64 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBB AND COTTAG-E GAEDENEE. 



[ January 26, 1871. 



in flower in a few short lines, and in summing np the points to 

 be obserred, I pat down the following : — 1st, Withhold water 

 from the top when in flower. 2 ad, Maintain a moist atmo- 

 sphere, though the degree of moisture will be regulated by the 

 weather outside, as it is not good policy to keep the houae bo 

 damp in wet as in fine weather. 3rd, Keep up a regular tem- 

 perature, which should be 5° higher during setting. 4th| Give 

 air back and front as weather permits, shaking the Vines gently 

 from time to time. — Stephen Castle, Bent Hill Gardens, 

 PrestwicU. 



EARLY AND SECOND-EAELY POTATOES FOR 

 LIGHT AND HEAVY SOILS. 



" Novice," I will presume, wishes for information having 

 regard to production for market purposes ; then there cannot 

 remain a doubt about the Eirly American Kose being the 

 " heaviest cropping " early ; and the Early Goodrich (an Ameri- 

 can white and rather coarse-looking sort) as a second early 

 would beat Paterson's Victoria in that respect both upon light 

 and heavy soils ; only when they are grown on the flat on the 

 latter description of soils they will scarcely do to present upon 

 the dinner table. Give them light soil, or plough and plant 

 them upon the ridge system on heavy soil, and then he will 

 get bountiful and very eatable crops, which few, except con- 

 noisseurs of Potatoes, would find fault with. 



Paterson's Victoria is a better kind than either of the above 

 to grow upon light and heavy soils, but it does not come in so 

 early. In regard also to " heavy cropping," your correspondent 

 has done right to procure Sutton's Eed-skinned Flourball as a 

 late sort, but he will do quite wrong to grow it upon the flat 

 in the generally heavy soils of his neighbourhood, which I 

 know quite well. It has the faults of the American kinds so 

 grown in England — namely, a soddened look and a flavourless 

 quality, which the best of cooking cannot rectify ; but when 

 grown on a light soil, or upon the ridge, it will produce a great 

 bulk of large, white-fleshed, floury-looking Potatoes, which, as 

 I said before, will satisfy most people, but which a Paterson's 

 Victoria would distance for flivour. Eintoul's New Early 

 White Don, as a heavy-cropping, good-flavoured second-early, 

 would be well worth the attention of " Novice," and I do not 

 think he need care to trouble himself with more sorts than 

 those enumerated. 



Messrs. Sutton sent me other American sorts, &e., which I 

 proved on different descriptions of soils, but the Early Eose, 

 the Early Goodrich, and the Eed-skinned Flourball were the 

 cream of the lot. 



" Novice " also requests you to send him any " works " you 

 have on Potatoes. Allow me to propose that you should send 

 him nearly a quarter of a century's Jouenal of Hokticolttjke 

 with the index complete. He will there be enabled to learn a 

 good deal more, I fancy, about Potatoes and their cultivation 

 than any " works " at present extant would be likely to teach 

 him. At page 55, in my answer to " E. S.," I have been made 

 to blow both hot and cold at the same breath ; drop the first, 

 third, and fifth n's of the first sentence, and then the reading 

 will prove correct. — Eobeet Fenn. 



VIOLA CORNUTA ALBA. 



I DO not think this valuable little bedder has been brought 

 under the notice of your readers ; I consider it one of the beet 

 of the bedding plants which have been introduced during the 

 last two or three years, especially as we are so short of such 

 plants having white flowers. Where I am, it is a difiicult 

 matter to get the Madame Vaucher section of Geraniums to 

 bloom freely enough to make a good display ; and notwith- 

 standing all precautions, as mixing plenty of soot with the soil, 

 strewing soot over it, dusting with sulphur, top-dressing, giving 

 plenty of water, &c., we can only obtain a week's or a fort- 

 night's bloom from the white Verbenas before they are 

 smothered with mildew. Oh for a white Verbena with the 

 habit and the free blooming of Purj)l6 King and its twin 

 brother Crimson King 1 I had beds of these two that were 

 splendid, and I only wanted a white variety of the same habit 

 to accompany them. Cannot Mr. Perry or Mr. Eckford raise us 

 one? 



