80 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE A.ND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



[ FeLraary 2, 1S71. 



T. arborea, do well in such a place. I tried to grow T. pellucida 

 under a bell-glass in a stove temperatare, but it did not make 

 any progres3 until it was removed to the greenhouse, when it 

 began to flourish at once. 



It may be remarked here, that in raising Ferns from spores, 

 if it can be managed it is best to remove the pans to a house 

 where there are no specimens, a', if it is a scarce Fern difficult to 

 raise, numerous spores from common kinds will find their way 

 into the pan. To prevent this in a measure, a square of glass 

 neatly fitting over ihe top is desirable. — J. Douglas. 



POTATOES-DISEASE— MERITS. 



A SEEiT deal has appeared in the Journal lately on the sub- 

 ect of this favourite esculent, and if I take off my coat to enter 

 the arena it is not that, like Paddy, I would trail it along the 

 ground and ask, " Is there any jintleman that would like to 

 tread on it ?" for I do not feel at all inclined to dispute. I 

 have nothing to do with the subject of cultivation ; so much 

 has been said by so many of your correspondents — and weU 

 said — that it leaves little for anyone else to say ; and I know 

 that in the case of some, such as Mr. Sage, their theory is 

 borne out by their practice, for a more perfect example of 

 Potato-growing I never saw than with him when he was at Sir 

 Edward Bering's at Surrenden, where, indeed, under difficult 

 circumstances he displayed in all departments of his garden 

 the skill of an adept. There is one point in connection with 

 Potatoes which I would like to say a word about, and that is 

 the subject of the disease. 



I am more than ever persuaded that this is a mystery totaUy 

 unsolved, as great a mystery as it was in the days when it first 

 made its appearance. Let me take the past season as an 

 example. I rather astonished some good horticulturists from 

 various parts the other day, when I stated that I had never 

 had the Potato disease so badly in my garden as last year. 

 "Disease! What, last year! Why, we have not seen a dis- 

 eased root ! " Yet so it was. A few miles off the Potatoes 

 were perfectly free from disease, although small, but all around 

 ine they were bad. Some of the cottagers here had not one 

 good Potato in five ; they grew out^supertuberated as it is now 

 called — grew away like wildfire, but the produce was very dis- 

 appointing. '-Perhaps yon too highly manured," says one. 

 Well, one place where I grew mine was a portion of a meadow 

 which had not been turned up for twenty years and had not a 

 spoonful of manure put upon it, so that will not hold. " Ah ! 

 but," whispers my friend Mr. Eadclyffe, "you did not dig up 

 early enough." Well, I dug up someLapstones early io August 

 and others early in Ssptember, and there was no difference. 

 "But perhaps yon grew only delicate kinds." Wrong again. 

 I grewthirty-sis different varieties, a thing I am not likely to 

 do again, and one thing only I have found — that the coarser 

 the Potato the less liable it seems to be to be attacked. Bat 

 this again varies in other places, for I remember seeing this 

 year some of the very coarsest red Potatoes grown (called March 

 Eeds here), as badly diseased as any, so that I believe the Po- 

 tato disease to be one of those things " no fellow can under- 

 stand." That it is dependant somehow on atmospheric influ- 

 ence cannot be denied, and that the first week of August seems 

 to be about the time of its commencement is also undeniable. 

 I have never but once seen early Potatoes suffer from it, and if 

 by early planting the crop could be ripened off by the beginning 

 of August I expect the tubers would be pretty safe. This is Mr. 

 Eadclyffe's plan, and I beUeve it answers with him. 



With regard to what constitutes a good Potato I have very 

 decided and perhaps hypercritical notions, but unless we have 

 a good standard we shall be inundated, as we already are, with 

 rubbish. These qualities come, I think, in the order named 

 —1, Flavour; 2, Texture; 3, Colour; 4, Form. With regard 

 to flavour, there are Eome people who discern no difference. 

