960 
THE GARDEN IK Q WORLD 
December 16, 1905. 
© Flavour in Potatos. ® 
YElalaOW-FlaESMElD 
VERSUS 
WHlTE*FlaESHED VARIETIES. 
quite so close. It should be remembered that 
fruit tree roots are very active during the 
winter, supplying nourishment to developing 
fruit buds for the coming year’s crop. If the 
buds are imperfectly developed the crop Will 
lack quality and size accordingly. 
A H. Morris. 
Renewing Pinks. 
A good and simple method of renewing and 
increasing Pinks is to lift the whole of the 
plant and pull off all the side shoots, and on 
examination they will be found to have a lot 
of little roots which will enable them to be 
planted in their permanent quarters with 
safety. This will be found an advantage 
where an edge is to be made with them, as 
the edge has only to be made level, and the line 
stretched true along and holes made 5in. 
apart with a dibble, and if the ground is too 
hard for a dibble, an iron bar can be used in¬ 
stead, and when planting is on fill the holes 
with sandy soil as planting proceeds. W hen 
planting see that each shoot is equal distance 
above ground, which should be about 3in. 
The firm ground causes a sturdy growth, and 
the plants being close an edge is formed at 
once, and when the plants are met, which 
should be about July, each alternate plant 
can be taken out and shoots removed as ad¬ 
vised above and run off in a frame or on a 
sh’dy border about 3in. apart. There they 
form* roots quickly and a quantity of good 
young plants will be on hand. J. R. B. 
How to Prune Apple and Pear Trees 
Pruning Apple and Pear trees can hardly 
be said to be the work for a novice, especially 
if he wishes to get the most fruit from his 
trees. There are many that have worked 
amongst fruit trees for ten or twenty years, if 
they were asked the reason for cutting this cr 
that branch off wculd not be able to give a 
practical answer. A novice (if he is observ¬ 
ant) would soon pick up much that is useful, 
and by following The Gardening World 
weekly, asking its editor if in any difficulty, 
would soon master some of the details of fruit 
tree pruning. In the case of standard trees 
the centres should be kept open, and all 
shoots directed to the open, clear of each 
other, and not cutting the tops of the shoots. 
Of pyramids, espaliers, and cordons, the 
shoots should be summer pruned in August to 
four buds, and to two in the winter pruning. 
Extension shoots should be left twelve inches 
in summer and shortened to eight inches in 
winter. Whatever tree is being pruned, see 
that all the sun and air possible can play 
amongst the branches, then good results will 
follow. ~ G. Waller. 
Mr. T. W. Dot/lery.— For the last four 
years Mr. T. W. Dollery has been gardener 
to Sir A. Lawson, Bart., at Bedale Hall, 
Bedale, Yorks, and is now relinquishing his 
appointment in order to find more scope for 
his professional talent. He has also- been 
gardener at several other places in Yorkshire, 
and has had considerable experience. He was 
also head gardener to Sir A. Lawson, Bart., 
at Weetwood Grange, Leeds. Previous to that 
he was foreman in the gardens of Sir H. 
Williamson, Bart., Whitburn Hall, Sunder¬ 
land. Mr. Dollery is quite a young man, as 
may be seen by reference to his portrait in 
The Gardening World for March 26th, 1904, 
page 261, where we gave a somewhat longer 
account of his gardening career. He is now 
open for another engagement, and we think 
he should not be long m finding something 
suitable for his professional experience. 
I have just been reading a summary of the 
lecture on Potatos which Mr. W. P. Wright 
delivered before the R.H.S. on October 24th 
last. One of the subjects touched upon in 
this lecture was that of flavour, and, as this 
is one of the weak points of the Potato of 
to-day, I read with great interest all that Mr. 
Wright had to say about it. 
Let me be candid enough to' confess I was 
disappointed, for, to my considerable sur¬ 
prise, Mr. Wright blessed just where I had 
expected he would have pursued an opposite 
course. In other words, I had ventured to 
hope that, instead of being satisfied with the 
present order of things, he would have pointed 
out to growers how singularly deficient in 
flavour our present-day tubers have become, 
and also have given a few hints and details 
as to how this defect might be remedied. But 
the task of preaching FLAVOUR (big capitals, 
please, printer!) in vegetables is a thankless 
one in England of to-day, and the humble 
voice of the writer can only be as the voice of 
one crying in the wilderness. However, the 
Editor always has a kindly word, and, what 
is still more important, a little bit of space for 
the man with a grievance to ventilate. I have 
already explained what my (or, rather, the 
Potato’s) cause for complaint is, and am now 
going to attempt to' convert a few of the very 
numerous readers of The Gardening World 
to’ my way of thinking. 
