September 20, 1883 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
245 
“ The Potato was then cultivated in small quantities in 
the gardens of gentlemen, hut it was not thought to afford 
wholesome nutriment, and was supposed by many to possess 
deleterious qualities. 
“ The prejudices of all parties, however, disappeared so 
rapidly, that within ten years the Potato had almost wholly 
driven the Cabbage from the garden of the cottagers.” 
Mortimer’s “ Whole Art of Husbandry ” was published in 
1707, and a sixth edition in 1761, and in these the Potato 
is dismissed after a brief notice of ten lines, about half of 
which are occupied with these observations :—“ The root is 
very near the nature of the Jerusalem Artichoke, but not so 
good or wholesome. These are planted either of roots or 
seeds, and may probably be propagated in great quantities, 
and prove good food for swine !” 
One reason certainly that the plant remained so long in 
disrepute was the defective mode of its culture. This and 
ignorance of the proper mode of cooking the tubers would 
make them certainly anything but a tempting article of food. 
The following anecdote illustrates this : —“A person who had 
been invited to taste the first Potato planted in his own 
county of Forfar, N.B., about the year 1760, related that the 
roots had been merely heated, and that they adhered to the 
teeth like glue, while their flavour was far from agreeable. 
The food was thus about to be condemned, when the acci¬ 
dental arrival of a gentleman who had tasted a Potato in 
Lancashire caused the rejected roots to be remanded back to 
the hot turf ashes till they became as dainty as they had 
before been nauseous.” 
According to the old statistical account of Scotland 
Potatoes were first cultivated in the field there in the year 
1739 in the county of Stirling, and Dr. Walker assures us 
that they were not known in the Highlands and Isles till 
1743. It is stated in the General Report of Scotland (vol. ii., 
p. 3) as a well-ascertained fact that in the years 1725-6 the 
few Potato plants then existing in gardens about Edinburgh 
were left in the same spot of ground from year to year as 
recommended by Evelyn ; a few tubers were perhaps removed 
for use in the autumn, and the parent plants well covered 
with litter to save them from the winter’s frost. Notwith¬ 
standing the success that after this period attended the 
culture of the Potato among the cottagers, its progress among 
the higher classes in Scotland was retarded by the opinions 
of different writers on agricultural subjects already men¬ 
tioned, and also, what is not a little singular, a mistaken 
zeal in religious matters made some of the Scotch folks 
hostile to the innovation. “Potatoes,” said they, “are not 
mentioned in the Bible !” and this was deemed a quite 
sufficient reason for rejecting them. Famine at last gave the 
great impulse to the cultivation of this root, and during the 
latter part of the eighteenth century its excellent qualities 
became generally understood.” 
Such is the early history of the Potato—the most important 
of all root crops, and it is most gratifying to observe that the 
efforts that have been made in raising new varieties have 
been markedly successful. The degenerating theory is 
vanishing, and varieties are now raised that are better able 
to resist the attacks of the disease than at any time during 
the past thirty-five years. 
SHOW AND FANCY DAHLIAS AT THE NATIONAL 
DAHLIA SHOW. 
With a view to ascertain what*are considered by the best growers 
to be the most reliable Show and Fancy Dahlias for exhibition 
purposes, I took down, with the kind assistance of a friend, the names 
of all the double flowers shown at the recent Exhibition of the National 
Dahlia Society. After tabulating the results thus obtained I found 
that about 700 Show and 300 Fancy Dahlias had been altogether 
exhibited, the former in 163 and the latter in seventy varieties. 
Taking first the leading Show Dahlias, it will appear from the 
following list how many times out of a possible forty-two they were 
to be seen in the Exhibition stands. And to show how satisfactory, 
so far as they go, are the figures which precede the different names, it 
may be mentioned that although my friend and I wrote down the 
names in alternate boxes throughout the Exhibition, yet we found on 
comparing results that in nearly every case we had enhred each 
variety in our note books either the same or a very similar Lumber of 
times :— 
No. of times 
shown. 
Name. 
When sent S 
out. 
Raiser’s 
Name. 
Colour. 
21 
Hon. Mrs. P. Wyudham 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
yellow and purple 
19 
Henry Walton. 
1873 
Keynes . 
yellow and scarlet 
18 
James Cocker . 
1871 
Keynes . 
purple 
18 
James Vick . 
1881 
Keynes <fc Co. 
maroon 
16 
Goldfinder. 
1881 
Fellowes. 
yellow and red 
16 
Prince Bismarck. 
1879 
Fellowes. 
puce 
15 
Joseph Ashby . 
1879 
Turner . 
orange 
15 
William Rawlings . 
1881 
Rawlings ... 
purple 
14 
Alexander Cramond ... 
1872 
Keynes . 
maroon 
14 
Ethel Britten . 
