296 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



May 7, 1898. 



MR. ROBERT FENN. 



Whenever the history of the potato in the nineteenth century, and 

 specially during the long reign of Queen Victoria, is written, scant justice Fenn 

 will indeed be done to the subject if it does not include prominent reference 

 to that veteran raiser and grower, of now some seventy-eight years old, 

 the subject of this notice. Born in Suffolk about 1820, Robert Fenn in 

 very early life manifested gardening instincts in a markedVay, although 



.m 



have invariably shown very high reputations. Sutton RinaW 

 one, and the other the beautiful Reading Russet. Km Bl*der 



was 



Wood 



grown with 

 round at 

 much for 



Mr, Robert Fenn. 



some thirteen acres, quite a small farm, at Sulhampstead near 

 where he has been located some twenty-five years. Here' on an I n 8, 

 stone brash, with ample room and plenty of time to overlook hS 

 Mr. Fenn was enabled largely to develop his instincts, and eo o r? 

 ing the potato. It is an interesting fact, and well worthy of notice S\" 

 varieties of potatos raised fully thirty years ago, if not longer and tvf 

 stock of which he has preserved and grown annually, are ' 

 marked success year after year, literally on the same ground at 

 Sulhampstead, and last year the crop was better than ever. So much f 

 potato deterioration. Later years have been occasionally occupied in th* 

 effort to raise a new race by intercrossing Solanum maglia with 

 established garden varieties of tuberosum. Nothing of any special value 

 seems to have come from such crosses, and now the latest labours have 

 been directed to intercrossing Solanum Fendleri, a species apparently little 

 used so far in potato production, in Europe at least. The original tubers 

 were sent to Mr. Fenn by his old American friend and correspondent Mr 

 Pringle, the famous Vermont raiser. Some definite results in small 

 tubers have been obtained, but a few years may have to elapse ere their 

 value or usefulness can be wholly tested. There is, however, no telling 

 what secrets re potatos may be hidden in the womb of time, for the 

 advance made in them, and especially in the production of large 

 cropping and disease-resisting varieties has been remarkable. We 

 have had Paterson, Clarke, Finlay, Laxton, and other very successful 

 raisers, but none did so much to create for intercrossing a safe guide and 

 basis, as did the veteran to whom we have been referring. Where he 

 has sown others have been enabled to reap, and that his labours and 

 teachings have not been in vain is evidenced by the fact that the nation 

 is the richer so far as potatos are concerned. 



That Robert Fenn may live many years yet is the hope of all his 

 friends. Physically, he is now, in his great age, a far more active and 

 energetic man than are thousands of others not one half his years. He 

 loves the country and all its rural charms ; he loves his garden, in which 

 he delights to labour, and his potatos, for which he has all the affection 

 of a loving father. As was earlier said, not a professional gardener, he 

 has all his life been a born or heaven-created one, and is well worthv 

 enrolment in the gallery of garden patriarchs. A. I 



he never became what is commonly termed a professional gardener. The 

 mischiefs of childhood wrought with spade and fork became in mature 

 life elements of the most interesting and valuable work ; although) 



Cucumbers. 



Three days in succession, after the spring quarter, we had a real taste 

 of winter ; frost, hail, snow and wind, followed by a few days of i v 



mm a. m ■ _a « _ _ - - m mm A mt a mmt • rm 



after being apprenticed to a London watchmaker, from whose service he Yet in spite of this the cucumbers are a success, in every way maintaining 

 ultimately ran away, in sheer detestation of an occupation for which he a regular supply of fruit. I stop all laterals below the first wire to two 



leaves, so as to encourage the stem growth, though I do fruit these. AH 

 laterals and sub- laterals through the season are stopped to one leaf, and 

 there is a gain on the short-stopping system by not only 



also an increase of crop witft 



had no soul, he later took service with one who was at once employer, 



friend, and companion, for so many years 



W. St. John 



a young man, and recently appointed Vicar of Stanton Lacey, in Shrop- 

 shire. Here in the vicarage gardens and grounds Mr. Fenn soon found 

 ample room to develop his strong natural taste for gardening, destroying 

 old exhausted trees, replacing them with others, planting here, improving 

 there, and creating much garden interest. Mr. Fenn tells of how here, in 



is a gain on 

 securing a certain set of fruit but 



scuuimg a certain sci 01 iruii uui tuau «m mv-*v,.*~~ — ~ --, 



shorter lengths of wood. A correspondent has asked how soon he should 

 be able to cut after planting time. This will entirely depend on the means 

 at disposal. I sow seed in the first week of December in an early vinen, 



the midst of the potatos he then grew so \n resultS *?? '^€3 r 5SSS% 



Morn,Fortyfold, Scotch Regents, Irish Rocks, Farmer's (, lor wand Oth ers ■ r i i ^ e . ozen on arc J9i an > j v.j nn hnt torn heat 



Morn, b ortyfold, Scotch Regents, Irish Rocks, Farmer's Glory, and others 

 —he was found by the late T. A. Knight, then of Downton Castle, white 

 as a miller with lime, which he was using so freely over the haulm in the 

 hope of checking the spread of what was then so mysterious a disease, or 

 murrain. But smotherings of lime did nothing to check the ravages of 

 the disease, and for many years, especially during cold, wet ones, the 

 potato crops tottered on the verge of decimation. 



