Jnne 15, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



417 



Jacquier, Jales Chretien, Nardy Freres, Souvenir de Monsieur 

 Poiteau, Marquise de Mortemart, Bdonard Morren, Perfection 

 de Lyon, Souvenir de Monsieur Boll, Dupuy-Jamiu, Madame 

 W. I?dul (Mosg Perpetual), Madame Alice Dureau, Paul 

 Neron, AbbS Giraudier, Albion, Monplaisir (Tea), and Madame 

 Levet. 



I have re-introduced Madame Guinoisseau (twelve plants), a 

 Boss that never ought to have gone out, being equal in form and 

 beauty to Madame Vidot and Madame Bivers ; and I have also 

 bought six plants of Triomphe de Caen, deep purple, which is 

 coming into abundant bloom, and appears to be an acquisition. 

 It has been " out " some years, but the savmis — fast coaches — 

 do not always find out the jewels. I shall know more about it 

 in a few days, as every twig has a Eose on it. I think Perfec- 

 tion de Lyon will be first-rate. I have had one first-class 

 bloom of it, and the six plants have an abundance of buds to 

 judge from. I do not much like judging from one plant or one 

 bloom. I agree with my man " Steevie." " Sir," said he, 

 the other day, " we cannot tell for certain what the Eoses are 

 till we have had them two or three years." These cold nights 

 and cutting north-east winds cause the first buds to bloom ab- 

 normally. Pull off at once all defective and green-centred 

 buds. 



Mr. Duddendge, foreman at the Dorset Nurseries, sent me 

 lor inspection some fine blooms of Catherine Mermet, Madame 

 Hippolyte Jamain, and Eeve d'Or. The last is a great beauty 

 and of good form. It is a golden yellow, with a cupped cop- 

 pery yellow centre. The following is his report of it — "Eeve 

 d'Or is a moderately rapid climber and is covered with blos- 

 soms ; it does not make long unsightly shoots, but covers the 

 wall as it grows. I think it is a fine variety. It is particularly 

 good in bud or half open." — W. F. Badolyfpe. 



EARTHING-UP POTATOES. 



On this subject I am quite of " Wteside's " opinion. I never 

 have my Potatoes earthed-up, as I am sure it greatly injures 

 the fibres, and, therefore, weakens the crop. I always have an 

 excellent crop ; this year under a new system it is better than 

 usual. I always have the ground dug two spits deep in the 

 autumn, turning-iu plenty of well-decomposed manure. 



The method which I have adopted this year is as follows : — 

 With a broad hoe I draw trenches about 4 inches deep, I then 

 dibble holes in the trenches and plant the Potatoes, thus 

 leaving a ridge of earth between the rows. As soon as the tops 

 are 4 or 5 inches high the ground is hoed, levelliug-down the 

 ridges and so affording support to the plants. With the ex- 

 ception of hand-weeding nothing more is done, as I believe 

 hoeing afterwards to be very injurious, for it disturbs the roots 

 which are between the rows. 



This year I began to take up my Potatoes on May 27th, and 

 I am well pleased with the crop, many of the tubers weighing 

 a quarter of a pound. My neighbours, notwithstanding, go on 

 earthing-up their Potatoes and destroying half their crop. — 

 A. F. GoDwAED, Southend. 



I BELIEVE that " Wye SIDE " has introduced a question which 

 should be the subject of experiment by all Potato-growers. I 

 am no advocate for earthing-up Potatoes, and I did not practise 

 it during the several years I was at Lillesden. I have fre- 

 quently stated to several growers in that neighbourhood my 

 reasons, which were in substance similar to those given by 

 " Wteside." Advocates of the earthing system say that it 

 increases the crop by causing the plant to put forth roots up 

 the stem, and therefore young tubers. I could never find that 

 the crop was either increased or improved by earthing-up. My 

 experience goes so far as to prove that a grower of Potatoes 

 places himself at a disadvantage by the earthing-up system, for 

 by earthing he increases the vigour of the haulm, and of course 

 prolongs the time of ripening, a thing to be avoided in these 

 times of blight, &e. Again, every grower knows that the Po- 

 tato has made and extended its roots over a large space of 

 ground before the top is high enough to be earthed ; therefore 

 it is impossible to perform the operation without injury ; neither 

 can he crop his ground so closely, nor clean it so well, as when 

 he does not earth up. There is no need of means to increase 

 the vigour of the haulm of the Potato, for I have not yet grown 

 any sort that does not produce an ample top-growtli even in 

 ordinary-stapled soils. 



