November 17, 1870. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



389 



lost all spirit. Oar courage, though shaken, will be restored, 

 and, if time be given to us to complete and utilise our arma- 

 ment, men of earnestness will not be wanting to take the offen- 

 sive. Unhappily our beautiful country is so disorganised and 

 divided by party that our efforts are often paralysed. 



" As for myself, I cannot regain my strength, and I had great 

 difficulty in marking my Gladioli. I esteem myself very for- 

 tunate in having been able to take them up and store them in 

 good time and in capital condition. Unfortunately, the war 

 hinders our orders. We have been so harrassed that I do not 

 know whether I have sent you a list of my novelties, and there- 

 fore send one in this letter. 



" If after the war we are enabled to execute any orders I 

 shall be able to send out these novelties ; but if not, I shall be 

 obliged to call the novelties prepared for 1870-71 those for 

 1871-72. 



"We hear that an armistice has been proposed by England. 

 May God grant that it may be accepted, and that peace may be 

 soon concluded." 



He sends me a list with descriptions of the novelties coming 

 out this autumn. There are in all twenty, bearing the follow- 

 ing names : — 



1. Aramis. — Rose, slightly shaded with orange and margined with 

 cerise. 



2. Athalie.— Violet, slightly shaded with rose ; flamed pnrple. 



3. Colbert. — Red cerise, slightly shaded orange. 



4. Conde. — Reddish orange. 



5. Coralie. — White, shaded rose and yellow. 



6. Edith Dombnin. — White, very largely flamed with deep carmine, 

 stained carmine purple. 



7. Horace Vernet. — Brilliant red pnrple ; pure large white stain, 

 striped red. 



8. Ida. — White ground, very slightly tinted with rose ; flamed rose 

 carmine. 



9. Lamarck. — Cerise, slightly shaded orange. 



10. — Nestor. — Clear yellow ; lower petals deeper yellow striped 

 with red. 



11. Phidias. — Very brilliant pnrple, slightly tinted violet ; large 

 pure white stains, finely striped with carmine cerise. 



12. Phedre. — Ground pare white, largely bordered and flamed rose. 



13. Primature. — Very long spike of rose-coloured flowers, slightly 

 tinted with lilac ; flamed bright carmine. 



14. Redonbte. — Beautiful rose, slighily tinted with violet. 

 15. — Sappho. — Very beautiful cerise colour, shaded orange. 



16. Sir J. Franklin. — Very beautiful satiny rose ; all the petals 

 lined white. 



17. Talisman. — Beautiful violet, largely bordered with bright cerise. 



18. Van Spandowk. — Very striking red. 



19. Zelinda. — Very beautiful bright rose ; largely flamed deep 

 carmine. 



20. Zenobia.— Rose, very slightly tinted with violet ; flamed deep 

 carmine. 



Of these 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 1G, and 17, seem from their 

 price to be the best ; but we must wait, for not seldom we are 

 obliged to reverse the decision come to on the other side of the 

 Channel.— D., Deal. 



PLANTING WHOLE POTATOES. 



A neighbour of mine, whom I will call B, and I, each 

 invested last spring in a hundredweight of Paterson's Victoria 

 Potatoes. They were very large, so B decided to cut his in two, 

 but I preferred planting mine whole. I wrote to you on the 

 subject last June, and you replied to me in your number of the 

 2nd July, page 16, requesting me to let you know the result. 

 I now do so. 



The cut and uncut 6ets were planted in the same field side 

 by side, and equally manured. It was a very long field, and as 

 my uncut sets were sufficient to plant one row, of course B's 

 planted two rows. My row yielded 8 cwt., and B's two rows 

 yielded only 7 cwt. between them. I conclude, therefore, that 

 by cutting his sets instead of buying another cwt. to plant in 

 the second row, that B lost 9 cwt. of Potatoes, or the sum of 

 40s., calculating them at 5s. per cwt., the price we gave, and 

 allowing for the extra cwt. for sets. 



Many of the cut sets missed owing to the dry season, and 

 although B does not think the trial a fair one, he says he means 

 to plant whole ones in future. 



