422 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 29, 183-1. 
them spreading more like the. sepals, the two forms also differing slightly 
in colour. 
Large specimens of this Cereus are not rare in old gardens, hut the 
finest known to me is one in a stove at Leigham Court, Streatham, the 
residence of Mrs. Treadwell. This covers a space on the back wall about 
30 feet long and 3 or 4 feet wide. The old stem and roots are lost, the 
plant subsisting entirely upon the moisture in the atmosphere of the house 
and that furnished by the moss with which the trellis is packed, and in 
which the branches have freely rooted. About forty grand flowers have 
been produced by this plant in one season, which generally expand in 
batches of a dozen or so, and the only encouragement the plant receives 
when making its growth i3 syringing it with clear water and occasion¬ 
ally with very weak liquid manure. Flowers were kindly sent me by the 
gardener, Mr. E. Butts, and the characters are well pourtrayed in the 
woodcut (fig. 96). Another very large specimen is grown in a house at 
Pendyffryn in Wales, which Mr. Siddall of Chester informs mo has had 
from sixty to eighty flowers open at one time.— Lewis Castle. 
(To be continued.) 
A ROSE’S REPLY. 
Really, Mr. Editor, I wonder you insert such antiquated sentiment 
as on page 400. Dear old indignant dowager ! or, I wonder, was she a 
maiden blush in her best days, and has been blushing for the blindness 
of the men ever since 1 What, not want to be exhibited ? Is there a 
woman in the world—a Rose I mean—that objects to be looked at 
properly, front row or back row ? 
Better fourteen days of D’Ombrain 
Than a cycle of Cathay. 
And then the name will not do—Pedigree Roses ! Perhaps dear Mr’ 
Bennett, had he taken as much pains over that as over our appearances’ 
might have found out a prettier one. There are plenty across the water 
which it takes two pens to write. Handsome is that handsome does. 
I always feel much obliged to the featherless bipeds that slave for us, 
and look us out husbands with such care, and put us in such pretty 
boxes, and carry us to Crystal Palaces and bow down before us. What 
could the creatures do more ? I think it was a Wallflower, not an old 
Rose, who wrote to you. Country quarters are all very well ; pretty 
parsonages may do for good old Cabbage, Persian Yellows, and common 
Mosses, but give me the glorious thrill of battle and the gathering of 
the clans, 
“Aud that stem joy -which wtirriers feel 
At foemen worthy of their steel.” 
“Vulgarised,” quotha. The slaves that toil for us, and fetch and 
carry, are refined by their very employment. Scentless Dahlias, flaunting 
Hollyhocks, preposterous Pseonies, might perhaps be called such. I 
cannot say I care much for those pretty impostors, those Orchids, that 
now all the world is going mad on. But Roses vulgarised ! Rose shows 
reprehensible ! Our lovers deserting us ! This season will show. 
“ Were I a flower knight in arms, 
As one day I may be, 
My heart should own no meaner charms: 
A show Bose still for me. 
“ ’Tis hers the crowded tents to brave 
That thinner petals fear, 
To challenge east, and west, and north, 
In size or form come near. 
She can the serried ranks opposed, 
With eye unflinching see ; 
Emerge victorious from the strife, 
With medals gold and silver rife : 
A show Bose still for me.” 
— A Rose of the Period. 
TUBER-BEARING SOLANUMS. 
On January 17th of the present year Mr. J. G. Baker of the Kew 
Herbarium gave the outline of a paper upon this subject before the 
Linnean Society, a summary of which we gave upon 57 of this Journal 
(January 24th). Mr. Baker’s observations and descriptions of the species 
have been printed in the Society’s journal, and are now issued separately. 
Full descriptions of the species are given under the countries in which 
they are found, together with general remarks as to the climates and 
positions in which they abound. Plates are also given of the principal 
types—Solanum tuberosum, S. Maglia, S. cardiophyllum, S. Commersoni, 
S. Jamesii, and S. oxycarpum, which Mr. Baker considers entitled to be 
regarded as species in a broad sense, the remaining fourteen so-called 
species being probably varieties of S. tuberosum or S. Commersoni. 
The paper concludes with some interesting economic suggestions which 
we here reproduce. 
“What Lord Cathcart asked for were any suggestions that a botanist 
might be able to give, founded upon his knowledge of the Potato plant 
and its geographical distribution, that were likely to be of practical value 
to cultivators. In reviewing the subject the considerations of this 
character that occur to me are these :— 
“ In the first place, it always seems to me that cultivators work upon 
the tacit assumption, if I may so express it, that the one object in life of 
the Potato plant is to grow Potatoes, and that this assumption has no 
sound foundation in fact or reality. Solanum is one of the largest genera 
in the vegetable kingdom. About 900 names stand in the botanical books 
as species, aud Bentham and Hooker estimate that probably 700 of these 
are really distinct. Of these 700 it is only six that grow Potatoes at all, 
and the remainder all maintain their hold in the world as most plants do, 
by means of their flowers, fruits, and seeds. I do not think that the 
Chilian S. etuberosum and Mexican S. suaveolens are more than mere 
forms of S. tuberosum, and they are said to be quite destitute of tubers ; 
and there is the fact noted by Sir J. D. Hooker, that when S. Maglia was 
first grown at Kew, for two years it did not yield any tubers. A great 
many of the cultivated varieties rarely produce flower and fruit. Any 
plant brought to the tuber-bearing state is in a disorganised unhealthy 
condition, a fitting subject for the attacks of fungi and aphides. The 
great difficulty with which we have to contend in fighting disease is that 
iu the Potato, as in other cultivated species, we grow in great masses 
plants which in a state of nature are scattered amongst others. 
