214 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March is, isss. 
I use kainit and any manure containing nitrogen, which is cheap, 
according to quality, and farmyard manure as much as I can spare. 
On light lands I prefer deep ploughing.— Ism AY Fisher, Scawby, Brigg. 
1. Middle of February. Walnut-leaved Kidney, *Mona’s Pride, 
Myatt’s Prolific, and Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf. Soil.—Old kitchen 
garden soil of a light character. 2. Middle of March. *Early Rose, 
Breadfruit, Lapstone, and Covent Garden Perfection. 3. Middle of 
April. Schoolmaster, Paterson’s Victoria, Magnum Bonum, and 
*White Rock. Soil.—A medium yellow loam resting on limestone. 
Manures and Application.—For first and second earlies farmyard 
manure is dug in during winter, and at planting time ashes are placed 
in each trench or row. For late varieties farmyard manure is ploughed 
in fresh in autumn. At planting time the land is drawn into ridges 
with a ridging plough. Malt dust is then applied at the rate of a 
ton and a half to the acre. General Culture.—Malt dust has been 
used here for a number of years for the late Potatoes, and with such 
good results, both as regards crop and quality, that I feel satisfied 
a better manure for this crop cannot be easily found.— William 
Wright, The Gardens, Branston Hall. 
1. End of February, on south borders. Early Bird, *Veitch’s 
Improved Ashleaf, *Mona’s Pride, and Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf. Soil. 
—Good garden soil. 2. Middle of March. Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, 
*Covent Garden Perfection, *Extra Early Vermont, and Grampian. 
Soil.—Medium. 3. Beginning of April. *Chatnpion, *Magnum Bonum, 
Dunbar Regent, and Paterson’s Victoria. Soil.—Light medium. 
Manures and Application.—For garden cultivation ashes from refuse 
are mixed with a fourth part of lime, sprinkled in drills before plant¬ 
ing. For field culture 12 tons of old farmyard manure and 3 cwt. 
superphosphate per acre are applied to the drills before planting. 
General Culture.—Early Potatoes are kept during the winter in 
shallow boxes or on shelves. In a cool place I plant medium-sized 
whole tubers, which I consider better than very large or small sets. 
For field culture the same remarks apply. Early Potatoes are planted 
in rows 2 feet apart, 1 foot between the sets. Medium and late 
varieties are planted 3 feet between the rows, and 1 foot between the 
sets. I grow over one hundred varieties, and I do not find any of 
the new varieties equal to our well-tried Potatoes for quality and 
quantity.— David Lumsden, Bloxholm Hall, Sleaford. 
1. Middle of March. Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, Mona’s Pride, 
Porter’s Excelsior, and Dalmahoy. Soil.—Light loam. 2. Middle 
of April. Gloucestershire Kidney, Yorkshire Hero, Snowflake, and 
Fortyfold. 3. Middle of April. Paterson's Victoria, Schoolmaster, 
York Regent, and Magnum Bonum. Manures and Application.— 
Half-decayed farmyard manure, and used as dry as possible at the 
time of planting.—J. Gardner, The Gardens, Elsham Hall, Biigg. 
Middlesex. —1. March 28th. Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, Suttons’ 
Fillbasket, *EarIy Rose, and *Shaw. Soil.—Medium ; subsoil heavy, 
well drained. 2. March 22nd. Woodstock Kidney, Covent Garden 
Perfection, *Beauty of Hebron, and *Dalmahoy. 3. March 15th. 
^Reading Hero, *Magnum Bonum, ^Schoolmaster, and Red-skin 
Flourball. Manures and Application.—I find horse manure the best, 
dressing it in the autumn, laying the ground rough that it may be 
well pulverised. Cultural Remarks.—I prefer drawing drills with 
the hoe, the distance apart varying from 2 to 3 feet according to the 
growth of the varieties, choosing medium-sized tubers for planting, 
leaving one eye, or if large cutting them to single eyes. I prefer 
shallow planting and forking between the rows before earthing the 
tubers, for planting ought to be laid out thin in an airy place that 
their shoots may not be drawn up weakly.— Philip C. Cornish, 
The Shrubbery, Enfield. 
