486 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t November 25, isso. 
was sown in April, 1871, and I had forty-two roots of seedlings, 
with no two roots alike, and all differing from the parent in some 
way or other. What the male parent was I cannot tell, as I had 
many sorts planted, and there were allotment gardens close by 
with many other varieties planted in them. 1 have never seen any 
other seed balls on Early Rose since except from blooms I have 
crossed myself, and from these I have not found so muck variety 
as from those above mentioned. 
“ The next spring some kind friends helped to have my ground 
dug and planted, and as I continued weak and unable to exert 
myself in any way it gave me much pleasure to mark the progress 
and variety of these seedlings. As the season advanced the 
disease attacked the whole crop of Potatoes, and the haulm of all 
kinds went off very quickly. Not a green leaf was to be seen in 
field or garden except on one of my seedlings. One day a friend 
was walking through the garden with me, and coming to the 
seedlings, and seeing the green haulm, asked what Potato it was. 
I told him it was a seedling, and quite distinct from all other 
Potatoes that I knew. In 1873 it made its mark yet more dis¬ 
tinctly, and I, had rather more than a bushel of seed. When I 
dug them I told a brother gardener that I thought it was a Potato 
which in a few years’ time would take a leading place in the 
market. 
“In the spring of 1871 I discarded many of my seedlings as 
worthless, but found the one referred to and a few others very 
promising, and from these I selected six sorts, and sent them to 
Mr. Shirley Hibbcrd for trial. Mr. Hibberd wrote to say in reply 
that it was not his practice to take seedlings for trial, and I was 
not to be surprised if I heard no more of my seedlings. In the 
autumn, however, I received a note from Mr. Hibberd saying that 
he liked some of them well, and that if I wanted to sell the stock 
he thought he could find me a customer; at the same time he 
advised Messrs. Suttcn of Reading to apply for the stock. In 
response to a note from them I took some samples to Reading, 
when Mr. Martin J. Sutton selected Nos. 2 and 7, and bought the 
stock from me. No. 7 was the seedling which from the first with¬ 
stood the disease in such a marked manner, and it is now known 
as ‘ Suttons’ Magnum Bonum,’ a name given it by the Reading 
firm, to whom I sold not only the entire stock dug that year, but 
the right to call the Potato whatever they liked.— James Clark.” 
Such is the history of the Magnum Bonum and its raiser, and 
we trust that Mr. Clark, and the raiser of the Champion, Mr. 
Nicolls, will live long in the esteem of the many whom they have 
benefited by having been the means of supplying them with 
Potatoes when otherwise they would have had none. They have 
done what many others have done with great results—namely, 
made the best of small means, and have turned what numbers of 
people would have regarded as trivial circumstances, almost 
accidents, to excellent account. 
MORE ABOUT BLACKBIRDS. 
I AM very grateful for the accurate and specific information as 
to the colour of the bill of the blackbird so kindly contributed 
through the columns of the Journal by such authorities as Mr. 
Harrison Weir and Mr. Hiam. 
Birds appear plentiful this season, and already, before this 
bitter snowy weather succeeded two or three days of exceptionally 
high temperature and strong sunshine, they seemed pressed for 
food, coming close to the house and to the window sills. Being 
often a prisoner in winter, my powers of observation are but 
limited, but I had been interested a short time back in noticing 
some blackbirds amongst some Rose bushes which had been 
protected with the usual top-dressing for the winter, and after 
grubbing about on the ground one or two actually perched on the 
standards. The following number of the Journal (Nov. 1st) con¬ 
tained on page 435 Mr. Hiam’sinteresting “Notes on Birds,” and 
there I found described what doubtless had been the attraction 
to the blackbirds here, as to those which visited Mr. Hiam’s Pear 
tree. As far as I could see none of these birds had yellow bills ; 
but a day or two later they came again, and my attention was 
directed to a pert handsome bird flippiting on a Privet hedge 
close by. He must have been a male fully developed, the bill being 
of a deep but most vivid golden yellow.—A. M. B. 
The Meteorological Society.— The opening meeting of 
the session was held on Wednesday evening the 17th inst, at 
the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mr. Cf. J. Symons, F.R.S., 
President, in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected 
Fellows:—G. Corden, E. T. Dowson, F. Hepburn, B.A. ; C M 
Hepworth, J. Mulvany, M.D., R.N. ; T. H. G. Newton, Captain M. 
larry, E. 1. 1 hillips, and H. L. Roth. The j^apers read were— 
1, “ Table of Relative Humidity,” by Edward E. Dymond, F.M.S. 
