112 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 8, 1883. 
say, were ripe two months ago. I might write pages on the 
uncertainty of the time at which Pears will ripen at different 
seasons, one kind keeping good until Christmas, as a rule, then 
the nest year upsetting all our calculations by ripening in October, 
but it would be only a waste of time and paper, as I know of no 
way of retarding them. This last autumn four kinds that should 
have kept until December were all gone by the end of October, 
while one kind that has always been ripe in October was good 
and firm in December.—G. B. 
CROTON LEAVES IN FLOWER GLASSES. 
Anyone who has a number of flower glasses to keep supplied 
with cut flowers during the winter and spring months) often finds 
it more difficult to obtain a supply of fresh Fern fronds than 
flowers, especially during the spring, as the fronds are cut as soon 
as they appear, and they keep fresh for a very short time in such a 
young state. For the last few years when filling our flower 
glasses we have always furnished a few with Croton leaves of 
different varieties, and find them both useful and effective. Large 
trumpet-shaped glasses with a few arching leaves of Croton 
Warreni give a graceful appearance, and for smaller glasses the 
leaves of the old variegatus section answer well, and save both 
Ferns and flowers. The plants that we denude of their foliage 
for this purpose are such as have been used for room-decora¬ 
tion. Those plants when put back to their old quarters, the stove, 
generally lose all their leaves by degrees, and it is best to cut 
them down and let them start afresh. —David Murray, Culzean 
Gardens. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Highland and Agricultural 
Society of Scotland held at Edinburgh, Mr. Jas. L. Guild, Abbey 
Farm, North Berwick, moved “ That, as the cultivation of the Potato 
is rendered very precarious owing to the ravages of disease, and as it 
appears that the best mode of resisting it lies in the raising and intro¬ 
ducing new varieties, it be remitted to the Directors to encourage the 
same by the giving of premiums or otherwise.” In supporting his 
motion Mr. Guild said, “ From the time of its introduction to the 
year 1845-4(3 the Potato grew and flourished in almost perfect health, 
but in that year a dreadful calamity suddenly overtook it. It would 
be interesting to know what the meteorological conditions of that 
year were, so that we might try to account for the collapse which 
took place ; but at any rate, it seemed as if a fiery vapour had passed 
over the land, for in a few days what were to appearance healthy 
plants were nothing but blackened shaws from one end of the country 
to the other; and so much dependance had come to be put on the 
plant in some quarters, especially in Ireland, that the result of its 
failure was disastrous, and an amount of famine and loss of life took 
place which was, happily, unknown before from such a cause in the 
annals of the country. From that year to the present no season has 
been entirely free from blight, and for the last ten years—owing, I 
suppose, to the amount of moisture and other atmospheric causes— 
disease has been rife, and great loss has been sustained by farmers. 
I have heard and know of whole fields being actually ploughed up 
owing to the quantity of sound tubers being too limited to pay the 
cost of lifting. That the cultivation of the Potato has raised the 
value of land is undeniable. In East Lothian alone I would estimate 
the rise from this cause at £2 an acre. Farmers have been growing 
Potatoes on land which was never intended by Nature to be used for 
that purpose, and the disease has been so bad on that class of soil 
that their cultivation will have to be given up, and rents reduced to 
their old figure. To show the great importance of the Potato culti¬ 
vation, and the loss sustained by disease, I have made the following 
calculation. Of course, my figures are open to criticism, but I do not 
think I am guilty of any exaggeration. The total number of acres 
grown in the last ten years in Scotland, as given by the Board of 
Trade returns, is 1,682,627. I would estimate the average crop grown 
at 5 tons an acre, making 8,413,135 tons. Then the amount of disease 
per acre I w r ould put at 20 per cent., or one-fifth, making a loss of 
1,612,726, at say £3 a ton .£5,047.881 
But from this I deduct 75 per cent., used for 
cattle-feeding or other purposes — viz., 
1,261,970 tons, at £1. 1,261,970 
And leaving a total loss to farmers and the 
country of.£3,785,911 
If the whole of Great Britain be taken, the loss by a similar calcula¬ 
tion is three rimes as great, being upwards of £10,000,000, or over 
£1,000,000 a year. I do not intend to take up the time of this meeting 
in speculating as to what is the origin or cause of this disease, it is 
sufficient for my purpose that the enemy exists, and that to an alarm¬ 
ing extent; but I believe there is now little doubt that it is a vege¬ 
table fungus w’hich first attacks the leaves, and is the result of fer¬ 
mentation under certain conditions of the atmosphere. Now, I am 
quite well aware that commissions have sat, inquiries have been made, 
experiments have been tried to prevent or mitigate the plague, but 
hitherto without much success. While saying this, however, I must 
compliment Herr Jensen of Denmark on the energy he has shown on 
the subject; but the result of the experiments which have been con¬ 
ducted with his plough this year in East Lothian have not, I am sure, 
been, even to his own mind, very satisfactory. 
