friend in Norfolk, a specimen, in the very same 
condition, along with the following letter. 
“A basket of Cat’s-head Apples was packed up and 
sent a few miles to a person in Yarmouth, and after 3 
or 4 days, on being opened, they were found to be in 
the state of the portion sent herewith, although per- 
fectly sound when packed up. The blackened skin and 
general appearance are so unlike anything I have be- 
fore seen in a decayed Apple, that I thought I would 
send you a piece for examination, as it seemed to me 
not improbable that the cause of the decay might be 
similar to that of the Potatoes. The parties who packed 
them have an orchard, and are well acquainted with 
the ordinary means of preserving Apples, and no other 
tree in the same orchard has been subject to this kind 
of decay; I mean as to its fruit. A child ate a portion 
of one, and was made very unwell by it ; all the Apples 
of the tree from which this was taken have decayed in 
like manner.” 
These Apples smell as if they had been baked, 
and are already swarming with the spawn of fungi. 
But if these evidences drive us nearer than ever 
to the doctrine of epidemic action, we must still 
inquire how the difficulties alluded to at p. 691 are 
to be reconciled with it. We have no right te call 
in question the accuracy of the observers on whose 
reports they are founded ; four (not three) similar 
statements from observers widely separated, and 
having no communication with each other, form an 
amount of presumptive evidence which even a court 
of law would accept. The only solution of the diffi- 
culty, that occurs to us, is the possibility that “the 
disease" whieh has been observed in the cases 
alluded to, is not the same as has attacked the great 
mass of the crops of Europe and North America. 
That is possible; and we own that we begin to 
suspect that even in Europe the Potato crops may 
have been attacked by more than one kind of dis- 
ease ; as, for example, by the brown underground 
superficial gangrene of the haulm, and the sudden 
spotting and blotching of the leaves. 
writer, and he presents them to the readers of the 
Chronicle now, because the time is fast passing away 
when any advice on this matter will be available for the 
present season. Get all your bulbs and corms in the 
ground immediately. Look in the seedsman’s window 
and be tempted for the last time this year. Resolve on 
what you will purchase,and pot or plant at onee, in- 
serting various kinds of roots in vacant and favourable 
spots. If you are a Tulip fancier of any experience 
you will not need to be told how to go on ; but if this is 
your first year and you have a few good roots, let a 
little extra care be bestowed upon them. Choose a light 
soil, and plant about three inches deep from the apex of 
the bulb, covering with white sand as you proceed, and 
recording the names with tallies. Do not be too 
anxious about them, for they are almost sure to do well, 
and your care may be safely reserved until the leaves 
appear above ground. 
Hardy bulbs will stand any amount of frost, provided 
they are not exposed to the light, and have been rooted 
in time. Some kinds will require a little protection, 
the Gladioli for instance ; these should be planted 
somewhat deeper, and a few inches depth of leaf-mould 
may be placed over them at the surface of the soil. 
The tender kinds should be grown in pots, and turned 
out to bloom in the spring. Allied to these in 
their mature and treatment are the Ixia and 
Sparaxis, of which very splendid varieties are 
raised in Guernsey. These will stand our winters ; 
but they bloom so early, and the flower is so delicate, 
that a satisfactory display is seldom obtained in the 
border. If the amateur has never yet grown these 
They may 
will grow almost anywhere ; but luxuriate most in a 
sandy soil. The Fritillaria must not be forgotten, 
being perfectly hardy, and coming into bloom so 
early in the season. * The flower is very durable, and it 
is monopetalous, and thereforenoteasily injured by wind. 
A small bed of these is a lovely sight, and may be very 
cheaply procured. Of a universal favourite, the Snow- 
rop, I regret I am obliged to confess that itis very 
difficult to propagate, at least in my own experience. 
The bulbs appear in many cases to decrease in size, 
and at last to vanish altogether. I have been informed 
by a nurseryman that the supply is very limited ; and I 
should much like to read the opinions of growers on the 
cause of this. In some old orchards I have seen im- 
mense clusters springing up among the Grass, which 
have been there (tradition says) for centuries. It isan 
invaluable little darling, and one can scarcely conceive 
of any garden having too many of them. 
If you have more Hyacinths than you want to plant 
in the garden, I would suggest a plan which has been 
tried with fine effect ; that is, to put six bulbs of various 
colours into large pots, say 9-inch, and then to bury them 
until the spring,when they may be taken into the green- 
house or sitting room. The cheap mixtures will do well 
‘for this purpose. Although the Ranuneulus cannot be 
classed with the tribes now treated of, yet this is the 
place to recommend that a few common sorts be now 
planted for very early bloom. The turban sorts are 
adapted for this, and should be planted immediately. 
Let the soil be light, and not retentive of moisture, and 
plant the roots a little deeper than for the spring growth. 
In a favourable season these will bloom in May, and 
make a valuable addition to the border flowers. 
If you have Hyacinths and Tulips in pots, ascertain 
if any are well rooted, and if so, bring them in for 
forcing. Keep them close to the glass as soon as the 
leaves appear, and let water be liberally supplied. 
Flowers may thus be expected by Christmas.—H. B. 
CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
SEEING a very sensible and well-written paper, in the 
Chronicle lately, on the “Culture of the Strawberry 
for the Amateur," permit me to offer a few observa- 
tions which may be more generally applied to those who 
are gardeners by profession and necessity, rather than 
choice. 
The “ wisdom of our ancestors,” valuable as it might 
have been in the ruder ages of society, and estimable 
as it may still be in the eyes of some lucky wight of an 
amateur who inherits a snug estate, which has de- 
seended from generation to generation, and who owes 
a deep debt of gratitude to them for their prudent'fore- 
sight, — yet this wisdom of our ancestors has long 
ceased to exact veneration from the gardening world ; 
amore highly cultivated and artificial state of society 
has banished the stationary and empirical practitioners 
of former days, and their places are being supplied by 
those who do nothing without a sufficient reason, and 
who, in proportion to their intelligence, feel their insuf- 
ficiency. It is to the latter class (now, happily, the 
most general) that the gardening periodicals are most 
valuable auxiliaries, eliciting so many various opinions, 
and in “ the multitude of counsellors” arriving at valu- 
able truths. 
Deeply impressed with the utility of candid and fair 
discussion, I am led to make the following observations, 
which have been confirmed by a long and successful 
practice in the culture of the Strawberry :— 
1. I would say that, as this is not a good time for 
TEUR ( DENER. 
Ox Butrs.—A few miscellaneous observations on | 
this interesting tribe of plants have occurred to the | 
making new beds, the kinds which you wish to 
grow should have been planted in September, and will 
now be so firmly rooted that they will not be heaved up 
by the action of frost. 
