468 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ November 24. 1881. 
from an extremely well-grown specimen in one of the houses at 
The Firs, Lawrie Park, Sydenham. 
TOTATOES OLD AND NEW. 
I eememreu many years ago, when visiting the Warden’s 
garden at Winchester College with old Mr. Weaver — as good 
a man as he was a gardener—that I asked him what he con¬ 
sidered the best Potatoes. His reply was, “ With the exception 
of a few Ashleafs for very early use I grow only one kind, and 
that is the Dalmahoy ; it comes in as a second early, and it lasts 
throughout the season.” Twenty years have elapsed since then ; 
a Potato mania has set in ; Potatoes of all kinds and from all 
quarters have been introduced. America, its native home, has 
sent us a number of coarse and worthless varieties ; seedlings 
have been raised ; selected stools have been brought forward ; 
and yet in 1881 I am coming to the opinion Mr. Weaver ex¬ 
pressed in 1861, and am inclined to believe that for all purposes 
after the very early sorts no Potato can surpass the Dalmahoy. 
What, then, it may be asked, is the use of the Grand Inter¬ 
national Potato Show ? I say, None whatever to the general 
public. Hundreds of worthless varieties are brought forward. 
They are, perhaps, good-looking, well washed, and daintily set up, 
and some are even certificated ; yet, notwithstanding, nothing ha3 
been done to give us reliable information as to good Potatoes, how 
to keep them from disease, &c. 
Of course there is the question, What is a good Potato ? I have 
a neighbour who cannot endure a floury Potato ; a close waxy 
one is his idea of goodness. I have a young friend who delights 
in “pig’s Potatoes”— i.e., small close little things which we think 
only fit for the pigs, but in the ordinary mortals the idea of a 
good Potato is a medium-sized floury Potato with a good 
flavour ; besides this, for a garden it ought to be of moderate- 
sized haulm and a fair cropper. Now, if this is a correct view 
there are many that will fail to fulfil the conditions. One of the 
American Potatoes has found much favour with cottagers—Early 
Rose, but I have not yet tasted one that was eatable. It is a 
good cropper, and, ripening early, can be lifted before the disease 
attacks it; and as cottagers, as a rule, do not much care about 
quality in Potatoes, it is likely to be popirlar; but when taken 
to market its inferiority is soon seen. It will not fetch within a 
third as much as Regents or Victorias. Take, again, another 
American—Snowflake, a pretty-looking Potato, a fine cropper and 
floury ; but it lacks flavour. It is like flour in the mouth, and has 
as little flavour as it has, and therefore, although at one time I 
was inclined to grow it, I have given it up. Then there is Magnum 
Bonum, undoubtedly a wonderful cropper and of fair quality, 
but its haulm is far too coarse for a garden ; but where Potatoes 
are grown for market if, and probably still more Reading 
Abbey, will be a very useful variety, but neither the one or the 
other are garden varieties. Scotch Champion is a very valuable 
sort to some people if the stories we hear of the quantity sent to 
Ireland be correct; and for Paddy, who has no objection to a 
“ taty ” with a stone in the heart of it, it seems to have answered 
well. I have been unfortunate, for I have never tasted one that 
was worth anything, coarse and unpleasant to the taste. Lap- 
stone is, I believe, the very best of all Potatoes, and if imitation 
is the most flattering, it has been flattered enough. Heaps of 
tubers have been and are shown as Lapstones which have no 
relation whatever to it; but when true its flavour is unsurpassed, 
indeed I think unequalled, by any Potato in existence ; but it is 
too delicate, and is gradually dyiDg out. The only kidney variety 
that I know that at all approaches it is one called Lady Paget, 
and much grown in the neighbourhood of Sherborne, and of 
which Mr. Pragnell, the able gardener at Sherborne Castle, might 
be able to tell something. The Regent class is, perhaps, after all 
i the most valuable of the various classes of Potatoes. The old 
Scotch Regent, the Kent Regent, the Dunbar Regent, School¬ 
master, and Dalmahoy are all excellent Potatoes. The Regent 
is, however, very much subject to be attacked by disease ; but the 
Dalmahoy, which is somewhat earlier, and can therefore be lifted 
in good time, is not with me so subject to it, and gives a fair crop 
of good-sized Potatoes. 
I believe nothing is to be gained by having extra large Potatoes. 
A medium-sized one is, as a rule, far better eating. And is not the 
same true of all vegetables ? Does not great size produce coarse¬ 
ness ? Is not a medium-sized head of Celery better than those 
enormous heads which some delight to produce 1 Is a Broccoli 
that fills a soup plate as good as one about the size of a cricket 
ball ? or a Cucumber 2^ feet long equal to one of 12 inches ? 
