H 
492 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December 1, 1881. 
and wall trees. Fruit trees in vegetable gardens should never be 
allowed to become very tall; about as high as a man can reach is 
a suitable height. When taller than this they injure many of the 
vegetable crops by the shade they cast. When it is intended to 
keep the trees as dwarf as stated they should be encouraged out¬ 
wards, so as to become bushy and round. Shortening-back and 
thinning-out is the way to lay the foundation for this shape. 
Trees which are stopped at the same place year after year some¬ 
times form a large cluster of short spurs, and when this becomes 
so large as only to be a great mass of leaves and no fruit the best 
way is to cut the greater part of the spurs away, and by disbud¬ 
ding—not stopping—in summer they may be prevented becom¬ 
ing so close again for some years. 
When much wood is laid-in in summer care should be taken that 
the same thing is not done at nailing time in winter, as wall trees 
are as much benefited by plenty of sun and air about the fruit, 
leaves, and wood as standards are. Our Morello Cherry trees are 
the only trees we allow to retain young wood thickly. Plums, 
Pears, Peaches, and Apricots are treated on a different system, 
plenty of space being given them. Peach trees are the last to be 
pruned, as they are sometimes more liable to lose some of their 
young wood in winter than hardier fruits, and late pruning allows 
provision to be made for this. Other wall trees are nailed from 
now onwards as they are pruned. There is no great art in nailing, 
but there is a little taste wanted to distribute the branches pro¬ 
perly. The inexperienced at nailing, as in pruning, are always 
inclined to fix a number of branches very close to each other and 
leave much space between others. Keeping the branches in the 
right direction from base to top, being careful with the fruit 
buds, not putting in two or more nails where one would do, and 
keeping the branches all at equal distances from each other, are a 
few of the main objects to bear in mind.—A Kitchen Gardener. 
NOTES ON POTATOES. 
Perhaps I am dull, therefore cannot see the good results of 
Potato exhibits at local, general, or international shows. Admit¬ 
ting a good display of good “ tateis ” to be a great attraction, are 
they any the less mystifying to the uninitiated ? To the initiated 
they are, to say the least, unedifying, as the kinds securing 
premier awards are known to fail in the most important con¬ 
sideration—viz., use. Exhibition Potatoes must be shapely, but 
that they are good for food is not apparent. I confess to being 
unable to comprehend the object of Potato shows, unless it be 
that Potatoes have attained to such a degree of excellence as to 
have no practical value. In what, then, consists their value ? 
Happily show Potatoes have not received any mark of appreci¬ 
ation from the general public, whose requirements the grower 
finds is best met after the earlies are over by staple varieties. 
Taking Ashleaf in one of its many forms as representing early 
varieties in kidney, and Early Shaw or Early Oxford in round 
sorts ; Matchless Kidney (Huntingdon), and Fortyfold of second 
early ; Don, Rock, and Regent of late varieties, the new sorts 
have little value. The Ashleaf, Fortyfold, and Don date back 
more than fifty years, and though Champion be new it can only 
be classed as a form of Rock, which with Regent and Skerry 
Blue have been with us many years, and are still popular. The 
new sorts make little headway against the old favourites. Why 1 
Certainly, not because “no variety of Potato will retain a robust 
constitution with good quality more than ten years,” as stated by 
Mr. Pearse at page 426, and I must confess to not being able to 
see in what we are indebted to the raisers of new varieties. Some 
are good, but many fail in the most important particulars—viz., 
productiveness in combination with quality, whilst others are 
handsome but are indifferent croppers, or so poor in quality as to 
be only worth growing for exhibition. 
Perhaps the half dozen varieties I shall name as being all that 
are necessary to a full supply of Potatoes of unquestionable excel¬ 
lence, may cause some to conclude that my experience is extremely 
meagre, in which case it will be instructive to secure for the 
readers of the Journal the benefit of their experience. My soil is 
light loam, and if there be any quality in a Potato it becomes 
apparent. Yeitch’s Ashleaf, which is not the same as Royal 
Ashleaf, often substituted for this variety ; Yorkshire Hero, a 
form of Lapstone, with a better constitution ; Dalmahoy, Walker’s 
Regent, York Regent or Dunbar Regent, and Skerry Blue (the 
latter will probably be supplanted by Brinkworth’s Challenge). 
The Regents and Skerry Blue are only suitable for field culture. 
Ihose that do not care for even half a dozen sorts will find 
Veitch’s Ashleaf, Walker’s Regent, and Dunbar Regent meet 
every want. I have omitted Champion, which, though a wonderful 
cropper, is, I consider, too coarse and strong-flavoured, and I never 
could see what difference there is between Scotch Champion and 
Champion Rock. 