 A Potato is a Potato, and that is all ; it may be earthy or not, 

 mealy or waxy, it is nothing to them. Now to this I cannot 

 subscribe. So necessary an article of food ought to be as good 

 as we can get it. It is as useful as bread, and we ought to be 

 as careful to have good Potatoes as good bread. If a Potato is 

 earthy and strong I think all its other good qualities avail it 

 nothing. And here let me protest against a statement made 

 some time since in a contemporary, that it was a mistake to 

 boil Potatoes in their skins, that they always had an earthy 

 taste. Now, I would never boil a Potato, they ought either to 

 be steamed or baked. To boil Potatoes peeled is to boil all 

 flayonr out of them ; and well do I remember Power, the in- 

 imitable Irish actor, describing his visit to England, saying, 



" Them's a barbarian people, they peels their taters afore they 

 biles them." A Potato should not be sweet, but should have 

 a peculiarly delicate flavour unlike any other vegetable one can 

 name. As to texture, mealiness is an essential to a good Po- 

 tato, but this, withal, not of too decided a character ; there 

 ought to be firmness as well — no medium. Mr. Fenn's On- 

 wards is too floury, and I believe when that is the case flavour 

 suffers ; but this is a much rarer defect than the opposite, 

 closeness. Some people prefer a waxy Potato, and there is no 

 accounting for taste, but I think no true judge of the esculent 

 will agree with this perverted judgment. Colour, of course, is 

 not BO material a point as the others, but a Potato ought neither 

 to be yellow nor red ; when it is yellow there is generaDy a 

 tendency to waxiness, and when red to coarsenets. A Potato 

 ought always to be white inside. As regards form, my own 

 preference goes decidedly in every respect for the kidney or 

 pebble-shaped Potato, although some prefer round ones. But 

 whichever they are they ought to be shapely, the eyes not sunk 

 deeply, and of medium size. I quite agree with my friend Mr. 

 Eadcljffe that middle-sized tubers are the best ; even the very 

 best kinds when overgrown are not so good as when smaller. 



Having thus laid down what in my opinion are the points to 

 be considered in a Potato, I proceed to examine those which 

 have come under my notice. The soils in which I have grown 

 them are a pasture whence the top spit was taken in the spring, 

 and my garden, which is of a good blackish loam, such as is 

 generally called good garden soil. In giving my opinion of 

 the sorts grown by me I mean simply to speak of them as I 

 found them. I know soil and situation have a vast influence 

 on the Potato, and my judgments may not square with those 

 of growers in other localities. 



First with regard to the American varieties. Of these I grew 

 Early Eose, Early Goodrich, King of the Earlies or 50-Dollar 

 Potato (what fools there are in the world !) Prolific, and CHmas. 

 These are all from one raiser, and all of the same stamp. 



Early Eose I grew on a warm bank, in light garden soU, and 

 I found it a well-flivoured Potato. Some grown in another 

 place were very indifferent, and I very much question whether 

 in any ordinary season it will be good. With regard to all the 

 others, I think them essentially bad. They are no doubt good 

 croppers, and where pigs are kept this may be an advantage ; 

 but as to fiavour they have none, except a nasty one. Their 

 colour is bad, their texture close, and their form large and 

 coarse. I may add that through the kindness of one of our great 

 London seedsmen, to whom I mentioned my opinion of them, 

 and who somewhat questioned its truthfulness, I was enabled 

 to cook a dish of each of these varieties as imported from 

 America, so that I was able to give them a fair trial ; and 

 of the things to eat, drink, and avoid, I should place in the 

 latter category these American Potatoes. I do not see one 

 redeeming featture in them, and did I not know what varying 

 opinions and tastes there are in the world I should most heartily 

 wonder at their being ever sold. " Omne ignoium pro magiunco " 

 may be true of them before trial. They come from a long way 

 off, and the Americans may have different notions on these 

 subjects — in fact they must have. Mr. W. Eobinson exhibited 

 on January 18th some of the favourite Potatoes of the Mormons, 

 and they were hardly distinguishable from Bovinia, so fit only 

 for pigs ; but that anyone having once grown them should wish 

 to again try his hand at them surpasses my belief. If this be 

 American taste we are in the matter of Potatoes far ahead of 

 them. 



My opinion of the English varieties I must postpone. — 

 D., Deal. 



POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA CULTURE. 



So much has been said about the cultivation of this plant 

 that to some it will appear superfluous to say any more ; how- 

 ever, the fact of its being one of the very best plants for con- 

 servatory and house decoration in winter, and the hope that my 

 experience in its cultivation may induce others to grow it more 

 largely, must be my excuse for these few remarks. 



I have in our conservatory just now about one hundred plants 

 from 6 to 12 inches high, many with bracts 10 inches across. 

 Your readers can imagine much better than I can describe the 

 effect such a display will have amongst a coUeetion of miscel- 

 laneous decorative plants. 



My practice is, when the plants have done blooming to put 

 them all together in the corner of a light pit, the temperature 

 of which is intermediate, giving them only just enough water 

 to keep their roots alive — much the same as one would treat a 



