JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 20, 1881. ] 
49 
flora carminea, and Petunia hybrida grandiflora robusta nana 
flore-pleno. If nurserymen go on in this way any descriptions of 
such plants will be superfluous, for the names can be lengthened in 
proportion to the real or imaginary distinctive qualities.” 
- From a very interesting pamphlet by Mr. Walter Hill on 
the Queensland timber we extract the subjoined note concerning 
Araucaria Bidwilli, the Bunya Bunya Pine—“ A noble tree 
inhabiting the scrubs in the district between Brisbane and the 
Burnett Rivers. In the 20th parallel it grows thickly over a 
portion of country in extent about thirty miles long and by twelve 
broad. The wood is not only very strong and good, but it is full 
of beautiful veins and capable of being polished and worked with 
the greatest facility. The cones produced on the extreme upper 
branches, with their apex downwards, are large, measuring 9 to 
12 inches in length and 10 inches in diameter. On coming to 
maturity they readily shed their seeds, which are 2 to inches 
long by 1 inch broad, sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after 
that resemble roasted Chestnuts in taste. In accordance with 
regulations issued by the Government the tree is not allowed to 
be cut down by those who are licensed to fell timber on the 
Crown lands, the fruit being used as food by the aborigines. The 
trees produce some cones every year, but the principal harvest 
happens only every three years, when the blacks assemble from 
all quarters to feast on it. The food seems to have a fattening 
effect upon them, and they eat large quantities of it, after roasting 
it at a fire. Contrary to their usual habits they sometimes store 
up the Bunya nuts, hiding them in a water hole for a month or 
two. Here they germinate, and become offensive in taste to a 
white man’s palate, but are considered by the blacks to have then 
acquired an improved flavour. The taste of the Bunya when 
fresh has been described as something between a Chestnut and 
a raw Potato.” 
- Mr. A. Woeikof of St. Petersburg writes to Nature — 
“ I have found large varieties op Bamboo cultivated on a 
great scale in Northern Nippon, where the winter temperature 
is certainly much colder than in England. The northernmost 
place where I found them was the vicinity of Yokobori, about 
39° 12' N., at a small distance (twenty-five miles) from the west 
coast. The nearest place to the south where observations were 
made is Niigata, 37’ 55', and to the north Hakodate, 11° 40'. 
The coldest month has a temperature respectively of 33° 0 and 
27° - 3 F. Yusawa being situated about 450 feet high, and in the 
interior, the coldest month there must have not over 30°, and a 
heavy snowfall is the rule every winter. Again, on descending 
the dividing ridge between Jukussina and Yonesawa, I first found 
large Bamboo plantations near the last place, about 1000 feet 
above sea level, and 37° 55' N. Between here and Niigata the 
temperature of the coldest month must differ by about 3°, the 
latter place being situated near the sea. This gives about 30° F. 
for Yonesawa, or about the same as at Yusawa. Now in Great 
Britain, the mountainous districts excepted, the mean tempera¬ 
ture of the coldest month is nowhere lower than 3G°.” 
- From the same source we learn that last year Count 
d’Amigo established A Tea plantation upon his estates, 
situated near Messina. The Tea plant is said to thrive per¬ 
fectly well there, and its leaves are said to be in no wise in¬ 
ferior to those of the Chinese plant. In order to dry them in 
a rational manner, and to prepare them for export as well as for 
home consumption, a Chinese expert is to become the manager 
of the Messina plantations. 
- Relative to Vine Culture in Algeria “ J. T.” sends 
us the following :—“ Some Yine-growers, whose vineyards in the 
south of France the phylloxera had destroyed, carried their 
experience to the not dissimilar climate of the South Mediter¬ 
ranean shore, and they have been abundantly rewarded. The 
present acreage devoted to vineyards is 49,385, of which 5,G30 
acres were planted in 1879, all but 106 acres being the work of 
the French settlers. The surprise is, not that the natives have 
done so little, but that the Arabs, to whom wine is prohibited by 
the Koran, should have overcome their scruples so far as to devote 
103 acres to the cultivation of the Grape. The wine produced in 
the colony increased from 7,255,204 gallons in 1878 to 7,G12,0C0 
gallons in 1879 ; and there is reason to believe that Algerian 
wines will soon take a good place in the French markets. Those 
produced in the romantic province of Constantine are said to 
resemble the Spanish wines, which are now so largely carried 
across the Pyrenees for blending with and strengthening the 
lighter wines of France.” 
