April 18, 188S. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
313 
'unbiassed judge ; if the gardener suited him (or her) it is immaterial 
how many prizes he won or failed to win, because of themselves they 
prove nothing in this instance. The second case falls to the ground 
because, so far as we are told, the head gardener did not recommend his 
foreman to fill an important situation for which he was not fitted. If 
Mr. Bishop is afraid to publish names, let him send them in confidence 
to the Editor, and leave him to say whether he (Mr. Bishop) has or has 
not established his charge against nurserymen and others. In default 
of this I call upon Mr. Bishop to withdraw statements which he has 
failed to substantiate. 
In reply to W. G. Kevell permit me to say that I should show a re¬ 
markable want of penetration if I accepted as proofs or illustrations 
the one weak, ex parte , and very personal case Mr. Bishop lias adduced 
in support of his statements about nurserymen and others, on page 
74. Sir. Revell is very faulty in his reasoning. If Mr. Bishop did not 
desire to exalt himself and debase his successor, why did he use the 
personal pronoun “ I,” and draw special attention to himself and to 
his successor ? Also, if Mr. Bishop had taken 770 prizes last year, what 
lias that to do with the question ? There are numbers of men in single- 
handed places who have probably taken as many prizes as Mr. Bishop, 
and who are as good all-round gardeners, and equally competent to fill 
important positions. The question at issue is not who are the sufferers, 
but the accuracy of Mr. Bishop’s statements in regard to the actions 
of nurserymen and others. 
It is kind of Mr. Bishop to be so interested in me, and I am sorry 
that he has failed to find my name and address in the Directory. I hope 
some day to hold an important appointment if I do not now, and then 
perhaps Mr. Bishop will be more successful in his search in the Direc¬ 
tory ; but whether he is or not, 1 shall be content to allow others to assess 
such merits as they may discover in my work, and so far I have been 
fortunate in not being under the necessity of blowing my own trumpet. 
—Hugh Dale. 
[We may perhaps add that our correspondent is in a position that 
the majority of gardeners would be glad to fill, also we may narrate the 
fact of a single-handed gardener liaving taken hundreds of prizes 
against all comers, and now most creditably holds, and has long held, a 
position of trust and responsibility as manager of a nobleman’s estate. 
The knowledge of cows, pigs, poultry, and farming possessed by this 
once groom and gardener has been of even greater service to him than 
his proved skill as a cultivator of flowers, fruit, and vegetables. 
Nurserymen of recognised character and position are most careful only 
to recommend gardeners who furnish satisfactory testimonials of their 
•competency and respectability. The winning of prizes alone carries 
little weight, often none, in the selection of a suitable man for a posi¬ 
tion. Some of the best gardeners in the kingdom do not exhibit, and 
some of the best masters would not keep them if they did.] 
NOTES ON POTATOES. 
INTERNATIONAL KIDNEY. 
On reading the very modest remarks on the above named variety by 
"the raiser and introducer, I am led to think by an observation of 
mine that the anticipated improvement in the cooking qualities are 
in some cases being realised. I asked one of our staff in February 
last, who is a cottager and has an allotment on moderately stiff soil 
on the chalk, what kind of Potatoes he was at that time using. 
He said, “ International Kidney.” I said, “ I thought you grew 
those for show and not to eat.” He remarked, “ They are very good 
now. Will you try a few?” I said, “Yes,” but I thought it was 
a very doubtful experiment. On having them cooked I was agreeably 
surprised by their proving most excellent; in fact, I have eaten no better 
Potatoes of the crop of 1888, and I have grown and been using several 
of the fine new varieties sent out by leading firms.—R. M. 
I SHOULD like to be allowed to send a word of greeting to Mr. 
Robert Fenn, and to say how thoroughly I enjoyed his most characteristic 
•defence of his seedling Potato International on page 236. His style 
and the swing of his sentences serve to remind us, the old readers of 
the Journal of Horticulture , of those long past glorious days, when the 
world was younger and brighter to us than it is now, when Robert 
Fenn as “ Upwards and Onwards ” did such brave work for the Potato 
■he loves so well in that notable garden at Woodstock Rectory. How 
well I can recall the pleasant letters, the chatty, cheery letters, with 
such a go-ahead spirit in them : the letters which brought new life to 
many a weary spirited Potato grower, and which fired with Potato 
-enthusiasm the young and aspiring gardener. I was one of those who 
caught in a small degree the infection of his enthusiasm for the Potato, 
and I have been a Potato lover ever since. I was admitted into the 
rprivacy of his correspondence, and what he is in public he is in a higher 
degree in private—brave, straightforward, and generous. His heart is 
In his hand, and the cheeriness of his spirit makes him friends with 
■everybody who comes within the magic of his acquaintance. It did my 
heart good to read his letter on his seedling International, and also to read 
his note on Potatoes sporting, page 292, and the history of his other 
seedling Potato, Mr. Worthington G. Smith. I am sure I am only speaking 
the minds of all readers of the Journal when I say that we shall be glad 
to see him occupy some of the pages of our paper each week. As one 
who remembers his connection with the writers of past days—Robert 
Errington, Donald Beaton, Robert Fish, Thomas Appleby, and others 
whose names are now only memories—it will be a great delight to me. 
Speaking of Mr. Fenn’s Potato International, I was once standing in 
a cottager’s tent at a flower show and overheard the following:—Says 
A to B, “ What makes you grow rhat International Potato ? Tt is not fit 
to eat.” “ I don’t care what it is,” says B, “ it’s brought more money 
to me than all the others put together !” “ Oh 1 well,” replies A, “ if 
that’s all-.” He did not get any further, for B demolished him 
with such an “All 1 I” (flourishing his hands about), “ why what more 
do you want ?” and went off with the air of a conqueror. One thing 
certainly must be said for it, and that is, it has given Potato growers of 
every degree a model for a kidney Potato as to form. That is some¬ 
thing, and not a little something either. When one remembers the ugly 
deep-eyed monsters which we have seen on exhibition tables, it makes 
one thankful to the raiser of such a typical Potato as International for 
giving us one which delights the eye whatever it may lack in satisfying 
the palate. 
Mr. Robert Fenn has left his mark on the Potato world, and by 
many will never be forgotten, one of whom now signs himself— 
N. H. P. 
NARCISSUS YARTIFORMIS. 
Prominent by its stateliness and beauty in the great collection of 
Daffodils at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society was the 
!"■ 11 
•i) 1 
FIG. 49.—NARCISSUS VAIUIFORMIS. 
variety here figured. The trumpet or corona is of the best form and 
bright crocus yellow in colour, the perianth segments varying in shape, 
some being short, broad, and smooth ; others, and these being in the 
majority, longer, narrower, and more or less waved or twisted, as repre¬ 
sented in the engraving ; they are yellow at the base, nearly white at 
the tips. This handsome Daffodil was exhibited by Messrs. Barr and 
Son. It has, we are informed, been sold under the erroneous name of 
N. nobilis, which is figured in “ Redoute’s Liliacem,” but is not in 
cultivation. 
N. variiformis is described in Parkinson’s “ Paradisus,” but from the 
date of the publication of this work, 1629, we find no record of it till 
within the last five or six years, when Mr. Barr introduced it from the 
Upper Pyrenees, and he informs us that it is very widely spread in the 
mountains of the Central Pyrenees. In 1888 Mr. Barr met with it in 
Old Castile, near to some of the rich Spanish copper mines, growing in 
the basin of a valley, the lower half of the valley being occupied with 
