112 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 9, 1877. 



Joyeuee, Hippolyte Jamin, and Bernard Verlot. I will give 

 other new sorts a further trial, but bo far they are a snare and 

 deluBion. 



In a blacksmith's garden close by me there is the most 

 glorious bueh of Souvenir dela ivialmaison I 6versaw. It really 

 is a bush, about 3 feet high and 4 feet through, and is at this 

 moment a mass of magnificent blooms. It is never pruned, 

 only the dead wood cut out. If Mr. Abbey had seen some 

 blooms of pegged-down CheBhunt Hybrid here I think he 

 would have altered his opinion about the siza of blooms on 

 pegged-down Roses, and they were not disbudded. 



The Galloway Rose Show has given a decided impetus to 

 Rose-growing in this district, and we are greatly indebted to 

 Messrs. Cant, G. Paul & Sod, Dickson & Sons, and Robertson 

 and Galloway for the support they have given, and I sincerely 

 trust will continue to give, to the local efforts in honour of the 

 queen of flowers. Mr. Cant, in his genial speech at the Rose 

 Show dinner, told the Galloway amateurs that they were 

 ahead of the rest of Scotland, and truly "approbation from 

 Sir Hubert Stanley is praise indeed." So, fired with en- 

 thusiasm by the backing of such a champion in the Rose 

 lists, I venture to hope that some day in the coming Julys 

 we may be able to break a lance with the Sassenach, though 

 Heaven forbid he comes in the armour of a Baker, a Jowitt, 

 a Pochin, or the war paint of the " Wtld Savage," for if he 

 does I fear me much the meeting will not result as did an 

 encounter between Robert the Bruce and Sir Aymer de Val- 

 lanee, Earl of Pembroke, at Glentrool (a lovely spot near here, 

 unknown to the tourist tribe), for this was the end thereof, aB 

 the quaint old rhymer hath it — 



— Hohonculus. 



'And Sir Amery that was wise 

 Departed ia meikle pain, 

 And went to England home again." 



P.S. — I cannot persuade Charles Lefebvre or Madame Victor 

 Verdier to give me the blooms of former days. How is this ? 

 I think it would be a great boon in this year's Rose election, if 

 any particular Rose does specially well on a particular stock, 

 this fact were published by adding to the name of the Rose the 

 initial letter of the stock, as M. or S.B., &a. Is this too much 

 to ask from the amateur's benefactor, Mr. Hinton ? 



WHEN SHALL WE TAKE UP THE POTATO? 

 This is the question that now exercises the minds of all 

 careful cultivators of the noble tuber, and a very important 

 one it is, for success or failure in preserving the crop intact 

 from the ravages of disease very much depends upon what 

 answer our actions shall give to it. Timely lifting saves the 

 crop. It is this important fundamental rule that I have for 

 years been trying to enforce ; and now " Northern Gardener " 

 tells us that it is only to the warm and genial south that my 

 teaching is applicable. I cannot agree with him, and will pro- 

 ceed to show cause why I cannot do so. 



Dig up the Potatoes as soon as the tubers stop growing and 

 you will sustain no loss from blight. I have done so most 

 successfully for some years here in the south. Why cannot it 

 be done in the north ? Because, says " Northern Gardener," 

 the tubers swell so late, and there is a lack of convenience for 

 storing them thinly. But if the tubers do swell late that can 

 be no hindrance to lifting them as soon as they cease swelling ; 

 and as for the want of store sheds, surely the building of such 

 must be a sound, safe, and wise investment of capital, point- 

 ing, as it most certainly does, to an immense saving of whole- 

 some nourishing food. The entire matter is really one of 

 national importance, and it is quite foreign to British energy 

 and enterprise to say that a method of saving an important 

 article of consumption must fail simply for want of convenient 

 storage. How can anyone who is really in earnest suffer such 

 a trifling obstacle as this to stand in his way ? I am now in 

 the enjoyment of excellent store sheds. Why ? Simply because 

 I showed ample proof for three consecutive years that it must 

 answer to build them let the cost be what it might. When 

 first Potatoes were grown here in quantity there was not a 

 shed or outbuilding of any kind, and yet the entire crop was 

 lifted early and stored thinly. Where ? Why, in an old loft 

 over a cow shed about a mile off, which I managed to get hold 

 of while the Potatoes were growing. 



