October 27, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



325 



time always deplored its great fault — viz., its delicacy of con- 

 stitution, and I have never considered it a large cropper. This 

 year has so completely confirmed my opinion, that I felt almost 

 inolined to say I must only grow a very few Lapstones for the 

 future. I grew thirty-six sorts — of these more anon — and of 

 all the thirty-six the Lapstone was the most diseased ; all the 

 finest tubers were bad, and I should think that at least three- 

 eighths of the crop went. 1 may say that I grew it in two 

 situations — in my garden, and in a pasture which had not been 

 turned up for a great many years, and which had not a particle 

 of manure ; that I took up one half of the crop in August and 

 the other half in September, and that both were equally at- 

 tacked by disease. How, then, can we account for the different 

 experience of " M. H." and myself? and is it not hopeless to 

 lay down any positive statement ? Or can it be that " M. H." 

 grew the Lapstone at all ? He says, " Haigh's or Lapstone 

 Kidney." There is a Haigh's Kidney as well as the Lapstone, 

 and I believe it is less liable to disease. This may be the 

 solution. 



I see in the interesting account of Admiral Hornby's Potato 

 produce that Dawe's Matchless and Webb's Imperial are set 

 down as giving different amounts of produce, but I have always 

 believed them to be the same. If I am correct it will rather 

 detract from the value of the return. — D., Deal. 



The remarks of Mr. G. Abbey on Potatoes, in your number 

 of October 13th, are very interesting and instructive. As a 

 grower on a moderate scale, I can supplement his paper by 

 one or two words on the mode I adopt, and which has been 

 this year particularly successful. I always have the rows of 

 Potatoes planted, as far as possible, due north and south. This 

 lets in the full sun between the rows. The tubers were planted 

 rather deeply to avoid the necessity of earthing-up. As soon 

 as the stems appeared the rows were flat-hoed, and all the 

 weeds carefully raked off the ground. The only attention they 

 had afterwards was as follows : — A light boy of about eleven 

 years of age passed along the rows, treading as little as possible, 

 and pulled up every weed by the roots, putting them as he 

 went along into a little basket which he carried on his arm. 

 This was repeated several times. The consequence was thai 

 the ground was kept thoroughly clean, and the remaining fibres 

 of the tubers undisturbed. I had a magnificent crop, and also 

 got rid of many basketsful of weeds. 



The kinds I grew were Alma, Paterson's Victoria, and the 

 Pink-eyed Fluke from Scotland. Of the second kind the 

 haulms were from 6 to 7 feet high, but the produce was mar- 

 vellous. 



I think the manure ought not to be put in too green. It 

 should have passed through the first stage of decay, and be 

 forked-in during November. The soil will take up all the 

 matter suitable for the food of the tubers, and the benefit will 

 be secured for after-crops. 



A boy or girl kept at Potato-weeding will do great service, 

 and may be had for about Is. &d. per-week. — F. H. Poltek, 

 Cheltenham. 



■ GLAZING AND PAINTING GARDEN 

 STRUCTURES. 



I would as a matter of choice paint the outside of glass 

 houses once every year ; I should thu3 have them always neat 

 and clean, and avoid the trouble of scraping and scratching. 

 When sashes have been long neglected there must be a cleaning 

 and reputtying before there can be any painting.. On the one- 

 coat-every-year system I hardly know bow long good putty 

 would last, as it would not have a chance to crack and let the 

 moisture in. Only let it crack from the wood, and it soon 

 becomes useless. Late in autumn, if the weather is fine, I 

 oonsider is the best time for all such work, as putty and paint 

 dry more slowly, but more firmly, and without cracks. 



As a rule, I wish every trade to keep to itself and to do its 

 own work, and then generally the work will be better done. 

 But in many places there is often muoh rough work of this 

 kind, which, if done at all, must be done by the garden men at 

 the most suitable time, and when the glass, however bad, cannot 

 be spared in quantity sufficient to keep painters regularly at 

 work. I lately saw, if something were not done, the winds and 

 moving the sashes would throw out the glass from want of 

 fastening. I have a lot of old sashes that have been useful for 

 many years for laying over earth pits, and which I was allowed 

 to keep on the clear understanding that they were never to 

 involve a glazier's or a painter's bill. In doing similar work 



I had this great advantage over tradesmen, that my men could 

 work out of doors only when the weather was suitable, though 

 I had taken the precaution to have many of the worst sashes 

 washed and brought under cover before the rains came on. 



