154 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 22, isss. 
up roughly early in the autumn, no manure being then added. In 
the spring, when planting time comes, it is again dug and planted as 
the work proceeds. The sets, according to the kind or height, are 
given plenty of room, so that they are never crowded. Dwarf kinds 
are planted 26 inches from row to row, 15 inches apart in the row ; 
medium growers are 30 inches from row to row, 18 inches in the row ; 
tall kinds, such as Magnum Bonum and Reading Hero, 3 feet apart 
each way. I generally plant the sets not more than 4 inches under 
the soil, but earth up well; the last time one man follows another, 
and presses the soil up well to the stems with his hands. I have 
tried many kinds of Potatoes, and for seven years have had most of 
new kinds as they have been offered to the public, and in every kind 
tried have found the manure I name to answer the best, but so much 
would not answer on lighter soils and in dry weather. I must also 
say that for quality those raised by Mr. Fenn of late years are the 
finest, excepting the Ashleaf section. I never plant sets with more 
than two eyes, and for exhibition only one.— Charles Ilott, Woka- 
field Park, Mortimer. 
1. First week in February. Early Handsworth, *Rivers’ Royal Ash¬ 
leaf, *Veitch’s Ashleaf, Myatt’s Ashleaf. Soil.—Light. 2. Third week 
in February. Suttons’ Woodstock Kidney, *Suttons’ Fiftyfold, *Sut- 
tons’ Reading Russet, Suttons’ Early Border. Soil.—Light. 3. First 
week in March. Paterson’s Victoria, *Suttons’ Reading Hero, Mag¬ 
num Bonum, *Scotch Champion. Soil.—Light. Cultural Remarks.— 
j Garden Potatoes.—We lightly manure our Potato land in the 
autumn and ridge it, fork it over in February, and plant with a 
pin, allowing 3 feet from each row and 2 feet from each set. Field 
Late Potatoes.—Field Potato land is dunged in the autumn, about 
j eight loads to the acre, ploughed early in the autumn, and again 
ploughed in the spring the reverse way, and well harrowed when the 
land is dry enough. Distance between the rows 2 feet 6 inches ; 1 foot 
6 inches between the sets.— William Meads, Beckett Park. 
1. Fourth week in March. *Kentish or Mona’s Pride, Myatt’s Ash- 
! leaf. Soil.—A medium soil will suit the above-named varieties the 
: best. 2. Fourth week in March. ♦American Purple, Early Rose, 
Schoolmaster, *Reading Russet. Soil—A light soil will be found the 
best for the above. 3. First week in March. *Paterson’s Victoria, 
♦Magnum Bonum, *White Elephant. Soil.—A rather poor medium 
soil is most suitable for these. Manures and Application.—I recom¬ 
mend manuring the previous season and cropping it with green vege¬ 
tables before cropping the land with Potatoes, and if wood ashes can 
be obtained I lay the sets in the trench and cover them with the 
ashes. Cultural Remarks.—I have grown a great number of varieties 
of Potatoes, but have found very few that are really good for table. 
I grew about forty varieties last season. The American Purple I 
found to be the best, as when cooked it is snow white and very 
j floury. It is a heavy cropper when grown on a light soil.— William 
SKARROTT, Woolley Firs, Maidenhead Thicket. 
1. First week in April. Hammersmith Kidney, Mona’s Pride, 
♦Myatt’s Ashleaf, Porter’s Excelsior. Soil.—Light gravelly loam, 
i resting on a shingly subsoil. 2. First week in April. *Snowflake,’ 
Lapstone, Dawe’s Matchless, *Dalmahoy. Soil.—Soil the same as for 
first earlies. 3. End of March. *Paterson’s Victoria, Magnum 
Bonum, *Tork Regent, Reading Hero. Soil. —A fine productive 
loam of medium texture on a subsoil of chalk. Manures and Appli¬ 
cation.—Our first and second earlies generally have a good dressing 
of spent hotbed manure forked in at time of planting. Late varieties 
receive a dressing of well-decomposed farmyard manure, ploughed in 
about the middle of January. Cultural Remarks.—We generally 
rely upon the old standard varieties, as a great many of the newer 
introductions do not give satisfaction, although I think Reading Hero 
will prove an exception. As a first early Hammersmith Kidney is all 
that could be desired with us. I find early planting is a great mis¬ 
take, especially with us, as we are situated in a valley close to the 
river Thames.—S. Mortimer, The Gardens , Purley Park, Reading. 
