October 28 , 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 389 
is therefore important. Ripened cuttings or side shoots plunged 
in soft rain water, with a piece of charcoal at the bottom of the 
bottle, I have found to be the quickest method of increase. The 
cuttings root into the water in three weeks, and should be potted 
at first into comparatively small pots, being careful not to press 
the potting material too hard. Their great pest is white scale, 
but I have found no trouble in keeping it under by occasionally 
sponging the leaves with a solution of carbolic soap ; even with¬ 
out any scale this would be desirable as a cleansing process for 
that as well as all fleshy leaves. I saw in July in the conservatory 
at Glenview a specimen with hundreds of flowers.—W. J. M., 
Clonmel. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
_ My last paper concluded with the promise of some cultural 
directions which I have found effectual in mitigating the severity 
of the disease. They will perhaps be more useful if I am permitted 
to call attention to the process of growth of the tuber. The set 
is planted in the soil, and produces a young plant which grows 
rapidly both in the soil and in the air above it. Briefly, the part 
in the soil has to gather and carry liquid food to the part above 
the soil. This part in its turn conveys this sap to the leaves to 
be acted on by the sun and air. It is then returned to the tubers 
in the soil. What I want to be grasped very firmly by my readers 
is the frailty of the mechanism by which this process is carried 
on. What myriads of delicate organs are performing this work ! 
and this has to be carried on sometimes when the soil is ex¬ 
tremely wet, the foliage beaten to the ground by wind and 
rain, and the air laden with vapour. The consequence is the 
whole plant is gorged, with little or no chance of disposing of the 
moisture. Is it, then, surprising that some of these organs give 
way, are burst, and disease begins ? 
Now in growing Potatoes subject to trying times, our efforts 
should aim at helping them over such a crisis in their lives. This 
can be done by proper planting and good drainage, and by giving 
room for the sun and air to play around the soil near the roots 
and through and around the foliage to dispose of the excessive 
wet by gravity or evaporation. In these general directions the 
object is to relieve the roots and foliage from excess of moisture. 
To dispose of the rain by gravity, see that your land is well 
drained, trenched, ridged, or deeply dug, that all excessive wet 
may soon sink away from the roots. If the land slopes always 
plant with, not across the slope. If compelled to plant in flat 
stiff soil, throw your land into narrow beds with good trenches on 
each side, and let your rows run from trench to trench, put your 
sets in shallow, and earth up slightly. 
To secure effective evaporation and get rid of the excessive 
moisture in the foliage, plant wide both ways—that is, from 2 to 
3 feet between the rows, and from 1 to 2 feet in the rows. Here 
you must consider the quality of the soil and the variety of Potato. 
There must be no overcrowding nor waste room, but there must 
be room for thorough ventilation and the sun’s rays to reach the 
soil and roots of every plant. Of seed I would simply say, Secure 
that which best suits your land, and if possible have it from an 
inferior climate to your own. It seems hardly necessary to write 
more particularly to practical men, and its importance will perhaps 
be more evident upon reflection. I should like to say that writers 
on the Potato do not appear to notice sufficiently the effect of 
the foliage on the disease- The high-class Potatoes generally 
have a much smaller evaporating surface than the coarser varieties. 
They cannot even bear up their own weight without resting on the 
ground, while such varieties as the Champion stand erect, and 
allow the sun and air to play all through the foliage and down 
to the soil as well. Mr. Lee of Clevedon evidently sees the benefit 
of this, but does not recognise the cause. 
In leaving this subject I should like also to call attention to the 
following facts, and ask the advocates of the fungus theory to 
harmonise them with their views. The outside roots of a row and 
the outside rows of a patch or field always give a larger proportion 
of sound tubers than the inside rows. The row of Potatoes grown 
over a rubble drain gave sound tubers when the adjoining rows 
were nearly all diseased. The row grown on the sheltered side of 
a line of Scarlet Runners from the south-west rains were dug 
perfectly sound from a nearly dry soil, while all the rest were 
badly diseased. Roots grown close to a coarse-growing weed, 
such as “ Fat Hen,” invariably give sounder tubers than other 
roots in the same patch. These are some of the experiences of— 
An Interloper. 
