686 Two Crops of the Ash-leaved Kidney Potato, 



or two, becomes thick, tenacious, very agreeable and salu- 

 brious, and throws off no whey, except it be kept long, and 

 that a little of the milk, so thickened, serves to bring fresh 

 milk to the same state." Probably Lewis never had an oppor- 

 tunity of trying its effects on reindeer's milk, and only alludes 

 to cow's milk. It is said to cause diseases in cattle ; but Lewis 

 says no animal will eat it. 



I have successfully adopted a similar method of cultivation 

 with both these genera. 



Three or four plants are placed in a pot of 5 in. deep, with 

 some pebbles in the bottom, and over them a piece of Sphag- 

 num, above which the pot is filled with very fine peat. The 

 use of the Sphagnum is, that, whether dead or alive, it en- 

 larges or contracts, by every change of amount of moisture 

 in the pot, and thus always keeps the peat from cohering 

 into a clammy mass, which otherwise it is apt to de. 



Instead of being shaded., as generally directed, the plants 

 are exposed to the full blaze of sunshine ; and it is beautiful 

 to see the leaves of the drosera, some dilating themselves 

 to the warmth and light, and others contracting on and im- 

 prisoning some "flutterer in the beams," that, in an evil 

 moment, has been tempted by the nectar of the dewy leaves. 



The pots are kept plunged to within l^in. of the top in 

 water, during the whole summer ; and, on the first appearance 

 of frost, are removed to a dry airy frame, and given less 

 water each day, until, by mid-winter, they are dry ; in which 

 state they remain until they begin to show signs of vegetation, 

 when they are removed again to their summer quarters. If 

 left exposed to the open air, during the winter, the roots are 

 invariably pushed out of the ground by frost. With this 

 treatment, three small plants, in one season, will completely 

 fill a pot of the size mentioned. 



Robert Mallet. 

 94. Capel Street, Dublin, Aug. 1832. 



Art. XX. On procuring Two Crops of the Ash-leaved Kidney 

 Potato, in One Year, off the same Ground. By John Denson, 

 Senior. 



Sir, 

 In each of the last two years I have grown two crops of 

 the ash-leaved kidney potato on the same ground, and each 

 of the crops has been a good one. I proceed thus : — In 

 taking up the first crop, I bury the tops or herbage in the 

 trench, by turning the earth between the rows upon them 



