398 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ October as, isso. 
however, intend to make any accusation against the wisdom of 
his method. I wrote simply with the object of stating my failure 
in my endeavour to follow him, hoping that some of your readers 
would set me right. I now see plainly that lifting the tubers 
while still growing is entirely contrary to Mr. Luckhurst’s plan. 
Let us try to turn all our failures and the advice offered to us to 
good account in 1881, and thereby give this vegetable the care 
and importance it deserves.—A. K. B. 
THE EFFECTS OF SNOW IN OCTOBER. 
A notice of some of the destructive effects of the heavy fall 
of snow that occurred on the night of the 19th and morning of the 
20th of October, will not be out of place in the pages of the 
Journal of Horticulture , which has so often treated with great 
ability the subject of landscape gardening. In the wooded 
district from which I write, at an altitude of from 500 to 800 feet 
above the sea, we could look down, on the afternoon of the former 
day, upon the broad expanse of the Wealds of Surrey and Sussex 
covered with Oak trees and pastures. Everything was green and 
summer-like, for none of the leaves had fallen or even changed 
colour. 
The next morning all this was hidden in snow, which was still 
falling thickly, and with us attained a depth, in places where it 
had not drifted, of 3 inches. Throughout the day the ominous 
creaking and crashing on all sides of us told of the splitting and 
fall of many a heavy branch, dismembering and disfiguring for 
ever the trees to which they belonged. The Oaks were the chief, 
if not the only sufferers. Heavily laden already with foliage and 
a more than usually great crop of acorns, the further weight 
of 3 inches of snow, which clung tenaciously to the whole surface 
of the trees, became to them much more than the last straw upon 
the camel’s back. Sturdy branches that looked the type of 
strength and endurance were broken, twisted, and borne to the 
ground, much as some delicate plant might have been. The Oaks 
that were most injured were the broad-spreading symmetrical 
trees. One such tree, an object of interest, almost of affection to 
us all, is so crumpled and crushed that it looks as if some giant of 
our childhood days, all too heavy, had sat down upon it. We can 
now only hope that what our trees have lost in symmetry they 
will gain in picturesque effect. Elm trees have lost a few branches, 
Ash trees still fewer, and Beeches, of which there are some fine 
specimens about here,"are unscathed. With regard to Conifers, 
although there are great numbers of Scotch Firs and Larch near 
us, I have not observed that they are damaged, and the same may 
be said of many other kinds of Conifers which are used for the 
decoration of lawns and grounds. 
Within twenty-four hours from the commencement of its fall 
the snow was in great measure gone, and the earth again looked 
green, in remarkable contrast with its recent appearance. It 
has been stated that fifty years have elapsed since the occurrence 
of a heavy fall in snow in October in the south of England; but 
I am informed by a friend that many Oaks and other trees in this 
neighbourhood were greatly injured, whilst still in full leaf, by a 
heavy snowfall only twenty years ago. 
It was interesting to observe how completely surprised the 
swallows must ha.ve been by the snow. I saw several of these 
birds skimming the snow over and over again in a vain search. I 
presume, for insects. The next day not one of the birds was to be 
seen, so little preparation in the way of arranging was necessary 
previous to their departure for the season to a warmer climate.— 
A Surrey Physician. 
At 4 A.M. on Wednesday the 20th inst. a shower of fine hard 
snow commenced falling ; this continued for about two hours, 
when large flakes came down thickly and continued falling till 
mid-day. Most of the deciduous trees still retain their foliage, 
upon which the snow gathered so heavily that the effect was most 
disastrous. Never have I seen or heard anything like it. After 
daybreak for some hours it was like a battlefield; reports followed 
each other in quick succession, occasionally merging into a regular 
volley, and down came the boughs crashing among the under¬ 
growth, and spreading destruction on all sides. The Oaks suffered 
most, many trees having the entire head crippled, the whole of 
the branches being broken partly asunder and remain hanging 
down in most melancholy guise. Hundreds of others have lost 
some branches, so that many fine trees are hopelessly disfigured. 
The Beeches escaped with comparatively little harm owing to the 
fact of the more erect disposal of their branches, and the leaves 
had fallen off many of the upper branches. So fast fell the snow 
that it was onjy by repeatedly shaking it off the shrubs with poles 
that they were saved from permanent injury. A sharp frost 
followed on Wednesday night, covering the pools with ice and 
nipping any tender growth left bare of snow. The frost did not 
continue, the snow gradually melted, and by Friday it had dis¬ 
appeared, but the lamentable evidence of its presence will long 
remain.—E dward Luckhurst. 