I set out with the intention of making some remarks on the 
sorts that I have grown, and this I will now endeavour to do 
briefly. For an early Potato Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf is as good 
as ever, cropping well, and of good table quality ; but there are 
more small tubers in the crop than in Yeitch’s Ashleaf, hence 
the preference for that variety. Early Bird is very fine and 
prolific, with dwarf haulm, but it becomes diseased with me to 
such an extent as to preclude its growth. Gloucestershire Kidney 
and Huntingdon are second early sorts and capital croppers, but are 
much given to disease, for which reason with Bryanston Kidney, 
also a wonderful cropper, they have been discarded. Prince 
Arthur crops well, and, though good by September, keeps well 
also ; but it is very much diseased this season, and generally is 
when the disease prevails. Its tubers are large and even in size, 
and the quality excellent. Early Rose, Extra Early Vermont, and 
Beauty of Hebron appear to be of one type, and though heavy 
croppers are of poor waxy quality, and not worth growing where 
quality is expected as well as quantity. Snowflake bears abun¬ 
dantly, the tubers being large and even ; yet, though excellent in 
flavour, they lack flouriness, and from their whiteness when 
cooked are tempting. It is much subject to disease. St. Patrick, 
a great cropper, of sturdy growth, and for its size, which is of the 
first, is good in quality. It is a second early or main crop variety. 
Wormleighton’s Seedling may be described as an improvement in 
quality on Magnum Bonmn, being a magnificent cropper, and will 
be grown where bulk is the chief object. It and Magnum Bonum 
were very free from disease. Magnum Bonum is remarkable for 
everything but quality. Woodstock Kidney is handsome, a good 
cropper, and of good quality and early, being well worth growing. 
International, though perhaps the finest exhibition kidney, and an 
immense cropper, is of very poor quality. McKinlay’s Pride, 
an early handsome kidney, not large, but very even in size, with a 
dwarf compact top, but the quality is only moderate ; these were 
very little diseased. Late Rose, Fluke, Hundredfold Fluke, and 
Belgian Fluke are all great croppers and good in quality for late 
use. Burns’ Seedling, which I admire very much, is a flattish 
round, or somewhat kidney-shaped, the tubers very even in form 
and of good size, there being a difficulty to obtain whole tubers 
for seed ; growth dwarf and sturdy, quality excellent. This is a 
second early, a good cropper, not liable to disease, and keeps a 
long time. Early White Kidney is not so good nor so early as 
the other forms of early kidneys. Mona’s Pride is a capital 
variety, and not so much grown as it merits. Bountiful, a red 
kidney, is very pretty, and though it crops well the tubers are too 
small; the fine nutty flavour is its chief merit, unless its fine form 
and colour make it unique for exhibition. Lapstone, in my 
opinion, is the finest quality Potato, and in light soil is first-rate 
in every respect as a second early, continuing good for a long 
time. There is no Potato I relish so much as this, and I have 
little trouble with disease, as the crop is lifted as soon as the 
disease spots appear in the foliage. The quality is not deterio¬ 
rated even if the tubers be lifted when far from ripe, as the good 
properties are developed early. 
Among round varieties Rector of Woodstock is very handsome 
and the quality excellent, but though there are plenty of tubers 
they are too small, not half the crop being large enough for table. 
Early Market ha3 short haulm, but the tubers, though of superior 
flavour, are not large nor abundant. Porter’s Excelsior is very 
handsome and proportionately useless. Red Emperor, very hand¬ 
some, a moderate cropper, with quite as many small as there are 
tubers of a useful size, quality fair, its chief merit being in appear¬ 
ance. Victoria is all haulm in a wet season, but in a good season 
crops heavily and is excellent, but liable to disease. Schoolmaster 
is very disappointing, for, although it crops heavily, the tubers are 
much warted or carbuncled, and the crop is spoiled. Grampian 
crops heavily, the quality is good, but very much diseased. Rad- 
stock Beauty is a real beauty, a good cropper, and the quality 
fair. Yicar of Laleham is of sturdy growth, the tubers have 
plenty of substance, and are produced freely. Although the 
tubers are purple the flesh is beautifully white and first-rate for 
table ; it is well worth growing as a second early or main crop 
variety, and will, I think, be in demand for market purposes. 
Beauty of Kent, a second early, has dwarf sturdy haulm ; the 
tubers are very handsome, with a rough skin of a rosy pink colour; 
it appears a good keeper, crops moderately well, and is very free 
from disease. Bliss’s Triumph is a second early, crops mode¬ 
rately well, and is handsome, with a quality fairly good. Bedfont 
Prolific, another second early, cropping well ; tubers good shape, 
and fine smooth skin, cooking capitally. Red-skinned Flourball 
never were anything but huge waxy lumps with me, but Vermont 
Beauty baked splendidly, and may be grown for that purpose, 
but is too large for sieaming.—G. Abbey. 
Your correspondent “OldTater” has been rather unfortu- 