1. Early in March. Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, Early Coldstream. 
Soil.—Heavy, with a chalk subsoil, and is the same in both the 
following cases. 2. End of March or early in April. Woodstock 
j Kidney, Radstock Beauty. Lapstone. 3. Early in April. *Magnum 
I Bonum, Scotch Champion, Reading Hero, Paterson’s Victoria. 
Manures and Application.—No manure is given when the tubers are 
planted, but they are planted where the ground was manured one 
year previously. No artificial manure is used, as we have plenty of 
stable manure here, and the quality of the tubers is not so good 
when too much manure is employed. Cultural Remarks.—The 
earliest Potatoes are laid singly to sprout some time before planting 
j and are planted 2 feet apart between the rows, and 1 foot from set to 
set, the two early kinds mentioned being of very good quality. The 
later kinds are planted at various distances apart from 2 to 3 feet 
between the rows, according to the strength of the haulm. Magnum 
Bonum is a first-class Potato for field culture in this neighbourhood. 
Vicar of Laleham is a wonderful cropper, but does not eat well grown 
on our heavy soil. Suttons’ Prizetaker cropped well, and the tubers 
when cooked were of first-rate quality. Suttons’ Reading Hero 
cropped well, and was free from disease and of good quality when 
cooked. I think these two kinds -worthy of extensive cultivation 
but have not yet seen them tried for field culture— Joshua Atkins' 
Lockinge Gardens, Wantage. ’ 
!• The two first in frames in January, in open ground the middle 
of April. Suttons’ Selected Ashleaf, Suttons’ Early Border, Suttons’ 
Field Ashleaf, Suttons’ Lady Truscott. Soil.—A fair sound gravelly 
loam is the nature of my soil. The middle of April, as a rule, is the 
most suitable time for all the early sorts in the open ground, for if 
planted earlier they are in too much danger of being cut off by frost. 
2, Middle of April. Suttons’ Woodstock, Suttons’ Early Regent, 
Buttons’ Prizetaker, Suttons’ Reading Russet. Soil.—Same as for 
first earlies. 3. The Fiftyfold and Standard middle of April, Hero 
and Magnum the middle of March if the weather is dry and the 
ground suitable. Suttons’ Standard, Suttons’ Fiftyfold, Suttons’ 
Reading Hero, Suttons’ Magnum Bonum. Soil.—If a low-lying, 
stiff, cold soil defer the planting till April. An extensive trial of 
autumn-planted Potatoes, with their exact prototypes, planted last 
April, was carried out at the Messrs. Suttons’ trial grounds, and, with 
the exception of Early Border and Fenn’s Graft Hybrid, every sort 
turned out quite one-third less in produce from those which were 
autumn-planted. Manures and Application.—I never was an advocate 
for raw manures—viz., farmyard or other dungs, at planting time. I 
use these for other crops a year previously, and I may say, for my 
experience, I have used but little of the artificial manures. Dissolved 
bones mixed with road grit, ditch cleanings, and matters of this sort, 
cannot be used amiss at the time of planting, more or less, according 
to the stamina of the soil. Quicklime is good for stiff loam or on 
clay, and wood ashes are always acceptable to me. Cultural Remarks. 
—I may say that I now grow Potatoes on a much larger scale than 
was my wont years ago, and I cannot adopt the nicety of cultivation 
that I then took so much pleasure to write about. I do not depart, 
however, from the advice I gave in the old Cottage Gardener in re¬ 
gard to very early produce—viz., by selecting the seed when the crop 
is dug, preserving it in shallow layers where they can be easily 
covered in case of frosts. Under this management the tubers will 
have made strong sturdy shoots by the beginning of April. When 
young Potatoes are required for early market purposes they should 
be planted by the beginning of April, and then quite three weeks in 
precocity may be calculated upon ; but the young growing tops must 
be carefully watched for, and covered or earthed over to prevent 
injury from frosts.— Robert Fenn, Sulhamstead Abbots, near Reading. 
