JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
392 
[ May 19, 1881. 
securing variety, they are doing their beat to destroy it. 
Petals must be broadened, smoothed, narrowed, lengthened, 
shortened, till something as near the shape of a penny in the 
case of single flowers, or the half of a Turnip in the case of 
double flowers, is gained. We are treated to variety in colour, 
but as to form—the florists sigh because they have not yet 
been able to destroy it. And yet Nature is prodigal in her 
gifts even in this direction. The greatest charm of our wild 
flowers is their variety of form ; the greatest want in improved 
flowers is the want of diversity of form. Among all the 
productions of the florist where are to be found the like of the 
Orchids? And yet these are, almost every one of them, wild 
flowers. Purity of colouring, delicacy of colouring, wealth of 
colouring, wealth of form—these characterise the Orchids. 
Why cannot our florists learn something from such as these ? 
Even here, too, the florist has stepped in ; and although the 
“ improving " of form by means of raising seedlings is out of 
the question, he is attempting something by means of selection. 
The nearer the flowers of Odontoglossum Alexandra approach 
the circular form the more value is attached to them. The 
nearer flowers approach to an artificial model and become 
thereby more artificial, the more beautiful they are considered ! 
The sooner something better is substituted for this false taste 
the better. We have said false taste, but the fact is, it is bad 
taste, and w r e do not long for double Orchids. 
To-day we stood by a tiny stream in a sequestered spot and 
gazed on clumps of Buttercups a yard across, perfectly covered 
with gleaming golden flowers. To-day we w r aded through a 
bed of Wood Anemones more than an acre in extent, and 
we sat by a mossy bank begemmed with modest Primroses, 
experiencing something like what the first dwellers in Eden 
may be supposed to have felt when ushered into existence, 
endowed with power to drink in all the glad joy prepared for 
them, not the least of which must have been a profusion of 
wild flowers. On the table before us a few of these Buttercups, 
Anemones, Daisies, and Primroses are side by side with fine- 
laced Polyanthuses, garden Anemones, and garden Daisies, 
and we unhesitatingly say that the simple wild flowers are 
more lovely by far than even our favourite garden varieties. 
We would like to have them all, but we love the wild ones 
best. 
Hard by the bed of Anemones referred to is another equally 
large of the wild Hyacinth, which will not be in bloom fer 
some time yet ; but when it does bloom the effect must be 
glorious. We have strips of plantations round the little place 
here where we serve, and w 7 e would fain carpet them with the 
sweet denizens of the wild woods, and shall be glad of any in¬ 
structions whereby we may be enabled to succeed in establish¬ 
ing them. We think we shall have no difficulty in getting per¬ 
mission to dig up any number of Anemone roots and Hyacinth 
bulbs, and these we intend dibbling-in in clumps, say in 
October, in a shady plantation which has been kept free of 
grass by poultry hitherto, and will be now by the hoe. We 
intend to make trenches with bottoms puddled with clay—our 
soil is open below at the particular spot where we intend 
doing this—and filled with loam for growing dumps of Butter¬ 
cups, the roots of which in their native spots are always 
bathed in water. Has anyone ever tried to cultivate these 
flowers, and if so will they please state by what means they 
succeeded ? 
I see that “ Wyld Savage ” and others are taking up the 
matter. I think what they have said must have met responses 
in every breast where a love of wild flowers dwells. It is 
time, and more than time, that our native Flora received the 
attention it deserves. Let us all help on the good work.— 
Single-handed. 
“Sweet Nancy.” —Previous to the year 1844 there had 
been from “ time immemorial ” a kind of flower market associ¬ 
ated with a swarm of humble florists and tiny nursery gardens 
in the Bethnal Green portion of the Cambridge Heath Road. 
“Sweet Nancy” was always there in the spring time, and her 
companions were Sweet William, Narcissus, Ragged Robin, and 
other gay sparks. Everybody knows Sweet Nan by other names, 
such as London Pride, Saxifraga umbrosa, &c., &c. There is a 
lot of it in the front gardens of smallish houses in the suburbs of 
Manchester, where I have heard it called Sweet Nancy, but with 
different vowel sounds to those that were used in Bethnal Green. 
—Shirley Hibberd. 
