November 7, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
343 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day | Day | Average Clock | Day 
ot _|_ of NOVEMBER 7—13, 1878. ature nes SO outa |p Moons | Moons |ERoon:s) Ehetore |eaot 
Month) Week y | omnenatire neat Rises. | Sets. | Rises. | Sets: | Age. | Sun. | Year. 
Day. |Night. Mean:| h. m.| h. m.| h. m.| h. mJ| Days. m,. Ss. 
7 | TH Sale of Orchids at Stevens’s Rooms. 52.1 | 36.7 im <6 4 21 2 56 4 18 13 16 11) 311 
8 F 52.0 | 34.3 8 4 20 3 11 5 27 14 16 7 | 512 
9 /S PRINCE OF WALES BORN. 50.5 | 33.8 7 10} 4 18} 3 30} 6 39 15 16 2] 313 
10 SUN | 21 SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 50.4 34.0 ie a3 4 17 8 55 7 dl ® 15 57 | 314 
11 M Sale of Nursery Stock at Long Cross, 50.2 | 34.2 2.9 i 18 4) 15 4 29 950: 17 15 50 | 315 
12 TU Putney Chrysanthemum Show. | 50.2 | 33.8 H 15 4 13 5 14/10 4 18 15 43 | 316 
13 W Brixton Chrysanthemum Show. 49.9 | 35.2 | 42.6 Te 1% 4 12 6 12/10 58 19 15) 35: , 317, 
From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 59.9°; and its night temperature 
ABOUT POTATOES. 
p-®) ATE Potatoes in this neighbourhood are a 
sorts are the most profitable to grow. I 
have fortunately grown nothing in quantity 
but Myatt’s Prolitic, with the true old Ash- 
leaf for the earliest. None of the so-called 
improved varieties are as early by a fortnight as 
this, although several of them are better crop- 
ers. I have no idea how long the stock of the old 
Ashleaf has been here, perhaps half a century, but it 
never varies and never shows a flower. This season 
it produced an excellent crop, quite as heavy as Myatt’s, 
but that is an unusual occurrence ; it generally produces 
little more than half that quantity. Part of the seed of 
Myatt’s Prolific was home-grown and part was bought 
from a totally different soil, but there was no appreciable 
difference at taking-up time—all were good alike for the 
season, averaging considerably more than two bushels to a 
perch. In addition to the seed coming from two sources, 
my own was taken up early in July last year before it was 
anything like ripe, and indeed some of it was not fully 
grown, while the bought seed was not lifted till the end of 
September. ; 
I cannot argue the point with those who recommend 
changing of seed, but I can speak from a limited experience 
and say that the benefits arising from changing of seed 
here are invisible, and I am inclined to think non-existent. 
I do not say that changing is never beneficial; I have 
heard and read enough to almost convince me that it is 
sometimes productive of good results. There are probably 
some soils where the Potato deteriorates and would in course 
of time become almost worthless, and in that case it may 
be necessary to obtain a fresh stock frequently from a more 
congenial soil. But supposing A to possess a soil where he 
finds it necessary to have frequent changes of seed, and 
B to have a soil which continually produces a fair average 
quantity and quality of the good standard kinds from the 
same stocks, A may obtain seed from B, and the results 
the first season may be extraordinary ; but I think B would 
not be likely to have such results with seed obtained from 
A. Part of this statement is of course little more than 
theory, and I should be glad to learn if in any mutual 
exchange of seed both parties claim to see an advantage. 
It will not surprise anyone after this statement if I say that 
in many cases more good may be done by selecting one’s own 
seed and taking the greatest care of it than can be done by 
exchanging, for in the latter case the selecting of seed, 
which is a very important matter, is not likely to be done 
at all times so carefully. This does not apply to new or 
foreign sorts, for in some cases of new, or reputed new, 
varieties the characters are not anything like fixed, and some 
of the American Potatoes do not retain their good qualities 
long after leaving their native country. 
As I said above, the selecting of seed is a very important 
matter. It is a mistaken economy to eat all the best tubers 
and save those that are small and misshapen for seed ; eat 
NO. 919.—VOL, XXXV., NEW SERIES. 
very light crop of small tubers : it has been | 
again abundantly proved that early-ripening | 
all the biggest if you like, and the smallest too if you can 
persuade anyone to cook them, but medium-sized good- 
shaped tubers should always be taken the greatest care of, 
laying them out singly soon after they are lifted ; especially 
is this necessary with the kidney-shaped kinds, and they 
only take up half the room for storing this way that round 
kinds do. If they ever make growth which has to be 
rubbed off it is the best economy to give them at once to 
the pigs. 
[should like to ask those who are qualified to answer, 
What is the object of Potato exhibitions, and are they 
likely to produce good results or the reverse? What are 
the principal points in judging Potatoes? Is there any- 
thing besides the appearance of the few selected tubers 
taken from nobody knows how much ground to guide the 
judges when dealing with sorts with which they are un- 
acquainted? I know some people suppose that rough 
skins, white flesh, good shape, and shallow eyes are some of 
the pvints to look after ; but the first and second are mis- 
leading, and the third and fourth are often more than 
counterbalanced by faults only known to those who dig and 
eat them. Is there anything else to guide us distant 
countrymen supposing we are called on to adjudicate in 
some great Potato tournament? The few dishes we have 
at our country shows are sufliciently puzzling ; even the 
cooked tubers are cold when judged, and consequently have 
to be estimated principally by appearance. I would cheer- 
fully undertake to act as censor on a couple of dozen dishes 
fresh cooked and hot, although even then it would be difficult 
to say how much credit belonged to the cook and how much 
to the tuber; but collections of known and unknown raw 
Potatoes are at present a puzzler. Who will enlighten 
me ?—WILLIAM TAYLOR. 
TEA AND NOISETTE ROSES UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
In your number of the 3rd of October ‘‘ HEREFORDSHIRE 
Incumbent” draws attention to the difficulties I formerly 
experienced in growing Teas and Noisettes in an unfayour- 
able atmosphere and an unsuitable soil, and he alludes to 
the improbability of my being able to exhibit them from 
such a locality. Now it is an unfortunate fact that the 
reverend rosarian’s remarks are substantially correct. At 
one time I had two gardens both in close proximity to iron 
foundries and subject to the injurious influence of their 
sulphurous fumes, no clearer evidence of which can be had 
than the tendency in such a situation of blue Delphiniums, 
Anchusas, Myosotis, and other blue flowers to assume a 
reddish or purplish tint, when the same varieties grown 
away from such influence, but otherwise under similar con- 
ditions, retain their natural brilliant blues. The soil of both 
gardens consisted of a rich shallow and light artificial 
humus on a rubbly limestone subsoil, and much of that 
material being integrated with the surface. The situation 
was on a southern slope, and the summer sun hot and the 
soil forcing ; but with this I had, in addition to the cold 
spring winds of the east of England, which usually allow 
but one good crop of fruit on the average in seven years, 
the full effect of the malaria and miasma from a spongy 
No, 1571—VOL. LX., OLD SERIES. 
