106 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 28, ia«8. 



The Kitchen Garden. 



Turnips — .A good breadth of these useful vege- 

 tables should now be sown for giving a supply 

 throughout the winter. This sowing will produce 

 roots of a moderate size that may be relied on to 

 keep sound during that period of the year, lied 

 Globe (Veitch's) is undoubtedly one of the best 

 varieties for this purpose, but it is also advisable to 

 sow a small quantity of Chirk Castle for latest use. 

 The fact of this variety keeping firm longer than any 

 other white-fleshed turnip overrules any objection on 

 account of its black skin. It is not necessary to 

 make any great preparations for this crop, and as a 

 rule manure will not be necessary unless the ground 

 is very poor, and if any be given it should consist of 

 bone-dust or something equally rich in phosphates 

 in preference to anything that contains much 

 nitrogen. A piece of ground from which an early 

 Potato crop has been cleared will be suitable, fork- 

 ing over lightly, breaking it down well and levelling 

 it, and the seed should be sown in rows 2 feet apart, 

 and the plants thinned as soon as they are ready, 

 leaving them 9 inches apart in the rows. It is well 

 to sow plenty of seed in case the flea should attack 

 the plants, aud if that should occur give a good dress- 

 ing of wood-ashes and soot in a dry state when the 

 leaves are damp, and repeat as often as may be 

 necessary. An occasional hoeing to keep down weeds 

 will be all the attention the crop will require 

 until full grown. All Cabbage beds should 

 be cleared of stumps. &c, as soon as possible 

 after cutting the heads, or considerable im- 

 poverishment of the ground to no purpose will 

 ensue ; bat if it be deemed advisable, a few rows 

 only may be left to form sprouts, these often proving 

 very useful early in the winter after the Savoys are 

 used. W. H. Divers, Ketton Hall, Stamford. 



Home Correspondence. 



gfisp* Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending early 

 intelligence of local events likely to be of interest to 

 our readers, or of any matters which it. is desirable to 

 bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



Photographs or drawings of gardens, or of remarkable 

 plants, trees, cfc, are also solicited. 



PASSIFLORA EDULIS (GRENADILLA FIG).— A 

 fine example of this stove or warm greenhouse 

 climber growing a 10-inch pot stood on the border 

 in the corner of a small house at Common Hill, 

 Mrs. Clay's pretty place, near Ilfracombe, trained 

 up the back wall and down one of the rafters, and 

 carrying a very heavy crop of fruit, is well worthy of 

 notice in the pages of the Gardeners' Chronicle. The 

 roots have pushed through the pot into the border, 

 otherwise a plant having its roots confined to a 

 10-inch pot could not possibly support such a spread 

 of foliage and heavy crop of fruit as the one observed 

 is carrying. Mr. Dadds, the gardener, states that 

 the fruit is much appreciated for dessert when eaten 

 with cream and sugar. When fully grown it is about the 

 size of an ordinary Elruge Nectarine, having a horny 

 skin, which turns from a glossy green to brown when 

 the fruit is ripe. The fruit contains a large number of 

 seeds, and possesses a peculiar flavour. The species 

 can be easily raised by seed or cuttings put in in the 

 ordinary way in a hotbed or any other structure afford- 

 ing heat and moisture, shifting the young plants 

 into larger pots, as they require more room at the 

 roots, using a compost of four parts sandy loam and 

 one of leaf-mould. It is a rapid grower, but the 

 shoots should not be stopped — only thinned out to 

 prevent crowding. If fruited in pots liberal surface- 

 dressing of Beeson's manure should be given once or 

 twice a week before giving water at the roots while 

 the plants are swelling their fruits. H. W. Ward. 



TURNING PLANTS OUT-OF-DOORS.— The bene- 

 ficial results of this practice are much more marked 

 if the subjects have been prepared for the change ; 

