December 16, 1905. 
THE OARDEN/NQ WORLb 
961 
Potato salad, such as is so often seen upon 
French tables, will agree with me when I say 
that it would be quite impossible to make such 
a delicious dish out of our dry, white, floury 
tubers. In texture French Potatos are 
chestnut like—midway between wax and flour. 
They should be boiled in their skins with a 
sufficiency of salt, and in this way can be 
served both hot and cold. They are particu¬ 
larly good cold with a pinch of salt or a little 
English salad dressing. 
New there is, of course, a per contra. Those 
who study quantity before quality had better 
let these French varieties severely alone, be¬ 
cause they are not at all heavy croppers. 
They are also prone to disease, and on heavy, 
cold soils and in districts where there is not 
a superabundance of sunshine they are not a 
success. In France the excess of sun ripens 
the haulm and gives leaf and stem a harder 
substance and greater immunity from disease. 
One of the first and most important things 
that you should do is to see that you get a 
good secretary or secretaries—men who have 
plenty of spare time at their disposal, and 
who are willing to work very hard for the 
cause they have so well at heart. The secre¬ 
tary should not ba afraid of a little trouble,' 
and if a member should be in any difficulties 
as regards any of his plants, etc., visit him, 
and see if you can assist and advise in any 
way. I myself have just been over three miles 
on my bicycle to show a member how to get 
rid of insect pests on Rose trees, and I got 
two new members through doing so 1 . They 
were two of his friends who happened to be 
there at the time, and, although I have got a 
garden a quarter of an acre to look after, I 
always endeavour to. find time to> go and give 
a little bit of advice (if mine is worth having) 
to anyone who should happen to be in a bit 
of trouble. 1 may here state that the whole 
of the work done by my society is done (and 
always has been done) quite honorary ; not 
a single penny has been paid to any officer 
for anything he has done for the same. There 
is one more point which should be impressed 
upon the mind, and that is, the secretary, 
officers, committee, and all concerned must 
work harmoniously together ; if not, you are 
sure to spell failure. 
The society should offer prizes for the best 
cropped allotment, for the best kept garden, 
for the best kept window box, for the best 
hanging basket, in fact, for anything that 
tends to beautify the home. You should 
charge a subscription of 2s. 6d. per annum 
(this comes within the reach of all), and give 
cue sixpenny ticket for the spring show, 'one 
ticket for the autumn show, and three Is. 
tickets for the annual summer show. You 
can well afford to doi this, and that is what 
helps to' get you a lot of new members. You 
should offer special facilities for members to 
exchange superfluous plants with one another. 
Offer the cottagers a prize for the best window 
plant to be grown in his window at home (no 
one with a greenhouse to compete). This 
arouses a great amount of interest, and also 
causes a man to take an interest in his home. 
Have a members’ competition eveiy month 
(members only to compete), when prizes 
should be offered for the best exhibits, 
and give a silver medal to the one 
who has won most prizes at the end 
A fairly heavy crop can be obtained by close 
planting, and, as connoisseurs with private 
gardens do not usually study the weight of 
everything per acre, this need not be taken 
so much into account. To ensure success, 
select the lightest, sunniest, and best-tilled 
piece of ground in the garden. Give it a good 
dressing of bonfire ashes and road scrapings, 
and use artificial manure instead of that from 
the farmyard. All this race are apt to lie 
dormant if planted before germination lias 
commenced, so be sure to get the seed tubers 
well sprouted before planting. 
The future of the yellow-fleslied Potato will 
be this, I think: that, as people get ac¬ 
quainted with its excellence, it will gain 
favour for private cultivation, and, later on, 
raisers will get the same blood into hardier, 
heavier-cropping plants for the market man. 
A. G. 
the subjects exhibited ; this part is very in¬ 
structive, and keeps the members very in¬ 
terested and well in touch with one another. 
Be sure you have the members’ nights open 
for the public to come in free of charge, as that 
is a big incentive to' get new members. 
Have a few Saturday afternoon outings to' 
local nurseries, when your members will be 
able to see things grown as they should be. 
All this tends to keep your members well 
together and out of the public-house, which 
should be one of the chief aims of all horti¬ 
cultural societies. 
Have an annual summer outing to some 
high-class and instructive nursery. This part 
of the programme is one of the most enjoyable 
we hold. Have an annual members’ dinner, 
when you can present cups, medals, certifi¬ 
cates, etc., and finish up with a. smoking con¬ 
cert ; this is also a very enjoyable evening. 