And so I am always content with medium-sized Potatoes. 
There is another point on which I have altered my opinion. 
I used to think that it was a barbarous custom to cook Potatoes 
without their skins ; but I find that much depends on the cook’ 
They should be always steamed, not boiled ; and when carefully 
done they are better, I do believe, when peeled first. One gets rid 
of that eaitby taste which often spoils a Potato ; and, moreover, 
the cook is able to detect any disease and reject the tuber, 
whereas when boiied in their skins enough may be left to injure 
the Potato, although it may not be visible to an inexperienced 
eye. 
I have, I am perfectly aware, advanced some opinions in this 
short paper which are heretical and may be displeasing to 
many ; but at any rate they are honest, not formed upon any in¬ 
sufficient grounds. I have grown during the last twenty years 
nearly every Potato that has been brought out. 1 had no pre¬ 
judice against any one sort, or special favouritism for any other. 
1 maj r be quite wrong in my estimate of what a Potato ought to 
be, but there are matters incident to every subject on which one 
may write, and if it induces anyone to show that I am wrong 
no one will be more ready to admit it than—A n Old “ Tater.” 
GREEN DRACAENAS. 
As market plants these are often seen, but in large and in small 
establishments they seem to have been neglected since the 
coloured kinds have become so plentiful. We do not wish to say 
one word against the latter, but to point out that as table plants, 
surrounded by pure white cloth, flashing crystal, coloured decan¬ 
ters and glasses, to say nothing of fruits and flowers, they are very 
much less effective than the green varieties. Coloured or varie¬ 
gated plants, which are attractive enough among other plants, 
are seldom so good for such work as those with green foliage. We 
know here our coloured Dracaenas find small sale compared with 
the green kinds. Doubtless this is one reason for the popularity 
of Palms. 
There is one fact more to recommend green Dracmnas—namely, 
that they are even easier to propagate and grow than coloured 
kinds, and that, while the coloured kinds need stove heat, the 
green kinds thrive in greenhouse temperature, a fact that those 
who possess only a greenhouse should note. They also endure 
indoor ill-usage better because they are hardier. D. congesta and 
D. rubra are two of the hardiest, and perhaps the best. The former 
is more elegant than the latter, the latter more substantial than 
the former ; but both are handsome plants not easily surpassed 
for table decoration. Neither are new, as both are cheap.— 
A Decorator. 
PEARS FOR WALLS. 
“ John Bull ” does not need to make any excuse for the paper 
in question, whether he be a gardener or not. It is only by 
stating our experiences and our convictions, and having them dis¬ 
cussed, that we are ever likely to improve. What I wrote was to 
cause others to pause before committing themselves to a method 
of fruit-tree culture so wiuningly advocated by “John Bull.” 
As for the boldness displayed by me in writing after Mr. Taylor 
and Mr. Warner, my paper was in the hands of the Editor before 
their papers appeared. Morever, I did not and never have 
advocated the employment of Quince stocks in preference to Pear 
stocks. I know many places where Quince stocks have failed 
altogether, and others where they succeeded admirably. The 
question is not so mu< h one of stocks but of tops, and I still 
think—indeed, I am convinced—that in the majority of instances 
large trees are much less profitable than are smaller ones. I 
have lifted the roots of large hopelessly barren trees out of the 
subsoil, and have thus restored such trees to something like 
fertility, and I have helped to train the branches and roots of 
smaller trees that were kept small because of the lifting, and even 
pruning, that was necessary to keep the roots among the healthy 
soil, and I cast my vote in favour of such trees. I do not ad¬ 
vocate pigmies—that is one extreme, successful enough under 
certain circumstances ; and the giants referred to are the other 
extreme, also successful under certain circumstances, but in a 
majority of instances not successful at all. 
“John Bull ” says he has “ never been so foolish as to imply 
that bad weather does not affect Pears on walls.” Well, I have 
only his words for it, and the words he used were, that although 
climatical reasons made Peach houses necessary, the objection 
had no force as applied to Pears. He asks if I never heard of 
bad weather spoiling the Wheat and Potato crop, and, if so, if we 
would discontinue the culture of these crops. I do not see the 
analogy of the cases. We did not advocate discontinuing Pear- 
growing. Assuming that there are good, better, and best ways of 
growing them, my idea is that we should choose the best. But 
1 will not assume, as “ J. B.’s ” words entitle me to do, that he is 
