84 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ February 2, 1871. 



over the ground, I look for no more disaster from frost. A 

 little surface frost excludes the air, and helps, with the straw, to 

 preserYBthe " noble tuber." Last year severe frosts succeeded 

 the planting, but no mischief was done to the planted tubers. 

 Some of the plots were not even covered with straw, but were 

 fully exposed to the east, south-west, and north winds, in this 

 very exposed vale. 



It is said that if frosted Potatoes are placed in water for a 

 few days, and then dried before the fire, they will " do " for 

 seed. I have five tubers in water, and intend to plant them 

 for experiment. I should hardly think they would succeed. 

 A frosted Potato is decomposed. 



I believe the Potato disease, in a great measure, partakes of 

 the nature of dropsy, as it usually takes place after heavy rains 

 succeeding long drought. Perhaps what we call fungus is the 

 mere disruption of the cells. I merely throw out the suggestion, 

 and confess that I am quite in the dark. I have had no diseased 

 Potatoes this year, and only one diseased tuber last year. I am 

 satisfied that " early lipeners and late keepers " are the only 

 sorts to plant. 



I am much amused by reading what is said of some Potatoes, 

 which I was obliged to cast out. It is not my province to write 

 them down. The sorts I keep are well known, and need not 

 be named. The following observations may interest, and, 

 perhaps, profit the reader. 



If you buy a sack of Potatoes, buy big and moderate-sized 

 ones together, and you will obtain 20 lbs. more weight than by 

 buying all large ones. Moreover, large Potatoes, even if the 

 sort is good, are not so eatable as moderate-sized Potatoes. If 

 you want to test uncooked Potatoes, take, say, five sorts or 

 more of the same size, and whichever weighs heaviest will be 

 the best Potato when cooked. A light Potato never yet was 

 good. When Potatoes are cooked, if you do not wish to taste 

 them, you can tell their quaUty by breaking them in half, and 

 applying a magnifying glass. That will be the best Potato, the 

 grains of which look whitest, like pounded white sugar. It 

 the grains look dark or muddy, the Potato will not be good. A 

 cat or dog will not eat a Potato unless it is good ; their fine 

 noses detect what our unassisted eyes cannot see or noses 

 smell. My latest, Yorkshire Hero and Taylor's Yorkshire 

 Hybrid, are good, and will last well till June. Last year my 

 servants preferred thfm to the Eoyal Ashleaf, dug June 4th. 

 Plant your Potatoes before they are much grown out. Breaking 

 oft the sprouts weakens the plant. — W. P. Badclyffe. 



SETTING AND CROSSING GEAPES. 



As Mr. Pearson remarks at page 509 of last volume, we have 

 all seen recommended for the abovenamed practices, by one a 

 hot dry atmosphere, by another a damp atmosphere, and by a 

 third a high dry temperature with plenty of air. From my 

 experience I am decidedly of opinion that either extreme is not 

 to be commended. Like Mr. Pearson I have been crossing 

 Grapes for the last twelve years, and many other things for the 

 last twenty, and have taken much interest in the pursuit. I 

 have always found a dry air not productive of pollen. 



With the view of hearing the opinion of others, about two 

 years ago I put the question to the gardening public whether a 

 dry or a damp atmosphere was considered the more favourable 

 for setting. I consider no decided treatment can be laid down 

 as ensuring the desired result, especially in a mixed collection 

 including such known bad setters as those named by Mr. Pear- 

 son — Black Morocco and Canon Hall Muscat. These two sorts 

 I have grown successfully under the following treatment. 



The Black Morocco I found always had on the top of every 

 pistil a dewdrop. I considered this prevented fertilisation by 

 not allowing the pollen a free entrance at the top of the pistil. 

 I applied the pollen of free setters, but finding this ineffectual, 

 twice a-day, as the bunches came into bloom, I carefully drew 

 them through my hand till I was certain the dewdrops were 

 all cleared ofi. Mr. Pearson's mode of proceeding had the same 

 efiect, for he brushed the bunches with a large camel's-hair 

 brush covered with pollen ; in doing this he would clear away 

 the dewdrops, and a portion of pollen would at the same lime 

 be applied. 



As to the Canon Hall Muscat I had to grow a number of it, 

 our family having a great liking for large-berried Grapes, and I 

 tried several experiments with this variety. I carefully applied 

 pollen of free-setting sorts, but that I found not effectual. 

 Anyone who has grown the Canon Hall must have noticed that 

 there is double the number of flower-pips on every bunch 

 as compared with other Grapes. This I thought was approach- 



ing to a monstrosity, therefore I waited till the bunch was 

 about to bloom, and then severely thinned the flower-pips, 

 taking away three out of every four. Under this treatment, 

 and by tapping gently the rods when in bloom, I rarely failed 

 to have satisfactory-set bunches. 