There is one way, and one only, by which the disease can be over¬ 
come, and that is raising new varieties ; and I trust that this meeting 
will show by their vote their sense of the importance of the subject. 
It has been proved beyond doubt by actual practice that the various 
sorts have a limited term of life. Where are all the sorts which were 
cultivated twenty years ago ? The end has been the same in each 
case. They got too tender and liable to disease, and had to be given 
up. The once famous Regent is now practically in disuse. Pater¬ 
son’s Victoria will soon follow. But that is not the worst feature in 
the case. Fifteen or twenty years ago there was an endless number 
of varieties ; now there are only five or six in general cultivation, and 
all these are more or less diseased this year. To crown all, I know of 
only two new varieties ready to take their placp, and everything 
points to the need of a society such as this stepping into the breach 
with substantial encouragement. I am sorry the Directors of this 
Society have seen fit to oppose my scheme. I have heard the argu¬ 
ment used that it should be left to individual enterprise, there being 
plenty of payment in bringing out a new variety. Was there pay¬ 
ment to the rearer of the Victoria or Champion ? But even supposing 
there was, I deny that that removes the responsibility from this and 
kindred societies : that argument is utterly untenable. Why does 
this Society hold shows and give large premiums to the best of the 
different classes of stock? Is it not to encourage the rearing and 
breeding of that stock ? There is no reason why the rearer of the 
best varietv of new Potato should not also obtain a premium. Is it 
not the object of this Society to encourage, not one branch but all 
branches of agriculture ? If that is so, then I leave my motion with 
confidence in the hands of this meeting. I consider that in times like 
these, when agriculture has received such a shock, that it is particu¬ 
larly the duty of a society such as this to do everything in its power 
to foster and encourage farming in all its branches, and I make bold 
to say that it will stultify itself if it refuses this small modicum of 
help to agriculture which I propose.” 
Mr. Gardiner, Chapelbank, seconded the motion. 
Mr. Scott Dudgeon, Longnewton, said the Society were indebted to 
Mr. Guild for bringing forward this matter. He did not think the yearly 
loss was over-estimated at £10,000,000, for in 1879 the loss in Ireland 
alone was £8,000,000. The Directors, however, had not opposed the 
motion, but in the present stage of their funds they did not think they 
were justified in making a grant. A select Committee of the House of 
Commons sat on the subject two years ago, and agreed that the only 
hope of repressing the disease was by the creation of new varieties, 
and the Committee was of opinion that the Government should 
appoint in each country a superintendent to conduct the necessary 
experiments and furnish such new disease-resisting varieties. He 
moved that they memorialise the Government, and draw attention to 
the report of the Committee of 1880, ask what had been done, and 
press that the recommendations of the Committee be carried out. He 
had written to Mr. Barclay, M.P., on the subject, and had received a 
telegram stating that he did not think there was any hope of the 
Government doing anything. 
The amendment was seconded, but after some further discussion’ 
Mr. Guild's motion was carried by a majority. — (Irish Farmers’ 
Gazette.) 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. 
In further reply to Mr. Douglas I have to say that it resolves 
itself simply to this—1st, That the whole horticultural press 
must be wrong or that Mr. Douglas is right. Let me quote the 
Gardeners' Magazine, November 25th, page 645 :—“ The other 
end of the Hall was occupied by a collection of specimens of the 
most magnificent character from the gardens of T. H. Bryant, Esq , 
Surbiton.” “ The most important of the specimens were those 
exhibited not for competition by Mr. C. Beckett, gardener to T. H. 
Bryant, E c q., Glencairn, Surbiton. These numbered about thirty, 
and comprised standards, pyramids, and dwarf-trained, the latter 
measuring from 5 to 7 feet in diameter, and all were splendidly 
flowered and highly finished. The dwarf-trained specimens were 
unquestionably some of the very finest that have ever been 
exhibited, and the liberality of Mr. Bryant and the skill of his 
gardener were warmly eulogised by the visitors to the exhibition.” 
I believe the Gardeners' Chronicle said, “ Trained specimens 
were poorly represented if we except the magnificent collection 
at the end of the Hall exhibited by Mr. C. Beckett, gardener to 
T. H. Bryant, Esq.” I need not multiply quotations, your Journal 
was equally unanimous. 
I should not have been so offended at Mr. Douglas’s remarks 
had he not acted as a Judge at the show. Further, he left it two 
months before he ventures his opinion. However, it will take a 
much cleverer man than Mr. Douglas to alter a fact, and I most 
