438 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 7, 1896. 
meant to be exhaustive in any way. I purposely 
omit the very early varieties, because they are 
generally more or less matured before the annually- 
recurring advent of the disease. If very old varieties 
continue to be widely and extensively cultivated, it is 
pretty good proof of their disease-resisting powers, 
though not the whole of the evidence of their survival. 
Cultivators can remember Scotch Champion, Red¬ 
skin Flourball and Magnum Bonum going back for 
more than twenty years ; and though the first-named 
is not now so popular, it has merely been superseded 
by newer varieties of better table quality. Maincrop 
and The Bruce have made strong headway for some 
years past both in Britain and abroad, where the new 
spirit in Potato culture is making itself felt. “ Give 
us vigorous, late, disease-resisting, and heavy cropping 
Potatos," is the demand of the general public, and it 
will be met. Blue Giant, Imperator, and other Con¬ 
tinental varieties are finding their way here for the 
same reason 
The activity in this direction seems to be as great 
in this country as anywhere. Snowdrop, School¬ 
master, Cosmopolitan, Chancellor, White Elephant, 
Beauty of Hebron, Reading Giant, and many others 
are still with us ; but many other good all-round 
varieties are crowding into the ranks, including 
Windsor Castle, Genuine, Stourbridge Glory, 
Dreadnought, Prodigious, Best of All, King of the 
Russets, Satis f action, Perfection, Supreme. Jeannie 
Deans, Boston Q.Q., Farmer's Glory, Holborn 
Abundance, The Gentleman, Renown, Future Fame, 
Surprise, Goldfinder, Up to Date, Wormleighton 
Seedling, King Richard, Reading Hero, and many 
more which have much to recommend them. The 
Sutton Flourball is of superior shape and quality to 
the old Red-skin Flourball, and evidently has a big 
future before it. The British public have reason to 
be thankful to those who make quantity, quality and 
disease-resisting varieties their special care .—A 
Potato Lover. 
POTATOS GROWN AT CHISWICK IN 
1873. 
The Fruit and Vegetable Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society decided upon having a trial of 
Potatos in 1S73, and for that purpose a collection of 
what purported to be 271 distinct varieties was got 
together and duly planted on March 24th of that 
year. Whole tubers were used as sets, and in most 
cases they were of good medium size. The disease 
broke out on July 29th, so that altogether the experi¬ 
ment resulted in a fair test of the capabilities and 
value of the respective varieties. The committee 
examined the collection five times during the growing 
season, and the result was to reduce the 271 varieties 
to 115, of which several were proved to be worthless 
for cultivation. The fate of a large number of the 
115 has since been settled, doubtless as the result of 
various causes. The list should prove valuable for 
comparison with modern collections, even if it does 
not in all cases serve to show what determines the 
life of a variety. 
Series I.— Skin White or Straw-coloured. 
Section 1.—Long or Kidney-shaped 
1. Ashleaf Kidney 
2. Kentish Ashleaf Kid¬ 
ney 
3. Myatt’s Ashleaf Kid¬ 
ney 
4. Advancer 
5. Jackson’s Improved 
6. Nettleleaved 
7. * EarlyWhite Kidney 
(Fenn) 
8. * Alice Fenn (Fenn) 
9. * Little Gem (Fenn) 
10. Early Border (Fenn) 
ir. Reine de Mai 
12. Marjolin Tetard 
13. Woodstock Kidney 
14. Burpitt’s Bountiful 
(Burpitt) 
15. Multum in Parvo 
(Fenn) 
16 Yorkshire Hybrid 
(Taylor's) 
17. New Early Racehorse 
(Sutton’s) 
18. Pioneer (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
19. Waterloo Kidney 
(Dean) 
20. Dawe's Matchless 
21. * Excelsior Kidney 
(Dean) 
22. Berkshire Kidney 
23. Jaune de Brie 
24. Prince of Wales 
25. King of Flukes 
26. Vanguard (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
27. Beta (Bell & Thorpe) 
28. Sextus (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
29. Harbinger (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
30. Lapstone 
31. Fluke 
32. M o d e 1 (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
33. Amazon (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
34. Utilis (Bell& Thorpe) 
35. Cobble (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
36. S ed il 1 a (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
37. Clipper (Bell & 
Thorpe) 
38. Eureka (Biggs) 
39. Princesse 
40. Oxfordshire Kidney 
Section 2.- 
41. Giant KiDg 
42. Milky White 
43. Peake’s First Early 
(Peake) 
44. * Bresee’s Climax 
45. Early Goodrich 
46. Springfield White 
-Half-long. 
47. Bresee’s Peerless 
48. Bresee’s Prolific 
49. Charden 
50. Golden Gem. 
51. DourieHall Favourite 
(Montagu) 
52. Paterson’s Victoria 
Section 3.—Round. 