ASHLEAVED KIDNEY POTATOES. 
This Potato is second to none when well grown. Some five 
and twenty years ago I lived in County Down, near a farm on 
which it was extensively and successfully grown. Henry Har¬ 
rison, Esq., owner and occupier of the farm, finding that this 
Potato gave him a more profitable return than any other crop, it 
was by him cultivated with great care and attention. The farm 
of Mr. Harrison rests on and overlooks the Bay of Belfast. It 
was near a good market for early produce. Buyers from Glasgow 
and a daily boat to that city from Belfast helped the market of 
the Irish town very much. One year Mr. Harrison himself went 
to market with the first digging of his early Ashleaved Potatoes, 
weighing 20 cwt., which were sold on entering the market for £40 
to a Glasgow merchant. Mr. Harrison telegraphed to his land 
steward for a second ton to be dug and sent the same day to the 
Glasgow boat; and that night Mr. H. returned from market with 
£80 for 2 tons of his early Potatoes. 
On this farm all the leaves of forest trees were gathered to mix 
with the manure for the Potatoes, as it is well known that decayed 
leaves containing a large proportion of potash are excellent food 
for Potatoes. In digging up the crop the largest Potatoes were 
placed in sacks for market, the second-sized tubers were kept for 
seed, and the small ones (the chats) were carefully gathered and 
preserved. The seed tubers were kept out of doors and well 
greened. In autumn the centre eye in every set became a bud 
about the size of a Kidney Bean. Great care was taken in 
handling the sets not to break off a single bud, as the Ashleaf 
Kidney does not readily produce a second bud. Before frosts 
came the seed Potatoes were carefully spread on the floors of a 
very extensive shed just to touch one another, one Potato deep. 
In this state they were covered with dry decayed leaves, and lay 
there all the winter. I called once to see them in their winter 
quarters about the end of February. A few of the most pro¬ 
minent eyes were appearing through the covering of leaves like 
forced Asparagus, and I found some white roots creeping below. 
The land in which they were to be planted was deeply ploughed, 
well wintered and manured. The manager of the farm was in 
no hurry about planting. He waited till fine weather had warmed 
the soil slightly. When the planting time came the sets were 
handled as gently as if they had been eggs, and carried in hand- 
baskets from the shed to the field. The Potatoes so carefully pre¬ 
pared and planted grew vigorously, yielded large crops, which 
realised the highest prices at the Belfast market. The Potatoes 
were hurried into the market while prices were high. If there were 
more of the second size of Potatoes than were wanted for seed 
for another year they were sold as seed Potatoes in the autumn. 
The chats, as I have said, were carefully gathered and kept, and at 
the proper time planted in land not specially enriched to produce 
seed Potatoes of the medium size. 
Those who grow kidney Potatoes should procure their seed in 
autumn and preserve them carefully through the winter, and never 
allow an eye to be rubbed off. What gaps in rows and what 
disappointments in crops arise from seed bought at seed shops in 
spring ! In planting all Potatoes it should be remembered that 
the manure does more good above the seed than below it. The 
roots come from the uprising shoots and burrow amongst the 
manure.—A. Pettigrew. 
THE ROSARIAN’S YEAR BOOK FOR 1881. 
There are two Rose annuals which many rosarians read with 
much pleasure and profit—the one sent out by Mr. Wm. Paul, the 
other the modest little volume edited by the Rev. H. H. D'Ombrain. 
“ The Rosarian’s Year Book ” (Bemrose & Sons), improves at each 
