230 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 15, 1861. 
There is one point worth noticing in connection with the past 
year—few plants have perfected seed. Although I have had a 
good many Geraniums in small pots, not one has perfected a 
seed. 
In compliance with the desire of some of your readers, I 
enclose a brief meteorological sketch of the past year at this 
place (Frome).— The Doctor’s Boy. 
18G0. 
Highest day 
temperature. 
Lowest night 
temperature. 
Average day 
temperature, j 
Average night 
temperature. 
_ 
No. of days j 
rain or snow, j 
Depth of rain. 
No. of frosty 
nights. 
January. 
35 
28 
45 36 
21 
2-78 
8 
February . 
50 
22 
371 : 30 
9 
1-45 
17 
March . 
56 
21 
45J 34 
19 
2-75 
8 
April . 
62 
29 
49 35 
13 
1 90 
8 
May . 
71 
37 
62 47 
15 
312 
June . 
69 
44 
621 49 
24 
7-06 
July . 
73 
44 
65 | 52 
13 
2-61 
August. 
67 
46 
63 52 
25 
6-45 
September . 
64 
32 
561 43 
11 
2-63 
1 
October. 
60 
27 
571 i 42 
14 
3-10 
1 
November. 
48 
28 
40 35 
12 
3-00 
11 
December. 
51 
5 
351 l 291 
13 
2-05 
16 
Total. 
... 
189 
38-90 
70 
CHARACTER OF LOAMS AND EFFECT OF j 
SOILS ON POTATOES. 
The term loam has, it appears, puzzled many a one, especially ' 
of the class usually styled amateurs. But, let me go further and 
affirm that it has thus served some of the best Professors of the i 
science and art of gardening. I must confess that there are j 
matters connected with loams which still puzzle me as to their * 
bearing on gardening affairs. We all know that some agri¬ 
cultural districts through the country look red when ploughed, 
others a common dirty brown or hazel, and others again yellow. 
These red soils are charged by some old farmers with being the 
best Wheat soils in the country; this is too sweeping. But that 
certain soils, or classes of soils, will produce certain crops in 
higher perfection than any other class, need not be doubted. 
The Fluke Potato is now known by every one, and is grown for 
the market extensively on what are called “red soils.” I have 
this season seen or heard of several cases of advertising in which 
this has been inserted, “ warranted from red soils.” This, there¬ 
fore, appears to be a recognised condition amongst mal-practical 
men. 
Now, this Fluke somewhat puzzled me fora while, fori began 
with the best of seed out of Lancashire, but I have found them dege¬ 
nerate so that they are rejected ; and this is the case with all the 
farmers around here, as far as the soil is light and sandy. But 
it is with them not merely a question of colour in the soil, butj 
rather of texture. The Fluke we must class as a Kidney, and 
all the Kidneys with which I have been acquainted are partial to 
soils somewhat adhesive. I have been astonished years since at 
the singularly robust character of the Ash-leaved Kidney grown 
on strong Wheat soils. Nantwich is only some ten miles from 
here (Oulton Park), and I was in the habit of looking over the 
rich land and gardens in that neighbourhood a score years since. 
The land in that neighbourhood is peculiarly strong, deep, and 
fat, not merely a coarse clay soil, but what, perhaps, may be 
termed an alluvium. Finding my Ash-leaved Kidneys degenerat¬ 
ing fast, I obtained prime seed from a respectable farmer then 
noted for them. But, behold, in three years on our light soils 
they ran off as bad as ever. 
Now, the Kidneys in my friend’s garden used to astonish me, 
they grew as stiff as Oak trees, in fact quite a different plant. At 
the same time the round Potatoes grew on our land with the 
utmost freedom. I know a gardener, and a very experienced 
man too, who about four years since obtained permission, with 
much difficulty, to procure turfy loam for a new Yine-border 
rom any part of the park. This was considered a boon indeed. 
. e P ar k is a fine soil, generally varying a little in point of adhe¬ 
siveness. Well, lie hit on a plot at last that seemed all perfection, 
and used it for the new Vine-border, and, strange to say, he 
eou d not get the Vines to take to it, vet he used nothing with it 
but the ordinary material. 
