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JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ November 23, 1676. 



now stands, and the other nearer to the rear of Apsley House. 

 The map shows also the two roads running parallel to the Ser- 

 pentine on the south, marked respectively as " The King's Old 

 .Road or Lamp Road," and " The King's New Road." the 

 former corresponding nearly with the Rotten Row of our time, 

 and the latter running, as now, inside the park close to the 

 Knightsbridge Road and Kensirjgton Gore. On the north of 

 the Serpentine there is apparently no regular road, except for 

 about 100 yards from the eastern end, where it bends to the 

 north away from the water towards the " Bing." 



The " Ring " was a place of fashionable resort down to the 

 reign of George II., when it was partly destroyed in the forma- 

 tion of the Serpentine river. Remnants of it were still trace- 

 able at the beginning of the century on the high ground 

 directly behind the farmhouse. A few very old trees are even 

 now to be found on that spot. Some of ihese are indeed 

 ancient enough to have formed part of the identical trees round 

 which the wits and beauties drove in their carriages, and, as 

 Pennant says, "in their rotation exchanged, as they passed, 

 smiles and nods, compliments or smart repartees." Plain as 

 it was, it must have been a pleasant spot on a summer's after- 

 noon. Situated on an upland space of ground one may 

 imagine the pleasurable prospect from hence when all around 

 was open country, and nothing intercepted the view from the 

 Surrey hills to the high grounds of Hampstead and Highgate. 

 One can easily imagine how delightful it must have been for 

 the ladies who " came in their carriages from the hot play- 

 house and close confined streets of the city, to be fanned by 

 soft winds which blew over broad acres of ripening corn, 

 flowering Clover, and newly mown hay, or rustled through the 

 Reeds and Willows on the banks of the pools." 



Walker, in " The Original," in 1835, speaks of the " Ring" 

 as being still traceable round a clump of trees near to the foot 

 barracks, and enclosing an area of about 90 yards in diameter 

 and 45 yards wide. "Here," he adds, "used to assemble all 

 the fashions of the day, now diffused round the whole park, 

 besides what is taken off by the Regent's Park." 



Yet there still is no outdoor spot in London that has such a 

 world-wide reputation as this, and for a stranger to be in 

 London during the season and not to visit it would be to miss 

 a sight where beauty, fashion, wealth, and luxury, and not a 

 few men of rank and distinction from all parts of Europe, con- 

 gregate. To the lovers of horses, too, the sight is unequalled, 

 for here in the season he will see some of the finest animals 

 that money and knowledge of quality can procure, also every 

 kind of fashionable vehicle which the ingenuity of carriage 

 builders can produce. There is a beautiful shady walk on 

 eaoh side of the Ladies' Mile, and those walks will improve 

 every year, for the trees are still young, but the foliage is very 

 fine and indicates health. Under those lofty trees a few years 

 ago there was nothing but weeds and dust, and everything 

 that made a place look unsightly ; but now everything is done 

 that can be done to make it look beautiful. The Albert Gate 

 end of the Serpentine, which was formerly nothing but a dirty 

 ditch, is now a charming little dell and an object of much ad- 

 miration. The floral department of Hyde Park is under the 

 superintendence of Mr. Gibson, and each summer's display 

 gives evidence of his taste and skill. 



WILL POTATOES EUN OUT? 



By Profeseor W. J. Beal, Michigan Agricultural College. 



Aoaik, as usual we have raised many varieties of Potatoes — 

 this year about 250. Two moderate-sized tubers of each kind 

 were used as Eeed for six hills. They were planted on sod 

 ground which had been seeded for several years. The ground 

 ■was in good condition and had yielded two crops a-year of 

 orchard Grass, Clover, and Lucern. The soil was a sandy 

 loam, and ploughed in the autumn, cultivated and top-dressed 

 with fine manure in the spring. In ordinary seasons the crop 

 would have been a good one, but this year it was very light. 

 The weather was very favourable till some time in June, when 

 it suddenly changed from cool and cloudy to hot and plenty 

 of Eunlight. Potatoes almost stopped growing on account of 

 the sudden change. 



In former yearB the Potatoes in small quantity here noticed 

 were planted on old garden Eoil — I mean on soil which had 

 been in cultivation for some years in succession. They have 

 been manured in a variety of ways, not very heavily, but 

 generally with a good dressing of fine manure and ashes. The 

 Potatoes have never been planted on the same piece of pre und 

 in two successive seasons, but they have been shifted abtut on 



similar soil, on different parts of about five to eight acres. 