Many people think that anybody can handle a putty-knife or 

 a paint-brush, just as they imagine that anyone can without 

 trouble master all the details of gardening. There are others 

 who wish to help themselves and yet feel no such confidence, 

 and to them the following simple practioal details may be 

 useful. 



Before painting it is important that glass and woodwork 

 should be clean, even if a good washing should be necessary. 

 In replacing even a square or two of broken glass, the old putty 

 should be cleanly cut out, and a little thin paint run along the 

 rest of the sashbar before the putty is bedded, allowing the 

 paint to dry a little. With regard to moveable sashes in bad 

 order, where the putty has mostly perished, it is often not 

 possible to wash both sides of the glass without the squares 

 falliDg out and being broken. It is tben best to clear away all 

 the loose putty, take out all the glasB thus loose, wash it in a 

 pail, and set it to dry. Wash the sash then, cut out all the 

 putty at all gone, leaving only what is hard and firm, and when 

 the wood is dry run a paint-brush along the sides of the bars, 

 and in less than a day it will generally be fit for glazing. In 

 all reglazing this thin coat of paint on the sides and rest of the 

 Bashbar is of great importance, as the putty is thus more firmly 

 joined to the wood. This is often neglected. Even in glazing 

 new sashes I would rather have the paint under instead of 

 over-dried. 



Then as to putty. The best is made of the best linseed oil 

 and the best ground whiting, and the longer it is made, and 

 turned, and sweated in a heap, the better it will be. For common 

 purposes it is best to purchase it by the hundredweight. I 

 prefer it stiff instead of soft. Wben it becomes rather stiff for 

 working, it is better to beat it and work it well instead of adding 

 more oil to it. When warmed by beating and kneading it 

 works well and smoothly with the knife, and there is little or 

 no sticking to the fingers, and, what is better, the putty sets 

 well and dries more quickly and regularly than if softened with 

 more oil. For certain purposes I have had a little white lead 

 mixed with the putty ; but though this makes it harder, there 

 are two inconveniences attending it — first, it is more apt to 

 crack than good wrought putty alone ; and then, again, if you 

 have to move it afterwards, there is much more trouble in 

 backing it out. A good labourer soon learns' to place the putty 

 well and leave it smooth with the putty-knife, whilst the base 

 must never go beyond tho rest for the glass on the sashbar. 



The lasting of the putty greatly depends on giving it and the 

 wood one or more coats of painting as soon as the putty is 

 sufficiently dry. If there are many sashes to do, by the time 

 the last is glazed the first will be ready to paint. This time 

 two years ago I had a large job, and, if not done, I should have 

 expected the glass to have been everywhere after a windy night. 

 I oould do no more than give one coat of paint over the putty, 

 but for the two years it has seemed as sound as a piece of wood. 

 Observing, however, a few small cracks the other day. I have 

 just run a paint-brush over it after washing the sashbars down, 1 

 and that will keep all sound and secure. 



After several years the atmosphere robs the paint of its pre- 

 servative virtues, and this is one reason why I advocate one coat 

 a-year instead of several coats after the mischief is done. Then 

 as to paint. Nothing is better than white lead and oil, though 

 it is next to impossible to get white lead genuine. The whiter 

 the paint the more lasting it will be, if the lead is near the 

 mark ; but the whiter it is the more easily is it sullied, and 

 therefore it is often desirable to tone it down a little to a light 

 stone colour. For outside work I think it is a good plan t 

 use a portion of anticorrosion with the paint. I imagine it 

 stands better than paint alone or anticorrosion alone. I should 

 not advocate anticorrosion for inside work, or where the paint 

 was to be subjected to much washing, as then lead paint is 

 smoother, and stands the cloth or the brush better. For 

 orchard-house work it would do either inside or outside. The 

 very roughness outside makes it more enduring. It is thus 

 less influenced by heat and cold than a smooth surface, just 

 like a piece of rough-surfaced ground contrasted with one that 

 is smooth and firm. A number of years ago I painted two 

 posts with stone-coloured lead-oil paint in the usual way, but 

 j whilst one was wet I threw over it as much fine light-coloured 

 sand as it would take on. In three years the painted post had 

 the paint crackiDg and peeling ; the sanded paint did not exhibit 

 a flaw after four years, but looked more like stone than wood 



