March 22. 18S3. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
233 
about 6 yards wide. The ranker-growing late varieties have more 
space given them. What I consider the most essential helps to suc¬ 
cess in Potato culture are the following :—First, yearly change of 
ground ; second, frequent change of seed, say every two years at least; 
third, planting whole tubers of medium size ; fourth, when growing 
keep the soil open by repeated surface-stirrings ; and last, but by no 
means least, the proper preservation and condition of the sets at 
planting time. How can good crops be expected when exhausted 
sets, from which the first and best growths have been picked, are 
planted ? In the case of the earliest for garden culture we place them 
all on end in shallow boxes in the light, but for large quantities this 
is impracticable. For field-planted earlies we have long shallow trays 
of three-quarter-inch wood about 15 feet long and 18 inches wide, 
with strips nailed on the sides. In these the sets are spread and the 
tiays placed one above another on blocks of wood. These with their 
contents are shouldered by four men, placed on a waggon, and taken 
straight to the field without removal. We have tried autumn plant¬ 
ing of pedigree Potatoes with great success, but the difficulty lies in 
getting the land in workable condition then.— Arthur Moore, Cran- 
more Hall, Shepton Mallet. _ 
Staffordshire. —1. Second week in March. Ashleaf, *Bcauty of 
Hebron, *Covent Garden Perfection, and Mona’s Pride. Soil.— 
Eather light and rich, fully 2 feet deep. Subsoil, marl ; substratum, 
clay, resting on a cold bottom. Early Potatoes, always abundant 
and good, if planted earlier are sure to be cut by frost. 2. April 1st. 
*Magnum Bonum, Snowflake, *Dalmahoy, and Paterson’s Victoria. 
Soil.—Rather light. 3. April 10th. *Schoolmaster, Scotch Cham¬ 
pion, *Skerry Blue, and Rector of Woodstock. Soil.— Medium. 
Manures and Application.—Good horse manure decayed applied in 
the autumn or winter and dug in. We manure rather heavily, as we 
grow Broccoli and other vegetables between the rows, otherwise I 
should use no manure for Potatoes. General Culture.—In order to 
insure the earliest crops the kidney varieties should be sprouted—that 
is, they should have an advancement in growth before planting. The 
Potato requires a deep thoroughly drained light soil, if the ground 
is new so much the better. The best crop I ever had was grown 
on the side of a hill ; soil, light maiden loam.— Edward Thomas 
Gilman, Ingestre Gardens, Stafford. 
1. December in frames, February outside. Veitch’s Improved Ash¬ 
leaf, *Early May, and *Early Racehorse. Soil.—For frames the soil is a 
mixture from the potting shed and spent Melon and Cucumber beds, 
with a little burnt earth and wood ashes added, which I find suits 
them well, the tubers turning out as clean and clear as I could wish. 
2. March, first week. American Early Rose. Soil.—Our soil is of 
medium texture, and the above is suited so well that I grow no other. 
It is always heavy in crop and boils well. 3. March, first week. 
Schoolmaster and *Magnum Bonum. Soil.—Medium. Schoolmaster 
is not good on our soil, but Magnum Bonum is all I could desire both 
for keeping and cooking. It is also a heavy cropper. Manures and 
Application.—Chiefly stable manure, with a little from the farm, 
which is trenched-in during autumn, but not deeply. Artificial 
manures are not used for the kitchen garden.—W. A. Phillips, 
Patshull Gardens, Wolverhampton. 
Suffolk. —1. The first week in April. Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf, 
*Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, Porter’s Excelsior, and *Beauty of Hebron. 
Soil.—Medium. 2. Second week in April. *Covent Garden Per¬ 
fection, *Beauty of Kent, Woodstock Kidney, and Queen of the South. 
3. First week in March. *Magnum Bonum, Schoolmaster, *Scotch 
Champion, and Adirondack. Manures and Application.—Good farm¬ 
yard manure well dug in, or ploughed very deep in autumn. General 
Culture.—Dig the land well in the spring just before planting-time, 
so that the manure may be well mixed with the soil. After planting, 
and just before the shaws push through the soil, well fork between 
the rows. When the shaws are about 6 inches high earth them up 
with a hoe, and fork between them again after earthing. Plant early 
kinds 2 feet apart, second earlies feet, late varieties 3 feet apart.— 
William Ellington, West Row Gardens , Soham. 
1. From the end of February to the middle of March. Old Ash¬ 
leaf, Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf, and Myatt’s 
Prolific Ashleaf. Soil.—Light sandy soil and not very rich for the 
first and second earlies. 2. From the middle to the end of March. 
Schoolmaster, Lapstone, Snowflake, and Dalmahoy. 3. The end of 
March and beginning of April. Magnum Bonum, Regents, Pater¬ 
son’s Victoria, and Reading Hero. Soil.—Light shallow sand on 
chalk. Manures and Application.—The manure we use is from 
spent hotbeds. For early Potatoes it is dug in and the Potatoes 
planted at the same time. The ground for the second earlies is 
dunged and dug about the same time, and the Potatoes planted with a 
dibble at the time stated. The late varieties receive no manure.— 
General Culture.—The early Potatoes are grown on borders round the 
walls, and the second earlies in the open quarters. They are planted 
2 feet between the lines. We generally have a good crop of very 
good quality. The late Potatoes are planted between the lines in 
young plantations, of which we plant from 20 to 40 acres every 
year. The ground is trenched two spits deep, and with the exception 
of an inch or two on the top the soil may be called a bright sand. 
