572 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[November 17, 1888. 



Advertisers are specially requested to note, that, 

 under no circumstances whatever, can any 

 particular position in the paper be guaran- 

 teed for advertisements occupying less space 

 than an entire column. 



SUBSCRIBERS TO 

 HTHE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 

 *■ who experience any difficulty in obtaining 

 their Copies regularly, are particularly requested 

 to communicate with the Publisher (in cases of 

 delay in the delivery by post, the cover should be 

 forioarded with complaint). 



W. RICHARDS, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Strand, W.C. 



NOTICE to SUBSCRIBERS and OTHERS. 

 Post-office Orders and Postal Orders should 

 be made payable at the Post Office, 



No. 42, DRURY LANE. 



Now ready, In cloth, lis. 6d. 



J 'HE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, 

 Vol. III., Third Series, JAN. to JUNE. 1888. 

 W. RICHARDS. 41, Wellington Street, Strand. W.C. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



WEDNESDAY, 



THURSDAY, 



FRIDAY, 



MEETING. 



SHOWS. 



Nov 20-i Edinburgh, Liverpool, Henley (two 

 J days each), and Oxford. 



i Birmingham, Rugby (two days 

 Nov. 21 -j each), Croydon, Bristol, and 



' ( Banbury. 

 Nov. 22— Hull (two days). 



Nov 23 i i ,onte f ract i Bolton, and Stockport 

 J (two days each). 



SALES. 



Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Booms. 

 Dutch Bulbs and Lily of the Valley, 



at Smail's Rooms. 

 Dutch Bulbs, at 

 Morris' Rooms. 



Protheroe & 



WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21 ( 



Nov. 22^ 



/Nursery Stock from sample, at Pro- 

 } theroe & Morris' Rooms. 

 Nov. 20 < Roses, Plants, See., at the City Auc- 

 f tion Rooms, by Protheroe & 

 \ Morris. 



Dutch Bulbs, Lilium auratum, and 



named Standard and Dwarf Roses, 



at Stevens' Rooms. 



Dutch Bulbs and Lily of the 



Valiey, at Smail's Rooms. 



Lilium auratum, Azaleas, English 



grown Lilies, &c, at Protheroe 



& Morris' Rooms. 



Nursery Stock, at the Burnt Ash 



Hill Nurseries, Lee, by Protheroe 



& Morris (two days.) 



/Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 



) Rooms. 



\ Leasehold Nurseries, at Finchley 



(. Road, by Protheroe & Morris. 



/"Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 



Nov onj Rooms. 



.nov. m< Dutch Bulba a]|d Ljly o£tho Va]leyj 



( at Smails' Rooms. 



/Imported Orchids. 



Morris' Rooms. 

 Nov. 24 4 Dutch Bulbs and 



and Dwarf E ! 

 I Rooms. 



at Protheroe & 



A Palliative ^- usepul piece of work has been 

 for the Potato accomplished at Chiswick this 

 Disease. year, and one which illustrates our 



contention as to the use that may be made of the 

 gardens as an experimental station. To make the 

 matter intelligible we must go back to the years 

 1884 and 1885. In those years very elaborate 

 experiments were carried out in order to test 

 the value of the Jensenian system of moulding 

 as a preventative of the spread of the Potato 

 disease, and the results were as elaborately clas- 

 sified and noted under the direction and personal 

 superintendence of a sub-committee of the Scien- 

 tific Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. A summary of the results obtained was 

 given in our columns, January 9, 1886, p. 51, 

 showing : — 1, the methods of conducting the 

 experiments ; 2, the amount of produce under 

 the yaried conditions of the experiments ; 3 ; the 



comparative effects of long or of short 

 periods of earthing-up or of not earthing- 

 up at all; 4, the consequences of bending 

 the haulm ; and, 5, the results obtained from 

 planting whole tubers and cut sets respectively. 

 Interesting as these results were, they failed of 

 their primary object because the development of 

 the fungus in those years was so slight that no 

 trustworthy information was afforded by the 

 experiments as to the effect of the new system 

 of moulding in preventing the spread of the 

 disease. Discouraged by suoh a result, the sub- 

 committee, oonsisting, as it did, of busy men, all 

 living at a distance from the garden, and all 

 fully oocupied with their owri oOncerns, did not 

 attempt to repeat the experiments in 1886 or 

 1887 ; and so far it is fortunate they did not, as 

 the amount of disease in those years was also 

 inappreciable. This year, however, circumstances 

 turned out somewhat differently, and what hap- 

 pened was detailed in a short report presented 

 to the Scientific Committee at its meeting on 

 Tuesday last : — 



" During the present season the Potato disease set 

 in at Chiswick with virulence about July 29. Up to 

 that time no attempt had been made to check its 

 course or to note the conditions under which it 

 occurred ; but, at the suggestion of Mr. Plowright, 

 two rows in juxtaposition were submitted to ex- 

 periment on August 10. The rows were 30 yards 

 in length, the variety selected was Schoolmaster, and 

 the conditions were as absolutely identical as possible, 

 except that the one row was left moulded in 

 the ordinary way, while the other was 'high- 

 moulded' — that is to say, banked up on one side 

 to form a ridge, while the haulm was slightly 

 bent over to the other side. In the ordinary 

 system of moulding, a furrow is left along the top 

 of the ridge into which it is surmised that the spores 

 must fall, washed off by rain or otherwise from the 

 foliage. The high moulding, it is supposed, obviates 

 this by securing the fall of the spores on the ground 

 between the rows, and not on the rows themselves. 



