THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 17, 18o7. 
pugnance of the plant to all filth presents a roost peculiar 
and distinctive character. It can, however, be so easily 
grown on any loose soil, poor as it may be, that it may be 
emphatically termed, ‘ the poor man's Potato.' 
“ The flesh is snow white, not sweet, delicately farinaceous, 
being midway in flavour between the finest Mercer Potato 
and arrow-root. It can be eaten raw, boiled, or roasted, 
and requires in boiling about half the time of the common 
Potato. In France excellent bread has been made by 
adding forty per cent, of it to wheat flour, and the writer 
has made the richest and most nutritious puddings of it 
without any admixture. 
“ The root is of a pale russet colour, oblong, regularly 
rounded, and club-shaped, and it differs from other vertical 
l'oots in being largest at the lower end. Its culture is the 
most simple. The plants produce small tubers in great 
abundance; these, or small pieces (eyes) of the root, may 
be planted as soon as the frost is out in the spring, in drills 
one foot apart, and then be kept free from weeds during the 
summer. The crop should not be dug or ploughed out until 
the last of autumn, as the roots which have penetrated 
deeply into the earth during the summer make their great 
increase in size during the cooler autumnal months. When 
the crop is taken from the ground the roots should be 
spread, and allowed to dry for a lew days, preparatory to 
storing them for the winter, which may be done by burying 
them, or placing in cellars. 
“ The haulm is so nutritious that cattle and horses eat it 
with avidity. On small, weak tubers, the top growth is but 
moderate, but when strong pieces of root are planted the 
shoots run twelve to eighteen feet, and are strong and 
vigorous, producing great numbers of tubers. 
“ The Chinese cut off the small neck of the root, to be re¬ 
served for planting, making use only of the large part for 
ordinary consumption. 
“ Heretofore we have been compelled to plant only the 
weak and imperfect imported tubers, which were all that 
could be purchased, and some persons failed of success the 
past year from this cause, or from obtaining spurious tubers. 
Fair tubers, or eyes, such as w r e now possess of American 
growth, if planted early, will produce roots the first year, 
weighing from eight to twenty ounces; and pieces of the 
root measuring one inch and a half in length have pro¬ 
duced, the past season, one, two, or three roots from each, 
weighing in the aggregate from twenty to thirty-two ounces, 
and in some instances thirty inches in length, but usually 
eighteen to twenty-five inches. 
“ Twelve entire roots of only moderate size, which were 
left in the ground until the second season, formed shoots 
fifteen to eighteen feet in length, and produced 3,400 tubers, 
in addition to a mass of roots weighing eighteen pounds. 
The same root does not continue its growth the second and 
third years, as has been supposed, but the old roots decay, 
each giving birth to a number of very large roots, a field of 
which forms, as the Chinese express it, ‘ a magazine of 
food.’ The product of a crop, when allowed to remain over 
to the close of the second season, is estimated by the French 
Institute at 2000 bushels of sixty pounds each to the acre. 
“ The expense of culture is less than that of the ordinary 
Potato, and the expense of digging not exceeding one-fourth 
the usual cost, as the Chinese Potato can be thrown out with 
the Carrot or Beet plough so generally used in France on 
the immense plantations connected with the Beet-sugar 
manufactories of that nation. It may be successfully grown 
on any sandy, gravelly, or other permeable soils that are 
neither very rich nor wet. In China it is cultivated on 
terraced hill-sides, in localities where little else could be 
j produced.”] 
A PLEA FOR THE VINCA MINOR VA- 
RIEGATA AS AN EDGING PLANT. 
This ornamental and compact little plant is not culti- 
j vated to the extent for flower-garden purposes it so justly 
deserves. It makes one of the most beautiful edgings that 
possibly can be desired. In point of colour and usefulness 
it is hardly surpassed by the Golden Chain Geranium ; not 
that I think it will take the place of the latter for some 
purposes ; that it will for others I am quite certain. It has a 
much more respectable appearance in September and Oc¬ 
tober, as the Golden Chain begins to look somewhat bare at 
that time, particularly on cold soils. 
It is easily propagated in the autumn and spring months, 
and perfectly hardy—two great points in its recommenda¬ 
tion. Many will say, perhaps, “ Oh ! it is such an old 
thing.” That I will admit, but it is not any the more to 
be despised for that. For instance, take the Mentha va- 
riegata , the Cerastium tomentosum , and others that I could 
mention, which were only allowed some out-of-the-way 
corner to exhibit themselves, but are now used very ex¬ 
tensively in all gardens of any pretensions. 
The useful remarks recently made by Mr. Robson on the 
failing of some of our bedding plants, which I am sorry to 
say are too true, will, I hope, help to bring many of our old 
favourites into fashion again; and amongst them the Vinca , 
like an old friend, will be hailed with much pleasure.— 
John Perkins, Thorn ham Hall Gardens, Suffolk. 
PEARS. 
I have read an account of the Pears shown at the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society’s Fruit Show, as reported in The Cottage 
Gardener of the 3rd instant, all of which I grow, and a 
great many others; but there is one that, in my opinion, 
surpasses them all. It is Sohlat d'Esperance, a fine large 
fruit, nine inches in circumference, and the same round the 
stalk and the eye. All the late Pears appear to ripen earlier 
this season than usual. This Pear, which should not be fit 
for the table until January, is now in full perfection.— 
Jonathan. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GRAPES IN A COLD GREENHOUSE. 
“ Will Grapes ripen in a cold or cool greenhouse under a 
roof glazed with Hartley’s patent rough plate glass, three- 
sixteenths of an inch thick? I have planted New Hutch 
Sweetwater and Bidwill's Seedling. As I have my house 
entirely for the purpose of wintering hardy plants, such as 
Fuchsias, scarlet Geraniums, and annuals, as soon as these 
are out in their blooming places there will be nothing left 
but these Vines. I am not disposed to have fires till I have 
proved the effect.”—R. L. G. 
[There can be no question as to Grapes ripening under 
the roof of such a house. We do not know the Bidwill 
Seedling, and for such a cool house, instead of the Dutch 
Sweetwater, we should have preferred the Grove End Sweet - 
water, and, as all Sweetwaters are rather troublesome to set 
equally, we should have recommended the Royal'Muscadine 
and the Black Hamburgh, and for late keeping the West's 
St. Peter's. 
You .speak of not using fires until you have tried the 
matter, but if you have no means of heating or protecting 
your house we could hold out little hope of your saving 
your Geraniums, &c. The Vines will succeed better with¬ 
out artificial heat. If you use a little heat to keep out frost 
in winter a little extra heat will be of advantage when your 
Grapes come into flower, and again in keeping them from 
damping when ripe.] 
WINTER TEMPERATURE OF A STOVE. 
“ I‘shall be much obliged by your telling me at what heat 
a small stove should be kept during the winter months. 
There are some creepers in it which have been growing 
freely and flowering all the summer. I conclude that they 
ought to have rest now, but I wish to keep sufficient heat to 
have some plants in flower all the winter, and to force others 
for the greenhouse. Can I rest my plants and have my 
flowers ? ”—W. C. 
[Such climbers as Passion flowers, that bloom in summer, 
may now be cut freely back, and be kept dryish all the win¬ 
ter, which will rest them sufficiently if the temperature is 
not over 65° with fire heat. All your summer-flowering 
plants may be treated in somewhat the same way, and should 