When you hold your summer show, do not 
charge more than the popular 6d. admission, 
and see that you get a good-class entertain¬ 
ment—something novel, out of the ordinary, 
something that will make the public talk 
about you, and so- get a good advertisement. 
Do not be afraid to spend some money, as you 
cannot expect a good gate without doing so. 
We take the credit for being one of the most 
original local horticultural societies in the 
Midlands, and to show that we are not afraid 
to speculate, I will give you the chief attrac¬ 
tions at the last three summer shows held by 
us. In 1903 we had the yeomanry, tent peg¬ 
ging, etc. We had a most disastrous day 
(pouring in torrents), and lost nearly £120 
that year. I may here mention that we met 
all our liabilities in full, never stopping a 
single penny out of the prize money, although 
we had full power to do so. We went still 
stronger the next year (1904), engaging a bat¬ 
tery of His Majesty’s Royal Field Artillery 
with their big guns, etc. They fired the same 
on the grounds, causing quite a sensation in 
the district; in fact, they are talked about 
until the present day. I may say that in this 
year we had a record gate, nearly 14,000 
people passing through the gates. Not at all 
bad for a young local society. 
This year we still had something novel, a 
balloon ascent and parachute descent by a 
local lady. Of course, we have other 
numerous attractions besides. By all means 
do not disappoint the public ; if you do, they 
wi 11 not support you another year. When you 
get your entries in, be sure and appoint a 
committee of inspection to see that entrants 
have got all exhibits that they have entered 
in their possession. This gives your members 
greater confidence, and you get more exhibits 
in consequence. If you should be able to 
prove any deliberate false entry, do not be 
afraid ; take no half measures, but expel the 
guilty person from your society, and never 
allow him to enter again. Unfortunately, we 
have had to do this, but I can safely say that 
that action has got us a lot of new support. 
You cannot possibly keep too keen an eye 
ujion this sort of thing, because if there is 
any cheating going on, you will lose all your 
best members. Be firm ; at the same time, be 
just. 
Be sure, whatever you do, to keep your pro¬ 
fessional classes from your amateur ones. I 
consider all this sort of thing goes a long way 
towards making new members, and so brings 
funds to the society, thus giving you the op¬ 
portunity of doing much more towards pro¬ 
moting the study and practice of horticulture 
as a healthy and elevating pursuit, and so 
beautifying our homes and surroundings. I 
think we can claim that our manner of con¬ 
ducting our society is good when I state that 
six years ago w r e started with eight members, 
and at the present time we are between lour 
and five hundred strong (including about 
seventy vice-presidents). We get well over 
1.000 entries at our annual summer show, and 
the judges have commented from time to time 
upon the wonderfully good quality of the ex¬ 
hibits ; in fact, have stated that they are 
some of the finest that they have had the 
pleasure of judging. 
This short article is the first attempt at 
such a thing, and I hope my humble effort 
will be the means of still furthering the pur¬ 
suit of one of the finest and healthiest hobbies 
a man can possibly take up.' I will conclude 
by saying that I shall always be pleased to 
assist or advise in any way that lies in my 
power. W. Maebiott. 
395, Stratford Road, Sparkhill, 
Birmingham. 
The Vink and its Enemies. 
The vine has many enemies and some are 
very difficult to eradicate, such as mealy bug. 
Mildew and red spider also attack the vine, 
sometimes causing destruction. 
The vine, when started into growth, needs 
constant attention, not only in laying in the 
shoots, but to keep the syringe going fre¬ 
quently or red spider soon appears. It is 
essential as growth becomes more vigorous 
that watering be attended to, for excess of 
moisture and dryness at the roots is a great 
cause of red spider. I am afraid also that it 
is partly due to forcing Strawberries in the 
same structure, as I know in some establish¬ 
ments it is canted on to a great extent. 
There is usually a trellis fixed at tire top of 
the vinery near the ventilators, on which the 
Strawberry plants are placed—a very good 
place, too—but not for the vines. Adi goes 
on well until the Strawberry throws up its 
truss of flowers, when more ventilation has 
to be given to keep a drier atmosphere. Red 
spider now very soon appears on the Straw- 
berry. plants, at the same time the foliage 
is in contact with the leaves of the vine,- 
hence it spreads rapidly. 
Remedy.—Some put sulphur on the hot 
water pipes ; a very good plan, but I think 
if you take some unslacked lime and sulphur 
TtltKD PRIZE ESSAY. 
How to Extend the /Ae/abership 
. ■ AND USEFULNESS OF . . , 
LOCAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
of the year. Have a good judge to lecture on 
