THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 29, 1857. 405 
Diseases. — The curl is a curling of the leaves, which 
also become very dark coloured almost immediately after 
they appear above ground. The plant never makes 
much further progress, and there is no produce. This 
disease, we have found from experiments, is caused by 
the sets being exhausted, either by their sprouting re¬ 
peatedly and having the sprouts removed, or by other 
bad treatment whilst in store. 
Moist Gangrene , or Potato Murrain. —This of late 
years has been so destructive that it is pre-eminently 
distinguished as “ the disease.” Various, indeed, have 
been the causes assigned for its occurrence, all showing 
that the explainers had not sufficiently considered 
the phenomena of the malady, nor attended to the 
results arrived at by extensive growers. 
Our own opinion is that it arises from weakened con¬ 
stitution consequent upon unnatural and forcing treat¬ 
ment during a long series of years. It is a fallacy to 
suppose that it is a new disease, for many can bear 
testimony to the accuracy of Mr. Appleby’s statement 
in these pages that it has been known for at least thirty 
years past, and probably occurred long before that 
wherever Potatoes were ill cultivated year after year. 
There is no force in the objection that even the tubers 
of seedling Potatoes are liable to “ the disease,” because 
it is well known that debilitated parents give birth to a 
debilitated progeny; and from our own experience we 
can testify, as already stated, that the tubers of a healthy 
seedling, treated as we have detailed, are not liable to 
this murrain. Experience teaches us that it is essential, 
for the entire avoidance of “ the disease,” that the tubers 
should be fit for taking up and storing before the last 
week in July. It is not difficult to account for this. 
The end of July is characterised by a prevalence of 
heavy rains and the occurrence of parasitical fungi, for 
it is at that period of the year that our Peas and Vines 
are especially liable to mildew, consequent upon the 
moisture combined with heat. Decay in the tubers of 
Potatoes, and the rapid development of the accompany¬ 
ing fungus, Botrytis infestans, are promoted by the same 
circumstances. 
Let us not be understood to be of opinion that there 
are no other varieties which can be preserved from the 
disease besides those which we have enumerated. On 
the contrary, we believe that any very early variety, 
treated as we have treated our own, would, after a year 
or two, become similarly undiseased, and continue so if 
the same course of cultivation and storing were followed 
rigidly. 
NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
Erythrochiton Braziliense. Nat. ord., Rutacece .— 
Native of Brazil, as its name implies. Stem round, up¬ 
right, branchless, about four feet high. Leaves two feet 
or more in length, broadly lanceolate, coriaceous, dark 
green; margins entire; petioles short, with a swollen 
joint near the middle. Peduncle about two feet and a 
half long, woody, strong, and branch-like, with several 
flowers opening in succession and continuously; pedicels 
short and thick. Calyx an inflated tube with two lips, 
one of which is subdivided, often both; red. Corolla a 
fleshy tube, about as long as the calyx, with a limb of 
five large, spreading, obovate segments; white. 
This really useful stove plant is not so often met with 
in private collections as might be expected from its rare 
merits. It is properly a fine-foliaged plant, and the in¬ 
creasing taste for that class of plants will doubtless 
draw it out of its comparative obscurity, for at all seasons 
it is very interesting. Like Theoplirasta it requires no 
branches to add to its symmetry, for it is perfect and 
peculiar, in the possession of a tufted top of long rigid 
leaves. It flowers throughout the year, confining its 
blooming period to no particular season. Good peat 
and strong fibrous loam in nearly equal parts, with a 
little sand, appear to suit it best, and a perfect drainage 
is essential. 
Aralia leptophylla. Nat. ord., Araliacece. —Lately 
introduced from New Caledonia by Mr. Milne. Stem 
upright, round, and smooth, producing branches with 
difficulty. Leaves about two feet long, lanceolate, 
narrow, dark green, with reticulated silvery white veins, 
the mid-rib being particularly conspicuous from its 
prominence and bright colour; margin entire and slightly 
waved, gracefully drooping towards the extremities. As 
the plant has not yet flowered in this country I cannot 
describe the inflorescence, but it is, in all probability,■ 
worthless in a horticultural point of view. Its best 
quality is, doubtless, in the beauty of the foliage, and 
in this it is not surpassed by any other plant of the 
kind, for it combines beauty of form with pleasing 
colqurs; and the stem, from base to summit, being thickly 
and regularly clothed with these beautiful leaves, it 
presents altogether a charming appearance. One part 
peat and two parts good strong loam is the compost it 
succeeds in best, and plenty of moisture at the roots, 
but not stagnant with the moist warm atmosphere of 
the stove, is an essential requirement in the culture of 
this plant. 
Goethea strictiflora. Nat. ord., Malvaceae. —Native 
of Brazil. Stem upright, round, numerously branched. 
Leaves broadly ovate, acute, light green; veins promi¬ 
nent; margin slightly and irregularly notched; petiole 
short, with two linear lanceolate stipules at the base. 
Flowers small, with four cordate bracts, longer than 
either calyx or corolla, and quite inclosing both ; red. 
Calyx divided into five short ovate segments; red. 
Corolla deeply divided into five cuneate segments; red, 
and somewhat membranous. 
It is in the profusion of the flowers that the beauty 
of this plant rests. The old wood of the stem and 
branches is literally covered with the pretty little flowers 
at all seasons, the plant being irregular in its blooming 
season. It requires the treatment common to stove 
plants, and peat and loam, the latter predominating, are 
the compost in which it delights.—S. G. W., Kew. 
LONDON MARKET GARDENS.—VINE PRUN¬ 
ING.—VEGETABLE MARROWS.—CABBAGES. 
When I said that there was a school out of Loudon, 
in which so many of the best London market gardeners 
might learn “ something to their advantage,” or rather, 
before I said that, I made up my mind for an open field 
battle, never liking to fight within fences of any sort. 
To avert a battle, however, I suggested a way by which 
any of the generals commanding the forces about 
London could ascertain whether there were sufficient 
reasons for a battle at all. That way is down to the Stud 
House at Hampton Court, where “proofs” may be ex¬ 
amined for or against the aggressor. 
According to reports in the “ Kingston Daily Tattler,” 
our only independent source of local intelligence here¬ 
abouts, some of the members of Council have disbe¬ 
lieved my report, and sent down a few of the most able 
men in England, perhaps, as Commissioners, to inquire 
into that which I feared would bring on a horticultural 
civil war; and now I will suggest a second way of avoid- | 
ing a conflict. 
The head of the Commissioners happens to be on the j 
right shoulders, and I happened to make his personal 
acquaintance at the end of last spring, and have seen 
him once since then, just twice in a lifetime. We, there- ! 
fore, cannot be supposed to compromise the interests of 
those whose servants we are through personal consi¬ 
derations. The head Commissioner happens, also, to be j 
