448 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ December 8, 1870. 



vvvv, then lay lines as from the peg at point u to the peg at 

 point v, and from peg v to peg 1, and so on, until the four 

 angular beds are lined ; then cut out the beds, and ihe design 

 fig. 31 is accurately transferred from paper to the ground to 

 a scale of 12 feet to the inch. — M. O'Donnell, Gardener to 

 E. Leeming, Esq., Spring Grove, Richmond. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



On the principle that too much cannot be Eaid of a good 

 thing, and the Chrysanthemum affording the chief supply of 

 flowers, both for decoration and for cut blooms, when other 

 flowers are scarce in November and December — even later than 

 that with a few of ihe Japanese varieties — I now give a list of 

 those which proved here to be good this year, leaving for a 

 future paper a few varieties I saw good at Liverpool. 



The proper time for putting in cuttings is November and 

 December, though they may frequently be struck till March ; 

 still, I have proved that spring striking does not do for this 

 part of England. Spring-struck cuttings find favour with many, 

 on the ground that they are not so liable to be neglected as 

 those struck in November, but there seems that then there is 

 no time to make them flowering plants. 



I say, Strike as early in November as possible, putting in the 

 cuttings round the edges oi" 3-inch pots, potting them off singly 

 into the same sized pots when rooted, and never allowing them 

 to become pot-bound nor short of water from the time of the 

 first potting till they flower. Water being very beneficial to 

 the tops, either syringe or water overhead in the summer 

 evenings. 

 _ I will take the large-flowering varieties alphabetically, be- 

 ginning with Aimea Ferriere, which has generally proved good, 

 but is rather loose and open-centred thi3 time with me ; Anto- 

 nelli is very good and fine ; Ariadne is second to none, being 

 very free-blooming, of a pleasing colour, very effective, and 

 late ; Aureum muisiflorum, a very bright good yeilow, is very 

 fine and good ; Beverley, very early and good, pure white. 

 Bronze Jardin des Plantes is one of the best late tall varie- 

 ties ; Cassandra, a good early white, but the worst for mildew ; 

 Florence Nightingale, an excellent free-blooming though small- 

 flowered variety ; General Bambrigge, a beautiful large flower 

 and very effective ; Gloria Mundi, an early, dwarf, free-flowering, 

 good yellow ; Golden Beverley, the best of the tall early yellow 

 varieties ; Golden Dr. Brock, a light yellow, very good and 

 bright ; Golden Eagle, first-rate, red and orange ; Guernsey 

 Nugget, very prolific and fine, rather late ; Jardin des Plantes, 

 a well-known tall, late, rich yellow variety ; Lady Harding, a 

 very compact dwarf variety, very good and fine ; Lady Talfourd, 

 one of the most telling varieties of its colour; this is really 

 good. Lady Slade is a very useful variety. Little Harry is, I 

 may say, the finest early golden dwarf flower grown ; Lord 

 Palmerston, very fine and free, but late ; Mr. Cullingford, a 

 very fine dark purple variety ; Mr. Gladstone, a very fine red 

 chestnut, now beautiful ; Mrs. Haliburton, an extra good 

 flower, almost like a Dahlia ; Orange AnDie Salter, a decided 

 acquisition in its colour ; Prince Alfred, a late, tall-growing, 

 good variety ; Pelsgia, a fine flower of dwarf habit, and to be 

 depended on ; Pink Perfection I have seen good this season, 

 but it is rather shy with me, which I attribute to its being 

 struck late in the spring ; Bsv. J. Dix, a very good late orange 

 red flower ; Eobert James, very striking, superior to General 

 Bainbrigge; White Eve, the finest white grown. This should 

 be in every collection. 



In concluding the list of the large-flowering varieties, I wish 

 it to be distinctly understood that I do not say that those I 

 have named are the only good sorts, or that they are always 

 good, but 1 believe they may be depended on. 



Of the Japanese, which are very grotesque in their appear- 

 ance, James Salter stands first; this is an extraordinarily free 

 variety, and looks more like an artificial than a natural flower. 

 It is an early variety, flowering in November. Bed Dragon is a 

 good variety ; and The Daimio, a very effective sort, concludes 

 my list of the Japanese Chrysanthemums. 



Of the Anemone large-flow6red kinds, I only number two — 

 Fleur de Marie, a good, large white ; and Gluck, a very fine 

 olden o:ange. 



