■ffnne 1 % 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
485 
Potatoes, are produced in the same houses as Grapes, until the Vines 
•cover "the glass, after which the shading would be too much for Tomatoes, 
though early Potatoes can be raised and matured before the leaves of 
late Grapes cover the glass. In the middle of March, even in this late 
season, Mr, Bashford had begun to pick fruit from his earliest Tomatoes, 
•some of which were 5 feet high. The bulk of those in heat are ready by 
the end of March, and those in cool houses come for picking by the end 
of June and in the following months to the end of autumn. 
“ Last year Mr. Bashford sent 25 tons of Grapes to London. lie has 
two houses with double walls lined, as are the roofs and floors also, with 
■sawdust, to keep out frost, in which he can store 12,000 bunches of 
■Grapes, the stems being inserted in bottles of water. The fruit is thus 
•stored in the middle of December, and kept for a month or two until 
•the price is high. 
“ If Jersey is the Island of Potatoes, Guernsey may fairly be termed 
•the Island of Glass. In or near St. Peter’s Port there are several 
extensive establishments similar to that just described, though none at 
present as large, in which Grapes, Melons, Tomatoes, and early vegetables 
are produced. But what is more remarkable is the great number of 
glass houses on the small farms, and even in the cottagers’ gardens. 
Nearly all of these are cool houses, in which late Grapes, Tomatoes, 
Peas, and Potatoes are produced, forcing being, as a rule, only practised 
by the extensive growers, and in gentlemen’s hothouses. Flowers and 
salad, too, ai-e cultivated for export by market gardeners, and Broccoli 
*by the farmers. 
“ Guernsey is not so well fitted as Jersey for the growth of early 
vegetables out of doors, chiefly because the slope of the former island 
faces the north instead of the south, and frost is more common. It is 
not surprising, then, to see that the cultivation of Potatoes in Guernsey 
has declined, or that rents are much lower there than in Jersey. The 
total area of land occupied in 1887 in Guernsey and the smaller islands 
is returned at 11,77.3 acres, only 877 acres of which are under Potatoes, 
ms compared with 1041 acres in 1877. Bents range from as low as £3 to 
nearly £10 an acre, but the most common sum appears to be £G or £7, 
or about £S less than in Jersey. 
“ An excellent instance of enterprise on the part of a Guernsey 
farmer is to be seen in the case of Mr. Le Pelly, who farms about 
35 acres of land. He grows Potatoes, Broccoli, and other vegetables for 
■ export, and this j'car he has sold the crop of Broccoli as it stands at 
£36 an acre. Last year he erected an excellent glasshouse, 100 feet by 
36 feet, at a cost of £230, and grew in it over 21 tons of Tomatoes, sold 
at £74, which was a pretty good return for the first year on his invest¬ 
ment. As an instance of a greater money return than that obtained for 
Broccoli by Mr. Le Pelly, we may state that the price for Tomatoes in 
the middle of March was l^d. each in London, or Id. clear of expenses 
■of carriage and sale. As nearly 10,000 Broccoli are grown on an acre, 
the net value of the crop is over £40 an acre, which was realised on one 
farm vi.sited last March ; and these vegetables are off the land in time 
for another crop of some kind to be grown this year.” 
This exhaustive and valuable contribution to the “ Quarterly ” 
■concludes as follows :—“ Although we are far from underrating 
the natural advantages enjoyed by garden-farmers in the Channel 
Tslands, we cannot fail to see that there is a great deal in their 
pr.tctice which might be extensively imitated in the United 
Kingdom. Early Potatoes, with other green crops to follow in the 
• same season, might be grown in the south of Ireland, and in some 
parts of the south of England, to a greater extent than at present, 
■and almost if not quite as advantageously as in Jersey; while a 
few enterprising Englishmen have already proved that the extensive 
use of glass in the growth of certain kinds of produce can be as 
successfully practised here as in Guernsey. No doubt it would be 
•■easy to overdo this description of enterprise, but it will be time 
•enough to think of that when something more than a beginning has 
.'been made.” 
EXCESSIVE MANURING. 
Cultivators as a rule are anxious to give their plants and crops 
■as much manure as possible, but in many cases this is quite overdone. 
T have had crops of Peas, Beans, Cauliflowers, and Onions pointed out 
to me that were said to be “ growing in almost all manure,” and yet 
they did not succeed as well as those in poorer soil. This could 
mot be understood, but I think it is easily explained. In the hope 
of having extra good produce a piece of ground is opened for 
IPeas. A thick layer of manure is placed at the bottom, a little 
soil on this, and the seed is sown. So long as the manure and soil 
are moist all may go well, but when the hot dry weather comes, 
•such as was experienced last summer, the manure becomes dust 
dry. What roo'ts were in it perish, no more penetrate it, and the 
plants have only the top and surrounding soil to live on. Further, 
this mass of dry manure acts as drainage, and the plants suffer 
■more and more. I have seen Peas planted under these conditions 
hardly produce one gathering of pods in July and August. Onions, 
again, are very apt to fail from the same cause. A mass of manure 
is placed under them, the roots penetrate it, but when the dry 
weather comes they cease to form good bulbs, and terminate in only 
Laving ■“ thick necks.” 
I am altogether opposed to those mas.ses of manure where 
drought has to be contended against, and I neither use them nor re¬ 
commend them. Where the manure is well avorked through the soil 
it is quite different, as the roots have a substantial mass to take hold 
of, drought is slow in having any influence, and the plants are both 
substantial and fruitful. I am of opinion that soft pithy Celery 
is mainly produced by the plants growing in too much manure; and 
by using it in moderation, and, above all, mixing it well with the 
soil, the sticks are invariably firm throughout. This rule also 
applies to plants in pots. W’^here too much manure is used the 
plants only make long soft growth. They are almost constantly in 
want of water, and they are very apt to become too dry.—J. Muir, 
Margam. 
LEPTOSPERMUM BULLATUM. 
At several of the recent exhibitions Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest 
Hill, Messrs. Cutbush & Son, Highgate, and other firms, have shown 
examples of this graceful greenhouse plant, and at the Temple Exhibitiou 
of the Royal Horticultural Society some specimens from Forest Hill 
were particularly noteworthy. It forms a compact shrubby plant, with 
narrow leaves and abundant ■white flowers, slightly tinged with red in 
the centre. Similar treatment to that accorde 1 ordinary hardwooded 
plants suits it, and though the individual flowers do not last very long, 
there is a good succession. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
I SEE that my worthy opponent has been infusing new life into this 
pleasant and, 1 trust, useful controversy, by striking out right and left 
with renewed vigour, showing how my bold assertions require propping 
up, and then claiming the theory of those assertions as his own. He 
next turns his attention to a case mentioned by “ B.,” and after criticising 
him in one paragraph and applauding him in another, finishes by a 
desperate attack upon what he terms my “ experimental trials,” and my 
want of “ experience ” in conducting them. There are always two sides 
to every question, and the only way that 1 can account for the con¬ 
clusions Mr. Coombe has arrived at is that he has been using those great 
ad vocative powers, which I have already pointed out he possesses, by 
placing those points thrt tell in his favour prominently f jr-vard, and in 
