! 200 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNT RY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 23, 1850. 
before they are planted out, and it is likely they will 
come sooner into use, provided that they arc not kept 
too long in the pots they are started in. 
To have Potatoes very early the general mode is to 
get the tubers intended to be planted ripened early 
the preceding summer, and in November, or early in 
December, they are planted in a nicely-prepared hotbed, 
where there are the means of keeping up a continuous 
heat. Of course, in cold, frosty weather, there is the 
necessity of keeping them covered up for several days, 
or nearly so. An opening, even for an hour or two, 
will be then of great service, and may generally be 
adopted. The other conditions are easily effected, as the 
Potato is very accommodating, and though a too close 
confinement is apt to produce more top than root, still 
| there is a fair chance for a crop when that top can be 
j saved. 
Of the kinds proper to plant in frames some difference 
j of opinion prevails, and every one has his favourite 
I sort. A few years ago round ones, under various names, 
were much grown ; but they have gone into disrepute of 
late, and the Short-topped Kidney, of which the old Ash- 
leaved is the type, may be regarded as the most fashion¬ 
able now. It is one of these kinds that I plant, and 
though differing a little from the parent in some of its 
features, it may still be regarded as an “ Ash-leaf.” It 
is useless, however, giving its name, as that is hut a 
local definition, and doubtless many other useful Po¬ 
tatoes have the same; for, like Cucumbers, every grower 
has his “ own sort,” which he places most confidence in. 
To the amateur I would say, therefore, plant good tubers 
of the old Ash-leaved after they have been proved to be 
sound by first starting them in a warm place as above j 
directed; and if he be anxious to try experiments, as I 
think all amateurs ought to be, let him try some other 
sorts as well in the same bed, and he guided another 
year by the result. I need hardly advise which to try, 
as new sorts are often advertised, and the quantity 
required for a frame is so small as not to deter any one 
from procuring those he thinks may turn out best. 
We are more in want of really new sorts of Potatoes 
than any one article else, unless it be Peaches and 
Apricots, which, strange to say, have received few addi¬ 
tions during my gardening lifetime. J. Robson. 
ADVICE TO UNDER-GARDENERS. 
I would advise all youths who intend to become gar¬ 
deners to get as good an education as they possibly can ; 
and all those who have not had an education I would 
advise to acquire it themselves. I fancy I hear some of 
our easy young gardeners saying, “Yes; but that is easier 
said than done.” Not at all. But perhaps it would be 
interesting to some of my readers if I were to give them my 
“ rise and progress.” I was born of very humble parents, 
j and it was my misfortune to lose my father at the age 
i of four years. I, unfortunately, never could go to school 
i except on Sundays, and then only for a very slioi't lime, 
i scarcely knowing more than my alphabet when I left. I 
was sent, at the age of ten years, to a local nursery, where I 
| remained two years. I then got into a gentleman’s service, 
where we had a splendid collection of plants, comprising 
orebideous, stove, and greenhouse plants, and a collection of' 
1 alpines numbering fifteen hundred species. How I regretted, 
j at that time, that I could neither read nor write; but I made 
a resolution thenceforth to practise both reading and writing 
! everyday. I stayed in that situation three years, and have 
j had four changes since then, and stayed two years in each. 
I am now twenty-two years of age, and holding a very re¬ 
sponsible situation as head-gardener. This is one small in¬ 
stance of what can be done by perseverance. 
The branches of learning a gardener most requires are 
mathematics, grammar, drawing, writing, and natural history. 
Let each young gardener, as soon as his employment is over 
for the day, make himself tidy, and then turn to his books. 
I think he would do well if he were to devote the major part 
of his time to reading works upon gardening. The works I 
have chiefly read are, The Cottage Gardener, The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener’s Dictionary, and Loudon’s Encyclo- 
p.edia of Gardening, McIntosh’s Works, and many others, 
—all good works. But there is one thing I would call par¬ 
ticular attention to, that is, botany; for it is the key to all 
gardening matters, and young gardeners will do well to give 
it their best attention. How unpleasant it must be to a 
gardener when a lady or gentleman asks him the meaning of 
(for instance) Galanthus , to be obliged to say he really 
does not know! If gardeners in general would pay a little 
more attention to botany I feel persuaded they would derive 
benefit from it. For introductory works upon the natural 
system of botany I believe nothing will surpass Lindley’s 
Introduction to the Natural System, and Professor Balfour on 
the Natural System ; for the Linnsean, or Artificial System, as 
it is termed, I believe Smith’s Introduction cannot be sur¬ 
passed at its price. After the reader is well acquainted with 
these he may procure Loudon's Encyclopedia of Plants, or 
his Hortns Britannicvs, both excellent works ; but for prac¬ 
tical gardening I do not think The Cottage Gardener can 
be surpassed. 
I would advise all young gardeners to be very neat and 
economical in their dress. I am aware that their wages are 
not very high, but surely they are better than many who have 
to serve an apprenticeship till they are twenty-one without 
any pecuniary recompense whatever. They will likewise 
find it a great assistance to be civil and obliging to every 
one, and especially to their superiors. A kind w r ord is as 
soon said as a cross one, and it costs the giver nothing. Let 
every one spend his money on something that will be bene¬ 
ficial to him, and, above all, let him abstain from that dire 
curse, drunkenness.— Yorksi-iireman. 
BEES IN SCOTLAND. 
“ Lo ! from the regions of the north 
The redefining storm of battle pours.”—A non. 
The East, I should say, has afforded us quite sufficiency 
of “war and rumours of war” to satisfy any ordinary appe¬ 
tite even for a lifetime; besides, it is altogether antagonistic 
to my nature and feelings to fight. Moreover, having the 
credit of the North at heart, I am anxious to show a good 
example; and, further, I should act foolishly were I to out¬ 
rage my nerves by taking the trouble to knock Mr. M’Lellan 
down when I can settle the matter by quietly closing him 
up. Nevertheless, when I read Mr. M‘Lellan’s boast about 
“ jousts and tourneys,” and of “ dames and ladies fair ” as 
spectators, I must, in candour, admit that I felt a thrill to 
the finger points—a something which spoke of a pugilistic 
i propensity; but the feeling was momentary, and, as it 
passed away, I caught myself murmuring, “ Really Mr. 
M’Lellan understands more about the management of fine 
I sentences than he does about the management of bees.” 
Mr. M‘Lellan’s references to the gay, the grand, and the 
primitive so far dazzled my poor matter-of-fact self that I 
began to pause when 1 came to the words “Adamic or 
Methuselan class." “ Dear me," I said, “ and did those 
old worthies work bees on the storied system ? Then I 
rejoice, that chloroform is a discovery of modern date, else 
they might have worked with it too.’’ 
I Mr. M’Lellan is quite mistaken when he supposes that I 
I have never used chloroform. I spoke against its use after 
much experience and many trials, and from a knowledge of 
a far better plan. 1 do admit, however, that it may be a 
good thing in the hands of the novice, who has a wholesome 
dread of wounds and swellings. It may be good, in such a 
person’s hands, if it should only keep him from using a worse 
agent. To listen to the “ murmur which gradually increases 
until it becomes a roar, and then again gradually subsides 
until all is quiet and still,” must be as sweet music to the 
ears of the uninitiated. Yerily the timid highwayman has 
reason to bless this “ great modern discovery.” 
I take it as a matter of regret that Mr. M’Lellan, in his 
article which appeared on the 23rd of September, did not 
even give a hint of his “ keen mental struggle between 
what he knew was right and Mr. Taylor’s rule,” In one 
