JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 4, 1880. 
420 
thoroughly all the expenditure was thrown away, and that par¬ 
ticular plot is worse in some respects now than others which were 
not taken in hand. Mind, I admit that the work when well done 
is almost a perpetual benefit; but what would be the cost per 
acre, or in other words what would be the cost of excavating, 
wheeling, burning, and wheeling back again some 3000 cubic yards 
of clay 1 And how many years of the extra produce would it take to 
pay for the outlay ? The cost of wood would have to be reckoned 
now-a-days as well as the labour, for there is very little wasted 
on a well-managed estate where charcoal has to be made, and 
where everything worth tying up is made into faggots for sale. 
I have some 8 acres of heavy soil under the spade, and am well 
aware that a larger expenditure on it would produce more satis¬ 
factory crops of some kinds, and in the course of time the expense 
of working it would be lessened, but I am certain that were I to 
do one acre of it this season on Mr. Thomson’s plan I should not 
be allowed to remain to see the result. For all this I have 
little doubt that I burn as much clay as most gardeners do, and 
can show a very material improvement effected by it every 
season. 
I maintain that if a subsoil, whatever its nature, cannot be 
brought into a thoroughly good working condition on account of 
cost or otherwise, it is better not to disturb it at all, for 12 inches 
of surface soil will yield more satisfactory crops when only culti¬ 
vated to that depth than will 24 inches if half of it consists of 
either clay or sand. Many a piece of fertile ground has been 
rendered sterile simply by the act of trenching ; and I have long 
since come to the conclusion that unless the soil can be made rich 
and sufficiently porous to admit air constantly to the depth it is cul¬ 
tivated, that deep cultivation is a mistake. Burning the soil to the 
depth of 2 feet would render the soil permanently pervious to air, 
but burning it to the depth of 1 foot would not do that; and I 
imagine that 4 inches of burned clay spread on the surface, and 
dug in without disturbing the subsoil, would at a less expense be 
more satisfactory. That is the plan I follow and which, seconded 
by liming, is gradually bringing about a very great difference in 
the texture of the soil. When the burning is done on the quarter 
there is no choice of time for the operation ; it must be done when 
the crops come off, whether other work is pressing or not, and 
whether the ground is wet or dry. 
I practise having a good heap, some 600 or 800 yards, burned 
outside the garden every winter, to be wheeled on and used where 
most required all through the season. The management of the 
fire cannot be better described than it is done at page 380, except 
that we do not keep it round. It is generally square or oblong 
after it has been alight two or three weeks, and we enlarge the 
base on one side at a time as it is required. Managed thus, we 
find two or three men sufficient to keep it going, except when it 
occasionally breaks out more fiercely than usual and on Saturdays, 
when it requires an extra banking-up. 
The larger the fire becomes at the base the less is the com¬ 
parative cost of burning, as it takes less wood, and the clay can 
be merely wheeled on the top and tipped without much spreading. 
Stumps of shrubs, roots of rushes, coarse grass and weeds, are a 
great assistance, as they do not lie so close as the clay, and admit 
air into it. I had a heap burning six weeks last winter, and there 
is scarcely a day but some of it is used for some purpose. The 
stock is now getting short, and I hope soon to be able to start 
afresh. There is no lack of clay close at hand, indeed we have 
too much of it.— Wm. Taylor. 
THE POTATO DISEASE AND RAINFALL. 
I think your Lincolnshire correspondent must be a canny Scot, 
for instead of answering the queries I suggested to “ Interloper ” 
he asks me a question. Some time ago, according to Punch, when 
a Scotchman was asked which was the way to Glasgow, he replied, 
“ I guess ye are frae Lunnun.” But these queries must be answered 
by those who wish the rainfall theory to be considered. Why was 
it the Potato was cultivated in Great Britain for about two cen¬ 
turies before 1845 and no injury whatever done by excessive rain, 
but in that year the mischief began, and has continued ever since ? 
This is the little difficulty ; it is the pons asinoruni of the Potato 
disease subject. No matter how ingenious the theory or how 
elaborate the argument, unless you can answer this question all 
is labour in vain. At the same time I will for the present pass 
that over, and go to the other side of the question, and look at 
“Lincolnshire Potato Grower’s” query. I do not know 
really that 1 need say much or take much trouble to answer his 
query, for anyone who reads carefully the first part of his letter, 
and then the conclusion, will see that he answers himself in the 
last few lines. He brings forward this wonderful fact about the 
disease being so bad in wet years, and comparatively none (he 
does not mean this literally) in others, as though I had ever said 
the contrary, when such is certainly not the case. The disease is 
undoubtedly worse as a rule in Gloucestershire as well as other 
counties in wet seasons than in dry, but that is a very different 
thing from the rain being the cause or origin of the disease. 