“ The relationship of tuber to fruit is so clearly shown by one of the 
experiments of Mr. T. A. Knight that I will cite it in this connection. 
‘ Every gardener knows ’ (he writes in ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’ 1806, 
p. 297) ‘that early varieties of the Potato never afford either blossoms or 
seeds ; and I attribute this peculiarity to privation of nutriment, owing to 
the tubers being formed preterna'urally early, and thence drawing off that 
portion of the true sap which, in the ordinary course of nature, is em¬ 
ployed in the formation and nutrition of blossoms and seeds. I, therefore, 
in the last spring planted some cuttings of a very early variety of the 
Potato which had never been known to bloom in garden pots, having 
heaped the mould as high as I could above the level of the pot, and 
planted the portion of the root nearly at the top of it. When the plants 
had grown a few inches high they were secured to long sticks, which had 
been fixed erect in the pot for that purpose, and the mould was then 
washed away from their stems by a strong current of water. Each plant 
was now suspended in the air, and had no communication with the soil in 
the pots, except by its fibrous roots ; and as these are perfectly distinct 
organs from the runners that generate and feed the tubers, I could readily 
prevent the formation of them. Efforts were soon made by every plant to 
generate runners and tubers, but these were destroyed as soon as they 
became perceptible. An increased luxuriance of growth now became 
visible in every plant, numerous blossoms were emitted, and every 
blossom afforded fruit.’ 
“ Secondly, a suggestion as to what might be done towards widening the 
power of climatic adaptation of the cultivated Potato. There are cer¬ 
tainly six distinct species of tuber-yielding Solanum, each with its own 
distinctive climatic peculiarities. I went to Messrs. Sutton’s trial grounds 
specially to investigate this point, and came away fully satisfied that all 
the numerous varieties in cultivation had originated from S. tuberosum, 
as here defined. As far as climate is concerned, it cannot be doubted that 
Solanum Maglia (or the Darwin Potato as we might suitably christen it in 
English) -would he better fitted to succeed in England and Ireland than 
S. tuberosum, a plant of a comparatively dry climate. We have indis¬ 
putable testimony that S. Maglia and S. Commersoni yield readily an 
abundant supply of eatable Potatoes. What I should suggest is, that 
these should be brought into the economic arena, and thoroughly tested 
as regards their economic value, both as distinct types and when hybri¬ 
dised with the innumerable tuberosum forms.” 
A RAMBLE IN DERBYSHIRE. 
Imagination cannot form a view of more luxuriant rural beauty 
than that seen as the visitor wanders by tbe banks of the river Derwent 
from Cromford station, near Matlock, to the isolated village of Holloway, 
where amongst the hills industry is rife with spinning and weaving. 
Entering the village on the right w T e are at once struck with the residence 
of Wm. Walker, Esq., Lea Wood, a splendid piece of architecture in tbe 
old half-timbered style, erected about six years. It is approached by 
a straight wide drive through a fine dark oak gate with a commodious 
lodge, quite in harmony with the mansion. On each side of the drive 
is a broad band of turf, having a raised bank on the left of fine orna¬ 
mental and flowering shrubs, hiding the kitchen garden, vineries, and 
plant houses. A broad walk surrounds the mansion, looking down on 
one side to a very pretty flower garden, with the valley of the Derwent 
below, and the fine woods of Alderwasley in the distance. The spring 
bedding just fading displayed fine taste in the blending of soft colours— 
a centre bed composed of Wallflower, Arabis albida, Cheiranthus, Forget- 
me-not, white Daisy, with Royal Standard and Due Van Thol Tulips 
intermixed was a lovely combination. On another side of the mansion 
the grounds rise to some extent with terraces, adjoining the estate of 
Miss Florence Nightingale, a well-known heroine. A pretty slope on 
this side of Berberis pegged down was very effective, with the con¬ 
servatory gay with Roses fine, &c., in a snug corner, completed a very 
harmonious and compact dressed garden. Grapes were in excellent 
condition, with fine crops of Muscats, the plant houses being well stocked 
with good plants in excellent condition. A very fine specimen of 
Adiantum farleyense grown close to the glass was telling. The whole 
keeping reflects great credit on the able and intelligent gardener, Mr. 
Alfred Anderson. 
Passing a little higher on the opposite side of the road are 3een the 
glass houses of a gentleman who evidently is a great lover and enthu¬ 
siastic grower of fine plants. The houses abound with good things in 
fine health, telling what R. Wildgoose. Esq., enjoys, and his clever plant 
grower, Mr. C. Yates, can produce for so worthy a master. The old 
Sparmannia africana was very striking and pretty in the conservatory, 
with other good plants in large numbers. Houses are being built, and 
there is great promise of this becoming a fine plant-growing place. Mr. 
