September 23 , 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 289 
Dean, Ealing 1 , offered the prizes. Twenty-five dishes were staged. 
Mr. R. Dean was first with Mr. Bresee ; Mr. James Caunce was 
second with Fenn’s Bountiful; Mr. C. Osman, Sutton, Surrey, being 
third with the same variety. Messrs. Sutton & Son, Beading, gave 
the prizes in Class M for a dish of Suttons’ Magnum Bonum ; and in 
Class P, for a dish of Suttons’ Woodstock Kidney, there were fifty- 
three competing collections, all of good quality. Mr. W. Kerr was 
first with samples of moderate size, very even and clean. The Hon. 
Mrs. Hay, Market Lavington, Wilts (Mr. James Lye), was a close 
second ; and Mr. W. Ellington third. For the best dish of “ School¬ 
master” in Class N, Messrs. Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stour¬ 
bridge, were the donors of the prizes. There were twenty dishes 
staged. Mr. William Kerr was first with handsome clean tubers : 
Messrs. Lott & Hart with good examples but not so clean ; Mr. Henry 
Gibbs, Ightham Court Gardens, Sevenoaks, being a good third. 
Messrs. John Laing & Co., Forest Hill, offered prizes for the best 
dish of any new variety. Eighteen dishes were exhibited. Mr. Peter 
McKinlay was first with Wiltshire Snowflake, a round white 
variety raised by Mr. Lye, Lavington Hall, Wiltshire. Mr. R. Dean 
was second with Lord Mayor, a seedling from Extra Early Yermont 
crossed with Early Market, a second early variety said to be of fine 
quality and free cropper. C. Eyre, Esq., Newbury (Mr. Eoss), was 
third with Dux, a seedling round variety from Victoria. For the 
best dishes of Suttons’ Woodstock Kidney Messrs. Sutton offered the 
prizes. There were thirteen entries. The first prize was secured by 
Mr. C. W. Howard, Canterbury, with fine examples, Mr. Henry 
Gibbs followed closely, and Messrs. Lott & Hart were third. All 
the tubers were of excellent quality, even, and of good size. 
Miscellaneous exhibits were numerous. Messrs. Sutton & Sons, 
Reading, had a very large collection, occupying a space of 200 square 
feet, over one hundred varieties being represented. Messrs. James 
Carter & Co., High Holborn, exhibited heaps of Magnum Bonum and 
Scotch Champion Potatoes, including samples of the latter variety 
grown in twenty-four English counties. Messrs. Harrison & Son, Lei¬ 
cester, contributed a number of dishes. Mr. Charles Turner, Slough, 
had some good examples of Schoolmaster. Messrs. Webb & Son, 
Stourbridge, also sent a number of dishes, International Kidney being 
especially remarkable for its size ; the fine variety Schoolmaster was 
well represented. Messrs. James Veitch it Sons, Chelsea, sent about 
forty dishes of fine Potatoes, and about eighty dishes of Apples. 
Messrs. Charles Lee & Son, Hammersmith, sent a number of good 
examples. Messrs. Daniels Brothers, Norwich, had a handsome col¬ 
lection of a hundred varieties of Potatoes in fair condition. 
THE CULTURE OF MIGNONETTE. 
Mignonette is a general favourite on account of its delightful 
fragrance, but it is seldom seen in good condition except in 
market-growing establishments. It is of easy culture, and within 
the reach of everybody. The present is the best time to sow the 
seed for raising plants for spring blooming. The most useful¬ 
sized pots are 48’s, and the most suitable compost two parts of 
turfy loam and one of decomposed cow manure, with a sprinkling 
of old lime rubbish. Place over the crocks about 2 inches of 
decayed manure (as the Mignonette delights in a rich compost), 
and fill the pots with the above compost ; press the soil in firmly, 
sow the seed rather thinly, and sprinkle a little soil over it, 
plunge the pots in a cool frame in ashes within 3 inches of the 
glass, supply water rather sparingly till the seed germinates, after 
which the plants should have very little water. Thin the plants 
out well, retaining about six or seven in each pot. Ventilate 
freely night and day to keep the plants sturdy, leaving the lights 
off altogether on all favourable occasions. Discontinue watering 
from the middle of November till the end of February. This is 
the secret of success, as if the plants are watered through the 
winter they become weakly and drawn, and the result is never 
satisfactory. Do not mind the plants flagging a little, which some¬ 
times they will do when the sun is rather strong. About the first 
week in March they will require to be watered rather more, 
never allowing them to become dry ; ventilate freely, and when 
they show bloom water with liquid manure. Place a neat stick 
to each plant, so that the air may circulate well amongst them. 
