JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 23, 1882. ] 
241 
increase the crops, and also enhance the quality. On poor soil a 
good soaking of cow urine will produce wonderful results. In all 
cases the manure should be as evenly distributed through the soil as 
possible. Chemicals should he sprinkled over the surface, solid ma¬ 
nures be dug in, and ui-ine applied some weeks before planting time. 
Next in importance to preparing the soil is preparing the sets. 
Seed Potatoes should whenever possible be spread in an airy shed 
thinly. Under such conditions they will not readily sprout. Sprout¬ 
ing weakens, and should be guarded against if possible. Where 
they have sprouted badly it often happens that when planted many 
of them fail to grow again satisfactorily. It is useless attempt¬ 
ing to save sprouts an inch long. Numbers are sure to be injured, 
and when the points are bruised they are very much in the same 
condition as Potatoes are that have been through the soil and become 
frozen. When, therefore, the sprouts are any considerable length it 
is better to rub them off, cut the tubers into sets, plant these thickly 
on an inch of soil in shallow boxes, just cover the tubers with fine 
soil, put them under greenhouse stages or similar positions, and keep 
them slightly damp till they grow. They are then in first-rate con¬ 
dition for planting on any pulverised soil. 
When Potatoes are cut—and for ordinary crops they always should 
be—only one good eye should be left. Most growers leave two or 
more. Why, nobod v knows, for nobody that ever instituted a proper 
comparison between having one plant, either of Potatoes, Cabbages, 
or Apple trees, and single plants, ever tried patches again. Not only 
should only one eye be left, but should that eye produce half a dozen 
stems they should be thinned out. The full-sized Potatoes are to be 
found, and found only, at the base of full-sized stems; the small 
Potatoes are to be found, and found only, at the base of undersized 
stems. It is an easy matter having a lot of chats, and equally easy 
having none. Between the weight of Potatoes from a crowded 
Potato plot and one when ample room is given and only strong stems 
retained there is little difference, only in the one case human food is 
the result, in the other food for pigs. We have tried both plans, and 
speak with a decision to which we are entitled. 
Only when there is a danger of the sets decaying—as very early 
ones sometimes do when very wet cold weather ensues after plant¬ 
ing—should whole Potatoes be used. If cutting be resorted to at 
all then cut to sets of one eye ; if not to be cut for the reason above, 
do not encourage a crowd of shoots. If the soil is well prepared the 
stems will branch above ground, and the whole strength will be 
thrown into the few tubers that form, causing them to swell rapidly, 
thus ensuring earliness; to grow large, thus ensuring a heavy 
crop with no waste. The earliest crop in large numbers of gardens 
is later than it need be and more than half wasted, simply because 
gardeners will persist in growing so many stems all in a bunch. 
Try Cauliflowers that way. 
Here it is foolish planting even the earliest Potatoes in the open 
air before April. If the season is cold they linger so long in coming 
up that their strength is dissipated, and thus they come in late. If 
it is warm they come up only to be cut down by frost in May. 
"When planted not before April they generally succeed. Our main 
crop never does better than when placed out late in April. These 
dates suit us best, but may not be best for all districts. 
Of more importance than the date of planting is the manner, and 
the state of the soil. We plant with the fork, breaking every clod, 
and throwing out every stone in the process. The tubers are covered 
with fine dry soil 4 inches deep. To each set about a handful of 
rich manure is given. This the fibres take to, and the plant in con¬ 
sequence begins life with vigour. The rest of the manure is diffused 
through the body of the soil. Dwarf varieties are allowed 2 feet 
between the rows, and 18 inches between the plants in the row. 
Such kinds as Magnum Bonum have 4 feet between the rows, and 
2 feet between the plants in the row; this only in well-manured 
soil. Magnum Bonum planted in this way last year—a bad one 
here—gave us 16 tons to the acre, and no chats; as in the matter of 
dates, we give the distances that suit us. 
Need more be said? Surely hoeing and earthing-up, lifting, and 
storing need no remarks ; and but for the fact that everybody who 
sees our crop smarvels at them and asks for some cultural particulars, 
as indicated above, the subject would not have been treated so fully. 
—Single-handed. 
HELLEBORUS HYBRIDUS var. COMMISSIONER 
BENARY. 
Of late years the “dull-flowered Hellebores” have been elevated 
to a position in our gardens which they never had the honour of 
occupying before. All are fine in leafage, and would be well 
worth culture as hardy foliage plants even if no flowers were 
produced ; but then there remains the fact that the flowers of 
many kinds are also most attractive, and especially valuable as 
coming in naturally at a season when hardy blossoms are, if not 
entirely absent, few and far between. The different varieties of 
H. niger, or Christmas Rose, are now quite popular as pot plants) 
and in many good gardens they are specially cultivated in quan¬ 
tity, their snow-white flowers being esteemed alike for their beauty 
and long endurance after they are cut from the plant. A garden 
without Hellebores would be so much the poorer in winter interest, 
and in such a garden one might fully expect to find many other 
useful plants absent and not be disappointed. The late Miss Hope 
of Wardie Lodge, Edinburgh, made especial favourites of all the 
finer kinds, which she grew well and in quantity ; and only a few 
days ago I had fresh flowers from a shady wood on the Hill cf 
Howth nigh to the Bay of Dublin, fresh and pure as they could 
be in January, and, as the donor said, their purity reminded one 
of a snowdrift in March. Of the finer Hellebores are the follow¬ 
ing—H. niger, H. altifolius, H. guttatus, H. cyclophyllus, H. 
odorus, H. purpurascens, H. atro-rubens, H. colchicus, H. “ F. G. 
Heinemann.” H. orientals and its rosy variety Dr. Moore, H. olym- 
picus, and last, but by no means least worthy in point of beauty, 
H. Commissioner Benary, a solid shapely flower of ivory-like 
whiteness densely speckled with dark purple as shown in our 
accompanying illustration. 
M. Sauer of Berlin seems to have been one of the first of cul¬ 
tivators to take in hand the intercrossing of the Hellebores ; but 
judging from the sliding tendencies shown by many of the species, 
Dame Nature has also crossed them on her own account.—D. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
Report of Observations of Injurious Insects during the Year 1881. By 
Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.M.S., &c. Sonnenscbein & Co., Pater¬ 
noster Row. 1882. 
With the friendly aid of a circle of friends and correspondents 
Miss Ormerod has, for some years past, digested and published a 
variety of reports or notes that have been sent to her upon destruc¬ 
tive or disfiguring insects. As yet her labours have been confined to 
those species that interfere with the success of the cultivator of 
vegetables and fruit, or that injure our plantations; but we may 
hope eventually that she will extend her investigations to the many 
species which often disappoint the hopes of the flower-grower, both 
in houses and in the open air. We find now-a-days that information 