Next come the Pompon Anemon6-flowered. Cedo Nulli is 

 the first, it being a very early useful variety ; in fact, I may 

 say the same of the other varieties of Cedo Nulli, Golden and 

 Lilac, which are very desirable for cutting. There are, doubt- 

 less, many desirable varieties of both the large and small- 



flowered Anemone Chrysanthemums worth growing, but I 

 content myself with the few named above. 



Of the Pompons, Bijou de l'Horticulture is very good and 

 useful ; Bob, well known, as it comes out better than ever ; 

 the same of Drin Drin. GecGral Canrobert is early and good ; 

 Lizzie Holmes, a very beautiful variety ; Lucinda, very fine ; 

 Rose Travenna is very early, and so is White Trav6nna. 



The above list, I am aware, contains the names of many old 

 varieties, but they are none the less desirable on that account. 

 When speaking of the new sorts, I think the first year should 

 not be finally decisive on their meritsor demerits, as I have 

 seen flowers condemned one year, and the following season 

 they could not be too highly spoken of. My jbject in wriiing 

 these nojes is to place in the hands of the amateur or working 

 gardener a short list of really good varieties suitable for con- 

 servatory and greenhouse decoration. 



The culture of 'he Chrysanthemum being so generally known, 

 it is not necessary to say more than that, to have good healthy 

 plants, strike the cuttings in November or December in a cool 

 house ; one the same as that in which the plants are will do. 

 Pot the cuttings as soon as rooted, and repot them when the 

 roots touch the sides ; give them their final shift in August. 

 Snpply abundance of water both at the roots and top, but keep 

 all manure water from them till they have set their flower 

 buds. I do not plunge the pots, considering the plants healthier 

 if not plunged, though requiring when unplunged more at- 

 tention in the watering and repotting.— Stephen Castle, Bent 

 Hill Gardens, Prestwich, Manchester. 



THE POTATO AND ITS CULTURE.— No. 3. 



FIELD CULTURE. 



After the crop has been cleared off the ground allotted for 

 Potato planting in the spring, it should be well cleaned pre- 

 vious to manuring, advantage being taken of a fine day or two, 

 and the manure drawn on and spread over the surface ; it 

 should be next ploughed up as deeply as possible, and then 

 left till planting time, when it will have to be cross-ploughed, 

 that the rows may range north and south, so that the sun 

 can most effectually shine upon them. 



As scon as the preceding crop is off the ground, if this is 

 poor and weedy, surface-stir it with a heavy scuffle, and heavy 

 harrows to follow it, and let the weeds be picked off and burnt ; 

 and if one good scuffling do not clean the ground thoroughly, 

 go over it again previously to manuring it. A fine, dry day or 

 two should be chosen, and the dung drawn on and spread over 

 the surface ; and let the ground be ploughed up as deeply and 

 as roughly as possible, reversing the furrows each time. The 

 more roughly it is ploughed the better, for the frost can get into 

 and through it better than if ploughed more evenly, and thereby 

 kill vermin and pulverise the soil, and it will be far easier to 

 turn over in the spring at planting time. 



The reason I recommend manuring early in winter is that 

 the manure should be better decomposed, and to further this 

 object good mellow dung Bhould be used. 



The best way to plant the Potato in the field is to plough in 

 the sets. Send the plough up the field, making a furrow about 

 4 inches deep. In this furrow the sets should be placed about 

 9 inches apart. A sufficient number of hands should be em- 

 ployed in planting, so that the plough may not b6 hindered. 

 To obtain the proper .distance from row to row the second 

 furrow should not be planted, but it requires ploughing, or else 

 the planted one will not be covered in. The rows will be a 

 good distance asunder, so that the operations of earthing and 

 digging or raising the crop will not interfere with the rows 

 in the least. The Potato-earther in field culture is an instru- 

 ment very much resembling a plough, the chief difference 

 being that it is double-breaBted, and the breasts are made of 

 wood. I have seen wooden breasts made to fit to the plough. 

 It will be seen that by the earther going one bout (as the 

 ploughmen term it), or once up the field and down again, the 

 plough earths or lands up four rows. 



The raising implement has a beam similar to a plough ; in 

 fact, the breast can be taken off the plough to admit the raiser, 

 so that it saves the expense of a beam, &c. This raiser is sent 

 up the centre of the rows, the horses walking in the furrow on 

 each side of the row which is being raised ; and it not only 

 raises — that is, digs them up very much quicker, but very much 

 better, for I have seen Potatoes come up amongst the succeed' 

 ing crops, although they had been dug with the fork with the 

 utmost care ; but it is plainly seen that when the root is bein 



