September 22, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
65 
be looked over in bad weather and any diseased 
tubers removed with but little trouble. It is a good 
plan to have each sort properly named, and test 
their qualities at different periods, for some are not 
so good flavoured when lifted, but improve by keeping, 
whereas others on the contrary taste strong after 
being kept a time, particularly if stored away in 
straw. It is not advisable to put them too thickly 
together, as they become heated, and are, therefore, 
not of such good quality. Roots of all kinds will 
soon be ready for storing, but the longer these can 
be left out with safety the better will they keep, and 
the more juicy will they be in spring. When lifting 
Carrots be careful not to throw them about, as this 
often causes them to split, particularly if well grown, 
as they will then have swelled to their utmost ex¬ 
tent, so that the least bruise would cause them to 
divide to the core, and when such is the case they 
are worthless, except for present use. If a fork 
be used in lifting, see that it is put far enough 
in the ground to raise them, and a sufficient distance 
away to prevent the tines from coming in contact 
with the roots. Lay them carefully on the ground, 
and afterwards go over them and cut off the tops, 
but not too close. The work should be done in dry 
weather, so that the soil may leave the roots freely, 
for if they are kept too moist after being stored they 
are apt to start into growth. Beet Root will also 
need careful handling, as this is easily bruised, and if 
such happens some of the juice is lost, which pre¬ 
vents the roots from keeping a good colour. With 
inexperienced hands it is far better to have the 
foliage pulled off, for if cut too close to the crown 
this causes a wound from which the juice flows 
freely. Parsnips are best left in the ground for the 
present. On very heavy soil they should be taken 
up and stored before frost sets in, not that the frost 
will injure them, but on such ground, from the ex¬ 
cessive moisture, they are apt to rust at the crowns 
and soon decay. 
Celeriac. 
This root will also soon need protection. A portion 
of this may be lifted and taken to the root room and 
stored in sand, while the other should be covered 
with light sandy soil in the open ground to keep it 
out of harm’s way. Turnips are much better left in 
the ground and taken up as required for use. In 
case of severe frost it is always well to be prepared, 
so that when there are signs of such, sufficient roots 
should be stored to tide over the bad weather, for 
they soon go rotten if handled when they are frozen. 
On dry light soil Jerusalem Artichokes may be left 
in the ground all winter, as they are much better 
when lifted fresh. If a thin layer of leaves be 
spread over the bed this will usually exclude the 
frost, so that they can be taken up as required. It 
is, however, better to lift a good portion where the 
ground is stiff, and store them away in sand, for it 
is not pleasant working on such ground, in wet 
weather even if it has been protected from frost. 
Salsafy and Scorzonera. 
These will also need to have a portion lifted and 
stored before bad weather sets in, though like the 
Parsnip and Artichoke they are much better left in 
the ground as long as possible, though it is always 
well to have some to hand in case of need, and as it 
is difficult to protect all in the open ground part of 
the crop should be stored before winter sets in, 
otherwise there may be a failing when called for.— 
Kitchen Gardener. 
Carrot, Veitoh's Model. 
Although this splendid Carrot has been upon the 
market for some years, it still holds its own against 
all the short Horn varieties of later introduction. 
Sown upon a south border for early use, it always 
gives satisfaction, and is quite the best Carrot for a 
main crop amongst the stump-rooted section. The 
present season seems to have suited it remarkably 
well, and although the average length of the root is 
about 6 in. it has this year exceeded that length. It 
is less liable to fork than most other sorts, is usually 
of a good shape, of a handy size.— G. 
Cranston's Excelsior Onion. 
When recently walking through the gardens of 
Coombe House, Croydon, I noticed that the crop of 
onions consisting of several popular varieties was in 
process of harvesting, and the difference in point of 
appearance and weight which the above named 
variety presented well establishes its claim to be one 
of the very best in existence. Grown under ordinary 
garden cultivation without any special advantage 
being given it the produce was fully double in weight 
of the other kinds. Mr. Mills, the gardener, grew it 
for the first time last year, and being so pleased with 
it on account of its good cropping qualities and fine 
appearance he has considerably extended its cultiva¬ 
tion this season, finding that in addition it is a most 
excellent keeper, being superior, in fact, to James's 
Long Keeping. Rousham Park he has given up. 
finding it faulty in this particular, and that under 
ordinary cultivation it is simply nowhere alongside 
Cranston’s Excelsior.— W. B. G. 
Corn-Salad or Lamb's Lettuce. 
In places where the salad-bowl has always to be 
kept filled, this useful little plant is of the utmost 
value. It is very hardy and will put up with the 
most severe winter. It is not too late yet to make a 
sowing of it for winter use. It likes a light rich soil, 
and as far as situation goes well grow anywhere. A 
west or south border will be the best place to sow it 
on at present, as the season is getting on. It will 
then come in for use during early spring, a time 
when there is, as a rule, a great dearth of suitable 
saladings. 
- <*• - 
©leanings from the iHDurlt* 
of £rienc$. 
A Virulent Potato Disease in Queensland.— 
A New South Wales correspondent obligingly sends 
us the following communication which has been 
made to the Australian Press by the Undersecretary 
for Agriculture for Queensland, adding the remark 
that he has observed the disease for the past two 
seasons, but has not before seen any notice of it in 
the Press :—The fact of a virulent potato disease 
occurring in the districts of Ravensbourne and 
Corinda having been reported to the Department of 
Agriculture, Mr. Henry Tryon was instructed to 
visit the former district to investigate its nature and 
origin and, if possible, discover the means for con¬ 
tending with it. Already a lengthy report has been 
furnished as the outcome of this inquiry ; and as it 
contains matter of immediate interest to the 
farming community the following summary of it is 
provided. 
