i 
51—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
835 
ORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. OF LONDON.— 
Notice is hereby given, fhat the EXHIBITION OF 
FLOWERS AND FRUIT, in the Society's Garden, in. the 
ensuing season, will take place on the following Saturdays, 
viz., May 8; June 19 ; and July 17 ; and that Tuesday, April 20, 
‘isthe last day on which the usual privileged Tickets are issued 
*to Fellows of the Society. 
M. MITCHELUS ROYAL ALBERT RHU- 
Orders prepaid and addressed to Wat. Mirror, Enfield, or to 
e sole Agent, Cras. FARNES SEEDSMAN, 128, St, John-street, 
London, will meet with prompt attention. 
MERICAN POTATO SEED. 
er.Ib., or 10s. 62, per 
OTATO SEED, raised the present year in one of the Northern 
i utmost eare, from 
| soil to the farmer. 
ficient manure be in a condition fitted for the culture of | 
the garden: Beet, The. culture is similar to that of 
Mangold Wurzel and of Turnips, and can consequently 
be effected, on a small or on a. large scale, as may suit 
the. varied ci of individuals. In an eco- 
nomical point of view, it seems to me that the 
success of this experiment is important, because the 
produce of the Beet per acre is very large, in re- 
spect of weight, substance, and nutriment, it being well 
known that it contains, besides the fibre, a, very large 
proportion of saccharine matter. The whole is com- 
bined in the bread, and it is obvious that by this mode 
of preparation, an enormous, indeed unlimited addition, 
may be made to the native supply of a most wholesome 
and nutritious food. In an: agricultural point of view, 
the Beet would be a most profitable occupation of the 
With careful cultivation, 30 tons 
might be calculated upon per imperial acre, which, at 
the moderate price of 17. per ton, would yield a value of 
-.| 307. gross produce, from which, if there were dedueted 
one-half for rent, manure, and expense of culture, there 
would remain to the eultivator.a net profit of 157. per 
imperial acre. This I believe to bea safe and by no 
means an exaggerated calculation. If the system were 
to succeed, another great benefit von result from it in 
i: s 5 = 
She Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS, 
wrspAY, Deo. 23—Soclety of Art 
an. 1—Botanical . ^. . 
Ms 
RIDAY, . 8». 
Tug Right Hon; T; F. Kennepy, Paymaster of 
‘civil services in Ireland, has addressed a publie letter 
o Mr. Lazovensrer, drawing attention to the fact 
that BrgT.RooT AND Frour, mixed in equal propor- 
tions, make excellent nutritious bread. We have 
ad the experiment tried, by rasping down a red 
Beetroot, and mixing with it an equal quantity of 
flour; and we find that the dough rises well, bakes 
well, and forms a loaf: very similar to good. brown 
bread in taste and appearance. 
We regard this. as am important. discovery ; be- 
cause there is no’ crop’ which can be so readily 
introduced into Irish cultivation as the Beet, and 
its varieties, because no crop will yield a larger 
return, and because an abundant supply of seed may 
bé had of it from France. We have long since 
shown the great value of a Beet crop, in point of 
nutrition (see p. 163 of this vol.) ; that in fact it 
ranks higher than any known plant which is cul- 
tivable, But there was always the difficulty of how 
to consume it, for men would find it a poor diet by 
itself, and the present circumstances of Ireland arenot! 
Such as to justify the introduction of produce which 
Can become food for man only after having been 
transformed into pigs and oxen. "The discovery;how- 
ever; in Germany, of the facility with which it may 
be-combined with bread, removes the difficulty, and 
places. Beet incontestably at the head of the new 
articles which should be introduced into Irish hus- 
bandty. In. its relation to Potatoes, Beet stands 
as 1090 to\433, if its nutritive quality is considered ; 
and as 8330 to 8480 in regard to utilisable produce 
of all kinds-(see-thetables atp. 163). It is'still to 
be determined what kind of Beet could be bêst cul- 
tivated for this purpose. Red. Béet produces 
brown bread; white Sugar Beet would probably 
yield a white bread, and of still better! quality ; 
Mangold Wurzel we have ascertained: to form a 
bread of inferior quality, but still eatable enough. 
Mr, Kennepy suggests that Carrots and Par- 
Ships might be employed in the same manner as 
Beet. That, too, we have tried, and we find that 
Parsnips are excellent, but Carrots much less 
palatable. All these substances combine readily 
with flour, but. they are rather unwilling to part 
With their water, and will probably be best in cakes, 
like Oatmeal. 
The. letter to which we have alluded is the fol- 
owing :— 
** Treasury Chambers, Dublin Castle, 
Tth Deo. 1846. 