When children go to school suffering from scarlet fever, other 
children are liable to take it ; in fact the spread of the disease is 
so much promoted by schools that the sanitary inspectors very 
often cl@se them. Would “ Lincolnshire Potato Grower ” 
say that schools were the cause of scarlet fever ? I do not suppose 
he would. Then, again, with regard to rain alone being the 
cause of the disease, your correspondent is in error in saying 
that wet seasons are invariably the worst. The year 1879, which 
was the wettest of this century, will long be remembered for 
its disastrous effects on the Potato crop as well as other crops, 
but the next wettest in the century—viz., 1860, which very closely 
resembled 1879, was a remarkable exception, for there was not 
much disease. How does “ Lincolnshire Potato Grower ” 
propose to account for this exception ? Perhaps he will say that 
he never intended to infer that rain alone was the cause of the 
disease ; if that is so I fail to see the point of his argument or his 
object in writing the letter. Perhaps I may reply to “Inter¬ 
loper’s ” queries next week.— Amateur, Cirencester. 
KEEPING GRAPES. 
The remarks on the above subject by Mr. William Taylor were, 
I think, fitly placed as a leader in your Journal. Ido not know 
that I should have troubled you with my remarks, but that twice 
within the last fortnight I have been spoken to personally on this 
matter. 1 fully agree with what your correspondent says except 
this—I always prefer to water my Vines on a fine day, early in 
the morning if possible, so that before night the surface soil may 
be moderately dry. I believe that Grapes are not prevented 
keeping well so much by a house being wet when they are 
hanging as by their not being well ripened. To keep Grapes late 
they must be well ripened by the middle or the end of September. 
Then, again, they must be well coloured to keep : bad-coloured 
Grapes are always the first to damp. My rule in keeping Grapes 
is to water the borders during the fine days of October, so that in 
the dull damp days of November the house may be kept dry, but 
not so dry as to injure the roots. I know from my own observations 
that nothing renders the buds plump better than a judiciously 
liberal supply of water in the winter, even when the Vines are 
supposed to be at rest. In watering, where Grapes are hanging, 
particular attention is required in ventilating, and it is always 
well to keep the ventilators open a little at the top of the house ; 
thus the heat in pipes will ensure the damp rising. In sunny 
weather ventilate freely. No greater mistake can be made than 
in supposing Grapes can be kept without fire heat, even though 
they may be grown in a fine season without it. I have grown 
Alicante weighing 2 lbs. the bunch this year without fire heat, but 
the Vines were planted this March, so I only had two bunches to 
a Vine. I started the fire to ripen the canes. 
My plan with late Grapes is to start the Vines the first week in 
March, so as to have them really in advance of the season, for it 
is no use depending on fine autumns for ripening purposes. No 
amount of fire heat now will colour Grapes. In my earlier days 
it was a matter of surprise to me to see late Grapes as a rule do 
so well, but I believe the great secret to be in the fact of having 
heat in the house in the autumn ; this, while keeping the fruit, at 
the same time ripens and hardens the wood. In all the houses 
here I planted the Vines in front of the pipes, believing this to 
be beneficial. I will here say I am no advocate for filling late 
vineries with plants ; in any case no plant should be directly 
under the Grapes. In lean-to late houses I have kept Straw¬ 
berry plants on a back border through the winter, and these 
I always keep well watered. In span houses a considerable 
number of plants may be kept on either side of the walk with¬ 
out encroaching. The bunches must be well thinned, and as 
soon as the Grapes are well finished gradually remove small 
laterals so as to admit air and light. Then with regard to cutting 
fruit, I am always content to clear out by the end of January, 
though I have by way of experiment kept Grapes until the first 
week of March before cutting, but nothing is gained by so doing. 
I may also say that had I a fruit room I should certainly prefer 
a dry floor. I do not know that this is really necessary, but I 
incline to a dry floor. I do not intend naming the best varieties 
here, but I have kept a whole house of Black Hamburgh for 
Christmas, and would do so again rather than put them in the 
market when the price is low. The Gros Colman is a Grape that 
is now exciting much attention, and justly so ; but I fear many 
will fail with it, for it requires plenty of heat, well thinning, and 