 if this has not been done, the plants are apt to lose 

 about as much as they gain. Although the temperature 

 outside may be as high as that maintained indoors, 

 yet generally the difference in humidity is so different, 

 that should bright sunny weather follow, the plants 

 are very likely to flag, when if remedial measures 

 are not immediately applied, much injury may be 

 done A capital plan is to have a sort of skeleton 

 greenhouse or frame over which a shading is spread, 



and which can be rolled up in the usual way when 

 not wanted. This shading is also extremely handy 

 to let down in the autumn nights when there is likely 

 to be danger from frost. Thick Hessians or 

 " Forfar Scrim " is good cheap material to use 

 for this purpose — or, better, if some of the 

 mineralised shadings be used. These shadings will 

 also throw off a considerable amount of water, 

 if they are given a good slope, and fixed so that 

 they are fully stretched when let down. It is 

 also important that these plants are placed in such a 

 position as to prevent theirgetting water-logged, and 

 also the ingress of worms. It is a good plan to 

 arrange the plants in lines, and standing the pots on 

 a couple of parallel strips of wood, or similar contri- 

 vance, a few inches high ; this method affords good 

 drainage, and it is rather difficult for worms to gain 

 entrance. After the plants are arranged in position, 

 fill in the spaces between the pots with coal-ashes, 

 or other plunging material. This protects the roots, 

 and greatly reduces the amount of labour in water- 

 ing. In selecting a site, choose a sheltered, yet open 

 position, which with the aid of the appliances men- 

 tioned, many of the more tender Cape and New 

 Holland subjects may be turned out with advantage. 

 F. Boss. 



COLOURED POTAT03.— If Mr. Grant will apply 

 to Mr. II. Dean, Ealing, W., in the winter, he will 

 certainly be able to obtain Rufus Potato through 

 him ; other growers may have it also. Some growers 

 have a peculiar liking for coloured Potatos, and there 

 can be no doubt but that some truly first-rate sorts 

 beyond those named hide their goodness under 

 coloured skins. Radstock Beauty, carmine blotched ; 

 Reading Russet, bright red ; The Dean, violet ; 

 and the popular Beauty of Hebron, pink ; are 

 first-rate sorts, which it will be hard to excel. 

 As the Vicar of Laleham Potato has received such 

 excellent notice at Mr. Grant's hands, and is with- 

 out doubt very widely grown, some sketch of its 

 origin may not be out of place. The actual Vicar 

 of Laleham, the little riverside Middlesex parish, 

 where all that remained of Matthew Arnold was so 

 recently laid to rest, was a few years ago the Rev. 

 Mr. Peake. That gentleman, who has since betaken 

 himself to another sphere of labour, was a real lover 

 of Potatos, a raiser in a somewhat haphazard way of 

 some seedlings, and withal a very genial gentleman. 

 One autumn, a few years ago, he called upon me to 

 show me three or four Potatos, small, but pretty, and 

 of a purplish colour. They were the product of two 

 very diverse parents — Paterson's Victoria, once such 

 a popular and first-rate flattish white round, and of 

 Red Emperor, a bad Potato, esteemed very handsome 

 then, but a moderate cropper, and peculiarly subject 

 to the disease. Everybody knows the origin of Vic- 

 toria, but Red Emperor was, no doubt, of Brazilian 

 origin, as I grew stocks of it once which had been 

 brought home from Brazil. The few Potatos Mr. 

 Peake brought me were left for growth the following 

 year, and the produce, though not even then large, 

 was excellent, and indicated a first-class variety. Mr. 

 Peake called to see my produce, and finding I gave the 

 new comer a good character, suggested that it 

 merited a name. I agreed, and then he intimated 

 that as we had a Rector of Woodstock he saw no 

 reason why there should not be a Vicar of Laleham. 

 That name was adopted for the Potato, and as such 

 it has won honour for itself and some kudos, I 

 hope, for its namesake and raiser. I always re- 

 gretted that the Vicar was not a white-skinned 

 variety. Had it been so it would long ere now have 

 been one of the most popular of market sorts. As it 

 is, it ought to find a big sale as a late spring stock in 

 the market. I did not feel satisfied with the quality 

 of the Vicar, as its flesh is hardly — in my soil at least — 

 of that flaky, mealy quality which marked its parent 

 Victoria. A cross between the Vicar and that 

 excellent but sparse-cropping white, Woodstock 

 Kidney, however, gave in the Dean just what I 

 desire, as I regard that as almost a perfect Potato. 

 It is rounder than the Vicar, has a rougher coat, and 

 of deeper hue, whilst its flesh is tinged with yellow 

 like that of the Victoria and Woodstock Kidney. 

