OG 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
10. Black Eyed Susan, (Finlay son's). — 
The three lower petals of this flower are of a 
lightish straw-coloured yellow, with a very 
dark eye ; the two upper petals are blocked 
with a kind of rose pink purple ; it is round, 
smooth, and has good substance. The only 
fault it has, is that, at times, there is a tinge 
of deeper-coloured yellow underneath the eye 
on the lower petal, but a few hours of the sun 
in general makes this all right. It is a fine 
bold flower, and being the best of its class, it 
should be in every collection. 
1 1 . Surpass Imogene. — Is of a lemon 
chrome yellow colour, with a very distinct 
dark eye, is of middling good substance ; and 
so far as self-coloured yellow flowers are 
concerned, this is the best that has yet 
appeared in this country, although not fault- 
less. 
12. Defiance, ( Crombie's.) — This is a 
flower with a white ground, dark eye, and 
purple lacing : it is in the style of Miss 
Stainforth ; but is quite free from that yellow 
tinge that is generally thrown from the eye 
upon the lower petal of Miss Stainforth. The 
lacing of this flower is distinct and solid, and 
when well grown, it will be ill to beat. — 
James Neihon, Falkirk. 
Seed Potatoes. — (Jnripened, and conse- 
quently watery potatoes, make the best seed 
roots, inasmuch as they always produce strong, 
healthy, vigorous plants ; this watery matter 
being the germinative principle. Potatoes, 
therefore, which have been planted late in the 
season, or have been dug early in the season, 
or which have grown in boggy land, or in a 
mountain situation, are to be preferred; as 
under such circumstances the tubers are not 
matured, the farina has not been developed. — 
Field Culture of Potato, by P. Cowan. 
Lashmar's Seedling Grape. — This is 
stated to be the finest out-door Grape in culti- 
vation. It is a white grape thin-skinned, 
two or ''iree weeks earlier man any other, 
a first-rate bearer, and of excellent flavour. 
It is but very little known. 
Forcing Sea Kale. — Supply warmth, nour- 
ishment, and darkness, almost how you please. 
Shut up the roots in a box of mould ; cover 
up the roots in the open air with pots or 
leaves or ashes ; do as you will with them to 
make them dark as they advance, and supply 
heat to the bottom, and it is sure to succeed ; 
but where you keep a good supply of roots three 
years old, force them in a common hot-bed. 
Let them be served as asparagus is served ; 
give them a hot-bed and mould enough for 
their roots ; cover up the crowns six or eight 
inches with leaves, and then cover the frame 
with wooden shutters, or at all events cover 
up the glass, to keep out every particle of 
light. Open the top behind by tilting, to let 
off steam and regulate heat, and they will 
grow rapidly. Of course they must be exa- 
mined frequently, and as soon as the tops ap- 
pear large enough, they may be cut pretty close 
down to the crown. We tried one light with 
one of asparagus, in a two-light box, but both 
would do better separate. 
Fish and Fish-Ponds. — As this subject is 
in some measure connected with pictorial gar- 
dening, will you allow me to ask for informa- 
tion on the following point ; which, while it 
may or may not confirm my own opinion, will 
at any rate be doing a service to those pos- 
sessing this agreeable appendage, by laying 
the matter before them ? The simple question 
is this — should ice be broken during a frost ? 
I am inclined to think not. I have a fish- 
pond about one hundred and thirty feet long, 
and twenty-five feet wide, ornamentally de- 
signed ; its depth in the deepest part about 
nine feet. When at its fullest in the winter, 
it receives its supply from land springs, with 
an overflow drain at a certain height ; it has 
a strata of gravel, sand, &c, in the upper 
portion, and the natural bed of clay at the 
bottom, by which means a good supply of 
water is retained in the driest summer and 
hottest weather. It has been made nine or 
ten years, and in no instance has any ice been 
broken, that I know of, for the purpose of 
giving air to the fish ; and in no case have I 
lost even one fish out of five or six hundred. 
They consisted of carp, tench, and gold and 
silver. The two latter I took care, when I 
bought them, should be what are called " cold 
water fish ;" and they have bred and grown 
very much. During this summer I caught 
some bleak, roach, dace, &c, in the Thames, 
and must have put in at least six hundred ; 
very few, comparatively speaking, dying, un- 
less badly hooked. When the frost set in, in 
December last, (which was both sudden and 
severe,) I perceived about a dozen of the new 
fish dead under the ice, and others in a dying 
state, darting about in an unnatural manner, 
or swimming on their sides. I then gave 
orders to have the ice broken round the pond, 
and found they came in swarms to those parts, 
gasping for breath; but notwithstanding I had 
the ice daily broker}, I lost at least three 
hundred of the new fish, and even a few of 
tlie old gold and silver stock, which was never 
the case before, when the ice was left unbroken; 
and I cannot help thinking, that had I left it 
so on this occasion, (as it must be in many 
ponds when in their natural state,) I should 
not have lost to the same extent. Under these 
circumstances, what is the course to be adopted 
in future, to break the ice, or leave it entire? 
— J. B. Watson, Surbiton Gardens, Kings- 
ton, Surrey. 
