828 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 9, 1384. 
and the doctors about my discovery, or rather re-discovery. Most of the 
gentlemen differed from me (that was to be expected), but they differed 
much more seriously amongst themselves. Several of these parties said 
my resting-spores did not belong to the Potato fungus ; and on 
being asked what they did belong to, the different doctors mentioned in 
reply no less than nine other fungi. One professor said it was evident 
that 1 did not know the Potato fungus at all. I hope I am not a 
conceited person, but I think I can say without boasting that I so 
effectually knocked down all the nine tottering nine-pins that were set 
up by the different little professors, that not one has ever been heard 
of since I bowled them over and smashed them. The professors 
showed too much haste in attacking me, for they commenced as soon as 
or before my paper was in print. It is true I had no dark and secret 
“ nids ” to show, I only had the resting spores of the Potato fungus, and my 
resting spores were unfortunately not “active,” like the ones discovered 
by Professor De Bary, for they hybernated for nearly a year before 
germination took place; they were decidedly “ passive ” for a long 
time. When they germinated they reproduced the fungus of the Potato 
disease, and the cycle was complete, 
“Whilst my resting spores of the fungus of the Potato disease were 
still hybernating Professor De Bary’s paper was unwisely published by 
the Imperial Corn-growing Society, and I can truly say, without intend¬ 
ing the slightest affront, that there was not a new idea in it, except 
perhaps the suggestion that the name of the fungus should at once be 
changed from Peronospora to Phytophthora, a suggestion that has never 
been taken kindly to. The essay was hastily written, premature, and 
again defaced by remarkable misprints ; for instance, the “ coating of 
cellulose ” belonging to oospores was described as a “ cellular membrane.” 
No reference was made to the much-looked-for “ nids ; ” oospores were 
certainly mentioned, but they were not described as before as “active 
primary germs.” There is internal evidence that the paper was never 
written as printed, and some of the new (?) illustrations were twelve 
years old, and were already the too familiar old friends of British 
botanists. 
Owing to political opposition my hands were quite full from June, 
1875 to July, 1876. I was obliged to keep a large number of spores alive 
for an entire year under different conditions of moisture, dryness, &c., 
beneath bellglasses. Botanists and other observers applied to me for 
examples from all parts of the world. I was compelled in my own 
defence to have a large number of microscopic preparations made by 
mounters at (of course) my own cost, and these were dispatched in 
different directions by post. I also had photography and a large amount 
of engraving and printing executed at my own cost to simply maintain my 
just position against political cliques. After being handicapped in this way 
for more than a year, and, moreover, getting the sack through delaying 
illustrations from a journal that I had illustrated for many years, I added 
up my accounts of expenditure and found myself out of pocket more than 
four hundred pounds. This loss was pleasant to the politicians. Aid, of 
course, might have been held out to me in various ways, but in whichever 
direction assistance was looked for it was quickly and uniformly withheld. 
Urgent whips, three times underlined, were issued, first by one “ pro¬ 
fessor ” and then the other, and the consequence was that between the 
two fires I had to bear the whole brunt of the Potato business on my own 
shoulders. I do not complain ; I hope I am not dissatisfied, and I am 
sure I have no grievance against any single person. If I have had some 
hard blows, I well know that I now hold the victor’s place. The professors 
and the little skirmishers have every one been silenced ; the authorities of 
the British Museum have bought a large number of my drawings and ex¬ 
amples, and the authorities at Kew have kindly accepted others as gifts. 
My scars are honourable, and none have been received for pay. 
Politics are, unfortunately, still so rampant in reference to the subject 
of the Potato disease that when a publisher recently had something of mine 
in the press I was afraid for it to be announced until the work was actu¬ 
ally printed. Had it been announced some Potato politician would pro¬ 
bably have interfered, and written to the publisher to say that I was 
heterodox, that his (the writer’s) “ dox ” was the only ortho-dox, and 
that my views and all other views which differed from the writer’s views, 
were “ heterodox ” and dangerous, and now had, and always would have, a 
very bad moral influence. I do not make this statement without reason, 
for I once had my MS. and unpublished engravings temporarily returned 
from a publisher on account of a letter of this class. By an inadvertence 
a clue to the writer was included in the returned MS., and I have kept 
this written clue as a curiosity (rarely exhibited—I am never unkind) 
amongst the implements of barbarians in my museum of stone and bronze 
antiquities. The subjects belonging to the “ Origin of Species ’’ and the 
“ Antiquity of Man ” were treated in the same manner once. The Schwen- 
denerian hypothesis and the subject of Corn Mildew, as well as of the 
Potato fungus, are all so now. The professional political priesthood keep 
a strict indecr expurgatorius, which is supposed to be held in reverence by 
very young beginners. The works of Darwin and Lubbock are not 
allowed in Ilussia to this day. The Czar gets dynamite instead. 
