September 12.] 
covered with earth, are watered, and left without being 
further touched until planting time, about the middle or 
end of February. They have then strong steins and a 
mass of roots; these, without being injured, are planted 
in rows from eighteen inches to thirty inches apart, and 
from nine to twelve inches from set to set in the rows, 
according to the habit of the variety. The ground for 
them is trenched and laid in ridges during the winter, 
being then also manured with two tons of salt and thirty 
bushels of soot per acre. The potatoes (all whole) are 
put into the trenches, and the earth from the old ridges 
dug down in ridges upon them. In May, if very dry 
weather, they are watered twice a-week until rain occurs. 
It will be seen that in what we consider the chief re¬ 
quisites for successfully storing the potato, we for the 
most part agree with Mr. Cuthill. We agree that dry¬ 
ness and coolness are essential, but we deprecate the un¬ 
natural greening of the tubers by exposure to the light, 
and we advocate the exclusion from them of those great 
promoters of putrefaction, occasional exposure to 
warmth, and a free exposure to the air. For cooking 
purposes potatoes cannot be stored as Mr. Cuthill re¬ 
commends, because a greened potato is rendered waxy 
and unwholesome. Let our reader try both modes of 
storing their seed potatoes, and we shall be most ready 
to record the results, whatever they may be. 
Mr. Cuthill has some statements from which we totally 
differ, and among them is this—“ The flat system is 
quite unnatural, for it is unreasonable to plant a potato 
upon a flat surface; and after allowing it to grow a foot 
high, to draw earth over the stems and leaves.” It is, 
on the contrary, the natural way to plant on a flat sur¬ 
face ,and not to earth up; for this earthing up, we quite 
agree with Mr. Cuthill in thinking, weakens the plants 
and retards the production of the tubers. 
The cutting off the stems when the bloom is passed 
is quite condemned, and very properly, by Mr. Cuthill. 
“ I have tried it,” he says “ and have found that the 
same kind of potato grown on the same ground, pro¬ 
duced very inferior tubers when so treated; they con¬ 
tained very little starch, while those left to nature were 
very mealy.” Such potatoes, also, are more liable to be 
attacked by the murrain, a result to be anticipated from 
the analysis of diseased tubers, which are found to differ 
from the sound ones only by containing more water 
and less starch. The experiments of Dr. Lyon Playfair 
and Professor Johnston agree in showing that the in¬ 
crease of water is from two to eleven per cent. 
In conclusion, let us recommend Mr. Cuthill’s pam¬ 
phlet to the attention of our readers; it is well stored 
with facts gathered together by an every-way trustworthy 
practical man. Neither let our readers suppose that the 
pages are devoted to the potato alone. On the contrary, 
they will have much and very useful information re¬ 
lative to Asparagus, Sea-kale, Rhubarb, the Strawberry, 
and other garden prbduce. 
We beg from our readers a perusal of tho following 
gratifying letter. The writer has confided to us his 
name, and we hold him up as an example, hoping that 
303 
many will follow it; not only in the superior cultivation 
of flowers, but in sending a report of their progress:— 
You have taken so much pains in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, to communicate to your readers the best and easiest 
methods of managing their flowers, that I cannot doubt that 
you will be pleased to hear’ the success which lias attended 
my labours in that pleasing employment. Indeed, as I 
consider myself your pupil, it seems to me only an act of 
gratitude to you to relate my progress, in order that you may 
judge thereby of the amount of interest your efforts have 
excited; aud also that you may make my experience a fresh 
source of interest to others. 
For some years I have had a small cottage and garden 
in one of the suburban villages, and during the summer 
months my chief pie as me has been to spend my mornings— 
the only time I could take from business—in adorning my 
little plot with a few annuals and perennials. But when 
October came my employment, aud with my employment my 
pleasure, in a great measure ceased: I saw my beauties one 
by one fall away, until at last my only amusement was in 
keeping the paths smooth and the borders clean, longing 
for the winter to pass that I might commence anew. 
The summer of 1K49 was to me the commencement of 
a new era; in The Cottage Gardener I read of beautiful 
beds of scarlet geraniums; the richness and splendour of 
the verbena and the petunia, the heliotrope and the cupliea, 
also came under my notice; and by dint of begging—very 
common with amateur florists—by the end of July I found 
myself possessed of some hundreds of plants, all vieing with 
each other in gratifying my senses. Let me confess, that, 
amidst all my joy in possessing this store—greatly height¬ 
ened by the praise I received from my friends—there was in 
my mind a hidden sorrow. These must all perish, thought 
I, before the blast of the wintry winds. I talked the matter 
over with my wife. We read in your book how slight a 
covering might preserve them. We longed for a greenhouse, 
but the expense seemed so great. I could get nothing built 
under £20 or T30. I began to consider whether I could not 
manage to raise something by my own hands. I meditated 
and calculated, and, having entered deeply into the design, I 
found, by examination, that the materials were not so very 
costly, if I could find time to use them. I did not doubt my 
ability to form a habitation for my favourites, if the materials 
were within my reach. Many times of an evening I. drew 
out plans suitable for my garden, marked out the position of 
the building, and went to bed to dream of the preservation 
of my plants. Surely, where there is a will there is a way 1 
One fine evening a friend, used to bricks and mortar, heard 
my longings for a greenhouse, aud willing to gratify my wish 
offered to lay the foundation. He had seen my plan, we had 
even marked out the dimensions ; and about my premises 
lay, as luck would have it, some 300 bricks and a moderate 
supply of mortar. AVe went to bed, and my friend rose 
early. At six o'clock I walked down the garden, where I 
found the foundation dug out, and nine inches of brick-work 
already laid. Eighteen inches of wall were raised that morn¬ 
ing, and there the work stayed. The foundation measured 
11 feet by seven ; and our plan was, that the front should be 
four feet high altogether, rising to seven feet at the back. 
How the plates (I began to learn builders’ terms now)—-how 
these were laid, all unplaned; how the frames were rabbited, 
and the glazing accomplished (upwards of 150 feet of glass 
puttied in by myself), and the whole painted inside and out, 
and a nice sliding sash in the roof, and a swinging one in 
the front, and a little narrow door in one corner,—how these 
were all done it seems now quite a mystery ; yet before the 
middle of September I could shut the door of my little 
building, and say, “ Here is a home for my tender nurslings! ” 
A wide shelf in the front, and a stage leaning against the 
back, completed my furnishings; and I counted room for 250 
pots, or more, of GO'S and 4S’s. The beginning ot October 
warned us that the time was come when the plants must bo 
housed; carefully we took them from the ground, potted 
them, shaded them for some days under your directions, and 
when they were removed to their winter quarters few showed 
any signs of decay. None can know, but by experience, the 
inward joy I felt at the result of a little industry. My house 
had cost me less than A‘5. 
i At length the frost came, and my next thought was, how to 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