Buckinghamshire. —1. As early in February as the state of the 
weather will permit. *Early Bird, *Veitch’s Ashleaf, and Ruby. 
Soil.—Mostly planted on borders, which are of a light rich loam. 
2. Middle of March. *Myatt’s Ashleaf, Dalmahoy, *Prince Arthur, 
♦Paterson’s Victoria, Schoolmaster. Soil.—Moderately heavy loam. 
3. Middle of April. *Magnum Bonum, Scotch Champion, *Dunbar 
Regent, Vicar of Laleham. Soil.—We have medium and heavy loam 
used for this crop. In dry autumns the heavy loams produce best 
results. Manures and Application.—The Aylesbury Native Guano, 
wood ashes, stable manure, and charred garden refuse. Manures are 
dug in the ridges in the autumn, native guano and wood ashes strewn 
in the bottom of the ridges, and mixed with the soil before planting. 
Cultural Remarks.—All the ground intended for Potatoes is ridged 
early in autumn ; for late varieties 3 feet apart, early varieties 
2J feet apart. The sets are planted between the ridges and slightly 
covered with the loose soil on the sides of the ridges. As they grow 
the soil is kept drawn up to them, and sometimes the soil between 
the ridges is forked over. I have grown here over forty varieties of 
Potatoes, but at present our main crops are of the above varieties. 
I am growing Reading Hero, but cannot form an opinion of it at 
present.—J. Smith, Mentmore, Leighton Buzzard. 
1. First or second week in February. Veitch’s Ashleaf, Lady 
Paget, Early Bird, Union. Soil.—Light and rich, in which the 
Ashleaf section does remarkably well. 2. Early Rose, Covent Gar¬ 
den Perfection, Climax, Early Coldstream. Soil.—Light and rich. 
Intermediate crops lifted early are excellent in all respects. 3. School¬ 
master, Magnum Bonum, Paterson’s Victoria, Champion. Soil._ 
Light, rich. Late kinds produce too much haulm, but yield abun¬ 
dantly. Cultural Remarks.— Potatoes are chiefly grown in the 
kitchen garden, which from good cultivation has naturally become 
very rich, and requires no manure for the Potato crop.— Geo. Thos. 
Miles, Wycombe Abbey Gardens. 
Cambridgeshire.— 1 . About 14th of February. Myatt’s Ashleaf, 
Veitch’s Ashleaf, Early Rose. Soil.—Very light and sandy; gravel 
subsoil. 2. About 15th of March. *Late Rose. 3. First week in April. 
♦Magnum Bonum. *Scotch Champion. Manures and Application._ 
I always use well-decayed farmyard manure, digging in a good 
dressing at least six weeks before planting. Cultural Remarks._ 
In planting I draw drills in preference to using a blunt dibber, as it 
does not leave a hard bottom for the sets to rest on. I keep them 
well hoed, and as soon as ripe take them up, and do not leave them 
in the ground, as often seen, choosing dry weather for the operation, 
and they will cook floury.—F. Orchard, The Gardens, Abington Hall. 
1. From the middle of March to the first week in April, except for 
extra early, which I plant in the latter end of February. *Myatt’s 
Prolific Ashleaf, *Suttons’ Fillbasket, Triumph, Beauty of Kent. 
Soil.—From light to stiffish loam. 2. About the middle of March. 
Woodstock Kidney, *Covent Garden Perfection, *Dalmahoy, Pride of 
America. Soil.—From light to stiffish loam. 3. As early in March 
as I can get the land in order. *Paterson’s Victoria, Reading Hero, 
♦Suttons’ Magnum Bonum, Schoolmaster. Soil.— From light to 
