416 
JOURNAL of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
[ No7ember 18, 1886. 
present year n not in proportion to the weight of the tubers 
planted ; further trials are therefore requisite for determining 
the merits of the varieties. 
MESSR?. SUTTON’S POTATO EXPERIMENTS, 1884-5-6. 
RrsjLTS of Grosses in 1884 —Parentage Wild Potato of Kew 
X Fenn’s Sir Charles Douglas. 
Produce, Produce, 
1885. 1886. 
19 grains . — 
6 . - 
11 
11 
No. 
1 
2 . 
S . 
4 . 
5 . 34 ozs. 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
26 
i 
4 
11 
14 ozs. 
54 lbs. 
10 lbs. 5 ozs. 
24 
56 
1 JJ . 
7 4 „ . 
. 2 „ 
4 
o ,, . 
. 31 „ 
14 
134 „ 
. 56 „ 
15 
2 lbs. 1 oz. 
. 43 „ 
9 
1 „ 74 „ . 
. 53 „ 
2 
1 ,, 104 „ . 
. 47 „ 
4 
1 „ 54 .. 
. 122 „ 
6 
14 ozs. 
. 11 „ 
2 
2 lbs. 124 ozs. 
. 83 „ 
6 
1 0 ozs. 
. 43 „ 
10 
, ^4 .. 
. 39 „ 
14 
1 lb. 9J ozs. 
. 10 „ 
12 
11 ozs. . 
. 47 „ 
13 
Gf 
...... ...a.. ...... *4 1 J 
27 . 1 lb. 24 ozs. 
28 
34 ozs. 
6 
20 
6 
23 
3 
7 
0 
14 
No. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
No. 
25 
26 
27 
29 
SECOND SERIES OF CROSSES MADE IN 1885. 
PRODUCE OF 1886. 
Parentage, Wild Potato of Kew x Reading Russet. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
ozs. 
No. 
... — 
2 
12 
... 
... 6 
15 
13 
... 3 
15| 
15 
... 4 
15 
16 
... 4 
6 
17 
... — 
134 
18 
... 2 
124 
19 
... 1 
24 
20 
... 
... 4 
14 
21 
... 
... — 
74 
22 
... 
... 1 
Hi 
23 
ozs. 
A 
. ... - Ilf 
• ... - 9* 
One small Tuber. 
1 
Wild Potato of Kew x Victoria. 
lbs. ozs. 
4 3 
4 8 
5 8* 
1 13 
No. 
SO 
31 
32 
3 
6i 
1 
4 
44 
1 * 
lbs. ozs. 
4 144 
- H 
- ii 
The crop produced by crossing the wild form with 
Walker’s Eegent weighed 9-J ozs. 
In addition to the crosses, the result of a seed of Magnum 
Bonum sown on March 12th of the present year is worthy 
of record. The number of tubers is thirty-two, weight 
6 lbs. 9J ozs., the two largest weighing 14^ ozs. and 15f ozs. 
respectively. It may he further stated that a grain of seed 
of the Red-skin Snowball sown March 12th, 1886, the plant 
put out on June 9th, and the crop lifted October 25th, gave 
5 lbs. 14 ozs. of good-sized white tubers. 
In concluding, for the present, our remarks we can only 
repeat our observations of last year—namely, that Mr. 
Arthur W. Sutton is to be congratulated on what he has so 
far accomplished, and W6 shall look forward with interest to 
the result of the experiments that will be conducted next 
year in the important work in which he is engaged. 
THE NON-VENTILATING SYSTEM. 
Mr. Iggulden (page 404) has tried to tread on the principal tail of 
that “ wonderful coat” he credits me with “ trailing,” and it might seem 
like presumption on my part to Bay he has utterly failed in the attempt, 
but I will show that such is the case from his own admissions. It was 
clearly evident to me from his first letter that the cause of his Cucumber 
failure was due to the method of culture adopted, and not to the “ express 
system,” and the admissions he makes in bis second letter prove that I 
was perfectly correct in the opinions I formed on his former article. 
The soil at Marston, of which we have heard so much of late, must be 
of a very peculiar nature, the worst, from our friend’s account, that can 
be found in this or any other country, for it appears to be the cause of 
innumerable failures. I have been led to believe, however, that the soil 
is of a wonderfully fertile nature, and I suspect other persons have to 
work soil equally heavy. In the failure before us, neither the soil or the 
express system was at fault. Mr. Iggulden admits it was due to too 
much water, and if this had taken place with any other kind of soil 
failure would have been equally certain. Whether plants or Cucumbers 
are grown on the non-ventilating system, or on the older method of 
admitting air, they cannot flourish long in soil that has become saturated. 
