March 26, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
239 
give all the light possible on both sides of the bunch, and draw the 
"hand lightly down the points, the set in most ca«e 3 then being 
excellent. But this difficulty is not experienced with smaller 
^bunches. 
Another matter that must not be overlooked is to examine the 
border just before the Vines flowe*’, bv thrusting a pointed stick or 
Iron into it to the depth of a foot or 18 inches ; if when withdrawn 
the soil adhering to it is damp and pasty, no water is required ; if 
s’ightly dry, so that it crumbles when touched, give a thorough 
supply of water at about 80°. When the Vines are growing in 
narrow borders known to be filled with roots, give water before the 
soil gets into the state above described.—H. Duxkix. 
EARLY POTATOES PROFITABLE. 
It has long been my opinion that too few of the short-topped 
■nuick-maturing varieties of Potatoes are grown in private gardens, 
bushels, or even sacks as in our case, instead of about a peck 
or two ought in most instances to be planted annually, and this I 
assert after having tried what can be done both with and without 
much and from them. Doubtless the extent of ground devoted to 
■early Potatoes is largely governed by the quantity of seed tubers 
in store, but they can be bought, and all the while so few are 
grown there will never be many saved for planting purposes. 
"Dnce an extra effort is made, and larger breadths of Ashleafs for 
instance are planted, there will at lifting time be plenty for the 
kitchen and abundance for storing. 
Many gardeners appear to be under the impression that early 
Potatoes are fit f tr use only when first lifted, whereas both Veitch’s 
Improved and Myatt’s Ashleafs keep admirably, surpassing in 
quality many varieties grown, especially for storing. I will go 
even further, and assert that if well moulded over and left in the 
open ground till the spring they will cook surprisingly well then, 
l^^one of the later varieties lend themselves so readily to different 
forms of double cropping. Thus if either Mona’s Pride, Old 
Ashleaf, Sharpe’s Victor, Early Eclipse, and Veitch’s Improved 
Ashleaf were planted extensively on a south border, the rows 
being 20 inches apart and the sets about 8 inches asunder, a quick, 
early, and by no means light crop could be cleared off the ground 
in time for it to be again cropped with either Strawberries, winter 
salading, late Peas, and Kidney Beans, somewhat later borders 
being also cropped with early Potatoes ; the latter could be followed 
with either more salading, autumn Cauliflowers, and Broccoli. We 
are not content with a few dozen short rows of Ashleafs, but large 
breadths in the more open quarters are also cropped with Veitch’s 
and Myatt’s Ashleafs, these coming off in time for more Straw¬ 
berries, Broccoli, Cauliflowers, Savoys, and Chou de Burghley to be 
planted ; and Spinach, Turnips, and Onions to be sown. Nor do 
we stop at this. A considerable number of Brussels Sprouts are 
grown, or say not less than 1000 plants ; but we cannot afford to 
devote the ground entirely to them for one season. At the same 
time they must be placed out early, and will not do well grown 
among Potatoes with vigorous haulm. The difficulty is overcome 
by arranging rows of Ashleafs 3 feet apart and planting between 
these, the Potatoes being lifted before the Sprouts require much 
room. The same plan is adopted with autumn Cauliflowers and 
Veitch’s Autumn Broccoli, but it does not answer well with later 
Broccoli, these requiring firmer ground. 
There is one serious drawback to these early Potatoes—viz., 
their great susceptibility to disease, but in two seasons out of Ihree 
they mature and can be lifted before there is much disease about, 
and a bad failure rarely happens with us. We cheerfully run any 
risks there may be in the matter, and in good time shall plant 
quite as many if not more than usual of the best early sorts or 
those I have repeatedly named, well knowing that without them 
we could not keep up the requisite steady supply of vegetables of 
iill kinds, and yet have plenty of Potatoes.—M. H. 
A WALK IN MY GARDEN. 
March, 1891. 
I DARE not say a tour in my garden, for then my poor prosaic 
3itterances would be sharply contrasted with the charming and poetical 
Ixiok of Alphonse Karr’s ; although I often wonder what his garden was 
like, it requires but genius to invest any place with interest. There are 
many parts of Hampshire and Sussex quite as charming in their pastoral 
and woodland lieauty as Selborne, but they have no Gilbert White—just 
as it is said there were heroes before Agamemnon, but they had no 
Homer to sing their praises. It has often struck me when looking at 
Alphand’s book on the parks and gardens of Paris how much the 
ingenuity of painter and engraver can do towards making a pretty 
picture out of very little. And so it may be that Alphonse Karr’s 
garden, although in the sunny south, has been invested by his’ genius 
with an importance it would never have invested itself with in the eyes 
of one who had not knwon its historian. Be this as it may, mine is a 
very commonplace garden. It can boast of no order ; tiowers, fruit, 
shrubs, vegetables are all mixed together. I have never thought it well 
to try and lay it out afresh. I have made tome few alterations, and have 
a lot of good and pretty things in it from the beginning to the end of 
the year, things which are not seen in any gardens about me, except 
whei'e I have distributed them ; and I can never go out into it without 
finding something to interest me, while the varying character of each 
year gives one something fresh to saj' even of the same things. 
