536 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDKRER. 
[ December 16, 1886 
the Potato became known to Europeans. The wild Potatoes, both in 
size and flavour, are far inferior to the cultivated varieties. Best 
Potatoes are cultivated in Peru at an elevation of 7000 feet above 
the level of the sea, a much lower atmospheric pressure than this in 
which we cultivate them in Britain ; and I imagine this may be 
one of the causes of its sickliness, for the plant is in general less 
liable to disease in our hilly districts than it is in the low grounds. 
Dr. Ischudi in his travels in Peru tells us their best Potato is called 
Papa amarilla. It is small and round with a thin white skin, and 
when bisected the colour is a clear bright yellow ; there is much de¬ 
mand for it in the markets there, and the other sorts he says are very 
well flavoured. In 1619 Potatoes were here a desired yet expensive 
luxury ; for in that year of James I.’s reign a small dish of them pro¬ 
vided for his Queen’s table cost Is. per lb., when money was at least 
twice as valuable. 
In 1664 was published a pamphlet, the first ever devoted to the 
subject, bearing this title —“ England’s happiness increased, or a sure 
and easy remedy against all succeeding dear years, by a plantation 
of the roots called Potatoes, whereof (with the addition of Wheat 
flour) excellent, good, and wholesome bread may be made every year, 
eight or nine months together, for half the charges as formerly. Also, 
by the planting of these roots, 10,000 men in England and Wales, 
who know not how to live or what to do to get a maintenance for their 
families, may, off one acre of ground, make £30 per annum. In¬ 
vented and published, for the good of the poorer sorts, by John 
Forster, Gent., of Harslop, in Buckinghamshire.” lie says that the 
sorts he recommends for general cultivation are the Irish Potatoes. 
He recommends a dry well-drained soil for them, to be enriched with 
dung if necessary, and explains how the Potato may be raised from 
the seed instead of the roots. Mr. Forster then considers the Potato 
as a political question, and 'recommends the King, Charles II., to 
order an importation of the root from Ireland, and that every man in 
every parish shall grow an acre or two ; and that, out of every £30 
worth grown in the parish, £5 shall be paid to the King ! and con¬ 
cludes with directions for making Potato bread, Potato biscuits, 
Potato pudding, Potato custards, and Potato cheesecakes. Worlidge 
writing in 1687 merely suggests that Potatoes may be useful for 
swine or other cattle. In 1693 Sir Robert Southwell, President of 
the Royal Society, communicated to that learned body the fact that 
his grandfather first cultivated the Potato in Ire’and, and that he 
obtained it from Sir Walter Raleigh. 
Miller, in 1771, only mentions two varieties, the red and white 
tubered, which had been noticed by writers a century before, and as 
late as about 1770 the Potato was not known generally in the south¬ 
western counties. The late President of the Horticultural Society, 
Andrew Knight, Esq. (whom I knew very well), said he could just 
recollect the time when the Potato was unknown to the peasantry of 
Herefordshire, whose gardens were then almost exclusively occupied 
by different varieties of Cabbage. Their food at that time chiefly 
consisted of bread and cheese, with the produce of their garden, and 
tea was unknown to them. Famine at last gave the great impulse 
to the cultivation of the Potato, and during the latter part of the 
eighteenth century its excellent qualities became generally under¬ 
stood there. 
(To be continued.) 
THE CA.TTLEYA AND ITS CULTURE. 
At a recent meeting of the Birmingham Gardeners’ Society, 
Mr. E. Cooper, gardener to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 
M.P , read an instructive paper on the Cattleya. Alluding to the 
varieties first cultivated, reference was made to the fine hybrids 
raised by Messrs. James Veitcli & Sons, Chelsea, the work of Mr. 
Dominy, and of other hybriders and raisers, such as Mr. Seden and 
others, and, to come closer home, of the work in this respect being 
done by Charles Winn, Esq., and his gardener Mr. Barnes. Mr. 
Cooper spoke of his first acquaintance with the Cattleya some 
twenty-five years since when in the gardens of Lord Leconfield, 
and at that time there were but few Orchid growers, these plants 
being generally cultivated in mixed collections of plants. Re¬ 
moving to Dale Park, Mr. Cooper found a larger collection of 
Orchids, where a house was devoted to them, and afterwards to 
Dangstein, Lady Dorothy Nevill’s seat, where for the first time 
he found a house devoted to Cattleyas and Ltelias alone. On taking 
charge of Mr. Chamberlain’s gardens twelve years since, there were 
but three Cattleyas in the collection, but the Highbury collection 
of the present day is known to be a very extensive one, and con¬ 
taining almost every fine species and variety, Cattleyas being for 
the greater part grown in pots or baskets or pans, some few varieties 
doing best on blocks. The soil used is good fibrous peat with the 
dust part taken from it, used in fair sized lumps, a portion of 
sphagnum, broken crocks, and charcoal ; the charcoal most pre¬ 
ferred being that from hard wood, such as oak, ash, or elm, burnt 
in the old-fashioned way in heaps, not in kilns. Clean pots, clean 
crocks, and the plants potted moderately firm, more so than most 
other Orchids, and the centre of the plant and soil kept above the 
rim of the pot. 