Now, had this man been a raw recruit, I should have fancied 
that ignorance or quackery were the cause, but it is not so. Now, 
if there- 
[This fragment of a communication intended for our pages, 
was the last literary effort of our late valued correspondent, 
RoBEiiT Errington. Nature gave way before he could com¬ 
plete this record of part of his long and varied experience. All 
our readers must have benefited by his labours, and we know 
that many will rejoice to have it in their power to make a return 
of benefit by aiding HIS widow. Mrs. Errington is left with a 
large family and but slender means of support; she will be a 
candidate for the next pension from the Gardener’s Benevolent 
Society, and we venture to ask our readers for their votes and 
interest. The following is the address she has forwarded to us :— 
“Frances Errington, widow of Robert Errington, well 
known as a writer in many gardening periodicals, solicits the 
votes of the friends of her late husband, to enable her to obtain 
a pension from the Gardeners’ Benevolent, to which her husband 
subscribed thirteen years.”] 
ADDITIONS TO THE IRISH FLORA. 
If we are not mistaken, it is now fifty-six years since Dr, 
Mackay first published a list of the Phsenogamous plants and 
Ferns of Ireland found by him and others up to that time. In 
1806 he gave to the Royal Dublin Society, for publication, a list 
of some of our rarer and more useful plants, discovered by him¬ 
self during two extensive tours in the Southern and Western 
Counties. In 1824 he gave to the Royal Irish Academy, for 
publication, a catalogue of all the Phamogamous plants and 
Ferns which he had then ascertained to be indigenous to Ireland, 
This Catalogue was the result of the excursions and observations 
made by him during the long period that intervened between its 
publication and his earlier lists. All of these were merely an¬ 
cillary to his more important work, the “ Flora Hibernica*” to 
the publication of which, he tells us in the preface, he had long 
looked forward as “ the final result of his investigations.” This 
invaluable work appeared in 1836, comprising not only the 
flowering plants and Ferns of Ireland but also the Characem, 
Mosses, Liverworts, Lichens, and Algae. It was, of course, at 
once adopted, and has ever since been the “Hand Book” of the 
Irish Botanist. Although another quarter of a century with its 
“weight of years” has nearly passed, we are happy to see the 
“ Nestor of Irish Botahy ” still able to find solace and enjoyment 
in his favourite science. The subjoined list of additions to the 
“ Irish Flora ” was lately drawn up by him and read by Edward 
Percival Wright, Esq., A.M., F.L.S., &c., at a meeting of the 
Zoological and Botanical Society of Trinity College, and published 
in the last number of their “Proceedings,” from which we 
extract it. We are aware Dr. Mackay has several other very in¬ 
teresting additions to add to our Flora, which we believe ho 
intends soon to give to the public through the same medium :— 
1. Alyssum minimum (B.C.). —First found by Mr. F. Darley 
and myself on a dry, sandy ditch-bank, near the farmhouse, Port- 
marnock, in 1817; but as it could not be found for several years 
before the publication of “ Flora Hibernica,” I did not insert it. 
I, however, found it again, in considerable quantity, in a sandy 
field, near the same place, in 1837. 
2. Hutchinsia petraa — Found on old walls at Bandon, and on 
old walls near the site of the old Botanic Garden, Cork. 
3. CocMearia greenlandica. —Island of Rathlin, Antrim : Mr. 
D. Moore. 
4. Sinapis muralis (Br.), Biplot axis muralis (B.C.).— On 
the strand by the Glanmire road, two miles below Cork ; Mr. 
William Alexander. On sandy ditches at Portmarnock, 1837 
by Mr. J. Johnstone. 
5. Bianthus deltoides. —In a drv, hilly field, opposite Duns- 
combe’s Wood, Cork, in 1837, by Mr. William Alexander, who 
sent me specimens. 
6. Euphorbia peplis. —I have fine specimens sent me by the 
Countess of Carrick, collected at Garry’s Cove, near Tramore 
County of Waterford, by Miss Trench, 1839. 
7. Silene conica — Sandy field at Portmarnock, 1837 : J. T. M. 
8. Silene noctifiora.— Found in a field near Tullamore, Kind’s 
County, in 1838, by Miss Green, of Dublin, who gave me speci¬ 
mens. * 
9. Sedum album. —Roofs of old thatched houses in the town 
of Antrim, and on walls near it, along with Sedum refiexum, m 
1837 : Mr. D. Moore. On a dry hill near Glanmire, in 183o' bv 
Dr. Harvey. ’ - 
