Janaary 10, 1885. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICXTLTimE AKD COTTAGE GAEDETTEK. 



23 



Myatt's Prolific, and the Koyal, all of them having the ex- 

 cellent and unique flavour of the type. Last spring I con- 

 fined myself to the old Ashleaf and the EoyaJ, the latter 

 being quite as early and producing about three times the 

 quantity of the former ; and as far as I can judge I shall 

 never again plant round Potatoes, their flavour is so infi- 

 nitely below that of the finer kinds of Kidney Potatoes. 



Is it worth while to tell you how I cultivate my open 

 grovrnd Potatoes * Well, perhaps it is. In the first pla<;e, 

 I always plant in ground trenched or stirred with Parkes's 

 fork to 22 inches in depth : if thought to be exhausted a 

 good dressing of thoroughly rotten manure is well mixed 

 with the sou to that depth. 



Secondly. I never plant Potatoes in the same ground for 

 two consecutive seasons, but always alternate my crops. 



Thirdly. I plant for the most part whole sets of the second 

 or even third size, if the tubers are large, greened by expo- 

 sure, and their eyes well developed. 



Fourthly. Having plenty of space, I aiford them much more 

 room than is commonly given, so that each plant is well 

 exposed to the sun and air. My distances are therefore 

 3 feet apart row from row, and 2 feet apart in the rows. 

 In digging-time it is a positive pleasure to see the beautiful 

 tubers tumbling up twenty-five, thirty, thu-ty-five, and up- 

 wards to each root of such sorts as Eoyal Ashleaf, and Early 

 Eacehorse Kidneys. I ought, however, to add that my soil 

 is very favourable, a deep sandy loam on a dry subsoU ; and 

 my climate, within thirty miles of London, also favourable. 



Fifthly and lastly (" whilk word I am vara glad to hear," 

 as the young Caledodiau said to his mother one day at kirk 

 during the sermon), I never mould up my Potatoes, feeling 

 that to cover the young roots with earth so as to keep out 

 the influences of sun and air can do no good. I hoe between 

 the rows frequently ; and if in August any tubers are peep- 

 ing out owing to the abundant produce some earth is drawn 

 over them with the hoe, and that is all the moulding-up 

 I do. 



And now a few words about new sorts of Potatoes, which, 

 like new sorts of Peas, Cabbages, and Broccolis, are by far 

 too numerous. As to Potato-showing, or judging of their 

 qualities by their appearance, it is fudge. If a jury of 

 Potato-lovers could be convened, and have a few specimens 

 of each of the sorts shown for prizes weU cooked and then 

 tasted on the spot, some good would probably accrue ; but, 

 as I know from experience, the most fair-looking are often 

 the most deficient in flavour — witness those fine-looking 

 Fluke Potatoes now so common in the London eating-houses, 

 very tempting in appearance but flavourless. I may be 

 peculiar in my ideas, but as far as my experience has gone 

 no round Potato should find a place on the table of a gentle- 

 man, if the soil and climate will allow of the culture of the 

 fine sorts of Kidney Potatoes. I used to think a few years 

 ago, when Eegents and Dalmahoys were the only sorts that 

 escaped the disease, that no better kinds need be -ivished 

 for; but now that the disease seems to have left us, and 

 the fine kinds of Kidney Potatoes can be had in perfection, 

 I do not suffer a round one to appear on my table. It may, 

 perhaps, assist some of your readers — confounded as they 

 must be by the long array of names — if I say what I have 

 deliberately settled down to. 



During the months of June, July, August, September, 

 and October I confine myself to the Ashleafs; and as the 

 Eoyal and Myatf s Prolific are great bearers and have the 

 true flavour of the old sort, which is a delicate grower and 

 unproductive, I confine myself more especially to the former, 

 which I think wiU in time be the only sort I shall cultivate 

 for the first crop. Its fault is being too robust; in rich 

 soils its tubers are so lai-ge as to put forth protuberances. 

 In November I take to the Lapstone (its other name, 

 "Haigh's Kidney," should be given up), which here is 

 always most delicious. This keeps its flavoui-, and fine, 

 firm, dry consistence till the middle of March ; and then I 

 think a sort called Hudson's King will not disappoint the 

 lover of a good Potato, for, like the Lapstone, it is firm, 

 dry, and exoeUeut. A friend has sent me a seedling Lap- 

 stone exactly like its parent, but larger and more productive. 