In repotting established plants, Mr. Cooper found it best to re¬ 
move carefully the whole of the old soil and cut away any dead 
roots, then repot, first covering the crocks with sphagnum to secure 
good drainage and working the soil amongst the crocks. In 
potting newly imported Cattleyas nearly the same treatment was 
followed, only using more crocks and charcoal and less peat and 
sphagnum. Some good growers pot newly imported plants in 
crocks only, but Mr. Cooper’s practice has led him to continue 
potting as described, and keeping them for a week or two in a shady 
part of the house before potting them, and after potting, giving 
them nearly the same treatment as the established plants, only 
giving them less water. Some sorts experience had shown him are 
best grown in pans or baskets suspended near the glass, keeping the 
foliage about 6 inches from the glass, especially such sorts as C. 
gigas, C. Dowiana, C. Sanderiana, C. speciosissima, and C. mar- 
ginata. C. citrina, at Highbury, is not grown with the other 
Cattleyas, but with the Mexican Orchids, and fully exposed to the 
sun ; a few others are found to do best on blocks, such as C. 
superba, C. Acklandiee, and C. Schilleriana. Mr. Cooper has often 
found it a good plan when a Cattleya became unhealthy to put it 
upon a block for a year or two. Repotting is done directly after 
flowering and before they begin to make new roots. 
Watering should be done carefully, using rain water if possible, 
and watering only the soil, not the foliage or the pseudo-bulbs. A 
light, airy, well-ventilated house was advised, but avoiding cold 
draughts of air, the underneath ventilators being just against the 
hot-water pipes. Mr, Cooper finds it beneficial to Cattleyas to 
admit top and side air night and day even in cold weather, 
and never closing the houses only for an hour or two in 
the growing season in the afternoon during the spring and summer 
months, say from March until the end of September, the growing 
season, when they should be kept warmer and the atmosphere 
moister, but on no account should evaporating pans on the pipes be 
used, but plenty of water should be used on the stages and floors. 
Pans of liquid manure are stood about the house, but no manure is 
given to the plants. The temperature should be from 60° to 65°, 
and in very hot weather may be 70° at night. During the winter 
months moisture should be withheld from the bouses and be kept 
dry, having only sufficient water to prevent the pseudo-bulbs from 
turning yellow and shrivelling, and the temperature from 50° to 55° 
at night and 60° to 65° in the day. Some of the Cattleyas finish 
making their growth during the winter, and these should, if possible, 
be kept at the warmest end of the house. 
Insect pests have to be dealt with, especially scald, green fly, 
and thrips, but the most destructive of all is the Cattleya fly or 
borer. At Highbury some imported plants were terribly infested, 
and for months repeated fumigations were tried without effect. 
This insect pierces the young growths before they really start into 
growth and deposits its eggs, and the growths are swollen, and to 
the uninitiated fine strong growths are welcomed, but many of 
them will rot off, and the others only partly develope themselve-. 
The young grubs, after being hatched in the young growth, feed on 
the interior, forming a cavity, and when the insect is fully deve¬ 
loped, it eats its way out and goes through the process of depositing 
further eggs. Mr. Cooper found it necessary to cut away every 
bit of growth affected by; this borer, and by closely following up 
this remedy the collection was free from it, but only after much 
damage had been done. Mr. Cooper strongly advises all buyers of 
imported Cattleyas to place them in another house for a time and 
thoroughly examine them. Green fly is easily killed by fumigat 
ing, and two moderate applications better than one very strong 
one. Sponging with strong tobacco water and soft soap mixed 
for scale, or Fir tree oil, which is most effectual in removing scale. 
RHUBARB FORCING. 
“ A WORKING Gardener" reminds me at page 520 that 50 per cent, 
of those who force Rhubarb could not do so in the manure yard for wan: 
of room. It may not be always convenient to use such places, and there¬ 
fore I named the frame ground, but it did not occur to me that by making 
use of the manure in the yard that 1 was reducing the space in it. Your 
correspondent overlooks the fact that he is not forced to take anything 
into the yard but the Rhubarb roo’s, and these are placed on the 
manure. 
But I will not confine him to the manure yard. What about the fraum 
ground, a portion oi which is generally at liberty this time of the year.’ 
and your correspondent must hi.ve some such place to mix bis fermenting 
materials, if for nothing more. If be has plenty r f leaves he can wheel 
them in there as they are collec'e 1,; nd when of sufficient bulk to ferment 
he can place the roots on them ■ ni cover the pots over with more, using 
