March 9, 1S71. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



173 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



Day 





Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



Sun 



Sun 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clocfc 



before 



Sun. 



Day 



Month 



Week. 



MAECH 9—15, 1871. 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Year. 











Night. 





Days. 



m. b. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





9 



Th 



Meeting of Eoyal Society, 8.30 p.m. 



49.2 



31.1 



40.1 



12 



31 af6 



61 af5 



Uaf 9 



51 af 7 



18 



10 46 



68 



10 



F 



49.6 



81.6 



40.6 



16 



28 6 



53 5 



22 10 



12 8 



19 



10 30 



69 



11 



S 





49.1 



82.2 



40.7 



19 



26 6 



55 5 



45 11 



36 8 



20 



10 14 



70 



la 



SCN 



3 SnsDAT IN Lent. 



50.4 



32.2 



41.3 



21 



23 6 



57 5 



morn. 



3 9 



21 



9 58 



71 



13 

 14 



M 

 Tc 



Meeting of Koyal Geographical Society. 



50.4 

 50.8 



34.0 

 34.4 



42.2 

 42.6 



16 

 20 



21 6 

 IS 6 



68 5 

 6 



6 1 

 22 2 



89 9 

 23 10 



< 



23 



9 25 



72 

 73 



15 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Hvacinth 



50.6 



83.6 



42.1 



21 



16 6 



2 6 



29 3 



17 11 



24 



9 8 



74 







( Show, Fruit, Floral, & General Meeting. 







1 1 



1 







1 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 60.0 



°, and its night tem- 



perature 82.7°. The greatest heat was 67°, on the Ijth, 1826; and the lowest cold 7°, on the 10th, 1S17. The greatest JaU 



01 ram was 



0.68 inch. 







POTATOES. I 



AVING disposed of the Yankies. and waited 

 to see if anyone had a word to say for them, 

 and having had my opinion confirmed by so 

 good an authority as my friend Mr. Rivers 

 (I may add, by Mr. Radclyft'e as well), I 

 must now have my say on the English va- 

 rieties I have tried, and here I get into 

 troubled waters I wish to be fair and 

 impartial, to '" nothing extenuate or set 

 down aught in malice," but withal it is not 

 easy. There is, first of all, an immense confusion in the 

 nomenclature of the varieties. There is, secondly, the 

 confusion created by Potatoes receiving names as dis- 

 tinct sorts, when they are only selections ; and there is, 

 thirdly, the undeniable fact to battle with, that soil, 

 situation, and climate make such radical changes that it 

 is almost impossible to predicate positively concerning 

 many varieties. 



With regard to nomenclature, it is remarkable how the 

 same variety receives different names in different locali- 

 ties, and very often in the same locality ; thus I believe 

 that Webb's Imperial, Dawes Matoliloss, and Glory of 

 England are one and the same Potato ; while round Po- 

 tatoes have an infinite number of names. Great confu- 

 sion arises also in this way — a gardener in a neighbour- 

 hood has taken great pains with his Potatoes ; he acts on 

 the principle of selection, saves only good seed, and at 

 last obtains a superior stock ; this becomes known, his 

 neighbours get it, and, having no better way of marking its 

 distinctness, they add his name, and then by-and-by the 

 original name is lost, and the gardener is best remembered. 

 He leaves the neighbourhood, little thinking that his care- 

 ful culture has added another element of confusion. I will 

 take one example : when Jlr. T. G. Sage was at Sir 

 Edward Bering's, in this neighbourhood, he paid much 

 attention to Potatoes ; he obtained a good strain of Myatt's 

 Prohfic, he carefully selected his seed, and at last obtained 

 the very finest strain of that variety I have ever seen. 

 Several in this neighbourhood have obtained it : to distin- 

 guish it we have marked it Sage's strain. Well, Mr. Sage 

 has, unfortunately, left the neighbourhood, and by-and-by 

 we shall, I venture to say, find this kind called Sage's 

 Prolific, or some such name ; and possibly it may event- 

 ually fall into the hands of some grower for sale, who, 

 ignorant of its history, and believing it to be something 

 new, may send it out under that or some different name. 