For ten years—from 1874 to 1884—I have sent nearly all my notes for 
publication either to the Gardener's Chronicle, or to some other horticul- 
cultural or agricultural journal where Potato politics are ignored. This 
has more than one advantage, for one gets paid for one’s work on the 
horticultural and agricultural press; one is not expected to work for 
nothing and pay for the paper and printing. The scientific politicians 
certainly sometimes threaten to ignore me, to forget me, to refuse to quote 
me or pat me on the back ; the Royal Society even declines to catalogue 
writings from such journals among their scientific papers, but I well know that 
when sound contributions are once preserved in the safe custody of print 
they will not be lost. I do not forget whence Charles Darwin derived a 
vast number of his facts, for he has duly acknowledged every source. I 
prefer, therefore, at present to stick to the bridges that have carried me 
over, and to nail my colours to common sense rather than to metaphysical 
or “ metoecious mycology,” as the professors say. If any gentleman wishe.s 
to become a supernaturally learned Potato politician, and to know all 
about “jonidia,” the “lubes” of the Potato (not bronchial), the mystic 
“ nids,” and the “ active” germs called “ resting spores,” each possessed 
of a “ cellular membrane,” they must consult the works produced by 
Potato politicians, for politics are not, and never have been, in my line. 
LAPAGERIAS. 
There are two plants (L. alba and L. rubra) of these 
beautiful greenhouse climbers in the conservatory at Oakbrook, 
Sheffield, that are especially attractive at the present time on 
account of the large number of flowers they are bearing and the 
fine healthy foliage in which they ai'e clothed. The white variety 
is the most floriferous; the numerous large clusters of beautiful 
flowers amidst the dark green glossy leaves give it a fine effect. 
I counted one of the largest clusters, and it contained seventeen 
blooms. Such bunches as these are not often seen. The red 
variety is not so full of bloom; being a little later than the white, 
many of its buds are not open, so its full beauty is not yet 
apparent. Each plant occupies a corner at one end of the house 
in a box adapted to the angles; the longest sides next 
the glass being about 3 feet; the inner sides, by the path, about 
18 inches in length, 1 foot deep, and 15 inches wide. The white 
variety was placed when quite a small plant in its present position 
about four years ago, and now covers a roof space of about 120 
square feet. A fortnight ago it was bearing neai'ly 1000 expanded 
blooms, being an average of eight to the square foot. Many 
gardeners have called to see it, and say that they have never 
before seen a plant so floriferous. 
The red variety is an older plant and occupies about the same 
space as the white one. It is also very vigoi’ous, but does not 
make quite such robust growths as the latter, which appears to be 
naturally more vigorous than the varieties of rosea, and only 
requires providing with a suitable position and proper treatment 
to produce most excellent and satisfactory results. These plants 
are grown without the aid of artificial heat, except in winter. 
The pipes run just under the boxes and keep the roots of the 
plants slightly warm during the cold weather. About March 
they were pruned, when the weak growths were either thinned 
out or layered, and during the season a top-dressing, consisting 
of peat two parts, loam one part, charcoal in small lumps, and 
sand one part, with a small quantity of Beeson’s bone manure. 
The compost did not contain much of the latter, only what is 
called a “ dash ” in gardeners’ paidance. The boxes being well 
drained, copious supplies of water are given every day during the 
summer months and about twice a week in winter. 
The health, vigour, and beauty of the plants speak for them¬ 
selves, and testify that Mr. Woodcock’s treatment has admirably 
suited their requirements and brought them into a state of 
cultivation seldom, if ever, seen in this neighbourhood.—J. H. S. 
SEASONABLE WORK-SPRING DIGGING. 
The present is a time of comparative quiet in the kitchen garden, and 
presents a good opportunity of bringing forward work that may have been 
left in arrears during the busier season just past. The old advice would 
have been. Get all vacant land dug or trenched—advice good enough on 
some soils no doubt, but so long as I have to deal with a heavy soil 
autumn digging will never be practised. I had all our land dug last 
autumn, and shall never forget the labour required to fit it for the 
reception of the seeds in spring. I am confident that we could have dug 
and prepared it twice over, if it had been left undug, in the time we spent 
getting it into anything like condition. Last winter was without doubt 
exceptional in its milduess, but even in a severe winter I believe that the 
land is as well if not dug. I was talking recently with a very observant 
amateur, one who has been for a long time the most successful exhibitor 
of vegetables in this district, and he said he had always grown his Celery 
and Onions for exhibition side by side. The Onion ground was of course 
made very firm, and that for Celery the reverse. The land was never 
dug till March, and whether the winter had been mild or severe the 
firmer ground always turned up the sweetest. This is in accordance with 
my own experience, but I have practised autumn digging because for me 
it has always been most convenient; it will, however, be discontinued, 
and we must do all we can to relieve the pressure that will be occasioned 
in spring by allowing the digging to stand over. On all vacant land the 
hoe will be set to work and thus cause the seeds of weeds to vegetate that 
would otherwise remain dormant till spring, and we shall thus be able to 
destroy them before they have the chance of seeding. The dead canes 
have been removed from our Raspberries, and as soon as the leaves fall 
next year fruiters will be secured to the stakes or wires. All wall trees 
will be pruned and nailed as the leaves fall; what little pruning our larger 
fruit trees, other than those on walls require, will also be done as soon as 
