August 10, 1876. ] 



JOUENAL OP HOETICTJLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDEMEB. 



118 



Indifferent and superior cultivation makeB the difference be- 

 tween poor and good blooms. 



If a plant shows a single flower — a single row of petals with 

 no centre florets — pull the plant up, and mark such flowers as 

 are desirable by their size, doublenese, and colour for continu- 

 ance. Not unfrequently there will from a packet of seed be a 

 fair proportion of plants in the various shades of colours- 

 white, pink, and rosy shades up to carmine and crimson, with 

 sparse sulphur tints. Save the best of each colour — i.e., if it 

 be wished to go on improving by raising plants from seed, 

 and any not wanted for that purpose may be planted in the 

 mixed border. ' After flowering the flower stems Bhould be cut 

 away, and in their place will arise others, giving flowers in late 

 summer and autumn. Beyond a liberal dressing of manure, 

 leaf soil, or other compoBt in autumn as a top-dressing to be 

 pointed-in in early spring, they do not require any further 

 care, and they will last for many years. 



Seed sown in spring — in March, in pans, and placed in a hot- 

 bed, keeping near the glass and well ventilated — will produce 

 plants which if well cultivated will flower towards the end of 

 summer, and give a grand bloom in the June succeeding. Seed 

 may also be sown in May in the open ground, the plants being 

 pricked-off when large enough, and finally planted in the 

 blooming beds with the first moist weather in September, and 

 they will flower well the following season. — G. Abbey. 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 



I have read attentively and with great satisfaction and in- 

 struction the lucid article of Mr. W. G. Smith, and I consider 

 that article and the admirable illustration accompanying it on 

 pp. 52, 53, and 54, the most clear and intelligible of all the 

 scientific contributions which have ever been published on this 

 suV.ject. 



We see now the seeds of the disease clearly and plainly. The 

 working of the disease is now placed beyond the bounds of 

 corjjecture. Mr. Smith has, I believe, received the recognition 

 which he has so well merited by his patient and careful 

 research and successful discovery at the hands of the Boyal 

 Horticultural Society, and I for one practical gardener con- 

 gratulate him most cordially. 



There is only one sentence in Mr. Smith's letter over which 

 I stumble. It is this — " As the healthy Potato will always take 

 the murrain from these spores as certainly as a healthy man 

 will take the small pox when inoculated for that disease, it is 

 reasonably considered that the Potato fungus will cause the 

 disease." It is the word " always " to which I take exception ; 

 for in the year 1872, when the murrain was unusually pre- 

 valent, I made several experiments by way of communicating 

 the disease to different varieties of Potatoes, also to the same 

 varieties under different treatment, and the result of my rude 

 experiments was that Potatoes will not " always take the 

 disease." Some varieties took it quicker than others, and some 

 under glass not at all, while others under glass became affected 

 when the artificial treatment to which they were subjected 

 rendered them amenable to its attacks; in other words, when 

 the sap of the plants and the surrounding atmosphere were in 

 a proper state for the germination and spread of the fungus. 



I was led to think then, and I think still, that the sap of 

 the plants must be changed and be in some way impure before 

 the fungus-spores find a suitable medium for their development. 

 I think, therefore, that the primary cause of the Potato disease 

 is impure sap. Mr. Smith, like a loyal fungologist, believes 

 that fungus is the cause of Peach blister, but others, and 

 myself amongst the number, think it is only the consequence 

 of an anterior cause. In assuming that the fungus is the 

 cause of the Potato disease Mr. Smith reasons by induction. 

 Nearly any preconceived opinion may be supported by in- 

 duction. By induction also we may arrive at an exactly op- 

 posite conclusion. It is not very unreasonable to consider 

 that the Potato fungus is different in its nature to other fungi. 

 Most if not all of these are by many regarded as Nature's 

 scavengers — feeding on the impure. Mould on jam may be 

 seen, but the jam first " goes bad." We may not perceive the 

 impurity until we see the effects of it in the germination of 

 the fungus Bpores, and then, perhaps hastily, we confound the 

 cauEe with the effect. 



