November 9, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



359 



•dusting of the same sort when they have attained the thickness 

 ■of a erow's quill. I found if I deferred the first dusting too 

 long I did not save my crop. — T. G. 



SEEDLING FUCHSIAS. 



The two seedling Fuchsias of which I send blooms are 

 extremely useful to us at this season. The drop is very large 

 before it expands, and this renders them valuable for cut 

 'flowers in the same way as most of the Begonias are. I think 

 it would be well if raisers of Fuchsias were to look more to 

 the sepals in their improvements. The red Fuchsia has very 

 dark leaves, and altogether it is a desirable plant even in 

 foliage. I raised a large number last year, and the two sent 

 were all that I thought worth keeping. — H. K. 



[We much admire the red-sepalled variety, which must be 

 very ornamental as a conservatory plant. The kind with pale 

 sepals, though not a florist's flower, also appears to be very de- 

 sirable for furnishing cut flowers and for vases. — Eds.] 



STRAWBEKRY WONDERFUL. 



It may interest yon to see different varieties of Strawberries 

 bearing in the autumn. I have forwarded a small dish of 

 ■Wonderful gathered this afternoon (Nov. 2Qd), from a six-year- 

 old bed in a very exposed situation, within half a mile of, and 

 nearly on a level with, the highest land in the county. I think 

 the merit of this variety is not so well understood as it deserves 

 to be. With me it has been first-rate ; for the last twelve 

 years it has never failed to bear a good crop, except in 1867, 

 when the frost killed nine-tenths of the blossom on the 21st 

 and 22 nd of May. 



I have tried Wonderful in a rich heavy soil, and it will not 

 ■do except in a very hot dry season, but on my light sandy soil 

 it appears to be quite at home. It is of small growth, and is 

 the heaviest cropper that I can find. When it first began to 

 show signs of bearing in the autumn of 1862, just after we had 

 ■finished gathering dry weather set in, and the plants all became 

 as brown as they could be ; they remained so for four weeks, 

 -then came rain, and they cheered up and soon began to blossom, 

 which they did very freely. I quite expected it would injure 

 them for the next year's crop, but it did not in the least, for 

 that season we gathered 520 quarts from nine poles of ground. 

 This quite established it in my estimation as worthy of cultiva- 

 tion, and it has never disappointed me. — Isaac Crick, Haugliton 

 S'ark Gardens, Ampthill. 



[The Strawberries sent were of the first quality in size, 

 •colour, and flavour. This testimony to the merits of Wonder- 

 ful in a light sandy soil, on the highest land in the county, 

 where " it appears quite at home," is very valuable, and will 

 ■foe acceptable to those of our readers who have difficulty in 

 .getting a crop of Strawberries on such soils. — Eds.] 



COVENT GARDEN SALESMEN. 

 CoENicK V. Black. — This was an action brought at the West- 

 •sninster County Court, on October 24th, by Samuel C. C. Cor- 

 nick, market gardener. Mill Hill, Hendon, against John Black, 

 iruit salesman at Covent Garden Market, to recover a sum of 

 money he had kept back to his own use from the plaintiff out 

 ■of sales of goods. The plaintiff first took some Grapes to the 

 defendant as far back as April 23rd, 1869, and made an agree- 

 ment for his fruit to be sold on commission at seven and a half 

 per cent. The defendant was to return to the plaintiff the 

 ■exact amount he made of every item, with the exception of 

 deducting his commission. We cannot report the case fully, 

 'but the defendant consented to a verdict against him. It was 

 proved that the defendant had not made true accounts, and a 

 verdict was entered for plaintiff for 12s. 3d., and lis. costs, the 

 plaintiff having to pay all his other expenses. The amount 

 ■claimed was £12 15s. 



MESSRS. CARTER & CO.'S POTATOES AT 

 SOUTH KENSINGTON.— Nov. 1st. 

 Tkeee are some good people wbo have been clamorons for what 

 tbey called in most euphonious language a Potato tournament. Well, 

 they have had their wish, and in not as euphonious language I would 

 flay, " Mach good may it do them." Potatoes were there of all shapes 

 — kidney, round, pebble ; of all colours — white, rosy, red, black ; of 

 all possible names — Premiers, Regents, Prizetakers, Champions, and 

 1 know not what ; and yet who was one bit the wiser as to their quality 



or their productiveness — the two points which, above all others, Po- 

 tato-growers and eaters want to know ? And so it must be ; for the 

 task of tasting all these varieties is an idea from which even the most 

 determined " tater-eater " might well recoil. As the names of the 

 prizewinners have already been recorded, I shall say nothing with re- 

 gard to their collections ; but this I will say, That if any one of them 

 can produce a better Potato for a gentleman's table than the Lapstone, 

 I will eat a dish of it, peels and all. 



But a most interesting collection for those who wished to know the 

 appearance and names of the best (aye, and worst too) varieties 

 grown, was that of Messrs. Carter, of Holborn, who had arranged 

 very neatly in small mahogany trays a collection of nearly sixty varie- 

 ties, and who had, moreover, given an impetus to Potato-Rrowers by 

 oilering special prizes for collections of the " noble tuber." It may 

 be interesting, then, to give the names of their exhibits in two tables, 

 the Kidneys and the Rounds, afterwards giving such special notes as 

 may seem necessary, in the former classing all Potatoes which are not 

 round, and yet not true kidney-shaped, such as Paterson 's Victoria, &c . 





