162 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ August 19 , isso. 
inside and outside that my humble powers cannot here describe 
or enumerate the various forms which have been so artistically- 
worked out.—A Naturalist. 
AURICULAS FROM SEED. 
I have read with a pood deal of interest Mr. Rudd’s ex¬ 
cellent article, on page 135, on raising Auriculas from seed. I 
have often raised Auriculas from seed before, though not exactly 
in the way described by Mr. Rudd. What I should like Mr. 
Rudd to inform me is, how to raise Auriculas from chaff or 
pounded husks. I wrote for and received a packet of the seed 
which Mr. Rudd advertised for sale as being from best named 
varieties grown by Mr. Thomas Woodhead, and bearing that 
gentleman’s signature as a guarantee of good faith. On opening 
the packet I found, instead of a dozen or two good seeds of 
Auricula, a quantity of chaff or broken husks, and three shrivelled- 
looking bodies which may be anything. Will Mr. Rudd be so 
good as to inform me through your pages how I am to treat this 
chaff, and what I may reasonably expect as the result of sowing 
his packet of “ seed ?”— Florist. 
[We have received letters from other correspondents complain¬ 
ing of the contents of the packets referred to, but the above will 
be sufficient for affording Mr. Rudd the opportunity of making 
such an explanation as he deems necessary.— Eds.] 
THE POTATO CROP. 
On August 12th the lifting of the late sorts of Potatoes was 
finished, and the entire crop of early, intermediate, and late 
varieties is safe in the store sheds, a flue, sound, and abundant 
crop—so abundant that it has not only filled the ordinary shed 
to overflowing, but three other sheds besides. Thus has been 
brought to a satisfactory conclusion one of the most critical and 
important operations of the year, for “ A Kitchen Gardener ” 
is undoubtedly right in his opinion that “ the weather alone rules 
the state of the Potato crop,” and all our care in the selection of 
seed and in every point of culture proves vain in adverse weather. 
So clear was this made last year, that one wonders all doubts 
upon the subject were not washed away by the almost incessant 
rain that made 1879 so disastrous for the “ noble tuber.” 
Although much finer than last year, the present summer has 
been a stormy one, with weather so unsettled and showery that it 
was only by taking advantage of the intervals of fine weather the 
crop has been saved. No regular houi-3 are kept while the lifting 
is going cn, for we then work from daylight till dark, knowing 
full well from dearly bought experience that the first rain after 
growth ceases in the tuber brings disease in its train. Repeatedly 
has this stern fact been explained in the pages of the Journal, 
and by no argument or fanciful theory can it be explained away 
or set aside. To grow Potatoes to perfection free from disease, we 
require a climate that affords fine weather to bring the soil into 
good order for the planting; warm genial showers for the pro¬ 
motion of strong unchecked growth, followed by hot dry weather 
to ripen the tubers. It is rare for our climate to answer to these 
conditions ; it does so occasionally, and it is only by watchfulness 
and care that the crop can be saved from the ravages of disease 
in ordinary seasons. On the whole the present year may be re¬ 
garded as generally favourable, affording fully the requisite con¬ 
ditions for planting and growth ; and although the weather has 
continued unsettled, yet there has been enough intervals of fine 
weather to enable everybody in this district to save the crop. 
With few exceptions the haulm and foliage was fresh and green 
at the time of lifting, and so long and crowded, much of if being 
a yard high, that a couple of men had to go before the diggers to 
clear it away, making an immense heap of it off 2 acres of late 
Potatoes which will be turned to account for manure. 
I planted a sack of Scotch Champion by way of trial, but 
shall discard it. It is of the White Rock type, yielding plenty of 
large, coarse-locking, hollow-eyed tubers, which when cut are 
decidedly yellow—a sure indication of inferior quality. It is 
unworthy of culture among high-class Potatoes, and is one more 
example of the fallacy of such popular terms as “blight-proof” 
and “ blight-resisting.” Both Carters’ and Suttons’ Magnum 
Bonum have yielded a heavy crop of magnificent tubers, hand¬ 
some, smooth, and full-eyed. They appear to be identical in 
every respect, are very white when cut, inducing the hope that 
one may be able to report favourably of its quality this season. 
