July 30, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
>v y ** 
7 oo 
UNDER ROYAL PATRONAGE. 
Begonia Exhibition 
THE GRANDEST FLORAL DISPLAY 
IN LONDON. 
The Liverpool Horticultural Association. 
T HE EIGHTH GRAND SUMMER exhi¬ 
bition of PLANTS, FLOWERS, FRUIT and VEGE¬ 
TABLES will be held in SEFTON PARK, on Saturday, July 
30th, and Bank Holiday, August 1st. Entries close July 23rd. 
Schedules of prizes can be had on application to the Secretary, 
EDWARD BRIDGE, 3, Cedar Teriace, Tarbock Road, Huyton. 
Abbey Park, Leicester. 
A GRAND FLOWER SHOW will be 
-LJk_ held on Tuesday, August 2nd, 18S7, under the patronage 
of the Mayor and Corporation. 
A VEITCH MEMORIAL MEDAL AND £5 is offered for 
eight dishes of fruit, distinct, Pines excluded. Second prize, £3 ; 
third prize, £2; fourth prize, £1. 
SCHEDULES will be sent upon application to the Secretary 
and Curator, Mr. JOHN BURN. 
Open to the Public every day (Sundays excepted) 
from June to September, 9 a. m. to 7 p. m. daily. 
ADMISSION FREE. 
Our Exhibitions of Begonias 
Have been celebrated for their varied beauty and 
extent for the past few years, but the COLLECTION 
now on view is superior to any of the kind ever yet 
seen, both in single and double varieties, the shades 
of colour being quite indescribable, and must be seen 
to be appreciated. 
All lovers of flowers are cordially invited. 
Nearest Railway Stations are Catford Bridge, Mid Kent Line 
(S.E.R.), from Charing Cross, Waterloo, Cannon Street, and 
London Bridge; and Forest Hill (L.B. £ S.C.R.), from Victoria, 
Kensington and West End, Croydon, £c.; also from Liverpool 
Street. _ 
JOHN LAING & GO., 
Begonia Specialists and Nurserymen, 
FOREST HILL, LONDON, S.E. 
FOR 
EA RLY FORC ING. 
B. S. WILLIAMS 5 
WELL RIPENED AND HEAVY BULBS OF 
JROJVIAN RYACINTHS, Early White, from 5 to 5f 
inches in circumference 
PAPEF WRITE NARCISSUS, from 5 to 6 inches 
in circumference 
DOUBLE ROMAN NARCISSUS, from 5 to 6£ 
inches in circumference 
LILIUM CAJtDIDUJfl, pure white, extra strong. 
Early orders solicited. 
VICTORIA AND PARADISE NURSERIES, 
UPPER HOLLOWAY, LONDON, N. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
1HARLES TURNER’S New and Descrip- 
NJ tive List is now ready, and may be had, post free, on 
application. - 
THE ROYAL NURSERIES, SLOUGH. 
KELWAY & SON. 
NOW IS THE TIME TO PLANT 
KELWAYS’ PYRETHRISMS 
KELWAYS 5 GAILIARDIAS 
KELWAYS’ DELPHINIUMS. 
KELWAYS’ IRIS. 
LANGPORT, SOMERSET. 
Clay Cross. 
T he thirtieth annual exhibi¬ 
tion will be held on Tuesday, August 16th. Prizes £237. 
Entries close August 8th. 
Secretary, J. STOLLARD, Clay Cross, Chesterfield. 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Monday, August 1st. — Continuation of Flower Shows at 
Southampton and Liverpool. 
Tuesday, August 2nd.—Annual exhibition of the Carnation and 
Picotee Union at Stanley Road, Oxford. Flower Show in 
Abbey Park, Leicester. 
Thursday, August 4th.—Sale of Imported Orchids at Stevens’ 
Rooms. 
Friday, August 5th.—Carnation and Picotee Show in the 
Exhibition Palace, Manchester. Sale of Imported and 
Established Orchids at Protheroe & Morris's Rooms. 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Allamanda Hendersoni.... 763 
Alstrcemeria aurantiaca .. 757 
Amateurs’ Garden. 759 
Beans, Runner . 763 
Bignonia Chirere . 762 
British Rain-tree . 760 
Balsams out-doors. 760 
Fasciated stems. 762 
Gardeners and the Twelfth 760 
Gardeners' Orphan Fund.. 760 
Gardeners’ Calendar. 764 
Gloxinia, a sportive . 762 
Horticultural Societies.... 764 
Lilium chalcedonicum .... 763 
Lilium philippinense .... 760 
Manchester Rose Show.... 763 
pag a 
Orchid Notes . 764 
Peas, Everlasting . 762 
Peas, new. 762 
People's Palace, the . 756 
Potato Crop, the. 755 
Plants, new. 757 
Royal Horticultural Society 758 
Scottish Notes. 759 
Sibthorpia europiea varie- 
gata. 762 
Strawberries. 759 
Torrenia Fournieri. 762 
Trees and Shrubs, flowering 757 
Utricularia montana. 762 
Vegetable Sowing . 759 
Venus’s Looking Glass.... 763 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."— Bacon. 