[Saxifraga umbrosa, or London Pride, is called None-so-Pretty, 
Pretty Nancy, and Sweet Nancy in different localities.—E d.] 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON POTATOES. 
Potato cultivators throughout the country will now be watch¬ 
ing their crops eagerly to try and form an idea of their prospects 
for 1881. I have never seen the Potatoes about here look better at 
this time of year than they are now ; late varieties are growing 
strongly, and earlier kinds are very robust. 
In many instances it is the common practice to plant the 
Potato crop and allow it to take its chance without any attention 
whatever until the tubers are ready for digging. Sometimes 
earthing-up is done early, other times late, and often not at all. 
The plants grow under all these conditions, but the improvement 
of the crop must be very uncertain. Potatoes are often unavoid¬ 
ably planted in heavy soil ; this may be in good working con¬ 
dition at the time they are planted, but after much rain it 
becomes close and hard on the surface. Soil of the kind requires 
to be stirred frequently from the time the growths are seen above 
ground until the crop is well advanced. An ordinary Dutch hoe 
is little good. A steel fork should be used, or an implement the 
shape of a drag hoe, but with three or four prongs, is also useful 
for loosening stiff surfaces ; it is worked in the same fashion as 
the drag hoe, and is excellent amongst Potatoes. I employ it 
amongst all ours as soon as w T e can see the plants and again before 
they are earthed up. Where the ground was not properly manured 
before the tubers were planted the deficiency should be made good 
before earthing up. A little potash will be found the best of all 
manures for Potatoes, failing this a mixture of salt and soot will 
do much good. I place a handful round each plant, covering a 
strip about 8 inches or 10 inches wide all round the plant; 
this is done just before earthing up, and the soil then covers the 
dressing. Potatoes treated in this way will always be very free 
from worms, and these are very troublesome and destructive in 
some soils. 
The object of earthing up Potatoes is at all times to cover the 
surface tubers and prevent them becoming green. Some kinds 
form their roots deeper than others. Schoolmaster is one of the 
surface-rooting varieties, and kinds like this may sometimes require 
to be earthed up twice. When this is necessary the first earthing 
may be done when the stems are 8 or 10 inches high, and again 
before the soil between the rows is covered by the stems and 
leaves. In heavy soils this second earthing does much good, as 
Potatoes are just as much benefited by stirring the soil amongst 
them as other crops. At the present time our late Potatoes, now 
only a few inches high, are being subjected to surface cultivation, 
as the soil is being loosened between them ; and in another ten 
days or so they will have their first earthing-up, and in another 
fortnight or so after that they will be finally earthed. 
To secure large tubers some growers reduce all the stems from 
each set to two, but this very often reduces the number of the 
tubers too ; and although too much top growth is an evil, I think 
four stems from each set give the best crop. But strong stems 
are not all that is wanted to produce a good crop : sometimes 
those with the greatest amount of top growth have the fewest 
tubers. Magnum Bonum is one of the kinds which makes enor¬ 
mous haulm ; but I cannot understand the advantage of it, as the 
crop, although good and free from disease, is not heavier than that 
of others with a few short stems. Apart from heavy growth being 
no advantage it may even be injurious, as it is generally under¬ 
stood that the roots are not so fine when excluded from the air 
as those more exposed. I am thinking about restricting the top 
growth of some of our Potatoes this year by taking the points out 
of the stems when they have grown a reasonable height. I have 
done this before now in a small way with no deterioration of the 
crop, and I think it might be generally applied to some varieties. 
More air will be admitted to the soil, and the benefit will be great 
where the plan of planting winter greens between the Potatoes 
is carried out. I have heard cultivators say their Potato stems 
were taller than themselves, but this did not prove much ; and 
probably if the growth had been restricted to 2 feet or so in a few 
rows they might have been astonished to find that these surpassed 
the giants in size, number, and quality of the tuber. 
If Potatoes will bear restricting generally there would be great 
gain by it, as many kinds might be grown much closer than they 
are if the top growth had not to be taken into consideration. 
This would be an interesting experiment for many to try : Sup¬ 
posing a number of rows of each kind are growing together, stop 
the stems of one row when they are 12 inches high or so, and 
allow the others to grow in the old way. Judging from my expe- 
