November 4, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
large and very small are not fair samples of the variety you wish 
to increase. The best early Potatoes are sent to Covent Garden 
market from Lisbon, and are grown in shallow sandy soil, and are 
quite free from disease. Then if light soils are so good for early 
varieties why not for the late also ? The crops may not be so 
great, but a small quantity of good tubers is of more value than 
a large but diseased crop. It is plain we should select a warm 
position and light land as the best preventive of disease. We 
should then not have to complain of the Peronospora which we so 
frequently incautiously encourage by planting in unsuitable ground, 
thus producing disorganised tissues, which, combined with con¬ 
genial atmospheric conditions, render the plants liable to the 
attacks of the fungus. Decay commences, and what we call the 
Potato disease is simply the result of the fungus acting upon and 
destroying the tissues.—R. C. 
THE TUBEROSE. 
According to Loudon this beautiful flower was introduced into 
this country fully two centuries and a half ago, and gradually 
came into favour among gardeners—not so much, perhaps, from 
its merits as a plant and easy culture, as from the beauty of its 
flowers. I, however, think it is not grown by gardeners so much 
as it ought to be, hence my reason for calling attention to it. 
There is a tendency among us to cultivate plants that possess 
good habit and ornamental foliage combined, with but a moderate 
amount of merit as to the flowers they produce ; but those whose 
ambition it is to grow the most beautiful flowers must certainly 
include the Tuberose. I have grown it for many years and cannot 
yet find a substitute for it. Even the lovely Stephanotis and 
Gardenia, useful as they are, have not supplanted it. 
Purchase the bulbs of a respectable nurseryman, who will supply 
good, sound, well-ripened bulbs reasonable in price. Now is a good 
time to obtain them for early spring blooming. If in quantity 
divide them into two or three batches for succession. Pot the 
first at once, either three bulbs in a 32-sized pot, or one good bulb 
in a 48-pot. In either case use a rich loamy soil, or if the loam is 
poor add one-third of well-decayed manure that will pass through 
a quarter-inch sieve, and a little sand. Pot rather firmly, after¬ 
wards place them in a cold frame, and cover them with fine coal 
ashes or some other material that will run between the pots. This 
will keep the soil sufficiently moist for rooting to commence, 
which will begin in a fortnight. As they advance take them out, 
and for a few days place them in a position where they at first 
have but a moderate light, such as under the stage of a plant 
house. It will be seen that the young growth will gradually 
assume a natural colour, when the plants may have the full light 
and heat of an intermediate house. A stove heat is more than 
they need, and to have them in flower quickly a cool greenhouse 
is not sufficient. After making a little foliage the flower spikes 
begin to appear, and as they grow to from 2 to 4 feet in height 
and are very slender, a stake must be placed to each. Each 
spike if good will produce two dozen blooms in succession, pure 
white with a most delicious fragrance. 
There are three or four so-called good varieties in cultivation, 
but the best are the old Polianthes tuberosa and P. tuberosa 
fl.-pleno. When in bloom they are conspicuous if placed in the 
conservatory with the spike of flowers arising just above other 
plants, but they would be principally required for cutting. The 
perfume is strong, therefore for room or any part of house deco¬ 
ration too many must not be employed at one time. During 
growth the plants are subject to the attacks of green and black 
aphides, which infest the spikes of flowers. Liquid manure given 
twice a week will be found to benefit the plants, and by potting in 
succession they may be had in flower during the greatest part of 
the year. Some cultivators assert that if after flowering the bulbs 
are well ripened off they will flower as well another year ; but 
although I have tried that plan I could not find that they were to 
be depended on, as not above one-third of the bulbs flowered, and 
the spikes were short and the flowers small. No doubt most 
florists and growers for market around large towns find a ready 
sale for the Tuberose flowers. They are among the most useful 
for cutting for bouquets, wreaths, and buttonholes, as they are 
sweet-scented, pretty, and last a long time.— Thomas Record, 
Sheffield. 
Transplanting Fruit Trees.— In the last issue of the 
Journal I read some instructions regarding transplanting. Let 
me say for the encouragement of any who may have such work 
before them this winter, that I lifted a row of what had been 
dwarf standard Apple trees, but which have now become large. 
The soil being very stiff I had a large tub with water at hand 
into which every tree root was laid and well washed, all bad root 
or canker was removed, and the trees were then planted as de¬ 
scribed by your correspondent. The result has been that we had 
a crop of Apples last season, whereas these trees had previously 
seemed to be decaying.—A. B. 
