250 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 2. 
selves above-ground with every possible prospect of 
success ? 
This, I believe, on tire average of seasons, will not be 
before the second week in May ; at least, I have found 
it so in Cheshire—speaking after twenty-six years ex¬ 
perience. This, then, is one phase of the question; the 
next is, can they be so managed in planting them early, 
os that they may be at work below ground without 
appearing too soon above; if so, they would be in a 
more natural condition than lying in rooms. To accom¬ 
plish this, there can be no doubt that they must be 
deeper from the surface than under ordinary planting; 
and, if so, I, for one, must protest against it; and this, 
indeed, is one of the chief objections, as I conceive, to 
autumn planting. I have repeatedly tried deep planting 
against shallow planting, and invariably found the latter 
superior, provided the Potatoes were properly earthed- 
up, a plan which some have protested against, but 
which I am bound to recommend, in conjunction with 
shallow planting. By shallow planting, I mean about 
four inches in depth; and by deep planting, to avoid 
frost, about seven to eight inches. 
The next question is, Can we so manage early Potato 
sets in-doors, as that they suffer no injury, and at the 
same time make those advances which it is unsafe for 
them to make out-doors? To this 1 readily answer— 
Yes. 
Of course, there is some difference in the nature of 
Potatoes ; those who have grown them much, know that 
the much-esteemed Ash-leaved Kidney requires a some¬ 
what peculiar handling. This kind has been extensively 
grown in Cheshire for many years, and, latterly, much 
pains have been taken over them by our farmers in this 
immediate neighbourhood, and amply have they been 
repaid for the extra trouble. 
The best practice with which 1 am acquainted is 
this, to take up thoso for seed before they are ripe; cer¬ 
tainly before they are anyways diseased ; to spread them 
immediately on the floor of any outhouse ; if it face the 
north, and the wind can blow through it, all the better; 
hero they may lay a month or so, if requisite, when they 
may be removed, if necessary, to some cool, upstairs 
room, or if to remain longer where they arc, must be 
turned. 
It will be seen here, that the object is to harden, and, 
in somo degree, green the sots; not that the mcro 
colour of green is anything in itself, but as an indication 
of solidity in the tubers; for under this treatment they be¬ 
come so firm, that on cutting one it feels as if it were 
of a woody character. That this solidity, however it bo 
produced, is a mark of health and strength in the tubers, 
no one practically engaged in their culture doubts. 
Our readers will more naturally desire to know what 
is done with the seed Potatoes for early work, during 
the months of October and November; for we spoke of 
their removal, or, at least, being turned after being in 
the shed for a month or two. As for my part, having an 
upstairs room, over a shed, and facing the north, i keep 
mine there; and when economy of space becomes an 
object, about the middle of September, I merely placo 
them in bodies against the back wall of the shed, and 
as soon as danger from frost is apprehended, merely 
throw some dry litter over thorn. At the end of Febru¬ 
ary, they are placed in a position to sprout previously to 
planting; but, as there is a perfect identity of treatment 
henceforth between my practice and that of our best 
Potato growers, I choose now rather to say what they do. 
A few years siuce those worthy neighbours and friends 
discovered that the old “anyhow” plan of having their 
seed Potatoes in the “ hogs," or pits until April, and 
until possessing sprouts half a foot long, and blanched 
like Sea-kale,—discovered, I say, that the practice would 
not much assist in paying their rents, under the circum¬ 
stances connected with the Potato disease; they, at 
last, became convinced that the destruction of the first 
sprout, or sprouts, was a positive injury, and one too 
serious to be long joked with. 
This, then, was the period for the commencement of 
reform in early Potato culture; and, henceforth, what 
had been considered a trouble, became, with some I 
could name, a pride. Boxes were now provided— 
simply a few skeleton boards tacked together, with a 
return edge to keep the Potatoes in ; and here the pet 
Ash-leaved Kidneys or “Radicals” were placed, as sailors 
would say, “ on their beam ends,” as close as they could 
go together. Neither egg-packin’g—no, nor chandelier- ! 
packing cither, could excel the packing of these fast men 
once converted. The time for doing this is about 
the end of January, or early part of February; and as to 
the mode of wintering previously, why,, some even keep 
them awhile in the pits; but the majority have them 
stored away in hampers, or anything which may be at 
liberty—such are generally kept in a granary, or any 
loft or place, where the Ice King may scarcely enter. 
These Kidneys, or other Potatoes, are thus taken in 
trays or boxes to the field, about the end of March, or, 
perhaps, middle of April. No moving allowed after 
being placed in the trays, and are thus transferred to the 
soil. 
Thus treated, they possess green, sturdy - looking 
sprouts, half as thick as a finger, and about one-aud-a- 
half inches in length; and not unfrequently these sprouts 
are thickly clad with greenish-looking fibres, which, like 
young, hungry thrushes in their nests, seem to have 
their mouths wide open, and anxious for sustenance. 
It will be seen that the parties are fully impressed 
with the necessity for taking extra pains, and I have no 
doubt that the increased success which follows this 
care will speedily lead to an improved course of culture, 
or to other kinds and later crops. 
I have known persons plant a considerable breadth of 
Kidneys as late as the middlo of April; seed prepared 
as before stated, and to produce, then, earlier crops than 
those who planted the same kind in the third week of 
February. The latter having used unprepared seed, and 
planted deep. R. Errington. 
TEA ROSES. 
It is now a little over twenty-four years since I made 
the first serious note about Tea Roses, or rather a Tea 
Rose; for then 1 had only heard of one, the Odorata, or 
Odoratissirna, as some called it. This was a light blush 
Rose, brought over from China, I believe. At all events, 
it was the first of tho Tea^centod Roses which found its 
way into the country, though but sparingly, during my 
minority as a gardener. The last I saw of it was a 
bush eighteen years old, against the cottago of Mr. 
Lovett, late gardener at Shrubland Park for fifty years or 
more. This white Rose bush, and some other plant, : 
which 1 forgot, both died that summer that the worthy j 
old gardoner, who attended them for so many years, j 
departed this life; and a strong superstition about thoso [ 
plants was current round about among tho poor. It 
was rather a delicate ltoso out-of-doors, and in hoavy 
soils the frost often killed it. It was among the first 
plants which were pointed out to me, iu 182‘J, in Here¬ 
fordshire, as a fit subject for experiments in tho beds 
for trying stove-plants, and all kind of house-plants in 
tho summer. I nevor lost a leaf of it for some years at 
Hatfield, but since then I have not been ablo to grow it, 
or any of tho Tea Hoses, out-of-doors; therefore, I have 
made it one of my old texts to write about. 
Mr. Rivers says in his “Rose Amateur's Guide,” or 
1 rather out of it, that there never was such a bad year 
, for Roses as 1851; what tho frosts did not kill, the dry 
' weather in the spring nearly parched up, and tho fly 