Mr. Fenn and most of the authorities on Potato culture 

 advise planting whole Potatoes, but the accounts you have 

 lately been publishing of the yields of the Early Rose and Bo- 

 vinia Potato from sets cut into the smallest pieces are sufficient 

 to shake anyone's faith in the practice. One gentleman cut a 

 Potato of 1 lb. weight into nineteen sets, the produce being 



133 lbs. Query, If this Potato had been 'set whole in a bill 

 with plenty of room, would the produce have been greater ? 

 This question wants ventilating. Will some of your corre- 

 spondents give us the benefit of their experience ? — Calcabia. 



MAIDSTONE GARDENERS' IMPROVEMENT 



ASSOCIATION. 

 Seven or eight years ago a few gardeners in the neighbour- 

 hood of Maidstone met, with the view of making arrangements 

 to secure a room in which they might assemble at stated in- 

 tervals and discuss subjects connected with their calling. A 

 number of members enrolled themselves in what was called 

 the Maidstone Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society, and a 

 set tf simple rules was framed, one of which stated that a 

 general meeting was to be held once a-month, and an ordinary 

 meeting in the intervals between the general meetings. At 

 both plants, fruits, vegetables, or anything connected with gar- 

 dening might be shown by members and commented upon ; or 

 any gardening subject might be brought forward by a member 

 on giving proper notice, and every facility was given for any 

 member disposed to speak, some officer of the Society occupying 

 the chair. 



The success which attended these meetings was very great, 

 and the interest taken in the matter by others not connected 

 with gardening led many to become honorary members, so 

 the Society resolved in the winter of the second year of its ex- 

 istence to hold a show, or rather arrange a display cf plants, 

 fruits, and vegetables in the Corn Exchange, the largest build- 

 ing in the town. To render it more attractive, the room was 

 decorated with wreaths of evergreen, and other horticultural 

 devices, and a small oharge being made for admission to non- 

 members, a handsome sum was added to the funds of the 

 Society. Its importance sesmed now to have outgrown the 

 few simple rules at first framed for its guidance, and a new set 

 was prepared, which, amongst other clauses, empowered the 

 Society to afford its members pecuniary assistance to a limited 

 extent when overtaken with sickness, and to grant a sum not 

 exceeding £10 to the representative of a member at his death. 

 In addition, when the funds would allow, the sum of £20 was 

 to be apportioned for the Society having a holiday somewhere 

 once a-year. Now the latter two items seemed large sums from 

 a Society that only required a subscription of 4s. a-year from 

 its members, yet such has been its success that it has always 

 met its engagements, and I believe at the present moment it 

 has between £200 and £300 in hand, although death has called! 

 off three or four of its members, each of whom have had the 

 Bum I have stated, and the yearly holidays have always been 

 carried out in the summer. Thrice the excursion was to the 

 Crystal Palace, once to Hampton Court, and once to Kew, 

 terms being made with the railway company to take the Society 

 at a stipulated price, the members paying about Is., and the 

 others 4s. for their tickets, and heavily loaded trains have 

 always been the result. 



If this could be done in a town like Maidstone with scarcely 

 25,000 inhabitants, the question naturally arises, Can it not be 

 done elsewhere ? The Society has every spring held a show in 

 the Corn Exchange without giving prizes, it being simply an 

 exhibition in which everything is arranged for effect. Vases, 

 extempore fountains, and other things are fitted up by willing 

 hands under the superintendence of an arrangement committee, 

 and every season a change is made in the arrangement. Music 

 is also provided ; and as the exhibition is kept open in the 

 evening, the working classes of Maidstone and its suburbs have 

 an epportunity of seeing it, and are no doubt stimulated by the 

 example, for more than one of the neighbouring villages has its 

 Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Association, where meetings ia 

 some degree similar to those of the parent society take place. 



The exhibitions generally attract many visitors, and the sum 

 of £100 has been taken at the door on one occasion, but of 

 course there is considerable expense; still, there is always a 

 surplus, which goes to the funds of the Society. 



It is, however, the monthly meetings, when matters relating 

 to horticulture are discussed, that appear more than anything 

 to have given the Society so firm a hold of public support. At 

 these meetings it is usual for the President of the Society to 

 take the chair, and as notice has been given at the preceding 

 meeting of what is to be brought forward — generally two or three 

 subjects — one of them is opened up by the person who gave notice 

 of it, and discussion generally follows. It is also not unusual 

 for members to bring fruits and other productions to obtain 