Paulownia imperialis.—I send a leaf of the Paulownia im¬ 
perials. I have never seen, in any account of this tree, any 
notice of the strong smell of opium throughout the whole of it. 
This was evident to me on first examining my plant, and it seems 
worthy of notice. The fresh bark of trees 20 feet high, as well 
as the succulent stem of those of a foot only, all possess the 
same quality. This may be of interest to chemists who are not 
acquainted with the Paulownia.—M. G. S. 
FALLING LEAVES AND RUINED CHOIRS. 
I never remember the fall of the leaf to have been more swift 
and sudden. The last two or three days were bright, warm, and 
calm. The night before last (October 20th) showed 12° of frost; 
and though the air continued quite still, about 9 A.M. next morning 
armies of leaves began to move and slip silently to the ground, 
and in less than an hour most of the trees, notably the Limes and 
Chestnuts, in our garden and surroundings were all but bare, and 
the distances were open to the sky which showed coldly blue, and 
was being rapidly traversed by masses of suspicious woolly-like 
clouds. The scent of snow was not far off. About 4 P.M. a few 
drops of rain fell, changing into a sleety shower, and then for a 
few moments there was a good fall of large snowflakes—unmis- 
takeable tokens from the wings of winter. More rain and sleet 
fell in the night. Now (noon, October 21st) the temperature is 
clear and cold, not unsettled so much as seasonable. 
“ When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang 
Upon those bonghs which shake against the cold, 
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.” 
With us at least the sweet birds did something besides sing. 
The blackbirds held high banquet in the boughs of the Cherry 
trees, making no mistake in the successions from early Kentish to 
late Morello. Their audacity and the audacity of smaller birds is 
more irrepressible than ever. In a graceful poem under the well- 
known initials “W. W. S.,” in “ Blackwood’s Magazine ” (August), 
the blackbird is credited with a black bill :— 
“ His are the sunny sides that through and through 
He stabs with his black bill.” 
Shakespeare in “ Midsummer Night’s Dream ” has— 
“ The woosel-cock so black of hue 
With orange-tawny bill.” 
And Tennyson in “ The Blackbird ”— 
“A golden bill! the silver tongue.” 
My observation inclines to the yellow bill. Is it always yellow ? 
Would it be too much to ask the favour of an opinion from one of 
the learned contributors to the Journal 1 Does the age of the bird 
affect the colour of the bill ? Can our English poets and a 
distinguished American all three be right ?—A. M.'B., Mid Lincoln. 
LAWN MOWERS. 
We note under this heading in your last issue on page 374 
that Mr. R. Inglis attaches great importance to the practice of 
leaving the cut grass on the lawn, maintaining that by thus 
keeping up the fertility he keeps down the Daisies; but he says he 
collects the grass round flower beds and the edges of the lawn, so 
that we should like to know whether there is not a well-defined 
border of the “ wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,” or whether 
the fertility of these places is kept up by the application of lawn 
manure, or in any other way. If there is really an advantage in 
the practice, there is surely some decided difference in the ap¬ 
pearance of the two differently treated parts, which, however, 
Mr. Inglis fails to record. 
Our experience of leaving the cut grass on the lawn as in most 
subjects of a like nature, is that the same rule does not hold good 
in all cases. Where the growth is not very luxuriant, aDd mowing 
is well attended to, the practice may be followed, but where there 
is a vigorous growth it is not to be recommended. We have 
known instances where sweeping and handpicking have been 
resorted to in order to remove the,, dead grass, which was accumu¬ 
lating in sufficient quantity to give a brown appearance to the 
lawn. The application of a little lawn manure in the spring will 
keep up the vigour of the grass, and the cut grass may be eco¬ 
nomically used by digging it in for any other crop.— James 
Carter & Co. 
THE ROSE ELECTION. 
TEAS AND NOISETTES. 
I NOW proceed to give the result of the voting for twenty-four 
varieties. In this, of course, the columns are the same as on 
page 345. I have only added an additional column showing the 
position of each Rose in the election of thirty-six varieties, so 
that it is easy for anyone interested to see the variation of 