1. Second or third week in March. * Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, 
Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, and Beauty of Hebron. Soil.—Medium. 
2. Third week in March. *Prince Arthur and *Magnum Bonum. 
3. Third week in March or first week in April. *Paterson’s Victoria, 
Schoolmaster, and *Dunbar Regents. Manures and Application.— 
I plant all the Potatoes between ridges that have been made for 
about four months. When I level the soil between the ridges to the 
depth of G or 7 inches and plant my sets 3 feet wide, 15 or 1G inches 
from set to set, I then place long stable manure on the top of them, 
and cover them in with the hoe. General Culture.—I plant my late 
Potatoes on land that has previously been trenched for Peas, which 
I plant 7 feet apart from row to row, with a row of Spinach along 
the centre. I then plant Broccoli 2 feet apart each side of the 
Spinach, and as I take off the Peas a row of Broccoli is placed in. 
I take those up about the end of October and lay them in to be pro¬ 
tected during winter. I then ridge up the ground. At the end of 
March or first week in April level the soil between the ridges. My 
sets are then planted, those about the size of an egg uncut, in 3 feet, 
m width 15 or 1G inches from set to set, I then put a little long stable 
manure on them. I have the best crops on a change of seed. I would 
change seed every year if possible.— Daniel Snelling, The Gardens, 
Laleham House, Staines. 
1.—From the middle of February to the middle of March. Vt itch’s 
Ashleaf, *Cosmopolitan, Huntingdon Kidney, and Myatt’s Ashleaf. 
Soil.—Our earliest Potatoes are grown on a piece of old garden that 
has been under cultivation nearly fifty years. The soil is thoroughly 
pulverised with constant cultivation, and liberal dressings of leaf soil 
and light manures. In this soil the tubers grow quickly, and they 
are always good in quality. 2. Middle to end of March. *Covent 
Garden Perfection, Woodstock Kidney, Beauty of Hebron, and 
American Purple. Soil.—The soil in our largest garden is rather 
heavy, and stands on a bed of clay. Ground intended for Potatoes 
we dress with fine ashes, and turn it up roughly in ridges during the 
winter. At planting time we give the ground a light dressing w-ith 
lime, and then fork down the ridges, thoroughly blending the lime 
and soil as the work proceeds. 3. Second week in March to end of 
first week in April. *Paterson’s Victoria, Schoolmaster, and Vicar 
of Laleham. Manures and Application.—I am not an advocate for 
applying rank manures in the cultivation of the Potato. On our soil 
I find nothing to equal lime, wood ashes, and sand for giving clean 
tubers of good quality. General Culture.—In the cultivation of the 
Potato I attach more importance to well-worked land and wide 
planting than all other cultural details. At planting time the ground 
should be as light as it is possible to make it, and the tubers should 
be covered very lightly, and before the final earthing the whole of 
the ground between the rows ought to be carefully forked over to 
bring it into proper condition for placing round the stems of the 
Potatoes.—J. Roberts, Gunnersbury Park, Acton. 
Monmoethshire. —1. March. Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, Early 
Hammersmith, Dwarf Top Ashleaf, and Early Bird. Soil.—Light. 
2. March and April. Covent Garden Perfection, Stratton’s Seedling, 
King of the Potatoes, and Myatt’s Prolific. Soil.—Light. 3. April. 
Rector of Woodstock, Magnum Bonum, Scotch Champions, and 
Paterson’s Victoria. Soil.—Medium. Manures and Application.— 
Farmyard manure is employed.—A. S. Woods, The Gardens, Tredegar 
Park, Newport. 