Storing appears to be the great difficulty, and yet it is one 

 which I may venture to say could hardly prove insurmountable 

 in a single instance. What after all is required? Darkness to 

 avoid greening, ample space for the tubers to be spread out 



thinly, a free circulation of air, immediate protection from 

 rain, combined with subsequent protection from frost, all 

 which are, of course, best obtained in a storehouse replete with 

 shelves, doors, ventilators, and shutters. But failing the store- 

 house a host of contrivances present themselves. Take for 

 example the case of a grower for the markets, having a field 

 many acres in extent, wishing to lift his crop and store it in 

 the field, sending it thence at various subsequent periods direct 

 to the railway station or markets, and thus avoiding the loss of 

 time and expense which carting at the time of lifting would 

 involve. What can he do ? JuBt this : Make one or a num- 

 ber of beds of earth about 4 feet wide — level, beaten hard with 

 the back of a spade, raised a foot above the surrounding sur- 

 face, and running the entire length of one side of the field if 

 neoessary. Upon these beds the tubers are taken as they are 

 lifted, spread out thinly, and immediately covered with hurdles 

 thatched with straw, and arranged in the form of a continuous 

 ridge, straw being bound over the top of the ridge and up the 

 ends of the hurdles, thus excluding light and rain while allow- 

 ing a free circulation of air, and affording every facility for the 

 examination and turning of the tubers on fine days. Then 

 when the ripening process is finished they are thrown together 

 in large compact heaps or ridges, a suitable covering of straw 

 or other available litter put on, taking especial care to let it 

 Blope at an acute angle so as to throw off rain readily, and the 

 crop is safe. 



Let me conclude with a word of warning. When the tubers 

 cease swelling the haulm is invariably green. Let not this 

 prove a hindrance, but lift immediately after you are convinced 

 the tubers have attained to their full size ; if you do not and 

 rain seta in, the haulm will put forth lateral or side shoots, the 

 tubers will sprout and produce a crop of other small worthless 

 tubers, thus becoming converted into what are termed seed 

 Potatoes, and losing all excellence of quality, to say nothing 

 of the disease which invariably follows the rain. In a word, 

 the crop will be spoilt, and the time-worn outcry raised once 

 more, How badly the Potatoes are blighted ! 



Great alarm is being manifested about the Colorado beetle. 

 Well, if it come we must do what we may to get rid of it, but 

 meanwhile let us be up and doing all we can to combat the 

 two certain evils of blight and supertuberation, and I repeat 

 that the best way of doing so is to avoid them altogether by 

 early lifting. Early kinds have been in the store-shed for some 

 time, and the seed placed upon the seed trays ; second early 

 kinds, such as Yorkshire Hero, are also lifted, and by the time 

 this is in print I hope to be taking up the Victorias, and so once 

 more preserve early, intermediate, and lat9 kinds safe and 

 sound, untainted by blight, and unspoilt from second growth. — 

 EinvARD Ltjckhurst. 



HARDY ANNUALS FOR SPRING BEDDING. 



No doubt many of your readerB find a source of great interest 

 in the articles that appear from time to time on spring flowers, 

 and doubtless there are many, especially among the numerous 

 class of amateurs, who read those articles with deep longing, 

 and imagine that spring bedding is a luxury only to be enjoyed 

 by those who can keep professional gardeners and have un- 

 limited means at their disposal ; for how often do we meet with 

 gardens, tastefully and elaborately decorated with the usual 

 summer occupants of the flower garden, which are left baro and 

 unsightly till such time as these can be placed in position? 



Very much has been written in commendation of hardy 

 annuals as spring hedders, and for effectiveness, cheapness, 

 and easy management they are unsurpassed for this purpose. 

 Early in last September I commenced the laying-out of a 

 flower garden, and, not oaring to have this garden barren till 

 the middle of June, I some time previous began to consider 

 for means of making a spring display. Not being in pos- 

 session of any of the plants so much used for this purpose, 

 such as Pansies, Aubrietias, Daisies, Polyanthus, Ac, and not 

 having the means wherewith to obtain large quantities of bulbs, 

 I was compelled to fall back upon annuals, and to trust to 

 them to bring about the effect I was desirous of obtaining. I 

 am happy to say they have not betrayed my trust, but pro- 

 duced as fine and effective a display of colour as one could 

 desire to Bee. 



But what in my estimation renders these plants so reoom- 

 mendable is the small amount of expense and labour or skill 

 required for their production and maintenance. Any piece of 

 ground that may chance to be at liberty about the end of 

 August will be suitable for raising them. My method is to 