 Two years ago the number of varieties was much increased. 

 Previous to that time, for some six years, there had been fifty 

 to eighty varieties in the garden. For some years the yield 

 has been carefully noted, usually by weighing the tubers of 

 each hill, or each set of hills. Of course we should expect a 

 variation in the yield for different hills in the same year of the 

 same sort, even if we treated them in all respects as near alike 

 as possible. 



The chief object of planting so many kinds in this manner 

 is to watch the changes from year to year in yield, health, 

 quality, &c. We all know for family ubb that we cannot 

 measure the value of a crop of Potatoes by the scales or bushel 

 basket, Etill the yield is of great importance. The ideal Potato 

 must, at least, be productive of even-sized tubers close together 

 in the hill, with few or no small ones. It must have full eyes 

 and even surface, a light or red colour or spotted, must be of 

 good quality for all seasons of the year ; and now that the 

 beetles have become so troublesome, the model Potato should 

 ripen early in the season. 



It would require needless space to give here the weight of 

 each sort. This season the greatest yield for six hills was 

 19 lbs. 7 ozs. ; last year 21 lbs. 1 oz. for three hills. On no two 

 years has the same variety headed the list in productiveness. 

 This year it was Long Pond ; last year, Early White ; the year 

 before it was Climax. In comparing the yield for the past two 

 seasons I find all those yielding well this year yielded well 

 last year, and that those yielding lightest last year hold some- 

 where near the same rank this year. 



In the report for 1868, before I came to the College, the com- 

 parative yield is given of fifty-five varieties of Potatoes. With 

 few exceptions the tubers of these have been used on the garden 

 ever since. They have all decreased in yield, notwithstanding 

 the garden is now much more productive of most crops than it 

 was eight years ago. In 1868, Casco was reported as yielding 

 at the rate of 340 bushels to the acre ; last year three hills pro- 

 duced about half an ounce, although it was a remarkably good 

 year for the yield of Potatoes in our locality. 



Thi3 year it ran out entirely. We did not get one tuber, 

 not even a small one. In 1868 Colebrook gave at the rate of 

 155 bashes to the acre; Davis Seedling, 276 bushels; Prince 

 Albert, 262 bushels ; Coppermine, 176 bushels. Last year 

 they yielded respectively for three hills of each variety — Cole- 

 brook, 2 lbs. 9 ozs. ; Davis Seedling, 5 lbs. 6 ozs. ; Prince Albert, 

 1 lb. 11 ozs. ; Coppermine, 4 lbs. 9 ozs. This year Colebrook 

 yields for six hills (twice as many hills as reported last year) 

 not one tuber, large or small ; Davis Seedling, not one tuber ; 

 Prince Albert, one-fourth of an ounce, a few very small 

 tubers ; Coppermine, 1J oz. Other examples could be added 

 of a similar nature. 



The question as to whether varieties wear out has long been 

 discussed. Mr. Knight, the famous English horticulturist, 

 maintained that they did, and gave what he supposed were 

 good illustrations to prove it. Others Bince his time, as well 

 as his contemporaries, believed otherwise. I have seen Indian 

 Corn which had been kept for ten or more years on the same 

 farm. Although the farm was a good one and the land well 

 managed, the ears of corn grew shorter, the kernels shorter 

 and rounder at the ends. The corn mentioned was the White 

 Dent, in the latitude of Lansing, Michigan. I Ehould be glad 

 to hear from others who have kept the seed continuously on 

 the same farm for many years. It is a common notion that 

 sheep do better when changed occasionally from one farm to 

 another, or from one neighbourhood to another, even where 

 they were under the care of a good master before changing. 



It would be interesting to know whether any of these varieties 

 of Potatoes which have been kept here for some years would 

 revive if their seed were sent to distant portions of our country 

 and well treated. To test this point, last spring I sent tubers 

 from our garden to Kansas Agricultural College and another 

 set to Ohio Agricultural College at Columbus. The Professors 

 of agriculture in each of those two institutions agreed to tieat 

 them the same as we have treated them, and report the 

 result for comparison. It may be said that the Potatoes in 

 the cases noticed above ran out because they were not fairly 

 treated, that they were not properly fertilised or cultivated, 

 yet I do not think this the only cause. Of the newer sorts of 

 Potatoes, as lately as Early Vermont, Compton's Surprise, 

 Brownell's Beauty, &c, planted on similar ground with Eimi'ar 

 treatment, we have raised excellent crops nearly every year. 

 In this connection I may mention a fact, thorjgh tome will 

 doubtless find other explanations than the degenerating of 



