September 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
431 
Class 38.—BANTAMS.—GOLD-LACED. (For the best Code and 
two Hens.) 
429. First prize, Mr. Uriah Sparey, Markyate-street, Dunstable. 426. 
Second prize, Dir. Francis Redmond, Swiss Cottage, St. John s Wood. 
BANTAMS.—SILVER-LACED. (For the best Cock and two Hens.) 
434. First prize, Mr. Uriah Sparey, Markyate-street, Dunstable. 433. 
Second prize, Mr. F. Redmond, Swiss Cottage. 
BANTAMS.—GINGER OR BUFF. (For the best Cock and two 
Hens.) 
437. First prize, Mr. John Fairlie, Cheveley Park, Newmarket. 435. 
Second prize, Mr. G. C. Adkins, Edgbaston, 
BANTAMS.—BLACK. (For the best Cock and'two Hens.) 
441. First prize, The Hon. Mrs. D. Astley. 438. Second prize, Mr. T. 
Oliver, Thorpe Hamlet, near Norwich. 
BANTAMS.—WHITE, (For the best Cock and two Hens.) 
449. First prize, Rev. Grenville Frodsham Hodson, Chew Magna, near 
Bristol. 445) Second price, Mr. W. G. Vivian, Singleton, near Swansea. 
Class 39.—FOR ANY OTHER DISTINCT BREED. (A Cock and 
two Hens of any age.) 
462 Prize £2, Mr. E. Simons, Dale-end, Birmingham. (Anconas, 
pure breed.) 4/5. Prize £i, Mr. John Fairlie. Cheveley Park, New¬ 
market. (Chamois Polands.) 478. Prize £2, Mr. 1. H. Potts, Croy¬ 
don/ (White Polands.) 452. Prize 10 s., Mr. C. Rawson, Walton-on- 
Thames. (Algerine Silk Fowl.) 470 . Prize 10 s., Mr. J. Taylor, jun., 
Cressy House, Shepherd’s-bush. (Andalusian.) 4/6. .Prize 10 *-> * r - 
John Fairlie, Cheveley Park, Newmarket. (Dumpies or Scotch Bakies.) 
Class 40 .—FOR ANY OTHER DISTINCT BREED. (For deserving 
specimens of a Cockerel and three Pullets, Chickens of 1853., 
490 Prize £2., Mr. John Fairlie, Cheveley Park. (Bramah Poutras.) 
492 . Prize £2. t Dr. Burney, Brockhurst-lodge, near Gosport. .Ihe 
Ptarmigan.) 
Class 41 .—GEESE. (For the best Gander and two Geese.) 
4 Q 3 , First prize, Mr. C. Rawson, Walton-on-Thames. (Toulouse 
Geese.) 500. Second prize, Mr. W. G. K. Breavington Sutton, Houn¬ 
slow. 498. Commended, Mr. J. Thorne, Mawby House, South Lambeth. 
Class 42 ._DUCKS.—AYLESBURY.—WHITE. (For the best Drake 
and two Ducks.) 
517 First prize, Mr. W. G. K. Breavington, Sutton, Hounslow. 523. 
Second prize, Mr. John Weston, Aylesbury. The whole class highly 
meritorious. 
DUCKS.—MUSCOVY. (For the best Drake and two Ducks.) 
532 First prize, Mr. W. Hodgkinson, Gough-hill, Holloway-head, 
Birmingham. 
DUCKS.—ANY OTHER VARIETY. (For the best Drake and two 
Ducks.) 
536 First prize, Miss Steele Perkins, Sutton Coldfield. (Black Buenos 
Ayres, or Labrador.) Second prize withheld. 
Class 43 .—TURKEYS. (For the best Cock and two Hens.) 
541. First prize, Mr. John Fairlie, Cheveley Park, Newmarket. 540 
Second prize, Mr. J. R. Rodbard, Aldwick Court, near Bristol. (Wild 
American.) 
Class 44 .—GUINEA FOWLS. (For the best pair.) 
549. First prize, Mr. John Fairley, Cheveley Park, Newmarket. 547- 
Second Drize, Mr. J. R. Rodbard, Aldwick Court. 
The Dealers’ Prize awarded to Mr. Philip Castang, Leadenliall Market. 
THE POTATO MURRAIN. 
Seeing so many contradictory reports in the papers 
relative to the Potato disease, some asserting that it does, 
and some that it does not, exist, even to a slight extent; 
this year I have taken pains, not only to make inquiries, but 
also to see some taken up in different gardens. The tops 
I in all the gardens, and in many lields in this district, show 
the presence, more or less, of the disease; and, in one 
i garden I was in last week, at many of the roots there 
actually did not exist a single Potato, all having rotted 
away, and that in a soil by no means either heavy or wet. 