It is found to be a new disease, no record of its 
occurrence having been met with either in popular 
or scientific literature. The plant, at every period 
in its growth, and however vigorous, suddenly and 
without premonitory symptoms, commences to droop 
as if lacking moisture, fades within a few hours, and 
never recovers. The tubers when this change first 
takes place, show even thus early an indistinct 
translucent line running parallel to the outer margin 
on cutting them across, though they are apparently 
sound. They soon, however, commence to rot, 
decay starting in the more superficial portions of the 
tissue, and the Potato substance is eventually con¬ 
verted into an offensive, odorous, tenacious, whitish 
slime. Should the tuber, when once affected, be 
removed from the influences of warmth and 
moisture, or from the soil, these destructive changes 
are temporarily suspended. 
The disease is uniformly distributed throughout a 
cultivation, or it may show itself in patches of 
Potato plants here and there within its area. It has 
injured five different varieties of Potatos, and 
probably none will prove proof against its attack. 
It occurs in soils with different aspect and surface 
contour of varying physical and chemical constitu¬ 
tion, whether absolvent of water or not; on those 
naturally well drained as well as those which are not, 
and is as commonly found on the virgin ones as on soils 
which have been long under crop. It is also found 
that, without special intervention, Potatos raised 
from seed, in which there is no history of disease, 
upon land on which it has appeared during the 
previous season, and often even on that which is 
contiguous to it, will almost invariably contract the 
disease, and that every fresh outbreak occurring 
under these circumstances is more virulent and 
extensive than the one which preceded it. Again, 
seed Potatos derived from a crop in which the 
malady has shown itself will generally give rise to a 
diseased crop when grown upon land where it has 
not previously manifested its presence. Owing to 
its attacks the yield may be reduced even go per 
cent. At Ravensbourne it was first noticed in i8gi 
on thtee or four selections only: Mr. Tryon now 
finds that it has extended to thirteen, and probably 
affects others unvisited by him. In addition, too, 
to this outbreak at Ravensbourne and one at 
Corinda, evidence is forthcoming to show that the 
disease has also visited Little Gourie Plains, the 
Laidley district, and even that of Parramatta in 
New South Wales. 
The same disease is also met with on seedling 
Tomato plants grown amongst Potatos. 
It is occasioned by a small living microbe having 
an average length of less than one ten-thousandth 
of an inch, resembling in appearance the bacillus of 
chicken cholera and other organisms. This Potato 
bacillus may always be found in the tissues of 
affected plants at the commencement of the disease, 
and before any destructive changes have taken 
place, but it is absent in those of healthy ones. It 
at first exclusively occurs and multiplies without the 
vessels traversing the roots, tubers, and stem, but it 
is afterwards met with within those parts of the 
tuber which undergo the decay which it originates. 
A Potato apparently sound even on section if 
derived from a diseased plant may harbour the still 
living microbes in its vessels through circumstances 
uncongenial to its multiplication, and the develop¬ 
ment of its pernicious activity may temporarily sus¬ 
pend the commencement of decay, entered upon 
when a warm damp atmosphere affords the condi¬ 
tions requisite for the happening of this event. The 
bacillus is capable also of living apart from the 
Potato, and may thus be artificially propagated. 
The same bacillus also occurs under identical 
circumstances in Tomato plants when similarly 
diseased. The spread and continuance of the disease 
directly by the seed of the Potato, and indirectly 
through the agency of the soil in which diseased 
plants have grown, and other phenomena regarding 
it are then shown to be accumulated for by the 
presence of these bacilli in the tissues of the diseased 
plants and their persistence and capacity for 
multiplication when separated from them, whilst 
they justify the correctness of the inference as to the 
origin of the disease drawn from the occurrence of 
the bacilli under the circumstances mentioned. 
The following recommendations are made with 
regard to the measures to be adopted to secure crops 
from the disease, and to stamp it out:— 
1. Only such seed to be employed for planting 
generally, as has no ancestral history of disease, or 
has been derived from a locality concerning which it 
has been positively ascertained that this Potato 
disease does not already exist there. 
[Note.—In this connection it may be urged that 
the countries in which the Peronospora infestans of 
the Potato plant is already found occurring, be 
discarded as sources for new seed, since there is no 
authentic instance on record of the formidable 
Potato disease to which this parasitic fungus gives 
rise, having been hitherto met with in the Australian 
Colonies, and it is submitted that it is undesirable 
to incur the risk of its introduction.] 
2. As soon as the disease has manifested itself, if 
this be in a district not previously visited by it, the 
whole crop to be destroyed, but if not a novel 
occurrence, the plants affected to be daily removed 
from the ground, in as intact a state as possible, and 
destroyed by fire. In both of these cases also the 
land not to be replanted with Potatos for at least 
two seasons. 
The report concludes with a recommendation for 
further investigations. It may be permitted to me 
to suggest, Mr. Tryon writes, that the proportions 
and virulence which this new Potato disease has 
already assumed, might be considered a sufficient 
plea for further prosecuting this inquiry, so that, if 
possible, even better methods for contending with 
it and staying its spread than those dictated by the 
present imperfect state of our knowledge concerning 
it, may be devised. Of the genesis of the disease— 
how it originated, nothing whatever is known. Much 
has also to be learnt regarding the biological history 
of the microbe that occasions it, not only in relation 
to the plants that it so injuriously affects, but also as 
concerns its capacity for propagation on other media 
than the tissues of its host. How it reacts when 
subject to the influence of various physical con¬ 
ditions, and different chemical substance, is again an 
important consideration. It is also of the utmost 
economic importance that the localities in which the 
disease has already occurred, be defined, and the 
history of the different outbreaks made the object of 
careful enquiry. 