'* My dear Sir,—My attention was recently attracted 
by, a notice in the Economist newspaper of 28th Novem- 
er, to an experiment said to have been made. at 
jenna, in making bread from. a mixture of Wheaten 
flour and the common red garden Beet-root. It struck 
Me that it would be very important to ascertain the 
result of such a combination in the shape of bread, and 
have sueceeded in having the experiment made with 
a, degree of success much beyond what I could have 
ventured to anticipate. I take the liberty of sending 
you.a specimen of bread made from flour and Beet-root, 
inequal proportions, which appears to me to be most 
excellent, I venture to think that this experiment is 
One of some importance with reference to the present 
Condition and future prospects of Ireland. No advan- 
tage indeed can be derived from it in respect of a supply 
Of food, for some time, but in the coming year there is 
no reason why the garden Beet should not be cultivated 
inthe fields of Ireland, in those at least which are dry 
OF drained, to a very large extent. The land which is 
Suitable to the cultivation of the Potato, may with suf- 
an agriculti tthe culture of the 
Beet, so far from interfering with the culture of Wheat, 
Barley, and Oats, would promote it, by coming into 
the alternate system of husbandry, in the rotation, as 
what is termed a drilled green crop, a great desidera- 
tum, if the Potato is to cease to occupy that place. 
Turnips are a most important element in good hus- 
bandry in this respect, but as they can, directly, con- 
stitute an article of human food only to a small extent, 
it is most important to find as many sources as possible 
of human food, which can keep up, with the same ad- 
vantage as the Turnip, the alternation of green and 
hite crops, which is found to be essential to the con- 
tinued fertility of the soil. In all probability, meal of 
Indian corn: and Barley-meal, would also combine well 
with the Beet in making wholesome and nutritious 
bread. I have little doubt, from: the experiment made 
with Beet, that Parsnips and even Carrots might be 
found to combine with flour in making excellent bread, 
and if experience should prove such to be the case, a 
still wider field is presented, of profit to the cultivator, 
and of hope to the whole mass of the consumers of food. 
Tam sure that you will pardon this hasty and imperfect 
statement of a few of the first ideas which have occurred 
to me on this subject. Many other ulterior considera- 
tions present themselves to my mind, which I forbear to 
state.—Believe me, my dear Sir, most truly yours, 
T. F. KENNEDY. 
“ The Right Hon. HENRY T,ABOUCHERE; 
** Ges do, doa? 
"Tus:following very important information upon 
the:subject'of the Poraro Disease in Poland has 
been’ received" by’ Government. from the British 
Consul at Warsaw, and we hasten to lay it before 
our readers. 
“t Warsaw, Oct. 16, 1846. 
* My Lord,—In a report on the result of this year’s 
harvest in Poland, which I had the honour to forward 
to your lordship with my letter, Consular, No. 25 of 
the 28th of last month, I stated that the Potato disease 
was totally unknown in this country. 
“Since making that statement I have heard of’ one 
exception to the rule, which has occurred on a small 
the whole English Potato crop is predisposed, by 
some cause, to take.the disease more readily than 
the crops of Portugal, Italy, and Poland. 
WE have much pleasure in announcing that sub- 
scriptions for heating St. Thomas’s Charch, Win- 
chester, upon the Polmaise system, under Mr. 
Meex’s direction, are beginning to come in. The 
following gentlemen ‘have already furnished their 
quota, viz. :— 
T. S. TURNBULL, Esq., Newport oe t 
C. TELFORD, Esq., Throgmorton-stree 4e 
Prof, LINDLEY, London. .. oe ole 
Hon, and Rev, Jonn Gray, St. James’s-square 
£l 1 
X ct 
Xs 
qr 
- 010 
11 
Xr 
s i 
1 wk 
di odstone X . 