So long ago as 1837 -Mr. Fenn began experimenting with potatos, 

 raising seedlings, &c, though many years elapsed ere he could show any 

 beneficial results. To Woodstock Rectory the Rev. Mr. St. John was 

 transferred somewhere about 184S, an eventful political year in Europe, 

 and with him went also his fidus achates. It was here, too, that Mr. 

 1 enn issued to the gardening papers from time to time those varied 

 series of articles on potatos which attracted so much attention and made 

 Upwards and Onwards" almost famous. If is impossible to detail the 

 long series of experiments in cross-fertilisation, using for parents the 

 best varieties of the day ; but he finally, and after many years' selection, 

 put into commerce Early Market, Rector of Woodstock, Early White 

 Kidney, Bountiful, Red Kidney, and others, all of which had great repute 

 in their day. It was not Mr. Fenn's aim to produce coarse field varieties, 

 but rather those producing tubers of handsome form in good quantity, 

 *nd of the very best table excellence. But later he found it needful to 

 recognise that there was a demand for heavier croppers, especially for 

 market purposes, and seeing that the American varieties, then in such 



, ex « ss ' v e demand, were capable of operating in the required 

 ?,nn Tl l\ U u d these both as P° llen an d seed parents for the produc- 

 howevlrTl L / Came , a SOrt of A nglo-Ainerican race. Prior to this, 

 and ron^w ra,Sed tW ° Varieties ** were undoubtedly of good size 

 the once l mivi r -, C n 0PperS - T ? ese ' fr °™ *e same seed-ball, were 

 K?dnev Thi fE? y grOVf l ^"^nal and the other Woodstock 

 ki dnevs J? B ^?A fi . nest and the handsomest of all white 

 k te^was on th^ ntK Ut ? fl , esh was very undesirable. The 



handsome as weU 2? f^' a V ^ of hi S h tabIe excellence, and 



Mien, hence it "^ those of Woodstock " ' 



special hard forcing, though with bottom heat. I had no bottom mm 

 to raise the seedlings, however, so they were longer making plants, >c 

 no doubt when they were planted the change quickly told on mem iw 

 the better. As thev take, under this treatment, a lot ot ™ ier . 

 keep them healthy, though I have not syringed, it follows 1 

 repeated top-dressings are required. This is given weekly a 1 tne w H* 

 of dressings of soot and soil, silicate and soil, and a little cow ^anwt 

 and soil ; the fourth week simply a slight dressing of loam is fc" en v" 

 the fifth week liquid farmyard manure. Do not give any °" e " ]etJ 

 lant in strong doses. The whole surface of the bed is a mas * ° dressing( 

 which are very precious, and to give an idea of the amoun 1 inc ^ e& 

 in no one crop is the soil raised more than two or inr ^ 

 Though shading does not find favour here, yet in the bnjj™ ** hoUse , 



the 7->nd nit wa t« „c« Q„ mm »r Tlnnd on the west Side 01 



leaves 



little. 



the 



crop will not pay for the labour cucumbers are not won y ^ 

 There is, however, a bright side. The present ^ e ^l£\ n cTt3se 

 for young plants is two cucumbers each for cutting, ana 1 ^ ^ 



directly to three oer plant. The aim is to secure straight rru * boed 

 we have a supply of hanging stones for P uttin £ cucu mber up, 

 to curl, though frequently, before this, we loop uw readily. 



then weight it for the night. Not only d° e * best '™ em bryo finite 

 but they are most easily packed. Thinning the y° u "j> cl tQ ^ too 

 before flowering can be resorted to if the crop ^ be 



heavy for young plants, but a regular stoppjnf 

 adopted, for if growth is wild strength is lost. 1 ne 



evil* 



There 



starting 



with soil from a fresh quarter. ., on th e lee side 



Avoid sudden changes of temperature, and ventuaw ^ boU * 

 with the sun. The water should always be at the same l 1 , ^ 

 We have two two-inch pipes in ^ * nd thev 5 * Ilh * 



£r^mg C on STST besf oft TT* a -st valuable ^npTent an average a dozen ^ froTbdow ^the 

 varieties for such inter crossi^ m me " cans - Using these and other injuring the plant Less than a foot deep of soil serv 

 seedlings v» n »ri\i„~r » ,n K» Mr. Fenn raised several batches of 



cucu 



seet.U 



crop. 



two amongst others 



Bottesford Vineries, Notts. 



STEPHEN CASTLE, 



F.R-HS 



