254 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 29 , isss. 
1. March. *Myatt’s Prolific Ashleaf, *Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf, 
Coldstream, and Grampian. Soil.—Medium. Originally a thin poor 
silicious soil upon the Hastings sand formation, almost barren, but 
now rendered thoroughly fertile and porous by heavy dressings of 
farmyard manure, lime, and coal ashes. 2. April. Snowflake, *Dal- 
mahoy, Yorkshire Hero, and *Early Rose. 3. April. *Magnum Bonum, 
♦Dunbar Regent, and Paterson’s Yictoria. Manures and Application. 
—In addition to the manure used as mentioned in connection with 
character of soil, a liberal dressing of “ Three Star ” Crown Manure is 
scattered along in the rows at the time of planting the Potatoes. 
Last summer several sorts of manure were tried in this way in soil 
quite innocent of manure, and the result was so decidedly in favour 
of the Crown Manure Company’s manure that I prefer it to any other. 
General Remarks.—Nothing is gained by pressing on the planting in 
unfavourable weather. The seed tubers are spread thinly in the store 
shed upon trays near the windows ,and often have stout green sprouts 
upon it nearly an inch long at the time of planting, which is done 
when the soil is sufficiently dry for the purpose. When the growth 
is well above the surface the soil is well stirred between the rows, 
and the earthing done at the same time with a light steel fork. The 
main haulm growth is watched closely, and as soon as it ceases, 
while yet quite green, and before there is any possibility of lateral 
growth, the tubers are lifted and stored. Early, medium, and late 
sorts are so treated, each in turn, and the entire crop is invariably 
saved free from disease, unless wet weather sets in at the critical 
moment of the first cessation of growth, in which case there will be 
a certain per-centage of loss from disease. After the tubers are 
in the store shed they are examined, and turned frequently till they 
are quite dry and ripe for winter storage.— Edward Luckhurst, 
Oldlands, Uckfield. 
Warwickshire. —1. February. Yeitch’s Improved Early Ash¬ 
leaf and Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf. Soil.—Light and rich. 2. March. 
Bedfont Prolific and Beauty of Kent. 3. Magnum Bonum and Scotch 
Champion. Soil.—Light loam. Manures and Application.—Farm¬ 
yard manure alone is used.— William Brown, Merevale Gardens, 
Atherstone. 
1. February and March. Mona’s Pride, *Yeitch’s Ashleaf, and 
Myatt’s Prolific. 2. These and the late varieties are planted in 
March and April. *Keeper’s Kidney and Beauty of Hebron. 3. ’'‘Mag¬ 
num Bonum, *Paterson’s Victoria, and Suttons’ Flourball. Soil.— 
Light throughout. Manures and Application.—Stable manure and 
lime, about half a dressing dug-in together. General Remarks.—In 
my experience I find early planting and early lifting the best 
practice to adopt. — Thomas Beddard, The Gardens, Stoneleigh 
Abbey, Kenilworth. 
1. Second week in March. Early May, Mona’s Pride, *Veitch’s 
Ashleaf, and Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf. Soil.—Medium, but very tena¬ 
cious. 2. Third week in March. *Rector of Woodstock, ’“Porter’s 
Excelsior, Yictoria Regent, and "“Schoolmaster. No late sorts are 
grown. Manures and Application.—Hotbed manure is dug in during 
winter, and the ground ridged up.— James Rodger, The Gardens, 
Charlecote Park. 
1. First week in March. Kidney Racehorse, *Mona’s Pride, 
*Myatt’s Prolific, and Prince of Wales. 2. March 20th. Kidney, 
Snowflake, Early Rose ; round, Grampian and Schoolmaster. 3. First 
week in April. Reading Hero (round), *Magnum Bonum (kidney), 
Red-skinned Flourball (round), and *Scotch Champion. Soil.— 
Medium. Manures and Application.—Farmyard manure dug in 
during October or November. General Remarks —I have during the 
last thirty-three years planted with the dibber. I find it much 
quicker than drilling or planting with the spade, and have never had 
one case of failure in all that time.— David Leslie, Appleby Castle. 