The method of watering was at fault, which shows that Mr. Iggulden has 
no grounds for his condemnation of a system that he failed to carry 
properly into execution. I shall not attempt to enumerate the growers 
who have carried oat the system successfully in private gardens. I know 
several who have done so, some of whom now practise it for a living. If 
all the private growers raised their voices or used their pens in con¬ 
demnation of the system very little importance would be attached to their 
verdict if they had not better and more justifiable grounds for doing so 
than those brought forward by Mr. Iggulden. Those who have written 
against the method have failed through causes over which they had 
control—viz., too much water ; or, on the other band, insufficient, as can 
be proved by reference to the back numbers of this Journal. 
Mr. Iggulden admits that quickly grown seedless Cucumbers are the 
best for eating, and he further admits that they can be produced quicker 
on the non-ventilating system than by the admission of air. Between 
these two admissions he says they are no better grown by the former than 
the latter plan. If he had not made the two admissions referred to I 
should have dealt with this one, but as he so freely admits the point there 
is no need for me to enter further into this matter. 
The cause of failure is first attributable to too much water, and then to 
the house in which the experiment was tried. The sort of house Mr. 
Iggulden employed I know nothing about, for I have not the remotest 
idea what it is like ; but I can say that Cucumbers can be grown in any 
structure by this method. The houses to which “Constant Reader” 
refers are known to me, and they are small three-quarter span-roofed 
houses such as are generally seen in private gardens for the purpose of 
Melon and Cucumber crowing. A friend who grew three or four large 
span-roofed houses full for several years—the houses running north and 
south—in a private garden, took another private garden, out of which he 
had to make a living, and there he successfully grew Cucumbers without 
using the ventilators in two small half-span houses facing south. These 
two examples are only given to prove that Cucumbers can be successfully 
grown on the non-ventilating principle in small houses. The houses at 
Prescot are not generally on the principle Mr. Iggulden describes—viz., 
ridsie and furrow with pillars instead of walls between them ; one or two 
blocks are on this principle in Mr. Whittaker’s establishment. The new 
homes put up by that grower are not on this principle, they are span- 
roofed structures, one being over 300 feet in length, 12 or 13 feet wide, 
about 8 feet high, and runs, if my memory serves me right, nearly east 
and west. This is only one house of several that stands independently of 
others, but I believe the majority of the others run north and south. This 
is only one grower amongst scores of others in the same vicinity, but 
all are on a more limited scale, yet several have a dozen or more long 
houses, others five or six, and some only one. I do not claim a monopoly 
for the Presoot growers, but Mr. Iggulden cannot name any other locality 
in which so many Cucumbers are grown for the market, and more espe¬ 
cially by men who are professors of other trades, such as joiners, watch¬ 
makers, See. 
I should not be surprised to hear from any quarter that Cucumbers 
fail on the non-ventilating system if the house in which they are grown 
was in that deplorable condition for moisture which Mr. Iggulden depicts. 
On a bright sunny day, if the air in the house is allowed to become drier 
than the external atmosphere, how long would Cucumbers, grown on the 
system under discussion, continue to do satisfactorily ? By such 
treatment they would not long remain clean and healthy, even with air 
admitted. The walls, floor, and staging, that are capable of absorb¬ 
ing moisture would do so, but there is a limit to this, and directly they 
commenced absorbing heat what would become of the moisture ? Would 
it not be evaporated from these substances and held in suspension in the 
atmosphere of the house as it became warmed ? If Mr. Iggulden could 
cool these bodies to which he has referred artificially they would con¬ 
dense the moisture of the atmosphere, but the reverse as they become 
heated. How could this moisture escape with the ventilators closed to 
such an extent as to become drier than the external atmosphere ? This 
would be utterly impossible, and my contention that a greater volume of 
moi-ture can be retained within the house by the non-ventilating system 
cannot be disputed. When air is admitted on very dry days moisture is 
drawn from the house until it becomes as dry as the external atmosphere 
if fresh supplies are not constantly afforded. This is done on the airing 
principle very frequently, but to keep the house thoroughly moist on the 
other system it is required less often. By opening the ventilators a ready 
escape is made for the moisture from the atmosphere of the house. When 
they are closed escape is prevented. If the temperature of the house ex¬ 
ceeds that externally the air of the house becomes cooled as it comes in 
contact with the glass, and the moisture it contains is condensed. What 
takes place during bright weather when a stove, vinery, or any structure 
is closed in the afternoon of a sunny day ? Damping available spaces 
takes place, and when this is done the glass is at once covered with dew 
drops. This would not be the case if the ventilators were left open. This 
bears upon the point at issue, and if the true cause is not pointed out Mr. 
Iggulden will have the chance of doing so. Such feeble arguments in 
support of his condemnations against a system that has produced hundreds 
of tons of Cucumbers scarcely bear the test of examination. 
I have never in any of my writings laid claim to the non-ventilating 