Frep; Watson, Esq., Blackhurst E E 
J. WILSON, Esq., Stamford Hill .. PY 
We hope that our next announcement will record 
a large accession of names ; for the various assur- 
ances from correspondents that the Polmaise 
method of heating has already been tried in various 
churches in Scotland with perfect success only makes 
us the more anxious that this experiment should be 
fairly worked out in England. Not that we belong 
to that ingenious class-of philosophers who believe 
that what happens in Seotland will not happen in 
England under exactly the same cireumstances, and 
who contended that although Mr. Murray could 
heat aVinery near Stirling, and beat all the country 
side with his Grapes, that was no reason why a 
man should be able to do the same thing in Mid- 
dlesex.. We could not, indeed, belong to [them, 
with any convenience, for they are all dead. now ; 
the cold weather has killed thetn, along with green- 
fly and slugs. Our reason for desiring: a new expe- 
riment to be tried is that although the soundness 
of the principle ‘of Polmaise cannot require 
any proof, yet there are’ various ways of 
working out that prineiple, and we want to know 
what plan is the best and cheapest. Most of the 
Scotch churches have been heated by Mr. HADEN, 
a very intelligent engineer, residing at 6, St. An- 
drews-square, Edinburgh, who uses a stove, doubt- 
less an efficient one, constructed by himself; but 
cannot a better arrangement be devised? The 
Rev. D. Espa1trE, minister of Rescobie near Forfar, 
tells us that the East Church, Perth, an ancient 
gothie building, capable of containing nearly 1400 
people, was thus heated 12 years ago with perfect 
success; but then it cost 80/7. He, on the contrary, 
has warmed his church of Rescobie for about a 
quarter that:sum. He says:— 
* Remembering the perfect success of the expe- 
riment at Perth, I resolved to repeat it when I 
came here four years ago. I have done so with an 
equally satisfactory result; and the church of this 
parish is heated in the same way by a stove which 
costs; including building and carriage from Perth, 
221. The expense of fuel is not more than fifteen 
pence each Sd a very small sum to render 
comfortable 500 people. Our stove is erected out- 
side the church; an arrangement necessary from 
circumstances, but faulty on account of the heat 
CIPUE 
ocoooooocoo 
estate not far from Warsaw, farmed by a Mr. Kedzlie, 
ili ong blished 
a British subject of much i 
in Poland. 
«The Potatoes which have furnished this exception 
are of the kind called the * Ash-leaved English Kidney 
Potato, and were obtained from England two years 
ago; they were planted in the midst of Mr. Kedzlie's 
other Potato crops, on land of the same quality, and 
prepared exactly in the same way as the rest of the 
ground, which has yielded perfectly sound fruit. 
«This circumstance would seem to prove that the 
disease is not ibut: o pherie infi ET 
is, I hear, the generally received opinion in other 
countries. Here, in Poland, all persons to whom I 
have spoken on the subject, think that the Potatoes in 
the rest of Europe are tainted in the germ by over 
eultivation ; and it is certainly remarkable that here, 
where the soil is generally light, and where less manure 
is used than in any other country, except Russia—and 
never immediately preceding the crop of Potatoes— 
those plants should have completely escaped the infection 
which threatens their extinetion in all parts where 
greater pains have been taken in their cultivation. 
d 
isolated fact which I have mentioned, wil decide a 
question which has so hopelessly occupied the attention 
of first-rate scientific men in many countries ; but I 
hope that the notice of the circumstances will not be 
deemed irrelevant at a time when the disease in question 
is the cause of such dire distress in her Majesty's own 
dominions as well as in other parts of Europe. 
(Signe I have, &e,, Gust. pv Pian. 
** Viscount PALMERSTON, G.C.B., 
*  doo,, döy duo," 
This document will be read with the more inte- 
rest if it is compared with the other facts of the 
same nature to which we have formerly alluded as 
having been observed at Genoa, Oporto, Bermuda, 
and the Cape of Good Hope. 1t proves incon- 
testably one of two things, either that the Potato 
disease was actually engendered in 1844, or that 
pated in the external air. I beg to direct your 
attention to the fact that churches can be heated 
on the Polmaise plan without incurring the expense 
of cold air drains. Without the help of such expen- 
sive means cold air must rush towards a heated sur- 
face; and when the rector of the new church at 
Winchester. hears of churches, large and small, 
having been heated without them, I trust he may 
be induced to-try whether Polmaise may not be 
introduced without such expensive and unnecessary 
adjuncts.” 
The latter part.of this letter demands to be well 
considered, for cold air drains have been especially 
objected to by “air. objectors,” because it was 
supposed that. a rat might get into them, or a cat 
kitten therein.. Better reasons could be given for 
removing them if the air is really as well diffused 
without as with them, the most obvious of which is 
their cost. Now it will be remembered by our 
readers that Mr. Atrrep Krxparr last week anti- 
cipated the information conveyed by the Rev. D. 
Espaizz, by announcing that he had dispensed with 
drains; and his experiment, which. we have exa- 
mined personally, seems to show that they are un- 
necessary, for his house is large and difficult to 
heat, while his apparatus is of the most simple and 
unexpensive kind; in reality only a furnace, and 
two holes in à wall, without the wet blanket. 
Economy in construction must be a very great 
object in church building, as well as in gardens, for 
we never yet heard of a country church overbur- 
thened with wealth; and if it was, the abundance 
may be better employed than in. paying for cold iron 
to carry hot water about in, or for any other need- 
less. apparatus. Therefore it is that we again pre- 
sume to urge those who have at heart the reduction 
to exact proof of a very great social question, to 
