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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND CQTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 10, 1863. 



sary to warm ; and an soon aa such an application of fire heat 

 can be effected without injury to the plantB, a great advance will 

 have been made. A talented, though somewhat versatile, writer 

 on horticultural matters suggested, many years ago, the pro- 

 priety of trying an open fire in a forcing-house, and reasoned 

 bard on the probability of its answering ; but I have never 

 heard of its having been put in practice, neither is it likely 

 it could be made to act for all the purposes for which he advo- 

 cated its adoption. It would, however, be interesting to know 

 if any one has succeeded in keeping an ordinary greenhouse 

 sufficiently warm to exclude frost by means of an open fireplace 

 •within it. J. RoBSON. 



(To be continued.) 



SOMETHING- MOKE ABOUT POTATOES. 



I dwelt long over that extraordinary part of the display 

 designated " Garden Roots and Vegetables " at the great Inter- 

 national Show of the Royal Horticultural Society in October 

 last, till, from the number of questions put to me, I began to 

 consider myself as a standing dish ; though I fear, if a balance 

 •could be made, I gained much more information than I was 

 enabled to give — such confidences struck up on the instant, 

 that many mere lookers-on may have imagined in their thoughts, 

 " Hark at those old friends ! " 



I now send you the result of what I thought to be the cream 

 of the cream of the Potatoes there exhibited — sorts practically 

 unknown to me, though most of the kinds were there that I 

 have already tried and spoken of in these pages, and which on 

 the present occasion it will be superfluous to again touch upon, 

 except in a few instances. But for the varieties that I now 

 bring into notice, perhaps those friends who may be acquainted 

 with their qualities will let us know and correct my judgment 

 in cases where I may be wrong in having fallen over head and 

 ears in love at first sight. 



In one instance at least, the Barhadoes Potato has been 

 inquired about by " A Constant Readeb," Dec. 23, page 759 : 

 therefore my task will not be wholly in vain, and he will be 

 glad to be informed that his old friend " is still in existence." 



Alstone Kidney. — A good-looking, white, fluke-shaped Potato. 



Barhadoes, exhibited by Mr. E. Bennett, gardener to G-. S. 

 Poljambe, Esq., Worksop. — A roundish-oblong Potato. Very 

 fine, as large as one's foot. 



Bath, by Mr. Bullock. — A very promising-looking "early" 

 Potato. 



Jackson's Seedling, from Mr. Robinson, Shaw House, Mel- 

 bourne, I thought to be a fine pear-shaped Kidney variety. It 

 was also praised to me by a practical-looking man as being an 

 " incomparable early Potato." I recognised it as being what 

 I called the " Lambton " in my " Comparative Merits." 



King's New Seedling. — Prom the Fluke, a second early round. 

 This Potato attracted much attention. 



Kirlcton Early. — This Potato I mention from hearsay, as 

 an Hon. Col. M.P. recommended it to me Btrongly in conver- 

 sation as being an excellent round variety. I cannot take the 

 liberty to mention his name, but he told me he reads thi9 

 Journal ; so I merely take an opportunity to say how sorry I 

 was when a gentleman enticed him away from our Potato 

 .palaver, for, as a matter of course, we should have naturally 

 veered towards that part of the Show, and once there, doubtless 

 Further valuable information would have been gained from him 

 for these pages. 



Lemon Kidney, I observed, was showing its precociousness 

 already by " breaking " on Messrs. Sutton's magnificent stand. 



Marlon's Seedling, from Rev. T. Stevens, St. Andrew's College, 

 Reading. — A Potato in appearance very like the Pluke, but 

 having a rougher skin. In Mr. Stevens' fine collection I also 

 noticed Daintree's Seedling showing its precocity by " break- 

 ing ;" and I can very plainly assure you that it requires looking 

 sharp after in this respect when kept in store for eating. 



Wellington. — A magenta-stained-crowned roundish-flat-shaped 

 Potato, very taking as to looks, and a monopoliser as to names. 

 I fancy I recognised it under seven or eight aliases — viz., Ma- 

 genta, Model, Malakoff, Early Beauty, Early Stockton, Early 

 Sydenham, Ward's Seedling, and Painted Lady. 



Oxford Bed, from Mr. T. Westbrook, Abingdon. — A mon- 

 strous pinkish-skinned Potato, all over eyes, in fashion of the 

 Negro, a sort I mentioned in a previous article — both of them 

 calculated to astonish tbe natives. 