—Florist. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
Some thirty years since I was led to believe that the disease 
was caused by an excessive rainfall. Observation and experi¬ 
ments in growing the Potato deepened this belief, but how it was 
done puzzled me for years. My theories were overthrown by the 
stern logic of facts. Still I was growing nearer the truth ; and 
now I think I have approached it so nearly, that at least it is 
worthy of a place in your Journal and the consideration of your 
able contributors. You will, I trust, permit it to be freely and 
fairly discussed. 
I hold that the fungus is a result, not a cause. The cause is too 
much wet at a particular time. The disease of the Potato is 
induced thus: During the growth an abundance of rain gorges 
the tissues with sap, and at the same time the densely saturated 
air prevents effective respiration to such an extent as to rupture 
the organs of the plant sufficiently to hinder it from accomplishing 
its work of properly forming and ripening its tubers. At present 
this is only an induction, but it enables me to explain all the 
developments of the disease that have come under my observation, 
and it is, I think, capable of practical demonstration. 
It may be interesting and perhaps helpful if I state how I was 
led up to this theory, and why I think it capable of proof. The 
very close planting which used to be practised more than now, or 
overcrowding, was an early-formed theory of the disease, but it 
had to be given up, not, however, until it had taught me that 
it had very much to do with its cause. I found that good 
drainage, room for free circulation of air and access of the sun's 
rays, were essential to sound tubers. In short, Potatoes have been 
improved or abused until they claim sensible treatment. Still, 
sensible treatment, careful attention, and selection of varieties did 
not dispose of the disease, but it did the next best thing—it 
mitigated it very much, and it led me to conclude that if I could 
limit the rainfall I could conquer the disease. I grew them under 
glass, and remembering that it was an inhabitant of a dry climate 
I supplied water judiciously. The result was perfectly sound 
Potatoes. This has been done on a small scale for several years 
with the same result. This year I planted partially diseased 
Potatoes and watered with liquid from a well, and had no sign of 
the disease. 
These facts have led me to infer and state that I believe the 
Potato can be grown to demonstrate the cause and all the con¬ 
sequences of the disease we have observed. I should prefer, 
however, to treat of that in a future issue.—A n Interloper. 
Mr. Luckiiurst (page 258) states that the plague spot of the 
Potato disease appears first and the fungus invariably afterwards. 
I am by no means indisposed to agree with Mr. Luckhurst in 
some of his ideas on the subject on which he writes, but I would 
be glad to be informed if this statement is true, or admitted by 
those competent to investigate the matter. If the disease 
appears in the tuber before the fungus presents itself, that is quite 
sufficient to prove that the latter has nothing to do with the 
disease. Will Mr. Luckhurst kindly say where he derives his 
information from 1 and oblige—A Reader. 
I AM very glad our “author” has modified his former statement 
that half the Potato disease was caused by the ignorance and 
apathy of cultivators. Only a cultivator of comparatively limited 
experience could have entertained an idea so erroneous, and cer¬ 
tainly a writer who can only support his views on this subject by 
extracts from newspapers will not be regarded as a practical 
teacher by practical men. I am asked to read our “author’s” 
book more carefully. I have read it, and I find the depth of 
planting is qualified on one page but not on another. As an his¬ 
torical compilation the work is interesting, but the writer does 
not deny that only one-tenth of it is founded on his own practice, 
the nine-tenths being a record of the work of other people—a 
curious exemplification, surely, of the apathy and ignorance that 
has been applied to cultivators generally ! 
It is not a practical book at all. There is not a cultural sugges¬ 
tion in it that has not been tried, and certainly one “recommen¬ 
dation” has been found wanting—namely, “cutting ” off the tops 
of the plants for averting the disease. Pulling them off has been 
of great benefit, yet this is not mentioned; cutting them off is 
simply labour in vain. Neither is the theoretical plan for the 
extinction of the disease of any practical value. Even if the 
Government were to take possession of the Isle of Wight and the 
Isle of Man and prohibit the culture of Potatoes there for a year 
by act of Parliament, as is recommended, no good would result; 
at least Mr. Worthington Smith says it would not, and I presume 
no one in the Queen’s dominions can speak with more authority 
on the Potato fungus, its nature and movements, than he can. 
Let us see what he says in one of his latest contributions to the 
Agricultural Gazette, from which I extract the following :— 
“As for stamping out the murrain, or isolating cultural experi¬ 
ments to an island in the sea a short distance from the shore, any 
such attempt would be utterly futile. Spores are present every¬ 
where, and can no doubt be carried through the air across a sea 
or ocean as readily as over a hedge. Spores everywhere sail with 
the wind, and at the same speed. Nothing is better known than 
the descent of spores, pollen, and other minute organisms on to 
ships in mid-ocean. If Potatoes were taken into an island in the 
middle of the South Pacific, or transported upwards for miles into 
the air, or submerged for years in a river, they would yet be liable 
to contamination from the Peronospora, for the spores of the 