 I have always found a little yellow in the flesh of a 

 Potato indicated flavour, whilst too much not un- 

 frequently meant closeness. I have therefore pre- 

 ferred the Dean to the Vicar, as the former is a dis- 

 tinct improvement. My experience of seedling 

 Potatos has been, that really fine kinds often take 

 threeor four years to show their true characters — some 

 take even longer. A promising kind may fail to 

 give size in its tubers for three or four years, but 

 presently the real character is fully developed, and 

 it remains permanently fixed. The particular 



Potato inquired about by Mr. Grant— Rufus— is a 

 seedling from Early Rose crossed with Mr. Fenn's 

 small but good red kidney, Bountiful ; that also 

 has a yellow tinge in the flesh, and although, 

 like Bountiful, the tops are not very robust, the 

 tubers are large and of even size ; they materially 

 resemble those of Vermont Beauty when it was 

 first grown in this country. It is not unnatural that 

 crosses between white and coloured Potatos should 

 produce sorts of each colour, and of intermediate 

 shades, but it is unusual to find two coloured kinds 

 producing pure white forms ; that has often hap- 

 pened in the course of my crossing and raising 

 experience. I have usually found the pollen parent 

 to be the most marked in its effects upon the 

 produce, but there is no absolute rule. Wehavesucha 

 wealth of good Potatos, however, that it is very 

 difficult to raise any better ones. A. D. 



NECTARINES IN SUCCESSION. — I herewith 

 enclose three fruits of Violette Hative Nectarine, 

 taken from different parts of one tree, the branches 

 of which are taken through holes in the partition 

 into houses earlier and later than the one in which 

 the tree is planted. The three successions have for 

 several years finished satisfactorily. The earliest 

 fruits commenced to stone when the latest were in 

 bloom — a condition ot things which I had previously 

 some doubt of when applied to the Peach or Netar- 

 ine. It has, however, proved a valuable method of 

 producing a succession of fruit from one and the 

 same tree, and I send you the specimens in case any 

 of your readers should doubt the possibility of the 

 same having been accomplished. Geo. Fennell, The 

 Gardens, Fairlawn, Tunbridye, July 12. [A very 

 interesting case, as the roots were subjected to a 

 uniform, the shoots to a variable temperature. The 

 earliest fruit was dead ripe, one would require another 

 fortnight, and the latest a month to be ripe. Ed.] 



THE NON-WARRANTY OF SEEDS. — Will you 

 allow me to say a few words on this important sub- 

 ject to the retail seed dealer, and how the non- 

 warranty clause first came about ? As I was in some 

 way connected with the first trial that took place in 

 the Queen's Bench on the seed adulteration after 

 the passing of the then called new Act to prevent 

 the adulteration of seeds, the affair is still vivid in 

 my memory, I may recapitulate a few of the facts, 

 as appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle special report 

 at the time of the trial, and of which the retail trade 

 appear not to have taken the least notice, and not 

 until within the last year or two has the subject 

 received any attention whatever. But the wholesale 

 trade was alive to the matter, and hence the non- 

 warranty clause. The case turned on the adulteration 

 or colouring of Trifolium with sulphurous acid gas — 

 yearling or old seed had been coloured to represent 

 new growing seed, but of course was perfectly useless. 

 I myself tested the growth of the seed ; but on the 

 trial that went for nothing; it was bought by sample, 

 and, according to the judge's decision, though a fraud 

 had been perpetrated, the bulk compared with the 

 sample ; though good or bad, that was immaterial so 

 long as bulk and sample agreed. The bulk of the 

 doctored seed came to hand at the end of the season ; 

 there was a great hurry about it — in fact, so urgent 

 were the farmers that it was delivered to several at 

 the railway statiou, never coming into the seedsman's 

 premises, proving that the seed could have been 

 tampered with only before transit, exonerating the 

 seedsman from any blame, beyond error of judgment, 

 which scores fell into besides the same season. He 

 was the only man in the United Kingdom who 

 protested against it and took the matter up on public 

 grouuds for the benefit principally of the farming 

 community, and contested it in the Queen's Bench, 

 in London, thereby doing more service to the farmer 

 than any man then living. Several samples and 

 bulks of seed coming from the same source that 

 same season were excellent in growth, throwing the 

 seedsman off his guard. In the latter part of the season 

 through the urgent demand, there was not time to 

 test the growth, hence the. error. After this trial 

 the non-warranty affair appeared. As a witness I will 

 narrate a few facts to show what the retail man may 

 expect. I had with me a trial book of seeds showing 

 the testing of 700 samples that season under the 

 seedsman in question, to show it was the custom of 

 good houses to test the growth of seeds before send- 

 ing them out, the seedsman in question bem" 

 very particular in this respect. But the 

 judge wanted further proof than this, so I, 

 myself, went to. three of the principal London 

 houses, asking them' to come forward and testify 

 as to the custom of the Loudon trade testing 