I feel sure that the ground for Potatoes should be trenched, 

 but not manured with farmyard manure ; this should be given 



to some previous crop. Plant about 6 or 8 inches deep, and 

 during growth frequently stir the surface soil, but disturb the 

 roots as little as possible, and use every means to secure early- 

 developed tubers, well ripened, and take up the crop ; the disease 

 is then less likely to attack them. 



Many years ago, and when the Potato disease was less pre- 

 valent, it was the custom to leave the Potato crop in the ground 

 until November ; perhaps then a little earthing-up would be an 

 advantage as a means of keeping them drier and safe from 

 early autumn frosts, but even then the earthing should not be 

 performed until after the crop is matured. I do not say that 

 good crops of Potatoes are not grown by the earthing system — 

 quite as good as by the non-earthing plan — but I am quite 

 convinced that under the circumstances in which Potatoes 

 have now to bs grown, earthing them up according to the long- 

 existing custom does the crop no good whatever, and is labour 

 in vain. 



As I do not earth-up Potatoes I grow my crops in rows 

 18 or 20 inches from each other, and the sets 1 fooc apart in 

 the row — that is, for short-topped or early sorts ; but for coarse- 

 growing later sorts, such as Paterson's Victoria, I allow from 

 20 to 24 inches between the rows without earthing, and have 

 done BO for several years with satisfactory crops. 



Again, as a proof of the fallacy of earthing-up Potatoes, we 

 have only to observe the wonderful crops turned out of frames 

 and pits where they have been growing at a distance of less 

 than 1 foot apart, with only 2 or 3 inches of soil over the tubers. 

 Nothing could be more generally satisfactory. I have been 

 sending to table some Myatt's Prolific so grown since the first 

 week in April, and for size and finish, as well as flavour, they 

 would come up to a summer-grown Potato. — Thos. Eeooed, 



In the first place, I would say it is injurious to earth-up Po- 

 tatoes at a wrong time. In my opinion the proper time to do 

 so is when they are 2 or 3 inches high, not during an advanced 

 stage of their growth. According to my experience, I never 

 found earthing-up interfere with their growth, but on the con- 

 trary increase it ; nor can I see that either the plough or the 

 hoe, if properly used, would interfere with the roots at this 

 stage ; and even if the ground is dry when the operation is per- 

 formed, it does not follow that it will always be so. There cer- 

 tainly are exceptionally dry summers ; but I can assure "Wye- 

 side" that there are certain soils which have come under my 

 observation where he could not or dare not earth-up while they 

 were in the dry state he mentions ; and this is only another 

 illustration of the truth, that what is right for one man may be 

 wrong for another. 



I am not prepared to prove that the yield is increased by 

 earthing-up, although my experience tends to that conclusion, 

 still I am prepared to prove that earthing-up certainly preserves 

 the tubers in a better condition, also from the ravages of rooks. 

 If these depredators are at all plentiful in " Wyebide's " 

 locality, and it he grows early Potatoes in considerable quan- 

 tities, he will find out that it is absolutely necessary to earth 

 well up. It may be all very well for the rooks that the tubers 

 should be exposed, but I think it would be wrong for me to 

 have to get up at 3 or 4 o'clock a.m., to scare and shoot them, 

 or otherwise lose the best of my crop. I find the best tubers 

 are nearly always near the surface. 



" Wyeside " apparently makes light of the greening, but I 

 am mistaken if he will find it so. A few years ago I had about 

 three acres of Potatoes that were not earthed-up, and I was 

 mortified at having to waste so many fine tubers as unfit for use, 

 especially as there were plenty of smaller ones not the least 

 affected for sets ; the greater part of the larger tubers were near 

 the surface. 



Now, with respect to the yield, I quite concur with the Editors' 

 remarks, that earthing-up retards the ripening. About ten 

 days or a fortnight ago I wanted a dish of early Potatoes. I 

 went first to some Potatoes that had fine strong tops, but was 

 disappointed to find tubers about the size of Peas. These had 

 been earthed-up. From a few plants that had never been 

 touched after they were planted, but had short tops half the 

 size of the others, I obtained a beautiful dish about the size of 

 pigeons' or bantams' eggs. The soil about these was hard and 

 solid. All were planted at the same time. The plants with the 

 large tops showed twice the number of tubers. This may not 

 be a fair comparison, as both pieces were not on the same 

 ground, but to me there does not appear to be any difference 

 between the two, save in the hard texture of the one and open- 

 ness of the other. I have my own views about the reason why 