 It will be seen from what I have said that three fine kinds 

 of Potatoes carry me through the year, and it is really quite 

 a relief to think that it can be done. It is quite possible 

 that some soils and climates will not allow of these fine 



kinds of Kidney Potatoes being grown in quantity ; if so, 

 other kinds should be sought for, so as to make the supply 

 as perfect as possible, with as few scrts as possible. 



Before I mention other kinds of Kidney Potatoes which 

 have come under my notice, I feel that I ought to say how 

 Potatoes are cooked here. As soon as their skins become 

 set in early autumn, so as to lose the delicacy of " new 

 Potatoes," they are cooked in one of Barlow's steamers, aad 

 brought to table "in their jackets." How delicious the 

 Lapstones cooked to-day, flanking the Christmas beef ! every 

 one with its jacket unbuttoned showing the yellowish white, 

 firm, yet floury tuber, seeming to say " Eat me," which. 

 request was promptly complied with. 



There are several really good kinds of early Kidney Po- 

 tatoes besides the varieties I have noticed. The Early Eace- 

 horse is early and a good bearer, but its foliage is crumpled, 

 its bines straggling. It blossoms abundantly, and its flavour 

 is not equal to the Ashleafs. Early Nonsuch and Early 

 May ai-e both early, but not productive. Mona's Pride is a 

 very handsome early Kidney, fit to show for a prize, but 

 in my soil it is deficient in flavour. The Gloucestershire 

 Kidney is early and of good flavour during the summer 

 months. Dawes' or Webb's Nonpareil is a fine prolific late 

 Kidney, but it lacks the firmness and fine flavour of the Lap- 

 stone. And then we have the Lemon, the SUver-skinned, and 

 the Prizetaker Kidney Potatoes, about which the less that 

 is said the better. There is no doubt but that in some soils 

 and climates some one or two of these varieties may succeed 

 better than they do with me, but I have come to the con- 

 clusion that in a good di-y soil like mine three varieties are 

 enough to cai-ry one tlu-ough the whole year — 1st, the Eoyal 

 Ashleaf, as being as early or earlier than most of them, and 

 of extraordinary productiveness from May tiU November, 

 and, if not too ripe, even all through the month ; 2nd, the 

 Lapstone, from November tUl March ; 3rd, Hudson's King, 

 from March till the end of May. I am not yet quite certain 

 that the Pink Fluke may not come in at the extreme end of 

 the winter Potato season, but I almost fear that its flavour 

 is too much like that of its parent ; at any rate there is not 

 the least doubt about the three sorts I have named. They 

 are all productive and of the best possible flavour — what 

 more can be wished for ? 



I dare not employ a signature so high and significant as 

 your correspondent in No. 194, and so allow me to sign 

 myself — Foewaeds. 



THE AEBOEETUM veestts THE PmETUM. 



Theke are many indications of the boasted progress of the 

 present age being more in particular directions than par- 

 taking of a general character, and, perhaps, it is better that 

 it should be so, for to grasp at too many things at once often 

 ends in failure with all, and when a certain branch of a 

 pursuit has enjoyed its full share of favom-, and further 

 advance with it becomes difficult, the public are then readily 

 brought back to the starting point. Thus it often happens 

 that a subject is at first thought too comprehensive, and 

 one of its branches only is pui'sued, but afterwards the 

 whole is grasped. 



Now, gardening is no more exempt from caprice than other 

 pursuits, but rather the conti-ary, otherwise the present 

 popularity of a few varieties of plants used in the parterre, 

 would not have driven the former occupants almost out of 

 cultivation. My purpose, however, is not now to attack the 

 modern bedding system, and I may remark in passing, that 

 I have some doubts whether those who do abuse it are 

 really in earnest ; but there is another and much more im- 

 portant feature in gardening that promised forty years ago, 

 or more, to materially alter the then-existing aspect of 

 affairs, but which very soon afterwards narrowed itself into 

 one of the subsidiary channels, and has continued to run in 

 that with but very little intermission ever since. Certainly 

 it has not done so without good results, as many widely- 

 scattered examples testify, stiU the original conception has 

 been only followed out in one of its branches. 



Before gardening periodicals came into existence, whatever 

 advances were effected by public or private enterprise, were 

 made under great disadvantages, and at great cost as com- 

 pared with the present day. New plants were less sought 