1880 
Keynes A Co. 
white and purple 
13 
Shirley Hibberd . 
1881 
Rawlings ... 
crimson 
12 
John W. Lord . 
1877 
Keynes . 
buff 
12 
Mi'6. Harris . 
1873 
Harris. 
white and lilac 
12 
Vice-President. 
Keynes . 
orange 
11 
John N. Keynes . 
1871 
Keynes . 
yellow 
10 
Flag of Truce . 
1868 
Wheeler . 
white and lilac 
10 
John Bennett . 
1875 
Rawlings ... 
yellow and scarlet 
10 
Julia Wyatt. 
Keynes . 
white 
10 
Royal Queen 
Eckford . 
cream and crimson 
9 
George Smith . 
1879 
Rawlings ... 
magenta 
9 
Mrs. Dodds . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
white and lilac 
9 
Prince of Denmaik. 
1881 
Fellowes. 
maroon it crimson 
8 
Emily Edwards . 
1879 
Keynes . 
white 
8 
Pioneer . 
1882 
Fellowes. 
black 
8 
Walter H. Williams ... 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
scarlet 
7 
George Rawlings. 
1882 
Rawlings .. 
maroon 
7 
Annie Neville . 
Keynes . 
white 
7 
Clara . 
1879 
Rawlings ... 
peach 
7 
Duke of Connaught. 
1879 
Keynes . 
crimson 
7 
Mrs. Shirley Hibberd .. 
1877 
Rawlings ... 
cream and pink 
7 
Ovid . 
1874 
Turner. 
purple 
7 
Rev. .T. Goodday . 
1879 
Rawlings ... 
maroon <fc purple 
6 
Burgundy . 
1877 
Turner. 
puce and purple 
6 
Criterion . 
Edwards. 
rose 
6 
John Wyatt. 
1877 
Keynes . 
scarlet 
6 
Joseph Green . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
crimson 
6 
Lord Chelmsford. 
1880 
Keynes & Co. 
maroon 
6 
Thomas Goodwin . 
Goodwin. 
maroon 
5 
George Dickson . 
1882 
Keynes it Co. 
chestnut 
5 
Joseph B. Service . 
1882 
Keynes & Co. 
yellow 
5 
Artiste . 
1877 
Fellowes. 
yellow it carmine 
.5 
Champion Rollo . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
orange 
5 
Constancy . 
1878 
Harris . 
yellow and lake 
5 
H. W. Ward. 
1881 
Keynes it Co. 
Turner. 
yellow <fc crimson 
5 
John Standish. 
crimson 
5 
Modesty. 
1881 
Fellowes. 
blush 
5 
Mr. Harris. 
1881 
Rawlings ... 
scarlet 
5 
Revival. 
1881 
Fellowes. 
crimson 
5 
Rosy Morn . 
- 9 - 
1879 
Keynes . 
rose 
Turning now to the Fancy Dahlias and treating them in the same 
way as the “ Shows,” the principal varieties come out as follows. It 
should, however, be stated that in this case the greatest number of 
times which any one variety could be exhibited was twenty-one :— 
No. of times 
show r n. 
Name 
When sent 
out. 
Raiser’s 
Name. 
Colour. 
16 
Gaiety . 
1879 
Keynes . 
yellow,red,it white 
15 
Mrs. Saunders . 
— 
Turner. 
yellow and white 
14 
George Barnes. 
1878 
Keynes . 
lilac and crimson 
12 
John Forbes. 
1882 
Keynes & Co. 
fawn and maroon 
11 
Fanny Sturt. 
Pope. 
red and white 
11 
Oracle . 
1877 
Fellowes. 
yellow & crimson 
11 
Henry Glasscock. 
1875 
Keynes . 
buff and crimson 
10 
Jessie McIntosh . 
1880 
Keynes & Co. 
red and white 
10 
Miss Browning. 
1880 
Keynes & Co. 
yellow and white 
10 
Mrs. N. Halls . 
1881 
Rawlings. 
scarlet and white 
9 
Rev. J. B. M. Carnm ... 
Keynes . 
yellow and red 
8 
Professor Fawcett . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
lilac and brown 
7 
Chorister . 
1881 
Keyne3 & Co. 
fawn and crimson 
7 
Egyptian Prince . 
Keynes . 
orange and red 
7 
Hercules . 
1877 
Keynes . 
yellow it crimson 
6 
Flora Wyatt. 
Keynes . 
orange and red 
6 
Parrott . 
1873 
Keynes . 
yellow & crimson 
5 
Annie Pritchard . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
white and lilac 
5 
Florence Stark. 
1879 
Keynes . 
white and purple 
5 
Hugh Austin . 
1881 
Keynes & Co. 
Keynes . 
orange and red 
5 
Miss Lilly Large. 
1876 
yellow <fc crimson 