Wiltshire. —1 . End of March. Veitch’s Early Ashleaf, Rivers’ 
Royal Ashleaf, and *Myatt’s Prolific. 2. April. Dalmahoy, Flourball, 
Schoolmaster, and *Grampian. 3. Paterson’s Victoria, Magnum 
Bonum, Scotch Champion, and Wormleighton’s Seedling. Manures 
and Application.—I prefer manure not too much decomposed, as it 
keeps the soil more open. General Remarks.—I plant with the 
spade in shallow trenches. If the seed is selected with care all 
the plants come above ground together. I prefer medium-sized 
Potatoes for planting to either large or cut Potatoes, and find it best 
when taking up the crop to then select the seed for the coming year, 
being very oareful as to size and shape, thus always securing good 
samples. I plant early varieties 20 inches by 9 inches, second ditto 
2 feet by lOinches, and late varieties 4 feet by 1 foot.— Chas. Davies 
(late of Chalcot Gardens), 106, Malden Road, London, N.W. 
1. February and March. ““Beauty of Hebron, Myatt’s Ashleaf, 
♦Veitch’s Ashleaf, and Rivers’ Ashleaf. 2. *Covent Garden Per¬ 
fection, Suttons’ Fiftyfold, Rector of Woodstock, and Fortyfold. 
These and the next are planted in March ; the soil medium and 
chalky. 3. *Magnum Bonum, *Paterson’s Yictoria, Peachblow, and 
Schoolmaster. Manures and Application.—Stable manure applied 
to the land in autumn and winter. General Remarks.—We plant on 
land which has been heavily manured and dug in the previous 
autumn and winter months. There are three points to which we 
attach the greatest importance—viz., manuring, distance at which 
the seed should be planted, and dishaulming when the disease first 
makes its appearance. With regard to manuring, my experience leads 
me to form an opinion totally different from the theory which has 
frequently been put forth in our gardening papers by some writers 
during the past few years. The theory alluded to is that if you 
manure heavily you do so at the expense of the quality of the tuber 
itself, and that the succulent growth resulting from sHch manuring 
is more susceptible to disease than it would be if a less quantity—or 
no manure at all—were applied. I have been unable to detect any 
difference in the same variety when grown under (other than manure) 
precisely the same conditions ; and as regards being more subject 
to disease, I maintain that the contrary is the case— i.e., when they 
have sufficient room to grow in, the more vigour and strength you 
give to a plant the better able it is to resist any form of disease. 
Of course the disease will make its appearance—atmospheric con¬ 
ditions being favourable—in the haulm of even the strongest-consti- 
tutioned varieties at a certain stage of their growth. When this is 
the case the best plan to adopt, in my opinion, is, if the tubers be 
large enough for use, to cut off the tops without further delay, or, 
what is better, if the tubers have arrived at that stage which may 
be designated as being within the measurable distance of ripeness, 
lift the crop and store aw r ay. In planting we give dwarf-growing 
kinds, such as Myatt’s Ashleaf and Beauty of Hebron, a space of 
18 inches by 15 inches, and to strong-growing varieties of the Mag¬ 
num Bonum class 36 inches each way. With liberal treatment as 
regards manure we do not find these distances at all too great.— 
J. Horsefield, Heytesbury , Wilts, 
1. Middle of March. Hammersmith Kidney, Suttons’ Early Border 
(round) *Myatt’s Prolific Kidney, and Woodstock Kidney. 2. About 
the 20th of March. ’•‘International Kidney, Schoolmaster, Porter’s 
Excelsior, and ’•‘American Early Rose. 3. From the 20th to the 
end of March. *Scotch Champion, ““Magnum Bonum, Regents, 
and Suttons’ Reading Hero. Soil for all sorts light, with a gravelly 
subsoil. Manures and Application.—Well-decomposed stable-yard 
dung spread over the surface of the ground and dug deeply into 
it the preceding autumn, thereby reducing the dung to the nature 
of mould by the time the planting season has arrived; and the 
ammonia, being retained by the soil, is taken up by the plants. 