2, “ Rainfall in South Africa,” by John G. Gamble, M.A.,-M.I.C.E., 
F.M.S. The author gives the monthly total rainfall from 103 
stations for the thirteen months, December 1878 to December 1879, 
and also the monthly means from all stations in South Africa 
from which a record of five years upwards could be obtained. It 
is shown that the Cape Peninsula, the south-west and the west 
coast have winter rains with a dry summer, characteristics of 
wbat is called the subtropical region, the rains coming with the 
N.W. wind or anti-trade ; while Natal, Aliwal North, and in a 
less degree Queenstown, have the tropical features of a wet summer 
and dry winter. On the south coast the rainfall appears to be 
more equally distributed throughout the year, though there seems 
to be an October maximum at Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage. 
In the central and northern Karroo the maximum of the very 
scanty rainfall occurs in February and March. These rains 
generally fall in thunderstorms. Each storm seems to come from 
a westerly direction, but it is a more or less well-ascertained fact 
that these rains do not fall up country until the south-easters have 
set in on the south and south-west coasts. In the south-east of 
the Colony the transition toward tropical features may be noticed, 
both Grahamstown and Kingwilliamstown showing a winter 
minimum in June. 3, “ On the Meteorology of Mackay, Queens¬ 
land,” by Henry L. Roth. 4, “ Thermometrical Observations on 
Board Ship,” by Captain W. T. Caborne, F.M.S. 
NERIUM OLEANDER. 
I WAS very much interested by the remarks contained in the 
extract from the letter of Mr. F. W. Burbidge, Curator of the 
Trinity College Botanic Gardens, Dublin, sent to your correspon¬ 
dent “ W. J. M.,” on the culture of this beautiful plant in Paris. 
I also have often wondered why our nurserymen do not send out 
flowering plants in small pots as are seen in Paris, for I find the 
culture very easy. I always grow them in this way, and am able 
to raise flowering plants from 9 inches to 1 foot high even in 
3-inch pots. The stock plants are allowed to grow in the open 
air during the summer months and ripen the wood on which the 
flower buds are formed. At the approach of cold weather they 
are brought into a vinery. In March, when the blossom buds are 
formed and beginning to swell, cuttings about 6 inches loDg are 
taken and inserted in bottles of water, which are plunged into 
cocoa-nut fibre in a stove having a bottom heat of from 80° to 85°. 
These cuttings produce roots very rapidly, and when these are 
about 1 inch long the cuttings are removed from the water and 
planted in the fibre. In about ten days or a fortnight they can 
be lifted, and the plants, with the mass of roots and fibre adhering 
to them, placed in 3 or 5-inch pots and again plunged into the 
fibre. If treated in this way the plants do not receive the 
slightest check from the time they leave the parent until they 
bloom, and when the roots fill the pots the blooms are fully 
expanded, and the plants can then be removed from the hotbed. 
In this way I have succeeded in flowering them in six to eight 
weeks.— Thomas Wm. Cowan, Ilorsham. 
TRANSPLANTING GOOSEBERRY BUSHES. 
The timely remarks under the above heading on page 431 
would be read with interest by many readers besides myself. 
Plaving a square of Gooseberry and Currant bushes in good 
health, covered-in with inch-mesh wire netting, a few remarks on 
this subject might not be out of place in the Journal. On taking 
charge of these gardens five years ago I at once formed a new 
square of young Gooseberry bushes, not liking them scattered 
along the sides of the walks all over the garden. Last winter 
they were covered-in, as the order is “ Kill no birds and destroy 
no eggs ; ” so we had no Gooseberries worth speaking of till this 
year. The netting is supported by iron uprights, angle iron run¬ 
ning around and across the square, bolted to the uprights—rather 
an expensive mode of protection, but one that will last for many 
years. The netting is 5 feet high, with one width sunk 3 inches 
in the soil around the square. We have, then, a piece of square 
mesh fish net to hang from the top down over the lower width of 
netting ; this makes all secure, and by lifting the net we can 
enter at any point. When not needed to protect either fruit or 
buds the fish net is taken down and stored in a dry place. I have 
heard that wire netting is injurious, but my bushes have thriven 
exceedingly well, and retained their foliage to the last. 
Caterpillars were rather troublesome at times through the. season. 
I have found the best plan is to dust the bushes with soot and 
lime, or dry wood ashes mixed with either of the two. As soon 
as the caterpillars are touched with the mixture they drop off the 
branches. I do not know if they die then, but so long as I can 