SATURDAY, JULY SO, 1887. 
The Potato Crop. —Very grave doubts and 
fears are distressing the minds of Potato 
growers generally as to the ultimate outcome 
of the Potato growth this year, for at present 
it has a most unpromising aspect. Even deeper 
is the sentiment of alarm found, for all who 
live hy the Potato are troubled also. A shop¬ 
keeper, who has feelings as well as the usual 
amount of business appreciation, remarked the 
other day, “ If there are no Potatos, what will 
the poor do 1 ” and the remark is not an inapt 
one, for Potatos, even with the increase in the 
consumption of all other articles of food, have 
become more and more a staple article with 
the poorer classes; whilst a regard for the 
esculent seems to have deepened universally. 
We may, indeed, all ask, with some thought 
of perturbation, what should we do without 
Potatos 1 That there should be, incidental to 
heat and dryness, such reason for alarm, is all 
the more emphasised, because for several 
years we have had such abundant Potato 
crops. It is doubtful whether the disease at 
any time gave more reason to fear for the 
Potato crop than the drought of this year so 
far has given. 
We have had, in years some time preceding, 
ample reason to be frightened lest tliePeronospera 
should sweep all of our favourite esculent away; 
hut these alarms, though reasonable, have, 
in the end, always proved groundless; and 
even from the worst of disease years the 
Potato lias come again and again abundant 
and healthful. But the disease generally has 
given us a start in the matter of tuber pro¬ 
duction, whilst the dry w T eather began with 
the Potato planting, and has been with us 
almost persistently ever since. Then we 
started the season later also. It mattered not 
whether w T e planted at the usual time, or whether 
the soil was in excellent working condition, or 
whether the seed was sound and full of 
promise; the weather remained so unfavour¬ 
able for growth that we were some two or 
three weeks later than usual, the Potato crop 
coming through slowly and irregularly, and 
finding cold nights and harsh winds to greet 
their appearance. Thus the drought, of which 
we have of late heard so much, and from 
which so much lias been endured, found the 
Potato breadths very ill prepared, and from 
that time till now growth has been moderate, 
and tuber developments, perhaps, the worst 
known for many years. All round the 
summer shows, the same complaint as to the 
smallness and generally indifferent quality of 
the Potatos has been made. Not merely are 
the tubers of all the early sorts small, hut they 
are few in number. 
Estimates as to the average yield of the 
early breadths vary from one-half to one-third, 
showing an alarming falling off. As a result, 
and with, of course, an enhanced price for 
decent samples, and real ground rain so long 
deferred that the heart is becoming sick, no 
wonder breadths are being lifted with rapidity, 
that a little return may be obtained whilst the 
market is fairly good; but if the early kinds 
give such poor return, what is the prospect of 
the late sorts 1 With these hope still lingers, 
in the belief that rain must come in time to 
give the needful stimulus ; but every week, 
nay, every day, that rain is deferred renders 
the prospect of a crop of later Potatos more 
and more remote. Really, at present the 
general report is that no tubers, or if any, but 
very, very few, are formed, whilst with most 
kinds at the end of July there should he an 
abundance of half-grown tubers. There is, at 
present, no such appearance ; indeed, it might 
almost be said that there is nothing. We have 
no wish to write in a pessimist strain, but the 
case is of such an unusual kind that it is not 
possible to regard it without a strong fear of 
coming evil. We have had dry seasons before, 
and short crops of Potatos, but still we have 
had Potatos, though small ones. Now our 
case is that even the small ones are not there, 
and if not there it is obvious that anticipations 
of larger ones later cannot he well entertained. 
The soil, certainly, has become wonderfully dry 
for a foot or so in depth, and we doubt if it has 
ever been found drier than now. Of course, we 
have had even longer spells of summer drought 
than that from which we are now suffering, but 
we have hardly at any time had to endure such 
persistent and unusual heat; and heat and 
drought combined have proved too much for 
our Potato crops. 
The season will, no doubt, in relation to the 
Potato, bring forth abundant suggestions as to 
methods of cultivation to counteract drought, 
and all that sort of tiling ; it is so easy to be 
wise after the event. Still, no matter what 
system, the drought has been existent, and the 
sterility of the crops remain. The localities 
where, ordinarily perhaps, the soil is too moist 
for the production of good Potatos, the present 
season may prove admirably suited, and 
growers there will be fortunate. Soils of that 
class, however, are rare, whilst the average 
soil in the kingdom is soon exhausted of its 
moisture. There is one gleam of hope found 
in the gloom. We have found the once- 
destructive Peronospera, shorn of its evil 
