OCTOBER. 
219 
of the Paris White Cos have run to seed—not prematurely, but have not 
remained in a useful condition so long as the Holme Park. For light dry 
soils I consider the Holme Park Lettuce a great acquisition. 
Archerfield. D. Thomson. 
BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 
The summer that is now rapidly waning, if it has not already departed, 
has, owing to so much wet weather recently, severely tested the capabilities of 
the new varieties in standing the effects of such ungenial conditions. Of Mr. 
Paul’s varieties of the Nosegay section, the following have withstood the 
weather in a very successful manner:—Rebecca, very free-blooming, large, 
handsome trusses; Donald Beaton; Lord Chancellor, salmon pink, with light 
centre; Cardinal, dark orange scarlet; Indian Yellow ; Nimrod, fine orange 
scarlet; Waltham Nosegay, upper segments scarlet, the lower magenta, very 
free-blooming and effective; Orange Nosegay; Sir J. Paxton, the nearest 
approach to a true orange colour yet sent out, a very striking variety ; Prince 
of Lichtenstein; Tiara, scarlet crimson suffused with purple, very distinct and 
fine, a splendid bedding kind ; St. George, a glorious shade of colour, somewhat 
difficult to describe ; and Phoenix, fiery scarlet, a very telling shade of colour. 
The beds of the kinds just mentioned presented a marked contrast to those of 
some of the older kinds of bedding Pelargoniums, §,s, in the case of the latter, 
not only had the colour of the trusses been washed away, but their power to 
produce other trusses appeared exhausted. The above-mentioned varieties are 
already sent out. 
Of new kinds not yet sent out, but which Mr. Paul will distribute next 
season, Dr. Hogg promises to be a remarkably good flower. Although it is 
thought by some to be too much like Amy Hogg, it is distinctly deeper in 
colour when the two are compared. The colour is a compound of red and blue, 
and may be termed a bluish red. It has more blue in the colour than Amy 
Hogg, but less red. It is a very free-blooming kind. Another, Enchantress, 
has a very desirable close habit, colour rich deep magenta, the upper petals 
bright deep scarlet, very free-blooming, and extra fine. Village Maid is a deep 
rosy pink, with a fine white centre, a beautiful shade of colour, the white being 
separated in a very distinct manner from the pink; it is of good close habit 
and a free-bloomer. Blue Bell is a sort of bluish deep rose, habit dwarf and 
very free. Qu0 
ON POTATOES. 
The visitor to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Saturday Show of the 22nd 
of September would doubtless observe a collection of upwards of sixty varieties 
of Potatoes from the neighbourhood of Southampton, and the bulk of them 
most excellent samples. Now the first question which he would naturally ask 
would be, “ What is the use of so many varieties?”—audit would be very 
difficult to give a better answer than this: That growing such collections offers 
a good opportunity for making a selection of the most useful and desirable 
kinds. The Potato, however, has this peculiarity, that according to the character 
of the soil and situation the variety which proves to be the best in one place 
is possibly the worst in another; and if the sixty sorts shown at Kensington 
could be distributed to twenty different districts, and reports were made as to 
their qualities, we should, most probably, find that each would be pronounced 
the best for some particular locality. In this way it may be shown that there 