53. Regents 
54. Dalmahoy. 
55. Walker’s Early 
56. Early Prince 
57. Early Shaw 
58. East Somerset 
Champion 
59. Early Perfection 
60. Early Union (Turner) 
61. Rector of Woodstock 
(Fenn) 
62. *Fenn sEarly Market 
63. Bonne Wilhelmine 
64. Seedling No. 1 
(Veitch) 
63. Prince’s Favourite 
66. Paxton's Wonder. 
67. The Bloomer. 
63 . Pritchard's Seedling 
69. Royal Danish 
70. Onwards (FenD) 
71 No. 2- White-blos¬ 
somed (Biggs) 
Series If. —Skin Red. 
Section i.—Long or Kidney-shaped. 
72. Early Sovereign 80. French Red 
73. ^American Late Rose Si. Cotiager's Red 
74. American Early Rose 82. Rosee de Conflans 
75. ’Extra EarlyVermont 83. Prince Imperial 
(Bliss& Sons) 84. Vitelotte 
76. Belvoir Kidney 85. Bountiful (Fenn) 
77. Wonderful Red 86. Rognon Violet 
Kidney 87. Cailo 
78. Pousse Debout 88. California Kidney 
79. Saucisse 89. Truffe d’Aout 
Section 2. — Round. 
90. Red Emperor 
91. Combe Hays 
92. English Rose (Fenn) 
93. King of the Earlies. 
94. Rouge de Strasbourg 
95. Red Regent 
96. Wood’s Scarlet Pro¬ 
lific 
97. Webb’sRedBlossom 
98. * Vermont Beauty 
(Bliss & Sons) 
99. Red-skinned Flour¬ 
ball 
100. White Peach Blos¬ 
som 
101. 
102. 
103. 
107. 
Purple or Blue. 
104. Scotch Blue 
105. Summer Hill Seed¬ 
ling (Smith) 
106. Blackjack 
STREAKED OR FLAKED. 
112. Blanchard 
113. Rintoul's Striped 
Don 
114. Fortyfold 
113. Free-bearer 
Series III.— Skin 
Paterson’s Blue 
Purple Regent 
Compton Surprise 
(Bliss & Sons) 
Series IV. — Skin 
Gleason’s Late 
10S. Painted Lady 
109. Willard 
no. Red Breadfruit 
in. Pink - eyed Rusty- 
coat 
Those to which an * is appended received First- 
class Certificates in 1873. Rector of Woodstock 
had previously been certificated. No Second-class 
Certificates would seem to have been awarded. The 
true character of each variety was freely recorded, 
and the fact that many were described as worthless 
would indicate that such were condemned with an 
unsparing hand. Several were described as heavy 
croppers and very handsome, though that failed to 
get them a certificate. Those that have survived 
till now would seem to have been mostly old in 1873. 
No doubt the oldest types are the best fixed, so that 
the life of a Potato would vary according to circum¬ 
stances, as in the case of many other vegetables. 
WEIGHT OF CROP PER ACRE. 
For some years past the Technical Education Commit¬ 
tee cf the Wilts County Council have been carrying on 
various experiments with Potatos, both with regard to 
the value of various manures, spade and plough culture, 
as well as other trials of greater or less interest and 
importance. We give an instance of the results of 
field culture in 1893, which was a very dry season. 
Even heavier crops can be realised by spade culture, 
so that gardeners can follow out the suggestions in 
their own particular cultures where their gardens 
allow sufficient scope. In the case under notice, the 
field was ploughed 5 in. deep in February, then 
scarified to the same depth in April, harrowed down 
and cleaned. On the following day half of the land 
was again scarified to a depth of 10 in. or 11 in. It 
was dressed with a complete chemical manure 
(nitrate of soda, kainit and phosphate of lime) at the 
rate of 10 cwt. per acre at seeding time. Thirty one 
varieties of Potatos were used in this trial, and the 
following were the results in this particular case:— 
Imperator, 22 tons 16 cwts ; Sirius (a Belgian 
variety) 22 tons 1 cwt.; Fidler's Colossal, 21 tons 
15 cwts ; Reading Giant, 19 tons 18 cwts ; Webb’s 
Stourbridge Glory, 19 tons 2 cwts ; Blue Giant, 
(Belgian) 19 tons; Maincrop, 16 tons 9 cwts. ; 
Carter s King of the Russets, 16 tons 8 cwts. ; 
Daniels' Dreadnought, 16 tons 6 cwts. ; Sutton's Satis¬ 
faction, 16 tons 2 cwts; Magnum Bonum, 15 tons, 2 
cwts.; Sutton’s Satisfaction, 15 tons3cwts.; Sutton’s 
Abundance, 15 tons 4 cwts. ; Carter’s Surprise, 15 tens 
4 cwts. ; Andersen (Belgian) 15 tons ; Daniels’ Early 
Crimson Flourball, 14 tons 7 cwts. ; Daniels’Reliable, 
14 tons ; Simson (Belgian) 14 tons; Sutton’s Windsor 
Castle, 13 tons 18 cwts. ; Carter’s Cosmopolitan 
13 tons 8 cwts.; Schoolmaster, 12 tons 17 
cwts. ; Sutton's Perfection and Webb’s Renown, 12 
tons 12 cwts. each; Sutton’s Supreme, 12 tons 
3 cwts. ; and The Daniel, 12 tons. 