We have passed through a most extraordinary season. The long 
cold bitter w’eather of December and January vvas succeeded by the 
dryest February on record. During the whole of the month we had 
not a single drop of rain ; the days were beautifully clear and 
bright (read this, ye poor fog-poisoned Londoners !) while the nights 
were co’d with white frosts, and there was no wdnd—and I be'ievc 
these two causes account for the first thing which strikes one, the 
almost total absence of slugs and snails—the frost may have killed 
some, but I be'ieve the hunger of the blackbirds and thrushes has had 
more to do with it. 
I am reminded of this as I walk up the drive to the hall door. On 
the border, which is about 50 yards long, I made, after some attempts 
to grow other things, a rockerjq and the plants have succeeded in it 
very well, some especially so ; but I suppose, owing to its position and 
the shelter that the stones gave to the creatures, 1 have never been able 
to preserve the flowers of Scilla sibirica from the depredations of snails 
and slugs, but this year I found clumps of them where I had imagined 
they had disappeared. It seems to be an especially favourite morsel 
to them. On this rockery, too, are in full flower at this time quantities 
of Cyclamen Atkinsi and vernum. Not only have the planted corms 
succeeded, but seedlings have come up all over it, and this is, I think, a 
fair indication that the place suits them. They are baked in the 
summer, as this is the hottest spot in the garden. The drainage is 
good, and the roots of the trees in the shrubbery run under the rockery 
and give these plants what they desire. I had previousl}' tried them in 
other places, but they did not succeed. This border has also now a good 
clump or two of the Winter Aconite, although its flowers are pretty well 
over and, indeed, bright as they are, and prettily set in their fringed 
foliage, they are but short-lived. Here, too, are, of course, tufts of 
Snowdrops, both the o’d garden favourite and the newer and larger 
Galanthus Elwesi. I am not quite sure whether, after all, the old native 
variety is not quite as pretty as any of its foreign congeners. Here, 
too, pitches of Anemone blanda are in flower, including a patch from 
roots sent to me from Smyrna, the flowers being much paler than those 
ordinarily seen. I do not know whether they will retain this character, 
but I have seen it somewhere noticed that this Asia Minor variety is 
paler. 
On my other rockeries, small in extent, it is true, there are many 
things of interest in flower. Those delightful little clumps of the 
species of Crocus make them bright; caesius, pusillus, Aucheri, ochroleucus, 
and Imperati being the most conspicuous. Then there is a delightful 
clump of Saxifraga Burseriana completely covered with its pure snov - 
white flowers, and nestling down quite to the ground, while the early 
period at ■which it flowers makes it especially valuable. Here, too, on 
the rockery, close to my study window, fully exposed to the sun, i.s 
Saxifraga oppositifolia, and its variety alba are creeping over and cover¬ 
ing the ground. This is another plant which for a long time baffled mr, 
I tried it over and over again, and always failed. Asa last resource I 
put it on this rockery, and now it has grown and flowered very well. 
I made no special preparation for it, and I can only suppose that the 
situation had most to do with it; at any rate, it is now in great 
beauty. 
Hepaticas seem to have done very well, and it seems as if the hard 
■winter suited them. They were plants I could not manage, although 
I recollect as a boy that they grew like weeds in many gardens with 
which I was acquainted, and were abundant in cottagers’ gardens. 
My plants are now doing well, H. angulosa both on the rockery and on 
the borders, while I have now nice clumps of the double red and single 
blue. I see, too, a flower or two of Anemone pulsatilla and A. fulgens 
showing themselves on a border edged by Scilla sibirica. I have 
some plants showing flower of a variety from Smyrna. I cannot say 
that I see any difference between it and the ordinary type ; it is .said to 
be more robust, but one can hardly tell that from importeil bulbs. 
What they will be next year if let alone by the slugs is the point to 
decide. By-the-by, I find some people comparing them with Ghionodoxa 
Lucili.'e, aiid giving the preference to the former. Now the comparison 
is a feeble one, to say the least. The two plants are quite dissimilar in 
colour. The Scilla is of a deep steely blue; the Ghionodoxa bright 
ccerulean blue and white. Then, again, the former is earlier, it is in 
flower sooner, while the Ghionodoxa is only just beginning to show its 
buds above ground. 
The border in front of my greenhouse, about .30 feet long, is now 
beginning to give us an intimation of what it will shortly be. It is about 
4 feet wide, and over it are now in most admirable confusion flowering 
bulbs of Galanthus Elwesi; Scilla bifolia, the Smyrna variety, which is, I 
think, earlier than the ordinary one ; this will not be in flower with mu 
for a week. The Narcissi arc rapidly making their way : the Grocuses, 
blue and white, are in flower ; but I am looking for the long border, a 
foot wide, of the lovely Ghionodoxa, which I look upm as one of the 
flowers of my small garden. 
Outside my study window in the border is now a lovely plant of the 