The Victorias and Regents are as usual excellent; I have upwards 
of thirty sacks of them for cooking for the winter and spring 
supply. Of the second early varieties Early Rose appears to me 
to deserve a higher place than has hitherto been given it. Badly 
cooked it is decidedly inferior, being close, heavy, and watery ; but 
steamed or cooked in water and well dried afterwards in the 
saucepan placed near the fire, it breaks and is as mealy as can be 
wished. Its heavy-cropping property is well known. In this 
neighbourhood, and I believe generally, it is in high favour among 
the cottagers, who say it always affords them a crop when other 
sorts fail. I planted six bushels of it in light soil this year, 
from which I have dug fifty-six bushels of large tubers for 
cooking, besides a fair proportion of smaller for seed.— Edward 
Luckhurst. 
AUTUMN MANAGEMENT OF GRAPES. 
Under the above heading on page 118 “ R. P. B.” describes 
his very simple mode of Grape culture, the results being such that 
satisfy him. This means that the produoe is excellent, for nothing 
short of that would satisfy so good a cultivator. Your correspon¬ 
dent also refers to some vineries that he visited last year in which 
fine Grapes were hanging, but the surfaces of the borders were 
“swamped” in the afternoon when the houses were closed, with 
the object of keeping down red spider. This plan of closing the 
houses with moisture “R. P. B.” evidently disapproves, for he 
says if good Grapes continue to be grown there it will be in spite 
of the moisture. “A Kitchen Gardener” strongly endorses 
all our friend has said about never syringing nor damping vineries 
at any time, and thus the practice that is adopted by a majority 
of the best cultivators is’powerfully assailed. 
I am as adverse to pampering Vines as any gardener, and have 
had the good fortune to grow Grapes that have satisfied myself 
and a rather critical employer, the Vines at the least being forty 
years of age. I rarely syringed them, but found it absolutely 
necessary to employ atmospheric moisture against red spider by 
damping the floors occasionally, and especially when closing the 
house. For twenty years previous to my charge the Vines were 
syringed as well as the floors damped, and the said Vines are 
now as strong and fruitful as ever. Even if this is “ in spite” of 
the treatment they have received, it is certain that treatment has 
not injured them. 
My experience leads me to the conclusion that it is easy to lay 
down a rule founded on circumstances too local and circumscribed 
to render that rule a safe one for general application. When I 
see splendid Grapes grown under the damping system I hesitate 
to say that the system is unsound, and I have grave doubts if the 
dry system were substituted for it in the same houses that the 
Vines would be so clean and the crops so good. 
I have grown Grapes in one of the wettest counties in England, 
and also in the driest. In the former ease damping was not 
necessary, iu fact the atmosphere was generally too damp ; in the 
latter damping was essential, as the air was extremely dry. In 
the moist and dull district there was no red spider, in the bright 
and dry locality the pest abounded. “ R. P. B.” does not, I think, 
practise Grape-growing in a district noted for its arid atmosphere 
and brilliant sun, neither presumably does “ A Kitchen Gar¬ 
dener ; ” they advocate, therefore, a system of management that 
is perfectly applicable to their circumstances. 
But the first-named correspondent says the soil of his district 
is one where red spider “ought” to be at home. If he were 
growing Grapes on the limestone formation with an annual rain¬ 
fall of 18 to 20 inches (I have known it only a fraction over 
1G inches) he would have no doubt of its presence. He would, 
during a hot summer, see Vines in the open air devoured with it, 
and fruit and forest trees prematurely defoliated by its attacks ; 
and I have a lurking idea that before he had grown Grapes in 
such a locality for three years he would be glad of a little water 
for cooling the air of the vineries, and I should not be much 
surprised if he occasionally indulged in the luxury of “damping 
down.” 
That Vines are often over-pampered, over-syringed, and under¬ 
ventilated I cordially agree, and “ R. P. B.” is doing good service 
by advocating a more simple and rational mode of culture ; but 
if persons of less experience than himself apply his drying plan 
during a dry summer in an already much overdry district the 
Vines in the houses will, I fear, soon be in the same condition as 
those on walls in the open air—namely, covered with red spider. 
If I were the manager of those Vines alluded to as bearing 
such fine Grapes I should continue the practice that answers so 
well. They are the best Grapes in that neighbourhood, and the 
houses are very light and lofty. The same plan in another dis¬ 
trict with lower or less light structures might not, and probably 
would not, answer half so well. “ Three of us,” writes “ R. P. B.,” 
on the page above quoted, “ were inspecting the magnificent crops 
of Grapes ” in question, and I think I was —One op the Trio. 
A Hybrid Dock. —There is now flowering in the Botanic 
Garden, Manchester, a Dock of considerable interest. It is a cross 
