October 3, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
67 
VEITCH’S 
Genuine Bulbs. 
VEITCH’S 
MIXED HYACINTHS. 
VEITCH’S 
MIXED TULIPS. 
VEITCH’S 
MIXED CROCUS. 
VEITCH’S 
CHELSEA COLLECTIONS of BULBS 
For GREENHOUSE and CONSERVATORY, 
at 10/6, 21/-, 32/-, 63/-, and 105/-. 
Bulbs Carriage Free when amounting to io/- and 
upwards in value. 
For Details See Catalogue Post Free 
on Application. 
JAMES VEITCH A SOUS, 
ROYAL EXOTIC NURSERY, 
CHELSEA, LONDON, S.W. 
WEBBS 
} 
Free by Post 
or Rail. 
WEBBS’ 21/- BOX 
FOR 
GREENHOUSE DECORATION, 
&c., 
i AmaryllisFormosissima. 
ioo Crocus, five choice 
varlet es. 
12 Chionodoxas. 
6 Freesias. 
18 Hyacinths, choice 
named varieties. 
9 Jonquils, sweet-scented. 
6 Narcissus Bulbocodium. 
9 Polyanthus Naicissus. 
25 Scilla Siberica. 
ioo Snowdrops. 
6 Tulips. Due Van Thol, 
scarlet. 
18 Tulips, early single, six 
varieties. 
6 Tulips, Rex Rubrorum, 
double. 
6 Tulips, Tournesol, 
double. 
OTHER BOXES from 5s. to 105s each 
WEBBS' BULB CATALOGUE, 
Beautifully Illustrated, and containing complete cultural 
instructions, Post Free, 6d, Gratis to customers. 
Seedsmen by Royal Warrants to H.M. the Queen and 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
“ Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."—B acon. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
THE RYECROFT SET OF DRESSING 
INSTRUMENTS. 
Three pairs of Forceps, Brush and Case complete, to/6; 
Large Forceps, for pulling centres 3/9; Smaller ditto for 
Dressing, 2/9. Free for cash. 
The BEST CUPS and TUBES are- 
THE BECKETT —All sizes, both lor Japanese and 
Incurved, at 9/- per dozen ; or, with additional tube for raising 
the bloom 3 inches higher than the ordinary one, 12/- per doz. 
THE SPRINGTHORPE. - For Japanese and In¬ 
curved, all sizes, 9/- per dozen. 
W All Free for Cash with Order, 
H. J. JONES, 
Ryecroft Nursery, Hither Green, LEWISHAM. 
GRAPE VINES and ROSES. 
JOHN COWAN & CO. have this season a 
large and splendid Stock of Grape Vines suitable 
for fruiting in pots and planting vineries. 
Also a large and splendid Stock of Tea and other 
Roses in pots. 
Descriptive and priced catalogue post free on 
application to the Company. 
THE VINEYARD & NURSERIES, 
Garston, near Liverpool. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
STRONG RUNNERS. 
ROYAL SOVEREIGN, 2/6 per 100. 
SIR JOSEPH PAXTON, 1/6 per 100. 
YISCOMTESSE H. de THURY, 1/6 per 100. 
RASPBERRY CANES 
SUPERLATIYE, 4 /- per 100 . 
CARTER’S PROLIFIC, 2/- per too. 
SEMPER FIDELIS, 2/- per IOO. 
HORNET, 2/- per TOO. 
Special Quotations fov Large Quantities. Carriage 
paid, on Orders of £1 value. 
JOHN C HI VERS, 
Histon, Cambridge. 
Edited by J. FRASER F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , OCTOBER yd, 1896. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, October 5th.—Sales of Dutch Bulbs by Messrs. 
Protheroe & Morris. & Mr. J. C. Stevens, 
Tuesday, October 6th.—Opening day of the N.C.S- show at 
the Royal Aquarium (3 days) 
Sales of Bulbs by Messrs. Prothtroe & Morris, & Mr. J. C. 
Sievens. 
Wednesday, October 7th.—Sales of Bulbs by Messrs. 
Protheroe 6 1 Morris. & Mr. J. C. Stevens. 
Thursday, October Ftb.— Sales of Bulbs by Messrs. Protheroe 
& Morris, & Mr. J. C. Stevens. 
Friday, October 9th.—Sab s ot Bulbs and Orchids by Messrs. 