The sets are planted in the lines from 15 to 18 inches apart, and in a 
moist season like the last they turn out well both in size and in 
quantity. The flavour cannot be surpassed. In dry seasons, even a 
fortnight of very hot weather in the middle of summer, they are ant 
to receive a check, and when the ground is moistened will begin 
forming new tubers on those that were checked. They are rot then 
so good in quality. The rainfall here for last year was 27.10 inches.— 
Alex. McArthur, Elveden Hall, Thetford. 
1. Early in March. Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf. Soil.—Mixed 
in places, strong clay subsoil. 2. Middle to end of March. Hunt¬ 
ingdon Kidney. Manures and Application. — Stable manure. 
The ground is deeply worked, and the manure frequently buried as 
it comes from the stables. General Culture.—Planting is either 
done by opening a trench with a spade or by dibbling, the boles 
bring made not less than a foot apart. The rows for Huntingdon 
Kidney are usually a yard apart, on some plots 5 feet, then a crop of 
Broccoli or winter greens is planted between the rows. I have tried 
a goodly number of sorts, both round and kidney-shaped vaiietie®, 
but on our soil have found none to surpass, and extremely few to 
equal in all good qualities, the two named. With ordinary manage¬ 
ment the Huntingdon is a first-rate keeper. We have it in use as 
late in the season as old Potatoes are required, and it is uniformly 
good in quality throughout.—J. Wallis, Orwell Park , Ipswi h. 
1. Early in February. *Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, Llangollen fa 
local name for a very good kidney), Suttons’ Racehorse (much 
prized in this district), and King Noble. Soil.—Medium. 2. February 
if soil is in suitable condition ; if not, early in March. *Schoolmaster, 
Woodstock Kidney, and Hanworth Superior. 3. April. *Magnum 
Bonum and Scotch Champion. Soil.—Inclined to heavy. Manures 
and Application.—The manure we invariably use for Potatoes is a 
mixture of manure from the stables and d- cayed leaves dug deeply 
into the soil in the autumn. About February, usually when we plant 
our earliest, we give the soil a dressing of wood ashes and ot her cnarred 
refuse, well incorporated with the soil, a little soot being mixed 
with it. General Culture.—We attach great importance to the 
preparation of the soil, and believe in having the ground deeply 
stirred in autumn and again well broken up at p'anting time. 
Our practice here is to plant our earliest varieties 30 inches apart 
between the rows, and afterwards plant autumn Cauliflowers 
between them. We invariably have heavy crops of Potatoes, and 
the last few seasons the Veitch’s Autumn Giant Cauliflowers have 
been very large. We are curtailing the number of varieties._ We 
have always grown a good breadth of Early Ros 1 , but the quality is 
not good enough, so Schoolmaster is to be tried instead. Snowflake 
was also planted to a moderate extent, but the produce these last two 
seasons has not been satisfactory. Our late varieties are grown in a 
field, which is manured and ploughed as early as convenient in thi 
autumn, and again well ploughed, harrowed, and broken up at plant¬ 
ing time, planting in stetches in preference to on the flat. For a 1 
our crops we use moderately sized whole tubers, which we keep on 
shelves exposed to the light.— James Bole, Somerleyton Hall, Lowestoft. 
Surrey. —1. Last week in February. Fox’s Seedling, King of 
Earlies, Early Ashleaf, and *Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf. Soil.—"V ery 
shallow and dry, with a chalk subsoil. 2. Third or fourth week in 
March. King of Potatoes, *Schoolmaster, *Beaut.y of Hebron, and 
Bresee’s Prolific. 3. First or second week in March. Que< n of the 
Valley, Red-skin Flourball, *11agnum Bonum, and Scotch Champion. 
Manures and Application.—Mixed pig, cow, and horse manure is 
ploughed in during winter and the land well scarified in the spriner. 
General Culture.—The Potatoes are dibb d in after the plough ; then 
the horse hoes are used freely during ihe growing season before being 
earthed up with the moulding plough. I gen- rally plant about forty- 
eight varieties.—C. Osman, Bailiff, S.M.D. Schools, Sutton. 
1. As early in March as possible. Early Coldstream, Veitch’a 
Improved Ashleaf, and Early Bird. Soil.—Light, chalk subsoil within 
12 inches in most parts of the garden. 2. Middle of March. Schoo'- 
master, Covent Garden Perfection, Prince Arthur, and Woodstock 
Kidney. 3. Middle to end of March. Suttons’ Reading Hero (mo.-t 
excellent), Vicar of Laleham, Grampian,and Scotch Champion (for field 
and market). Scotch Champions come of fine quality on the lightest 
ground, and seldom take disease ; on heavier soil they grow coarser 
and are more liable to disease. Manures and Application.—Potatoes 
are planted on parts of the garden to which manure was applied for 
other crops the previous year. For field cultivation farmyard manure 
is placed on the stubble in autumn and p'oughed in, ploughed again 
in March, and planted after the plough. No artificial manure is used. 
General Culture.—In the spring of 1882 I planted thirty-two varietiis, 
including many new kinds, some of which proved tender and require 
rich ground ; others I intend to try again in other situations. I, how¬ 
ever, proved that the American varieties are not suitable to this 
soil, all being of poor flavour and subject to disease. though many 
of them are heavy croppers.— Oliver Goldsmith, The Gardens, 
Polesden , Dorking. 
1. Generally last week in February. *Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf, 
*Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, Veitch’s Improved Ashleaf, and Early 
Hammersmith. Soil.—Light, and a tendencv to being sandy. 2. First 
week in March. *Early Rose, *Beauty of Hebron. *Rector of Wood- 
stock, and Suttons’ Early Regent.. Soil.— Medium loam. 3. First 
and second week in March. *Magnutn Bonum. *Schoolmaster, 
*Scotch Champion, and Suttons’ Red-skin Flourball. Manures and 
Application.—The land is ridged, and good decomposed farmyard 
manure is spread between the ridges a month before planting. General 