THE POTATO DISEASE AND RAINFALL. 
While I cannot, like a certain author, write “for ever” on the 
Potato disease, I desire to refer to a sentence in the letter of 
“ Amateur, Cirencester on page 370 in his reply to “ Inter¬ 
loper ’’—namely, “there are many other little difficulties against 
the excessive rainfall theory.” Against any “ little difficulty ” I 
will adduce one great fact that I challenge your correspondent to 
disprove. It is this : In Lincolnshire when the rainfall is slight 
between April and October there is little or no disease, but when 
it is excessive the disease has ruined the crops. This has 
been uniformly the case. Never during a dry summer has the 
disease been prevalent, and never in a wet one has it been absent 
during the past thirty-five years. Any trifling exceptions to the 
contrary, such as recorded instances of the disease occurring under 
glass, are “ trifling ” indeed, and can have no weight against the 
one great actual fact adduced, which no amount of argument can 
explain away. I confine my remarks to Lincolnshire, and if the 
rain has a different effect in Gloucestershire, “ Amateur,” who 
appears fond of “ theory,” will no doubt be able to explain the 
reason. All experience proves that wet and muggy weather com¬ 
bined with a high temperature is favourable to the germination 
and growth of the Potato-destroying fungus, any theory to the 
contrary notwithstanding.—A Lincolnshire Potato-Grower. 
GRAPES SHANKING. 
With healthy growth and the “ leaves quite green ” in Novem¬ 
ber it will be conceded that the wood of such Vines afterwards 
would not be extra ripe. As a somewhat similar question to 
asking why Grapes shank, it may be inquired, Why do Apples 
fail when half grown ? and is it necessary to seek for the reasons 
during the fruiting year-? My contention is that it is not. I 
contend that the constitution of all fruit is formed by heat natural 
or artificial during the previous year. Already the fruit bud to 
provide fruit for next season is either perfect or imperfect, and, 
in the north at least, materially will remain so. The Vine bud if 
unripe next year will develope either into tendrils, bunches badly 
set, bunches with stoneless berries, or I maintain bunches the 
berries of which will shank. 
Regarding the shanking of the Gros Colman Grapes that has 
been alluded to, I have some this year quite similar, and which I 
expected would shank, and in fact said so many times last winter. 
This is more especially a peculiar failing of the Gros Colman 
Grape. When the wood is imperfectly ripened the fruit sets com¬ 
paratively well, stones well, but under such circumstances portions 
of some of the bunches shank. It is no argument that all do not 
shank, any more than it is that all Apple buds are ill developed, 
some not coming to maturity. In ripening, some fruit buds always 
take the lead. 
I will advance a circumstance that I contend materially 
strengthens my argument, and which any of your readers who 
choose may see. This spring, having a few young canes of Gros 
Colman left unsold, instead of cutting them down I determined 
to fruit them, and now two of them are carrying eight bunches 
without a shanked berry. The berries are not so large as those 
on the permanent Vines, but the bunches are very good. Why is 
this difference? I think it is plain. Both the established and 
the young canes were grown up to October without fire heat, 
and except some being in pots they had exactly the same treat¬ 
ment, but the canes of the established Vines were three times the 
thickness of those in the pots, and consequently required more 
heat to ripen them, which they did not have. None of the other 
Grapes in the house have been shanked, and all alike have carried 
a light crop. I do not contend that other canes will not produce 
shanking, there is no necessity to do so, and, moreover, im¬ 
perfect fruit buds are quite as likely to result from unhealthy 
Vines grown in undrained sour borders as they are to result from 
strong-growing healthy Vines, but which lack sufficient or pro¬ 
portionate heat. With well-ripened Vines, reasonable cropping 
and reasonable attention regarding Grapes, gardeners may sleep 
soundly.— Joseph Witherspoon, lied hose 1 ineries, Chestcr-lc- 
Street. 
Automatic Movements of a Fern.— Dr. Asa Gray says 
Mr. E. J. Loomis of the Nautical Almanac Office, Washington, 
recently showed me a phenomenon w'hich I suppose has never 
before been noticed, and which is commended to the attention of 