" As the disease appeared to be equally severe 

 on both rows, and was, moreover, far advanced, 

 but little expectation was indulged in that the 

 results would be of any value. Nevertheless, 

 on September 29, the Potatos in the two rows 

 were lifted and examined, as dug, by Mr. Barron 

 and Dr. Masters. It speedily became apparent that 

 there was a' considerable difference between the two 

 rows, and that the tubers from the high-moulded 

 row afforded a cleaner and more even sample. 

 With a view to put this general impression to a 

 numerical test, fifty tubers from each row were taken 

 indiscriminately, twenty-five by one observer, the 

 remainder by the other, so as to equalise, as far as 

 possible, the ' personal equation.' 



" These hundred Potatos were then examined with 

 a more careful scrutiny, each one being cut open to 

 ascertain whether or no it was diseased. The result 

 was as follows : — 



" Out of fifty taken from the row moulded in 

 the ordinary way, thirteen were found diseased, or 

 26 per cent. 



" Out of fifty taken from the high-moulded row 

 five only were noted as diseased, or 10 per cent. 



"No doubt a more careful examination by the 

 microscope would have indicated a larger proportion 

 of disease in each case, but it is not likely that it 

 would have very materially altered the proportion 

 either in one direction or the other. In order, how- 

 ever, to obtain further information upon this point, 

 twenty-five tubers from each row were put aside for 

 future examination, and these being examined on 

 November 10, gave the following results : — 



" Of the twenty-five taken from the row earthed 

 up in the usual way thirteen were diseased and 

 twelve sound. 



" Of the twenty-five taken from the row earthed- 

 up in the Jensenian manner on August 10— when, as 

 before said, the haulms of both rows appeared 



equally rotten with disease — all the tubers were 

 sound." 



Of course it will be urged that this is only one 

 experiment, and one only on a small scale, and 

 that results might be different under other cir- 

 cumstances. Probably they would. Neverthe- 

 less, the experiment of 1888, surprising as it is 

 in the uniformity of its result, is in strict accord- 

 ance with the indications afforded by previous 

 trials in the same direction at Chiswick and 

 elsewhere, and we venture to think it is one well 

 worthy th e attention of practical men. It must 

 further he recollected that the early experiments 

 at Chiswick were conducted at an expenditure of 

 time and labour which would have been quite 

 impracticable from a commercial point of view ; 

 indeed, the cost of the experiment for the pur- 

 pose of those experiments was designedly put 

 out of consideration ; but in 1888 the startling 

 results obtained were gained by an expenditure 

 which need not have exceeded, or only to a trifling 

 amount, that ordinarily expended. The experi- 

 ment, in fact, shows that even in the most 

 advanced state of disease, so far as the haulm 

 is concerned, a large proportion of the orop 

 may be saved — one far larger than when the 

 ordinary system is practised. 



The Royal Anyone who chanced to look in 

 Horticultural at the Drill Hall on Tuesday last 

 Society. would have imagined that the old 

 Society was indeed at its last gasp. Anyone, 

 however, who happened to step across the street 

 to the offices at 111. Victoria Street, would have 

 come to a very different conclusion. From morn- 

 ing till a late hour in the afternoon, business of 

 a very serious and important character, was in 

 progress, and that it was both serious and 

 important was proved not only by the 

 numbers present, but by the character of the 

 work done. The first business of a day 

 crowded with work was the consideration of 

 the question as to whether the meetings, or any 

 of them, should be held at Chiswick, or whether 

 all the meetings (as distinguished from exhi- 

 bitions) should be held in the Drill Hall, or 

 elsewhere. The meeting was opened by a speech 

 from the President setting forth the objects of 

 the meeting, a speech in which the claims of 

 Chiswick certainly were not advocated with much 

 zeal. Probably the President's remarks were 

 based not entirely on his own personal convictions, 

 but on the results of certain letters from influen- 

 tial exhibitors and others, the general result of 

 which may be summed up in the statement that 

 of twenty-nine letters received, eighteen were 

 against meeting at Chiswick for various reasons 

 assigned, and eleven in favour. This verdict 

 presumably came from the trade and professional 

 exhibitors, who were naturally thinking of " big 

 shows," and of their own interests in connection 

 therewith. The exhibitors of this class have 

 been such staunch supporters of the Society, and 

 their claims are so legitimate, that there is not 

 one word to be said against them. Nevertheless, 

 the Society does not exist for the sake of the 

 exhibitors, nor does it appeal for public support 

 because it holds flower-shows in which the inte- 

 rests of trade and professional exhibitors are more 

 particularly involved. These do not by any means 

 constitute the whole, or even the greater part of 

 the objects for which the Society exists. Nor 

 can a word be alleged against the propriety of 

 holding occasional shows, large and small, in 

 more central localities, and therefore more 

 generally accessible to the exhibitors and to the 

 general public. If big flower-shows and the 

 award of prizes and certificates to clever gar? 