Having myself, for several years, been my own working 
gardener, X paid great attention to Potato-setting, eaitiling- 
| up and storing them for use; and, having tried difleient 
manures, sftme of the richest and rankest description, 
i namely, half-decayed animal matter, in addition to common 
i manure and guano, I was never able to distinguish, except 
I in the produce (which, of course, was much greater where 
J the strongest manure was applied), any variation in the 
1 quantity of diseased Fotatoes per row. 
Many people assert that autumn-planted ones are freer 
' from the disease, which I attribute not to the time of plant- 
I ing, hut to their being covered deeper with soil, under the 
idea of protecting them from frost; for I have proved, 
beyond all doubt, that the deeper the sets are put into the 
ground, provided the soil is not of a heavy description, and 
the greater quantity of earth that is thrown up against them 
when they are earthed-up, the freer they are from the 
disease; and, by strict observation, this opinion is more 
strongly confirmed by hundreds of instances, where the 
Potatoes attached to the stem, and deep in the ground, are 
sound, bnt those that have sprung from the other 1 otatoes, 
and come near the surface, are rotten. 
The disease, no doubt, comes in close, hot weather, when 
the air is charged with electric fluid, and is caused by atmo¬ 
spheric influence ; and the Aphis l astutov is not the cause, 
as many have supposed, but the effect of the disease. 
Tadcaster. A Practical Amateur. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
the Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.” 
Pansey Seedlings (M. Weighill).-The yellow with the broad 
purple edge, is in good form and substance, but common-looking. The 
pale straw with purple, delicate-looking, and good form, but thin petaled. 
We cannot write letters at all, much less “by return of post,” on such 
subjects. 
British Ferns (B. B.).—Moore’s Handbook of British Ferns will 
exactly suit you. It is very cheap, and very full of information. 
Hot-water PlPE ( -^;-For your greenhouse, eighteen feet long by 
nine feet wide, use three-inch cast-iron piping. 
Seedling Verbenas (Bufor).— These seedlings vary, more or less, 
from the parent plants. The toad you employ in your frame will become 
torpid in the winter. We have had Grapes affected with the white 
mildew ( Oidiurn Tuckeri) cured by rubbing them between the fingers 
and thumb covered with flowers of sulphur. 
Shrivelled Peach Shoots (One Puzzled).— We have seen cases 
like yours, and feel disposed to consider it a form of mildew, perhaps 
the Oidium erysiphoides. Flowers of sulphur seem to be generally re¬ 
cognised as the best antagonist to mildews in general. Such things 
are very liable to be generated in damp seasons, on trees growing in rich 
soils, and this is one of the reasons why we prefer planting in simple 
loam, and using manurial matters as surface-dressings. We should take 
such trees up in October, make the soil drier and more simple, and re¬ 
plant at a higher level. 
Peaches and Plums planted too close (A Country Rector). 
You may prune them back a little closer than in ordinary pruning, 
before moving them. There is no necessity for such very severe pruning. 
Your transplanting will bring the gross trees into bearing, if proper 
sorts, and not utterly diseased. Rhododendrons and Azaleas want little 
pruning besides occasionally removing straggling growths ; keep, how¬ 
ever, all seed-pods removed. Let us advise you to root-prune all your 
gross fruit-trees at the end of September; never mind their flagging a 
little. You should have attended to our directions about summer pinch¬ 
ing long since. 
Orchids (Cattleya Loddigcsii). —You say your Cattleyu Loddigesii 
made twelve bloom-spikes, but only one flowered ; you kept it in a house 
heated to 70 ° by day, and 60 ° by night, whilst growing, with rather dry 
air, but moist at the roots. We imagine your soil is too wet, and not 
raised sufficiently above the pot edge; the heat is right, and the atmo¬ 
spheric moisture is right. It is very surprising that many orchid growers 
do not succeed in blooming their plants, for it is a fact, there is no class 
of plants so easy to cultivate if all the proper means and appliances are 
brought into play in growing them. Consult Mr. Appleby’s papers on 
Orchid culture, in back numbers of The Cottage Gardener. W hy 
treat Cattleya crispa differently to Cattleya Loddigesii? They are from 
the same country. We have seen them bloom in very indifferent treat¬ 
ment. Your Oncidium pictum has too much soil at the root. V hen the 
growth is finished, keep it dry, and when it begins to grow again in the 
I spring, shake it clean out of the soil, fill the pot half full of the crocks, 