FUNGI A CAUSE OF DISEASE. 
I venture to say a few words with regard to the discussion in 
the Journal of Horticulture between Mr. Luckhurst and “ S.” 
about the Potato disease, cause, and effect, and whether fungi are 
the results of disease or the cause. It seems to me that there is 
a third point not touched upon. The cause of a disease is not the 
same as the disease itself, and the result or effects produced by 
a disease is, again, different from the cause of the disease, or 
the actual disease itself. Take, for instance, disease in animal or 
human life. Infection is the cause of disease, as in the case of 
cattle plague or pleuro-pneumonia. The result of the disease 
differs according to the treatment, or the power of resisting it, or 
the malignity of it. Some diseases are far more infectious than 
others ; certain states of vitiated atmosphere and climate induce 
disease in many cases ; but we must distinctly draw a difference 
between the cause or origin of disease, the disease itself, and the 
results. 1 need not enter upon so wide or difficult a subject as 
the infectious natures of disorders, such as typhoid and scarlet 
fevers, small pox, &c., but it is an undoubted fact that the most 
dangerous diseases are often the most insidious, and arise from 
apparently small causes. 
The question in discussion between Mr. Luckhurst and “ S.” is 
whether fungi are a cause or only a result of disease. I presume 
Mr. Luckhurst would wish us to infer that it is owing to a previous 
disease or injury to the plant that fungi are produced—in other 
words, that the plant is diseased, and owing to the disease the 
fungi grow. Why, however, in the case of the Potato disease was 
it unknown in England previous to a particular year, 1845 ? and 
why is that disease, which was then introduced into England, 
always accompanied by the attack of the Peronospora infestans ? 
Our leading fungologists, who have carefully examined the ques¬ 
tion, have certainly decided that the injury to the Potato plant 
is caused by the spread of the fungus by means of spores and 
mycelium through the tissues of the plant, the leaf, haulm, and 
tubers; that as “ A Lincolnshire Potato Grower,” in the 
Journal of Horticulture of the 23rd September, in calling atten¬ 
tion to an article of Mr. Worthington Smith’s in the Agricultural 
Gazette , points out that the spores of the Peronospora are present 
everywhere, and that the resting spores have great vitality. Only 
those who have carefully studied the question have any idea of 
the number or the minuteness of the spores of the various fungi, 
and this which attacks the Potato seems to be a remarkable 
example of it. There are certain stages of growth combined with 
atmospheric influences, such as moisture, warmth, &c., which pre¬ 
dispose the plants for the reception and growth of the fungi. We 
may thus say with Mr. Luckhurst there are causes which help the 
disease ; but surely these causes are not the disease itself, but the 
injury to the plant and the destruction of the crop is caused by 
the growth of the fungus. The fungus cannot in my opinion be 
called the result of the disease, but is the actual means by which 
the Potato plant is destroyed and the tubers made unfit for use, 
and therefore may be considered as the disease itself. There are 
kinds of Potatoes no doubt less liable to the disease than others, 
but experience has proved that none are altogether capable of 
resisting it; and though in the Scotch Champion, Magnum Bonum, 
and others of that character which have harder and more fibrous 
haulms, the tissues seem less favourable for the growth of the 
fungus, still no Potato is disease-proof, and we cannot, I think, 
under these conditions separate the fungus from the disease itself, 
or say that the fungus merely grows on plants previously diseased, 
which seems to be the line of argument Mr. Luckhurst takes. 
The same seems to be the case in Peach-leaf blister. Cold winds 
are the predisposing cause, but the disease itself is from the 
growth of fungus, which finds the leaf injured by the cold winds 
a suitable nidus ; the result is the destruction of the leaf by the 
fungus, and the disease often spreads to other leaves on the same 
tree which were not previously injured by the cold winds. 
I had written the above remarks previous to reading the Journal 
of the 21st, which contains another letter from “ S.” on the subject. 
I think what he there says should be sufficient to show Mr. Luck¬ 
hurst that his statements with regard to fungus being always or 
even generally the result of disease will not hold true in the 
generality of cases. In the Journal of Horticulture 14th Mr. 
Luckhurst tried to explain his original statement, where he uses 
the expression “ In every instance the idea is erroneous,” by 
saying his statement was only “general ” as far as it referred to 
the three forms of disease mentioned. Certainly the words “in 