General Remarks.—The ground which was manured and prepared 
for the reception of Cabbage plants in September, 1881, will be 
planted with Potatoes during the present month, the only prepa¬ 
ration necessary being the clearing-away of the Cabbage stumps and 
the digging of the ground. Potatoes thus treated will yield a mini¬ 
mum of haulm and a maximum of tubers. The latter, moreover, are, 
on account of the growth of the stalks being less luxuriant, more free 
from disease.—H. W. Ward, Longford Castle, Salisbury. 
1. Planted in succession from the end of February to the middle 
of April. Soil made light. Old Ashleaf. 2. First week in April. 
Myatt’s Ashleaf. 3. Middle of March. Scotch Champion. Soil 
heavy and shallow. Manures and Application.—The Old Ashleaf 
for the earliest crops is planted on south borders made light by the 
annual addition at planting time of leaf mould, spent Mushroom 
beds, or other light but not rich dung. For later crops we cannot 
afford to make the ground so light, but this variety does best on light 
soil. Myatt’s Ashleaf does very well in our soil, and Champion is so 
good that I am requested to make its season as long as possible. All 
are manured at planting time, the Champions rather heavily. 
General Remarks.— Seed of the Ashleaf varieties is selected in 
autumn and put up on end in a shed; that of the Champion is 
selected and spread out singly not later than January. All are 
planted with the spade at the second digging. They are forked 
between as soon as the rows show, and earthed up very early, fre¬ 
quently covering them overhead entirely. Ashleaf varieties are 
planted 24 by 12, and the Champion 30 by 15 inches apart. We are 
always trying other varieties, but up to the present have not found 
another to suit us so well as those named.— Wm. Taylor, Longleat 
Gardens, Warminster. 
1. February. Ashleaf Yeitch’s Improved, *Myatt’s Ashleaf, 
*Covent Garden Perfection, and Early Fortyfold. 2. March. Wood- 
stock Kidney, *Schoolmaster, Yicar of Laleham, and Climax. 3. 
March. Paterson’s Victoria, *Suttons’ Magnum Bonum, ““Dunbar 
Regent, and "“Scotch Champion. Soil heavy for all kinds. Manures 
and Application.—The ground is well manured in the autumn, and 
dug as roughly as possible. A liberal supply of wood ashes is given 
at the time of planting.— Alexander Miller, Rood Ashton Park 
Gardens, Trowbridge. 
Worcestershire. —1. Beginning of March. Veitch’s Improved 
Ashleaf and ““Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf. Soil.—Heavy, but made as 
light as possible. 2. Middle of March. Covent Garden Perfection, 
’•'Schoolmaster, and *Grampian. 3. End of March. ““Scotch Cham¬ 
pion, *Reading Hero, and Vicar of Laleham. Manures and Application. 
—We do not, if we can avoid it, plant on freshly manured ground, 
but select such that has been heavily manured for the preceding 
crops, such as Peas, Turnips, &c. After the drills are drawn for 
the Potatoes we sow in them a good dressing of burnt refuse and 
wood ashes, on which we plant the sets.— Arthur Barker, The 
Gardens, Hindlip. 
1. Middle of March. Yeitch’s Improved Ashleaf and ““Rivers’ 
Royal Ashleaf. 2. Middle of April. ’•‘Schoolmaster, Fortyfold, 
Dickson’s Premier, *St. Patrick, ’•‘Porter’s Excelsior. 3. First week 
in May. ’•‘Suttons’ Magnum Bonum, *Prinee Arthur, *Reading Hero, 
and Paterson’s Victoria. Soil.—For all kinds heavy and marly. 