Prctheroe & Morris, an! of Bulbs by Mr. J. C. Stevens. 
Experiments with Potatos.— On first 
thought one might readily take it for 
granted that experiments with Potatos had 
been carried on so long that nothing 
remained to be discovered concerning them. 
Nothing could be more erroneous, lor a vast 
number of the experiments that have been 
conducted by farmers and gardeners alike, 
have heen carried on altogether without any 
reference to the bearings of science upon 
them ; and just as often, the means taken to 
insure a crop and the results obtained from 
year to year have been left unrecorded. 
Scientific men in this and in other countries 
have conducted numerous, and no doubt 
careful experiments, by means of water 
cultures in the laboratory, in order to deter¬ 
mine what constituents of plant food play 
the most important part in their growth and 
increase, as well as the actual functions 
they perform. The facts have been tabu¬ 
lated and carefully recorded, wi;h the results 
under certain sets of circumstances; hut 
the fact that certain chemical changes take 
place in the living plant cell, which cannot 
be accomplished outside of it, supplies a 
hint that what takes place in the laboratory 
under carefully conducted water cultures 
may not take place in the garden and field, 
where a very complicated assemblage of 
elements of plant food and otherwise is pre¬ 
sent, to modify the results. The soil in 
different parts of the garden or field may 
and often does vary, so that absolute 
uniformity must be well nigh impossible. 
The weather, according to certain good 
authorities, does more to make or mar the 
results of any given crop, than tillage or 
manure. From that point of view the 
scientific experimenters in their laboratories 
can only draw general conclusions concern¬ 
ing plant life. Moreover, with the present 
limited facilities for acquiring a knowledge of 
plant physiology, as far as the average gar¬ 
dener or farmer is concerned, the conclusion 
that might be drawn, is that the value of 
laboratory experiments is greatly discounted 
by the results being buried in the obscurity 
of a learned language. Then experiments 
must be put to a practical test in field and 
garden, where the conditions of plant life 
are very complicated indeed. 
These facts have been brought to mind 
by “ Supplement III., to the Journal of the 
University Extension College, Reading,” 
recording the experiments cairied out in the 
trial grounds of Messrs. Sutton and Sons, 
by Professor D. A. Gilchrist, B.Sc,, in 
collaboration with Arthur W. Sutton, 
F.L.S. Having on a recent occasion given 
many o c the results obtained by the use of 
various manures in the cultivation of 
Potatos under different sets of conditions, 
we shall here confine our remarks to a few 
of the points at issue. Experiments on 
the manuring of Potatos have been con¬ 
ducted elsewhere, but it was impossible to 
deduce from their results the most economi¬ 
cal and efficacious method of doing so in 
Berkshire and surrounding counties. The 
soil is of a light and gravelly nature and 
the rainfall is also light, so that we are not 
at all surprised that experiments should 
have been instituted at Reading. On the 
other hand we think the area suggested 
above is too extensive. We have known 
many a farm on which the soil varied 
immensely from field to field and even on 
different parts of the same piece of ground. 
Sandy, gravelly, peaty and loamy fields 
cannot in the nature of things give the same 
results by the uniform use of given kinds 
and quantities of manures; hence if the 
cultivator means to be economical and 
exact in his methods of cultivation, he must 
first of all make himself acquainted with 
the requirements of each field at least 
where differences exist. 
The excellent results obtained from some 
of the unmanured plots at Reading raises a 
number of questions. Those who conducted 
the experiments infer that high cultivation 
and the keeping of the land clean were 
factors in the case. The results also show 
that the direct manuring of 1896 was less 
effective than the indirect manuring of 1895. 
The early part of 1895 was very dry and 
September was equally so. The reason for 
this is no doubt that the dry weather pre¬ 
vented the manures from becoming soluble ; 
for, so long as they lay in the soil in a 
practically ineit condition, the Potatos 
would fail to be benefited by them. The 
past summer was again unusually dry, so 
that plots which were manured this year 
might give similarly good results next, even 
in the absence of manuring in 1897. Not¬ 
withstanding repeated proofs of this nature 
in two successive years it would obviously 
be fallacious to establish a theory that 
applications of any given manure would 
always be more effective the second, than 
the first season. The experimenters suggest, 
however, chat with a dry soil and climate, 