The white Viola admirably fills up the wide gap in un- 

 favourable situations. I had four small circular beds of it, 

 with Coleua Verschaffelti in their centres, and they were pro- 

 nounced charming by all who saw them. I shall hold this to 

 be my best white bedder until I get some oi the white-flower- 



ing variegated Geraniums. I think this Viola is best raised 

 from seed every spring, as plants from seed grow much stronger, 

 come into bloom later, and continue longer in flower than 

 those raised from cuttings. I find the beauty of the plants 

 propagated in the latter way is over before the other bed- 

 ders are at perfection. I found last year that many of the 

 old plants and those from cuttings died off. I should like to 

 know if this was general. — J. T., Maesgwynna, South Wales. 



INSIDE PARIS. 



It will interest many of our readers to know that Dr. Hogg 

 has received by balloon post, from Paris, a letter dated January 

 7th, from M. Henry Vilmorin, a name widely known and much 

 honoured in the world of horticulture. M. Vilmorin says — 

 " We were leading a happy contented life when all was suddenly 

 disturbed, our household broken up, my wife sent far south, 

 my brothers called to arms, and I remained here alone. I 

 cannot give myself as an instance of peculiar misery, yet see 

 what has fallen to my share. I had to leave Verri^res, leaving 

 all my usual work incomplete, many things were lost of course, 

 and studies were broken, making much work already done 

 useless. Several most important collections of onrs will be 

 more or less completely lost. Now the Prussians are at 

 Verridres, but we hear that the place is turned into a military 

 hospital and not much damaged. Les B«res also has been 

 occupied, and perhaps is still so. 



" My wife left early in September, and went with our little 

 daughter Elizabeth, to Dax. Maurice joined in August the 

 Cth Battalion of Garde Mobile de Seine et Oise, to which he 

 belonged, although never before drilled, or even armed. 

 Philippe had to go to Cherbourg in the beginning of Septem- 

 ber to enter the corps of Marines. I have heard only once 

 from my wife since she left, she was well and baby, and so was 

 Philippe, but we were not told where he was. As a married 

 man, I am only in the Garde Nationale, and being mounted 

 act as cstafette. We seldom ride out of Paris. Oar service is 

 very safe, and sometimes very interesting ; we like it and find 

 that the hardest thing is to get food for our horses. It is very 

 unpleasant also to be stormed at with shot and shell in our 

 houses, as is the case now. I sincerely hope that no wider 

 difficulties will arise out of the present unhappy war, and that 

 your country will be able to settle peaceably all the impending 

 questions at the Conference." 



MONPLAISIR AND OTHER TEA ROSES. 



Toun correspondent on Tea Eose culture (page 43) wishes to 

 know something about Monplaisir ; he complains of its shy- 

 ness, and raggedness when open. When this Eose was intro- 

 duced I planted it as I plant the rest of my Tea Eoses — that 

 is, in a bed fully exposed to the sun, but well sheltered from 

 all winds, and I had then the same complaints to find as your 

 correspondent. I could not get it to open in the house nor out 

 of doors ; it certainly was of better shape outside than under 

 glass. The following year I potted early a large plant in a 

 pot that would only just hold the roots, with plenty of drain- 

 age ; and a month before I turned my bedding plants out I 

 plunged Eose and pot where it was to stand, with, I am glad 

 to say, much better success. I do not think I had more bloom, 

 but what I had opened well, and when that is the case you see 

 a magnificent Eose both in form and colour. Monplaisir is a 

 seedling from Gloire de Dijon, but how fertilised I do not know ; 

 the growth is very vigorous, and so pleased am I with it, that 

 I intend planting six more. Evidently it does well if the 

 roots are pot-bound, and from my experience I advise your 

 correspondent to try my plan. 



I do not agree with your correspondent in planting his Tea 

 Eoses facing the east ; my estimate of these Eoses is to give 

 them a fully-exposed open situation, away from winds, and in 

 the very hottest and driest time of the summer to give plenty of 

 water, and occasionally liquid manure. It is also a good plan 

 after planting to cover the beds or borders with very rotten 

 dung to the depth of 4 inches. — Kosa odoiuia. 



SPAWN OF MUSHROOM BED ECCENTRIC. 



Upon looking through my Mushroom house this morning, 

 I find that the bed which was made about five weeks agois 

 almost entirely covered with spawn in the shape of white 

 "thread-like" mould. In some parts where the lumps of 



