310 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September so, isso. 
supposed that the various colours observed in plants were due to 
so many different matters, each colour being a different chemical 
combination without relation to the others. Now Professor 
Schnetzler shows by experiments that when the colour of a flower 
has been isolated by putting it in spirits of wine, one may, by 
adding an acid or alkaline substance, obtain all the colours which 
plants present. Flowers of Pasony, c.g., give, when placed in 
alcohol, a red-violet liquid. If some salt of sorrel he added the 
liquid becomes pure red ; while soda changes it, according to the 
quantity, into violet, blue, or green. In this latter case the green 
liquid appears red by transmitted light, just as does chlorophyll 
(the green colouring matter of leaves). The sepals of Pmony, 
which are green with a red border, become wholly red when put 
in salt of sorrel. These changes of colour, which can be had at 
will, may quite well be produced in the plant by the same causes, 
for in all plants there are always acid or alkaline matters. Further, 
it is certain that the transformation from green into red, observed 
in the leaves of many plants in autumn, is due to the action of 
tannin which they contain with chlorophyll. Thus, without 
wishing to affirm it absolutely, Professor Schnetzler supposes, ci 
priori, that there is in plants only one colouring matter—chloro¬ 
phyll—which, being modified by certain agents, furnishes all the 
tints which flowers and leaves present. As to white flowers, it 
has been found that their colouration is due to air contained in the 
cells of the petals. On placing the latter under the receiver of an 
air-pump, they are seen to lose their colour and become transparent 
as the air escapes from them.— {The Times.') 
THE SEASON AND TITE POTATOES. 
Although the summer of 1880 has not, perhaps, been without 
the average number of failures, there are a few remarkable 
successes which deserve to be recorded for future encouragement, 
some of which are owing to natural causes, others to dogged 
perseverance, and others, again, to the two causes combined, as 
they ever should be. 
The enormous crops of vegetables of all kinds, so far as they 
exceed the general average, are due to a combination of natural 
causes, which as far as I am concerned are but very imperfectly 
understood. I can understand that a dry hot spring, which so 
many people complained of before May was out, was just what 
was wanted to warm and sweeten the soil after eighteen months of 
winter; and that the month of June, made up of alternate sunshine 
and shower, was about the best thing which could possibly follow 
a hot dry May; but that a wet and comparatively cool July, with 
the temperature only once up to 80°, should have suited vegetation 
so well even on the heaviest of soils after a dripping June, is 
beyond my comprehension. I had no means of measuring the 
amount of rainfall, but it must have been something enormous. A 
more than usual quantity would doubtless be absorbed and eva¬ 
porated by the extra-luxuriant vegetation, for Peas grew 13 feet 
high, and Cauliflowers turned in a month or six weeks before 
their customary seasons. Potatoes also and many other vegetables 
made more than their average growth, and would consequently 
take up a corresponding amount of moisture ; but there still 
remains a great deal 1 cannot account for. However, “ All’s well 
that ends well,” but there is no harm in inquiring into Nature’s 
mysteries, utilise her teachings as much as possible, and then 
bravely acknowledge how little we know. 
I have no doubt that we are indebted to the dry April and 
May for our comparative immunity from the Potato disease. If, 
as experiments have gone a good way to show, the resting spores 
of the Peronospora require a certain amount of water to excite 
them to active vitality, that water was not forthcoming this 
season at the usual time, and it may be, as bur subsequent ex¬ 
perience would seem to indicate, that only a very small portion of 
the spores vegetated successfully. Query, What becomes of the 
remainder ? Have they perished, or are they waiting safely for a 
more favourable opportunity next year? Certain it is that the 
disease in the earlier part of the season was very much milder 
than usual; and it was only, I think, when a successional family of 
active spores was produced and distributed from the growing 
Potato tops that the disease increased to any alarming extent; and 
indeed with the precautions I took I have not had it in a virulent 
form except upon two small patches, which can be easily accounted 
for, although in the adjoining village the loss is very considerable. 