 It will be seen, then, from the tenor of these remarks, 

 that I do not believe that one-third of the new, or so-called 

 new, Potatoes are seedlings, but selected strains. Of those 

 that are seedlings, amongst Kidney Potatoes I believe we 

 may trace a good deal of the Fluke and Ashleaf strain, 

 and that where this cross has been made, the more there 

 is of the Ashleaf and the less of the Fluke, the better the 

 Potato will be. Instead, then, of entering into descriptions 

 of those numerous varieties which I have grown, and a 

 great many of which I shall never try again, I shall merely 

 select such as I have thought ought to have something 



No. 519.— Vol. SS., New Seeies. 



said of them ; and, first of all, as I believe, faoile xirinceps 

 amongst Potatoes 



The Lapstone- — A cross between Myatt's Prolific and 

 the Fluke, I should say three parts of the former and one 

 of the latter, deriving from the former its eaiiiness, and to 

 some extent its delicacy. It is a Potato that will only 

 thrive in good soil. Mr. Douglas, who can grow anything 

 that will grow at all, says that about Ilford. Leyton, &c., 

 they cannot grow it. I "have found it do best in garden 

 soil, although I have known it grown successfully in fields, 

 but then the soil was good ; it will not thrive in very light 

 or very heavy soil. It is not a poor man's Potato, but I 

 know none "that can compare with it for a gentleman's 

 table. 



Carters AsUop Fluke is a very handsome-haulmed 

 Potato, and the tuber is well shaped, but it has, to my 

 taste, too much of the Fluke ; many would not consider 

 this an objection, and would be inclined to give it a trial. 



HeacUeifs Seedling, or Headley's Nonpareil.— This was 

 sent out last season by Mr. Alfred Fryer, of Chatteris, and 

 this season by an eminent London firm. I was inclined at 

 first to think very highly of it, but have modified my opinion. 

 I have detected a twang in it wliich does not please me, 

 and tasting it the other day at my friend Mr. Banks's, I 

 noticed the same again. I am sorry, for it is very hand- 

 some and prolific. For general use I am sure it must be 

 a favourite. 



Rmial Ashleaf.— This, is probably a selected strain_ of 

 Myatt's, raised by -J. Ash win, Esq., and Mr. Rivers having 

 carefully grown and selected the stock, it is now better 

 known as Rivers's Royal Ashleaf. It is an early Potato, 

 better in some soils than others. Mr. Radclyft'e is a warm 

 advocate for it, but I prefer Myatt's Prolific, which comes 

 in about the same time. 



HaifjKs Kidnei/.— This has been sometimes strangely- 

 given as a synonyme for the Lapstone ; it is not so, although 

 raised, I believe, by the same man— Major Haigh, a shoe- 

 maker (not a military man), in Yorkshire. It is later than 

 the Lapstone, not quite so good, but withal a very excellent 

 Potato, and follows the Lapstone. 



YorJisJiire Hero — A very handsome light-skinned Po- 

 tato of which my friend Mr. Radclyfle thinks very highly. 

 It is unquestionably a good Potato. Unfortunately I had 

 a poor crop of it, and saved it for seed, the greater portion 

 of which I lost by frost. 



Myatt's Prolific— Oi all the early Potatoes I have tried 

 none can compare with this, and a good many which come 

 out under various high-sounding names are, I fuUy believe, 

 only strains of it, modified somewhat by soil and situation. 

 I have never seen so fine a strain of it as that to which 

 I have already alluded as being in Mr. Sage's hands at 

 Surrenden. In flavoiu- and appearance I place it at the 

 head of all the early kinds. 



Webb's Impericd, Daices 2Iateldess. Glory of England.^ 

 These are one arid the same, I believe. It is a Potato 

 which with many persons holds a very high place, very 

 prolific, attaining a large size, and handsome in appearance, 

 but I could never see that it possessed the first requisite 

 j of a good Potato— fine flavour. It will, however, in many 



No. 1171.— Vol. XLV.. OLn Szkies. 