The last-named is double the average for the 
county of Wilts. Elsewhere are records of almost 
incredible crops cn specially rich ground in Scotland. 
France, and New Zealand. Old time records are out 
of it with modern varieties and culture. 
Questions snD snsroeRs 
*,* Will our friends who send us newspapers be so go d 
as to mark the paragraphs or articles they wish us to see . 
We shall be greatly obliged by their jo doing. 
Colours of Flowers.— Rubens : The English name 
of Mimulus cupreus might be given as the Coppery 
Monkey Flower. It is a native of Chili. The Viola 
we referred to on a former occasion is Vi da tricolor 
maxima, not V. alpina. You may find vermilion 
fairly well represented amongst garden Primroses. 
The colour of the Damask Rose is fairly represented 
by some varieties of Cyclamen. The word tyrian is 
sometimes used, but most often in the Latin form, 
to describe flowers. It means Phoenician purple. 
Puniceous, or the Latin form puniceus, means 
exactly the same thing as tyrian, not scarLt. 
Oncidium Forbesii.— A Subscriber : This species, 
like all others, unfortunately, which come from the 
neighbourhood of Rio, are very difficult to cultivate 
with any degree of success. Usually it is grown 
upon a raft or block of wood or in a basket, and 
suspended near the roof of the Cattleya house. 
During the growing season it must have plenty of 
moisture, and a smaller quantity in winter, though 
the pseudo-bulbs should not be allowed to shrivel. 
Fibrous peat and sphagnum, with some nodules of 
charcoal and small pieces of crocks, may be used as 
a compost for baskets. No more than 2 in. of this 
should be used, as the rest of the basket must be 
filled with crocks. Let the plant be well exposed to 
sunlight. 
Characteristics of various plants.— Rubens : 
Most of the species of Heuchera have small, greenish 
or straw-coloured flowers, but H. sanguinea has 
bright red flowers. The flower stems may be de¬ 
scribed as graceful. The original Gloxinia had 
tubular and drooping flowers, but modern garden 
varieties have erect, funnel-shaped blooms of many 
handsome colours. The bracts surrounding the 
heads of the Carline Thistle are notable for their 
light yellow, satiny lustre when the sun is shining 
brightly. The flowers of Scilla nutans are large for 
the genus, drooping and pale green, with soft satiny 
or glossy margins, and afford an instance of peculiar 
and delicate colouring. 
Fly on Stephanotis.— IF. S. : From the descrip¬ 
tion you give, your Stephanotis is attacked by 
Snowy Fly (Aleyrodes proletella). This pest is 
common enough in many plant houses, but it is very 
rare that it infests the Stephanotis. Your best plan 
to get rid of it will be to give two or three fairly 
strong fumigations, and then to wash the leaves of 
the plant afterwards with a solution of soft soap. 
Boxes for Oranges.— Omega : For large 
specimens, Oak is the best timber to make the 
boxes of, as it must be borne in mind that they have 
to stand a great deal of strain, and not infrequently 
a lot of rough usage. For comparatively small 
trees deal would be strong enough and would, of 
course, come much cheaper than Oak. Elm may 
also be employed. 
Soil for Oranges. — Omega : A compost of two- 
thirds of good fibrous loam, one-third of dried cow 
manure, with a sprinkling of crushed inch bones, 
nodules of charcoal, and plenty of sand or lime 
rubbish will suit Oranges well. Such a compost 
will keep good for a long time. 
Willows from cuttings. —Omega : Cuttings 01 
Willows strike very readily if simply inserted by the 
side of a pond or in a marsh in autumn. They may 
be of almost any size, as long as the wood at the 
base is firm and well ripened. Roots are pretty 
freely emitted from any ordinary sound wood, 
whether one or several years of age. If you elect to 
put in large cuttings, consisting of a main stem 
—say half an inch in diameter, bearing a number of 
smaller branches — you will soon get large, fine 
bushes. 
Names of Plants. — L.D. : 1, Cypripedium 
venustum ; 2, Dendrobium primulinum.— S.W.: i, 
Sparmannia africana; 2, Myrtus communis; 3, 
Kleinia articulata.— A. L.\ Pinus Laricio ; 2, 
Forsythia suspensa.—S. P.: Dendrobium speciosum 
(well-flowered). 
Communications Received. —J.J ,B.—S.A. Sewell, 
—R. M.— C. K—The Electrician.—A. D. Webster. 
M. M.—James Douglas.—B. L.—A. L.—A. J. — 
H. W.—May.—R. O.— Arley.—Reading.—J. B.— 
T. Bryson. 