First of all, let me begin by saying that I 
have only just returned from a trip to France, 
and at a restaurant in Paris, where the cus¬ 
tomers who frequented it were decidedly cos¬ 
mopolitan in character, I chanced to get into 
conversation with an Englishman resident in 
France, and one of the topics which we had 
under discussion was the quality of French 
vegetables—more particularly of French 
Potatos. My comment was that I had always 
thought them delicious, and this, he said, was 
no surprise to him, as every other Englishman 
he met made the very same remark. 
Since my return home I have had several 
long talks with some of the largest Potato 
growers in my district, and all of them de¬ 
precated the idea of growing Potatos with 
yellow flesh, such a® are in general cultivation 
in France. Directly I suggested it, each in¬ 
sisted that what the public required was a 
tuber with white flesh, and that if they 
attempted to again introduce yellow-fleshed 
varieties, the certain result would be a con¬ 
siderable financial loss to themselves. 
For my own part, I very much question 
whether the public of to-day is satisfied with 
the tasteless lumps of starch with which every 
market is glutted. I have met numbers of 
people who’ say that they only like Potatos 
when they are new, and the reason of this is 
not hard to understand. By new Potatos they 
usually refer to Ashleaf, which is one of the 
few varieties now grown in this country whose 
quality is beyond reproach. 
Net long ago I saw it stated in a contem¬ 
porary that the decadence of the English vege¬ 
table began with the introduction of the 
American varieties. Early Rose and Beauty of 
Hebron—insipid in quality, but extremely pro¬ 
ductive. Of course, during the recent bcorn, 
when tubers were literally worth their weight 
in gold, it was manifestly unfair to ask what 
the flavour of Northern Star, Eldorado, and 
other much-belauded kinds was like, for the 
simple reason that one could not afford to 
taste them. But the Potato boom has 
declined, and now that everyone has once 
more returned to their senses there is some 
chance that the public will begin to 1 inquire 
a little more about the edible qualities of the 
different varieties before rushing in to pur¬ 
chase them. 
As soon as there is a real cry out for flavour, 
there is bound to 1 be a decline in the popu¬ 
larity of the white-fleshed Potatos, because all 
the best-flavoured varieties, from the Ashleaf 
downward, are yellow-fleshed, and the whiter 
a Potato is the more starchy and flavourless 
it becomes. The mission of those who have 
the good of the Potato at heart, therefore, is 
to try and improve its palat-ability. From a 
commercial point of view, productiveness is, 
of course, of the highest importance, but, if 
this alone is considered, the object must 
defeat the end, because a lack of flavour will 
inevitably lead to a lessened consumption. 
So many people seem to- think that a Potato 
which will do to feed pigs and fowls is quite 
good enough for human food, and I venture 
to say that the cottagers in France have far 
better Potatos (as far as quality is concerned) 
upon their tables than the great majority of 
the better class people in England. 
When the great awakening does come—and 
come it will, sooner or later—I feel certain 
that the prejudice against yellow and coloured 
varieties will disappear, and we shall once 
more welcome on our tables many of those 
old round and kidney-shaped Potatos with 
coloured skins which have fortunately not 
entirely dropped out of cultivation in some 
parts- of Scotland. When this day does arrive, 
the delightful flavour of many of these old 
sorts will be a revelation to the consumers of 
the present day. But to return to the sub¬ 
ject of the French Potato, which was really 
responsible for these notes, I would certainly 
recommend readers of the “ G. W. ’ to try a 
few sorts of these, and form their own opinion 
about them. 
Belle de Juillet is one of the best ; in Eng¬ 
land it is fit to- eat before Ashleaf, and will 
keep sound and good all through the winter. 
The tubers are thick, almond-shaped, and at 
times curved like those of a kidney. The skin 
is smooth and, like the flesh, is yellow in 
colour. The stems are rather thin, firm, and 
erect. Shoots purple, flowers grey-lilac. Not 
liable to disease. The quality is all that can 
be desired, and the tubers very uniform in 
shape. 
Three other most delicious varieties are 
Quarantaine de 1a-Halle, Jaune d’or de Nor- 
wege, and Jaune ronde hative. The first- 
named is of most excellent quality, with 
medium-sized tubers of oblong or almond 
shape. Skin and flesh very yellow ; eyes 
hardly visible ; shoots pink with violet-pink 
flowers. Rather a slow grower. The two 
other varieties mentioned are round yellow 
varieties, which do extremely well on light soil 
or where the climate is rather dry. 
Of the superior quality of these to our great 
starchy English varieties there can be no 
two opinions, although I am perfectly willing 
to allow that there is a great demand in this 
country for a floury Potato. Those who- have 
had the good fortune to taste a well-made 