Peach-blossom, from Andrew Arcedeckne, Esq., Hall Farm, 



Wickham Market, Suffolk. — A sort " grown from s?ed imported 

 from New York," and it may just possibly crumple-up some of 

 our old sorts. 



Queen, by the Rev. Thos. Stevens. — Another seedling from 

 the Pluke, and a promising-iooking Potato. 



Royal Sovereign, from Mrs. Sweetlove, Mote Road, Maid- 

 stone. — A moderate-sized, beautiful-looking, smooth-eyed, white 

 Potato — a perfect model in appearance in my mind as to what 

 a round Potato should be, and as charming as the lady's name 

 who exhibits it. 



"Seedling," from the Kirke's Asbleaf. — Exhibited by T. 

 Westbrook, Abingdon. " Warranted to be the Earliest Kidney 

 in cultivation." 



White-blossomed (Asbleaf?) Kidney, from William A. Page, 

 Godalming. — " Grown entirely in rotten tan ;" and 



Webb's Imperial Kidney. — These two varieties I mention, the 

 latter especially, as being congenial to those who would like 

 to see their Potatoes, as some people do their butter, fashioned 

 a yard long. 



I thought many of the kinds of Potatoes most worthy of note 

 in the Foreign department might be recognised as English kinds 

 under foreign names. All of them, moreover, were small in 

 comparison to their relatives over the way. 



In the Swedish class I met with " Roda Moss," with which I 

 had a practical acquaintance this season, as the Salmon Kidney. 

 It was also in the English class, where its proprietor caught me 

 by the button and fairly enticed me a hundred yards to view it. 

 Poor man ! how enthusiastic he was about it, and he had written 

 its name " sammon kidney ! " I confess to have mentioned it 

 rather slightingly in my " Comparative Merits," and I really 

 owe it an apology, as well as the Fluke, if I have wronged them 

 by so doing. Potatis Maccaroni, as well as some other sorts, 

 were woefully diseased in the Swedish collection ; but, strange 

 to say, the Flukes were the only specimens that I observed to be 

 diseased in the English class, and the only sample with that un- 

 enviable feature in my own stores is the Fluke. 



I will notice two other sorts of Potatoes in the extensive 

 display of " The Hamburgh and Altona Gardeners' Society," 

 founded in 1861. 



Kartoffeln Pomatyeratts Bingam, rather an oblong-shaped 

 Potato ; and Neuve Kanarische, a round Potato, in shape and 

 looks exactly like a very good sort 1 introduced into this neigh- 

 bourhood some eight years ago, called Martins' Seedling. The 

 Judges set it down that the two Potatoes exhibited were the 

 same variety. I differed from them as a mere looker-on, but 

 I should like to know in the future who was right ? I had not 

 an opportunity of learning who purchased those two sorts, but 

 the whole collection was to be sold for the relief of the Lanca- 

 shire distress. All honour be to their purchasers, and to the 

 gardeners of Hamburgh and Altona ! 



When judgment is wanted, who can we appeal to more im- 

 partial than our Editors ? Most of us, I daresay, feel an ink- 

 ling of prejudice in favour of our own productions ; and for 

 that very reason, and on account of the importance of the 

 subject as regards the cultivation of the Potato, I would feel 

 obliged by an opinion from head-quarters. 



I was quite Btruck the other day at the difference in both the 

 looks and flavour of the same variety of Potato when grown on 

 the flat and on the ridge — Nos. 1 and 2, for instance, of which 

 I send you samples from both plans ; and Nos. 3 and 4, ditto. 

 Please to test them, and allow me to advise you to have both of 

 the same sort cooked at the same time for observation at once. 

 Perhaps you may also think that the ridge-system has a knack 

 of producing them calculated to fill a measure, and weigh down 

 the scales as well as to produce, quality, and flavour. 



I should very much like an opinion also, as to what you 

 think of the flavour of the Knight's Monarch Pear, as I have 

 something to say about Pears some day. I have had a long 

 struggle with them to produce flavour ; and although those I 

 send I do not consider up to the mark, still, for some years, 

 both the Knight's Monarch and other sorts were very little 

 better in flavour than turnips, and the rector gave me no hopes 

 of encouragement that I ever should produce them here present- 

 able for dessert. I know to within an inch where every root of 

 every tree lies, and I have presented them with three different 

 descriptions of soil in fourteen years, and the rector confessed 

 that we had some very good Hacon's Incomparable, and some 

 first-rate Marie Louise last season ; and if I can but produce 

 them with flavour this year, I shall consider my experiments as 

 feats accomplished. 