KTDNEY. 





ROOND. 



1. 



Gloucestershire Kidney. 



29. 



Dunnett's Early Bound 



2. 



Carter's Ashtop Fluke. 



SO. 



Fortyfold. 



3. 



Norfolk Champion. 



81. 



Miniature Dwarf. 



4. 



Paterson's Victoria. 



S2. 



Scotch Regents. 



5. 



Early Rose. 



83. 



Climax 



d. 



Wood's Seedling. 



34. 



American Red. 



7. 



Webb's Kidney. 



35. 



Goldfinder. 



8. 



Common Fluke. 



86 



Walker's Regent. 



9. 



Early Giant Kings. 



87. 



Sovereign of England. 



10. 



Belgian Kidney. 



88. 



Dalmahoys. 



11. 



Myatt'3 Prolittc. 



39. 



Early Goodrich. 



12. 



Belvoir Kidney. 



40. 



Peerless. 



13. 



Old Ashleal. 



41. 



The Qu. en. 



14. 



Cornish Kidney. 



•41 



Scotch Dons. 



16. 



King of the Potatoes. 



4-2. 



Paterson's Rf^gent. 



16. 



Cook's Kidney. 



43. 



Princess's Favourite. 



17. 



Negro. 



44 



Striped Don. 



18. 



King of the Earlies. 



45. 



Early Shaw. 



19. 



Milky WEite. 



46. 



Regents. 



20. 



Torquay Lapstone. 



47. 



White Rock. 



21. 



Jackson's Improved Ashleal. 



48. 



Carter's Champion. 



22. 



American Flukes. 



49 



York Regent. 



23. 



Cambridgeshire Kidney. 



50. 



Red-skinned Flourball. 



24 



Pheasant-eye. 



61. 



Carter's Main Crop. 



25. 



Green's Late Kidney. 



52. 



American White. 



26 



Prince Imperial. 



53. 



Bovinia (cattle). 



27 



Rivers' Royal Ashleal. 







28. 



Red Ashleaf. 







>28 



Prince of Wales. 







Of many of these I have already expressed my opinion ; tliere are a 

 few more to be noted. Carter's Main Crop (51) is the handsomest 

 red Potato I have ever seen ; smooth as a cricket-ball, and without 

 the least hollowneBS of eye — no ■waste whatever. As to its flavour I 

 know nothing, but for appearance it is first-rate. The Princess's 

 Favourite (No. 43) is a Danish tuber, a small round, and is so called 

 because it is the favourite of our much-beloved Princess of Wales, 

 who says that none of our English Potatoes are waxy enough for her. 

 Prince Imperial (No. 26) is a long red kidney, imported from France, 

 and said by many who have tried it to be very good. Striped Don 

 (No. 4:4:) is a curious-looking tuber, white, with red bands across it, 

 but whether this in any way alters the character of the tuber I know 

 not. The Regents were fine ; and whether, after all, we have a better 

 round Potato than a good Regent is questionable. As to Paterson's 

 Victoria, I cannot alter my opinion of it. I dined the other day with 

 a friend, an enthusiastic gardener, who pursues his hobby in the 

 midst of great difficulties in London, and he had some of them, grown 

 by a well-known lover and raiser of Howers, and cooked, not in my 

 fashion, but peeled first, and there was still that twang about them I 

 have always detected, as if partially frosted — an unpleasant sweetness. 

 On the following day I dined at a restaurant, where we were served 

 with Regents, and they were so good that I began to think I must 

 withdraw what I had said about kidney Potatoes being the only fit ones 

 to eat. The Dalmahoys are a kind of earlier Regent, and, as I have 

 said, very good indeed. Carter's Ashtop Fluke (No. 2) is a handsome- 

 looking Potato, and as I was looking at it a- gardener said to me that 

 he had grown it and found it to be both prolific and good. The Queen 

 (41) is a seedling from Paterson's Victoria, somewhat more round than 

 that variety, and said to be an improvement upon it. Miniature Dwarf 

 (31) is stated to be a very excellent variety for forcing. Early Giant 

 Kings (9) is a fine-looking kind, and stated to be a valuable variety. 



We have now, I hope, had enough of Potato exhibitions. They 

 have served the purpose of letting those who are interested see the 

 many varieties. When anything better is produced, would it not be 

 well to send it to the Fruit Committee (as has been done, I believe, 

 before), and to let it be cooked? But I am myself sceptical of getting 

 anything better than those varieties which we already possess. iVow6' 

 verrom. — D., Deal. 



THE GREAT VINERY AT CHISWICK. 



Is there any gardener in the British Isles who has not heard 

 something of Chiswick and its celebrated vinery ? None, I 

 think. Still it is only throngh the gardening periodicals that 

 numbers of the reading public are made acquainted with places 

 and things which are of interest, and I have therefore no doubt 