Some time ago I mentioned that I had all the tops carefully 
pulled off Myatt’s Ashleaf with the exception of a small patch as 
soon as the first speck of disease was seen in the garden. The 
patch on which the stems were left was a portion at one corner of 
a square piece, not selected in any way, but just where the men 
happened to be finishing, and in all respects exactly like the rest 
of the piece as far as could be seen. The whole piece was lifted 
during last month, with the result that 38 bushels of sound table 
Potatoes were picked off the portion where the stalks were pulled 
off with less than half a peck of diseased tubers, while from the 
portion where the stalks were left on were dug about a bushel 
of apparently sound tubers and quite as many bad ones as came 
off all the rest of the piece ; besides, there were a great many 
rotted so badly that only traces of them could be found. The 
best tubers from the badly infected portion were used at once, 
it being thought undesirable to allow them to come in contact 
with those which had almost had a clean bill of health. We are 
using the Potatoes now from the main piece of ground, and find 
them good in quality and free from disease. 
I learned from the badly infected portion one thing worth 
mentioning. I was willing to admit before this experiment that 
by pulling off the haulm we invariably sacrificed size of tuber to 
some extent, but at digging time I found it was not so in this case, 
as those which were left sound on the badly infected piece were 
no larger than those from which the stalks had been removed. 
This proves to my mind that in this instance, when the disease 
had a firm hold, which was not many days after the tops were 
pulled from the other portion, no appreciable growth of tuber 
took place to compensate for the loss in number. 
A select stock of the old Ashleaf was taken up and stored early 
in July before the disease had affected it, and has kept perfectly 
sound. A portion of another patch not carefully selected, and 
which was only planted for early kitchen supply, was left in the 
ground without removing the tops, and I do not think there are 
any sound Potatoes left at the roots of these at all. Now it is 
plain that with early Potatoes we can generally evade the disease 
in two ways—first, by pulling the haulm before the disease has 
secured any hold ; and secondly by lifting the whole crop while 
the tops are still green. Either plan will answer, and each has its 
advocates ; but as I never have more hands than I know what to 
do with, I prefer pulling the tops so as to make the crop safe, 
which is not a long job, and digging when a favourable oppor¬ 
tunity occurs. I never remember tasting the old Ashleaf so good 
in quality as it was early this year ; its season, however, was soon 
over, and it was not good after midsummer. The crop was very 
large, and it is still in my estimation the best very early Potato 
in existence. 
The tops of Magnum Bonum are now gone, and we are waiting 
for favourable weather to lift the tubers, of which there is a large 
crop. Scotch Champion is still (September lCthl growing vigorously. 
Although many of the side leaves are gone, the tops are green and 
the stems unharmed. It is already of good quality when cooked, 
and will be a great boon to the labouring class about here, who have 
been induced to try it this season rather largely, and with excellent 
results. I anticipate that more of it will be planted in this neigh¬ 
bourhood next year than of all other late kinds. It is a very rank 
grower and a very ugly tuber ; but “ The proof of the pudding is 
in the eating,” and tried by this standard, as well as by the 
abundance of crop, its qualities are second to none, and while its 
constitution remains as strong as it now is it is the poor man’s 
Potato par excellence. It wants such careful cooking as. it is not 
likely to have at the hands of many besides poor men’s wives and 
daughters, and therefore is not likely to become popular with 
those who keep professed cooks of the modern type. 
I intended in these notes to embrace a variety of subjects, but 
the “noble tuber” has taken up all my time and space and the 
others must wait.—W m. Taylor. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
A New and Easy Method of Studying British Wild Flowers by 
Natural Analysis. By Frederick A. Messer. London: 
David Bogue. 
Originality of a marked and advantageous character is com¬ 
paratively rare in the now numerous works devoted to elementary 
botany. The majority are but slight variations of one common 
plan, and their relative merits maybe gauged more by the accuracy 
of the instruction given than by an improvement on other works. 
The book now under notice is, however, a remarkable exception to 
the general rule, and with this distinctness it also possessses 
advantages of considerable value. The following explanation of the 
author’s design appears in the introduction, and will convey a 
correct idea of the character :— 
“ This work has grown out of a want, which was much felt by the 
author, of some method which would simplify the study of our native 
plants, by placing before the student the characteristic distinctions of 
their natural orders and genera in a clearei and more striking manner 
than is possible by means of verbal description alone, and which 
would at the same time possess in itself the principles and advan¬ 
tages of analytical arrangement. 