I have taken Potato haulm reeking with the disease and 

 attached it to healthy plants, and in some instances the disease 

 has " took " at once, while with other varieties or conditions 

 of the same variety it has either " taken " very slowly or not 

 at all. If a Potato plant is perfectly healthy and vigorous it 



will not take the disease, unless the atmosphere is unusually 

 moist and the temperature abnormally high. I have proved 

 this on a small scale artificially, and many years and sad 

 loss of crops have proved it on a large scale naturally, but 

 to say that the Potato will " always " take the disease is not 

 a fact. 



There cannot be extensive Potato disease without heavy 

 and continued rains in connection with a high temperature. 

 But with either of these conditions alone the murrain does not 

 spread. If it was otherwise, a year notorious for an outbreak 

 of the murrain, and where seed (spores) must have been sown 

 in the greatest abundance, would be followed by another great 

 crop of funguB and consequently disease. But this is not so. 

 Let the disease be ever so virulent, and resting spores be pro- 

 duced in myriads, and that year be followed by ten dry years, 

 the crops will be safe — there will be no disease; but if the 

 eleventh year is a wet year, if rains are protracted and the 

 plants and atmosphere become saturated, and at the same 

 time a high temperature prevails, then will the disease again 

 be of the most violent kind even if no diseased tubers have 

 ever been produced on the same site and in the same soil. 



Some years ago I was witness of some careful experiment? 

 relative to the Potato disease. A large block of venerable 

 buildings were occupying a low damp position. It was decided 

 to pull them down. The age of the buildings was so great as 

 to date from a period anterior to the distribution of the Potato 

 in this country. Soil (sand) for raising the ground was brought 

 from an Oak wood, which in all probability had been a wood 

 for centuries. This was placed in a heap on the ground and 

 some of it was spread, and the site of the old buildings was 

 planted with Potatoes. The site was still wet — that is, natur- 

 ally lower and wetter than the surrounding ground. Not a. 

 particle of manure was used, and the crop on this " fresh 

 ground " was prodigious. But the month of July was wet and. 

 sultry, and the disease was virulent and prevalent, commencing 

 on thfs wet fresh site, and being there worse than on the older, 

 higher, and drier ground contiguous. But the most striking . 

 fact has yet to be mentioned : On that part of the fresh boll 

 that was not spread — a cone-shaped heap in the centre, which 

 was also planted with Potatoes — there was no disease. There 

 was the disease all round, even to the extent of destroying the 

 crop, and yet on the cone-shaped heap every Potato was sound. 

 There the soil was not saturated, the plants remained healthy, 

 the Bap pure, and no suitable medium was provided for the 

 germination of the disease-spores. They were not in the site, 

 neither were they brought in with the Boil. They must have, 

 been introduced with the sets, or have been brought by the 

 wind. 



All experience teaches the same lesson. In seasons when 

 disease is rife it is the worst in the wettest and rich soils, and 

 the least severe in upland sandy districts. We learn from this 

 not to manure heavily, and to deeply work and well drain the 

 soil so that superfluous moisture may pass away. 



In the instance noted, if the Potato disease was caused by 

 the fungus, the fungus was cauBed by something else. That 

 " something " was superfluous moisture and excessive heat, 

 rendering, as I suspect, the sap of the plants impure by im- 

 perfeot elaboration ; or why were the plants on the mound free 

 from the malady ? 



I have seen plants since then on many other mounds free 

 from disease while cropa on the surrounding level have been 

 all but ruined. Potatoes do not, therefore, " always take the 

 disease," and further than that I believe they will never take 

 it if extreme wet with excessive heat do not call it into action. 



We are brought now to the conclusion that has been so fre- 

 quently advocated in the pages of this Journal : We cannot 

 control the weather, but we can in a great measure the crops. 

 We can plant kinds that mature early, and thus steal a march 

 on the elements and save our crops from the rains and heats 

 of July. That is what practice teaches, and in corroboration . 

 there is the fact that I have not had a diseased Potato in my.. 

 early crops for twenty years. — A. N. G., Lincolnshire. 



OSMASTON MANOR CUCUMBER. 

 I have grown this variety of Cucumber in a house with 

 several other sorts, and I find it excellent. The plant is a 

 free- grower and produces an abundance of fruit. These ara 

 not only of a large size, but are handsome in appearance, and 

 the flavour is very good. The fruits also keep green longer 

 than those of any other variety — in fact, they do not appear 

 to " go yellow" at all. On that account this Cucumber may 