1. End of March. *Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf and Early Shaw. 
Soil.—Heavy, subsoil marl, and the same for all the sections. 2. Early 
in April. Gloucestershire Kidney, Flourball, and Rector of Woodstock. 
3. Early in April. Fluke, *Schoolmaster, and *Magnum Bonum. 
Manures and Application.—Stable manure for the preceding crops, 
with lime and burned rubbish previous to planting. General Culture. 
—We select plots of ground for the main crops of Potatoes, which 
have been double dug and heavily dressed with stable manure the 
preceding season for Peas, or some other similar summer crop. As 
soon in the autumn as these crops are cleared off the ground is 
again double dug, and left exposed to be pulverised by frosts during 
the winter and early spring months, until a short time previous to 
the planting season, when it receives a dressing of unslaked lime 
and charred rubbish, which is hacked into the surface. At planting 
time the ground is dug in the ordinary manner and well broken, and 
as the digging proceeds the Potatoes are planted in rows, the early 
varieties 2 feet apart, the later and strong-growing stools are allowed 
G or 9 inches more, and all kinds are covered with about 4 inches 
depth of soil.— Thomas Coomber, The Ilendre Gardens. 
Norfolk. —1. March. Old Ashleaf and Veitch’s Improved Ash¬ 
leaf. Soil.—Medium loam. 2. April, first part. Porter’s Excelsior, 
Early Goderich, Schoolmaster, and White Elephant. 3. Latter part 
of April. Magnum Bonum and Scotch Champion. Manures and 
Application. — A good coat of farmyard manure in the autumn, 
20 loads per acre applied to ordinary agricultural land the first 
season ; 20 bushels of soot per acre, and 3 cwt. of Horsfield’s Mangold 
manure applied just before earthing up. General Culture.—We have 
the last two or three years grown for first crop and forcing the old 
type of Ashleaf. We had lost it for several seasons, but fortunately 
secured a true stock of it again, and believe now there is nothing 
amongst newer kinds to surpass it, especially for flavour, when new'. 
It is also very productive. Porter’s Excelsior is a real acquisition, 
excellent in every way; very free from disease. For the farm this 
season we shall only plant Magnum Bonum. We secured last year a 
very fine crop of handsome tubers of first-class quality. Scotch 
Champion, on the other hand, is not so productive ; it makes too 
much top, and exhausts the soil before the tubers are formed. We 
dress our Potatoes with soot and Mangold manure just before earth¬ 
ing up, after the horse hoe has been through twice, as by this time 
the haulm is well developed and the tubers forming, in preference to 
sowing it in the rows at planting time ; as these stimulants, if applied 
at that stage, force an abnormal growth of haulm. We always find 
we get a heavier crop of sound tubers when the sun can shine between 
the rows.— Wm. Allan, Gunton Park. 
1 . Middle of February. Mona’s Piide, Old Ashleaf, and Myatt’s 
Prolific Ashleaf. Soil.—Light, black, sandy soil; cold, wet, sandy 
subsoil. Dry very quick in summer. 2. Middle of March. Extra 
Early and *Vermont. 3. From middle to end of March. Late Rose, 
^Schoolmaster, and *Magnum Bonum. Manures and Application.— 
As a rule I never apply manure for Potatoes, but plenty of manure 
from linings of pits, ike., is dug in the bottom spit when bastard¬ 
trenching for other crops. General Culture.—Crops generally are 
large but never quite free from disease. The old-fashioned plan I 
adopted more than a quarter of a century ago I still practise. 1 plant 
whole sets, large ones, a yard each way apart, these grow the largest 
crops.— Henry Wright, The Gardens, West Harling Hall, Thetford. 
1. March. Early Ashleaf and *Myatt‘s Prolific Ashleaf. Soil.— 
Light. 2. March. Woodstock and Ashtop Fluke. 3. April. *Mag- 
num Bonum, Schoolmaster, and *Walker’s Regents. Manures and 
Application.—Farmyard manure is applied at the rate of 30 cubic 