As regards crossing, I agree with Mr. Pearson that it is not 

 so easy to efEectually cross Grapes as many would imagine. I 

 agree with Mr. PearEon also that colour, according to my expe- 

 rience, is accidental, as I have proved in the three last varieties 

 I operated on. These were all dark varieties. The first I shall 

 notice is my own Champion Hamburgh Muscat, sent out by 

 Messrs. Veitch. This I crossed with Snow's Black Muscat 

 Hamburgh [Black Muscat of Alexandria] ; the produce was a 

 Golden Champion Hamburgh with a true Muscat flavour, and 

 it showed colour before the common Hamburgh in the same 

 house. The second was Lady Downe's crossed with Snow's 

 Black Muscat Hamburgh; the produce was a deep golden- 

 coloured Grape of the same habit of bunch as the male parent, 

 the bunch long and well-shouldered, the berries with a distinct 

 Muscat flavour. The third was Snow's Black Muscat Hamburgh 

 crossed with Muscat of Alexandria ; i;he produce was a deep 

 golden-coloufed Grape, with the bunch the same in habit as 

 Snow's Black Muscat Hamburgh ; the bunch long, well shoul- 

 dered, setting freely, and perfuming the house, and the flavour 

 a decided perfumed Muscat. The golden colour comes much 

 sooner than in a Muscat of Alexandria. — W. Melttlle, St. 

 Lawrence Fineries, Jersey. 



P.S. — There have been erected here nearly 1000 feet of new 

 glass, of which at some future time I may give details. — W. M. 



FRUIT TREES FOR SSIALL GARDENS. 



" C. C. E." asks me, page 432, vol. xix., to say " whether my 

 conclusions have been arrived at by actual experiment with a 

 strict cash account, or whether they are merely an inference, 

 &c. ? " 



The conclusions are based on actual experiment, but not 

 with a strict cash account, for we in private gardens do not keep 

 (to our disgrace be it said), cash accounts in the way that 

 " C. C. E." means. We grow what our employers regard as 

 luxuries more than as paying crops, and I fear " C. C. E.," and 

 also our Editors, see fruit as do our employers ; the finest and 

 best is all they care for, having no eye themselves to the cash 

 account. There is a great difference between growing for 

 private use and for sale. For instance : A has a vinery erected 

 for growing Grapes for his own use, and B has one constructed 

 to grow them for sale. A spends fully twice as much on the 

 house as B, and he plants kinds that he Ins a peculiar liking 

 for — kinds that will not give half the produee of those B plants. 

 A wants variety, and the gratification of his palate ; but B- 

 wants cash, and he must plant certain heavy croppers, and oi 

 a quality most in demand. B'e house pays, with a large 

 margin of profit, but A's does not pay with a strict cash ac- 

 count. It is just the same with bush-fruit trees. A will have 

 the kinds calculated to afford the finest desserts, he thinks 

 nothing of a kind that is a certain cropper, and in quality 

 little inferior to that which he must have at any cost ; he 

 " goes in " for the very best of everything, likes a fruit because 

 it has a peculiar flavour, and forgets, perhaps, that it is a 

 notoriously shy bearer, but he likes it aU the better for that 

 reason, and wisely keeps from asking a strict cash account of 

 his gardener. His gardener (B we will call him), commences 

 growing for sale. He does not cater for those who may be 

 purchasers of fruits for the sake of their peculiar flavour, but he 

 plants the good and useful kinds, which always find a ready 

 sale, and are large, certain croppers. He finds, for instance, 

 that Lord Snffield, Cox's Pomona, Cox's Orange Pippin, and 

 Dnmelow's Seedling Apples will at three years old give a peck 

 of fine and equally good fruit for his purpose, while the fancy 

 sorts do net at that age give a tenth of the quantity. I need 

 not fell " C. C. E.," that an acre planted to suit A will not 

 pay, for that is, I believe, his case; " a source of increasing 

 interest and pleasure " it may be, but he must not look for the 

 cent, per cent, return of B at seven years, which I know from 

 actual experience cannot fail to result if the trees bear as well 

 by the hundred as by the dozen, and by the thousand as by 

 the hundred. 



I am glad of " C. C. E.'s" communication, for it gives me 

 an opportunity of saying something of kinds I would grow for 

 market. " What I Not all named in your list?" T\Tiy, no? 

 These varieties will suit all but the very fastidious, being most 

 excellent in all respects ; but for sale I should grow of kitchen 



