•laniwiT 7, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
he 0nrdening\^>rld. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Arbitration for Potato Disputes, 
The offer to arbitrate which was first 
mooted at a recent meeting* of the National 
Potato Society seems to have been fruitful of 
numerous good results already. Several 
Potato disputes in Lincolnshire had already 
readied the Lincoln County Court in connec¬ 
tion with the sales of the Eldorado Potato. 
Considerable excitement prevailed, and when 
the case finally came before the court it was 
then discovered that all litigation had been 
terminated by the parties in question having 
come to an agreement among themselves. 
Several other actions of a similar nature were 
also pending, but they have also been 
amicably settled. The numerous arbitrators 
wlio have been appointed by the National 
Potato Society, as indicated in our issue of 
the 17th ult., will no doubt be productive of 
much >good in the near future by offering 
means whereby litigants can settle their dis¬ 
putes out of court. It will certainly be much 
cheaper to all parties concerned than the 
old-fashioned way of fighting it out. 
Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland. 
The financial position of the above 
society is now much better than it was 
at the previous annual general meeting. On 
this occasion the council have a balance of 
assets over liabilities of £232 Os. 9d., instead 
of liabilities to the extent of £294 13s., as 
was shown to be the case at the end of 1903. 
In 1905 they have arranged only for a spring- 
show ; the usual summer and autumn shows 
are to be combined. If the membership in¬ 
creases to a, sufficient extent, they may be 
able in the near future to revert to the pro¬ 
gramme of former years. The programme 
for this year is based on the same lines as 
the past simply as a measure of precaution. 
Mr. J. Robertson, in moving the adoption of 
the report, referred to the favourable posi¬ 
tion now presented by the financial aspect, 
and considered there was strong hope for the 
society regaining its former position by a 
little more energy on the part of the 
members in inducing new subscribers to join 
the society. 
Nature Study and its Objects. 
The “ Quarterly Record ” of the Royal 
Botanic Society of London includes various 
papers which have been read at the meetings 
of the society during the past summer, and 
amongst them is an address on “ Nature 
Study and its Objects,” by Sir George Keke- 
wich, K.C.B. Sir George said that nature 
study differed from other forms of education 
in that it was of absorbing interest pro¬ 
viding it was properly taught. Going to 
nature for their information was like read¬ 
ing a book which proved more interesting 
to young people than any fairy tale. He 
even went so far as to say that it was 
capable of developing character, such as re¬ 
verence, awe, love, refinement, and a proper 
appreciation of all living things. At the 
same time there was a danger to lie guarded 
against. In advocating nature study lie 
did not mean that children should be taught 
or encouraged to kill birds or collect their 
eggs for school museums. The keeping of 
live animals in a state of confinement was 
a form of cruelty which should not be en¬ 
couraged. Very objectionable to him was 
the keeping of mice, rats, snakes or other 
creatures in cages. He thought, however, 
that in urban schools nature study would be 
relatively limited. It would be far more 
effective to the physical well-being of those 
concerned if carried out in rural schools. 
The main place of instruction should be in 
the open air, fields and woods, by hill and 
stream. This is practically what the poet 
Wordsworth himself practised, as lie was 
almost constantly in the open even while 
carrying on his own special work, and callers 
were more likely to find him in the fields 
than at home. It was not only the teachin" 
of the fact, but the reason for the fact that 
made education effective. The finding out 
of the why and wherefore of everything 
tended largely to the development of intelli¬ 
gence, and he thought that this would be 
conducive not only to the welfare of the 
community but to the State. 
Potato Trial in Ireland. 
During the past year a trial of Potatos has 
been conducted by Mr. Thomas Bradshaw, 
Hillsborough Gardens, co. Down, and he gives 
the result of his experiments in the “ Irish 
Farming World.” His intention was to put 
all the varieties on an equal footing, the 
trial being made in a garden with the view 
of testing the productiveness of certain varie¬ 
ties rather than their quality. He pro¬ 
cured a pound of each variety and cut each 
pound into 36 sets, which he planted in 
plots side by side. Farmyard manure alone 
was used. The drills were 63 ft. long and 
3 ft. apart. Evergood gave 14 stone of 
sound Potatos without, any diseased ones ; 
Sir John Llewellyn gave rise to 9 stone of 
sound Potatos and 10 lb. of diseased ones ; 
Lim Grey or Sim Grey came next with 
8 stone 6 lb. and no diseased Potatos. Other 
four varieties came in with somewhat over 
7 stone each of sound Potatps, with a few 
pounds each of diseased ones. Duchess of 
Cornwall was grown from only half-a-pound 
of seed, but that gave rise to 7 stone 4 lb., 
placing it at the very top of the list for pro¬ 
ductiveness. On the whole it will be seen 
that the order of merit for weight of crop 
was Duchess of Cornwall, Evergood, Sir J. 
Llewellyn, and Lim Grey. Being unable 
to speak of their quality from old garden 
soil, the writer names Evergood and Lim 
Grey as noteworthy, on account of their 
cropping qualities and the handsome appear¬ 
ance of the tubers, while at the same time 
they were perfectly free from disease. 
