JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
?! 
April 20, 1882. ] 
319 
fifty years past. Court Pendu PkU and Reinette de Canada must 
remain. The Golden Reinette in my estimation is one of the most 
valuable Apples I ever met with for our locality ; healthy, a free 
grower, good bearer, good keeper, of the best quality, it can 
hold its own everywhere. I trust we shall hear more notes about 
Apples from other districts.— North York. 
ZYGOPETALUM CLAYT. 
A FEW weeks since one of the most beautiful Orchids flowering 
in Mr. B. S. Williams’s nursery at Holloway was a handsome speci¬ 
men of the hybrid Zygopetalum Clayi, the finest example of this 
distinct and attractive form which we have seen. The hybrid 
was raised by Colonel Clay of Birkenhead five or six years ago, 
and was the result of a cross between Z. crinitum and Z. maxil- 
lare, partaking of the characters of both parents, yet combined in 
such a manner that it is quite distinct from either. It was first 
shown by the raiser at Manchester, April 27th, 1877, when it was 
certificated, and a similar honour was accorded for it at the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Exhibition at Kensington on May 2nd of 
that year, when a plant was shown by Mr. B. S. Williams. A 
specimen was also sent from Holloway to the recent Spring Show 
of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent’s Park, anl for the third 
time in this country it was honoured with a certificate. This is a 
sufficient indication of the plant’s value, for such general appre¬ 
ciation is accorded to few. 
One excellent quality distinguishing this hybrid is its free yet 
compact growth as shown in the woodcut (fig. 64), which faith¬ 
fully represents the Holloway specimen. The flowers, one of which 
is shown slightly reduced in the smaller cut, are large with broad 
purplish brown sepals and petals, and a fine broad circular 
lip blotched and spotted with rich purplish blue. Some of 
the racemes bear five or six flowers. The specimen figured had 
over thirty handsome blooms, and when in such condition the 
plant cannot be surpassed in beauty, at least in the genus Zygo¬ 
petalum.—L. C. 
THE CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO. 
It must be supposed that “ W. J. M.” agrees with what was 
said at page 240, when he is compelled to so misconstrue the lan¬ 
guage used as to make it mean exactly the opposite it really does. 
If he will take the trouble to look again at the paper he ventures 
to criticise he will see that, so far from advising placing the 
under soil uppermost, as his garbled quotations would seem to 
Fig. 64 .—Zygopetalum clati. 
indicate, great care is taken to keep it down until it is made into 
good soil, and that even then it is only sparingly brought up, and 
then liberally mixed with manure. The experiment at Glasnevin, 
where the experimenters showed decisively “how not to do it,” 
seems to have been before your correspondent’s mental vision 
when he expressed himself to the effect that he would leave such 
a subsoil alone. When it is considered that 2 feet of soil is certain 
to produce better results than 9 inches, especially when the sub¬ 
soil is as close as asphalte, and that, by the process described, 
such may be made so, the leaving-alone policy will not appear a 
very enlightened one. When the work of centuries of worms, 
frosts, vegetable deposits, and partial cultivation can be artificially 
multiplied so easily and be so rapidly repaid, it is surely justifi¬ 
able, and those who doubt the possibility of converting the subsoil 
have only to try it in the way recommended to make sure of 
succeeding. Leave it alone ! No ; we have reaped the fruit of 
our improvements too speedily and abundantly to take that 
advice. Even breaking it up and leaving it where it is, secures 
results worth all the trouble, and more. 
We said “ it is an easy matter having chats, and as easy having 
none,” and pointed how to produce or be without them. This 
your correspondent converts into “having a few large tubers.” 
We have never advocated the production of a “ few large tubers,” 
but have often shown how to have a full crop with no chats. 
Raising chats when “full-sized tubers” (that is the expression 
used) might be had, is what we have condemned ; and we hope 
to be’numbered among the “thousands” who desire moderate¬ 
sized tubers. 
“ W. J. M.” wishes to know whether the urine is taken just as 
it comes from the cowhouse. Yes ; but it is, when possible, 
soaked into the ground before planting time, and not given to the 
growing crop. The “chemicals ” referred to mean any chemical 
manure that may be used. 
We hope no one supposed that advice was given to the effect 
that Potatoes should be put where they will be frozen to prevent 
them sprouting. It is only when the weather is mild that Potatoes 
sprout, not when frosty. 
Your correspondent does not think there is any place in the 
British Isles where it is foolish to plant before April. I envy him. 
Six times in seven years our earliest Potatoes, planted in April, 
have been cut down by frost, or would have been but for pro¬ 
tection, in May. Would it not have been foolish to have secured 
the cutting-down by frost of the whole crop by planting before 
April ?— Single-handed. 
The Gladiolus.—Failure and Success. —As a lover of the 
Gladiolus, and one who has frequently through the pages of the 
Journal recommended its extended culture, I regret the tendency of 
the observations of “ A Northern Amateur ” should be to dis¬ 
courage the growth of what he admits is to him still a fascinating 
and favourite flower. I have pointed out in your columns how I 
have attained fair success in its culture—how I have doubled, nay, 
