THE GARDENING WORLD. 
53 
January 26, 1907. 
iore light and air to play through them 
1 the coming season. A very sharp 
nife should be used, and the cuts made 
1 a sloping direction rather than square 
moss. When branches are too large for re¬ 
moval with a knife, and a saw must be em- 
lloyed, carefully pare with a knife after- 
ards, as a clean smooth cut heals much 
uicker than a jagged one, and there is 
Us lodgment for pests. If pruning be 
one during the season of slow growth 
rere will be time for the cut to heal before 
ctive growth again commences. 
Albert A. Kerridge. 
Wilts. 
NEW SEEDLING . . . 
KIDNEY POTATO. 
Mr. A. Dolman, 871, Railway Cottages, 
loventry, writes : “ As a subscriber and 
eader of your valuable paper Gardening 
VORLD I venture to send you the enclosed 
ihotograph of a new seedling kidney 
’otato, second early, raised by a gar¬ 
dener friend of mine, Mr. A. J. Clarke, 
, Primrose Cottage, Lichfield Road, Four 
)aks, Sutton Coldfield, in the hope that 
ou will kindly publish it in an early issue 
if your paper. He has grown them in his 
•wn private garden for live years, and is 
nxious to .dispose of his whole stock 
about 5 cwt.) held by him if he could find 
. purchaser. He has been a very suc- 
essful grower of Potatos (holding several 
nerit certificates) for the last twenty years, 
nd considers this variety entirely dis- 
inct from any now on the market. The 
ilants grow with vigorous dark strong 
naulms, and have white tubers, entirely 
ree from disease, small in the eye, and 
if very good eating quality. The tubers 
lave lately been grown on poor ground, 
,0 will do better in good soil. I have 
ately seen his whole stock, so can vouch 
or them being equal to those represented 
n the photograph.” 
As represented by the photograph, the 
ubers are large enough for any purpose, 
md certainly quite large enough for table 
purposes. They produce tubers true to 
:he tvoe shown ; they should also be very 
handsome and suitable for exhibition pur- 
ooses quite independently of table quality, 
:hough we .cto not advocate such use en- 
firely for a Potato. We have known 
Potatos that were first class for exhibition, 
but for table purposes were quite useless. 
The object now-a-days is to combine 
utility and beauty. Evidently the eyes 
are quite shallow, and that is much in its 
favour, as it means but a small amount 
of waste when pared for culinary purposes. 
As Mr. Clarke has grown these tubers for 
five years, we presume they have been 
well rogued and the proper type now well 
fixed. In every respect they compare 
favourably with modern Potatos, but we 
hope that judges at exhibitions in future 
[years will encourage a Potato of moderate 
size in preference to tubers of unwieldy 
size. We entirely disagree with the neces- 
citv of having to cut tubers' previous to 
boiling them. We think, however, that 
this could largely be regulated by the 
method of cultivation. We hope that this 
variety also will prove equally what it ap¬ 
pears to be, a beautiful and useful 
Potato * 
New Seedling, Second Early Kidney Fctato. 
AN UNCOMMON 
ASTER 
(Aster turbinellus'. 
The large and clear blue flowers of this 
Michaelmas Daisy are freely enough pro¬ 
duced, as may be seen by the accompany¬ 
ing illustration, but they are not so 
numerous as in the case of many other 
species, and few gardeners would seem to 
have it in their collection. The name 
has been given in allusion to the shape 
of the flower head just before expansion. 
Instead of it being as the name would in¬ 
dicate, like a little turban, we should des¬ 
cribe it as resembling a small top. 
These flowers are of large size, bright 
in colour, and being produced singly at 
the ends of relatively long stalks, they 
could be used for mixing with other 
flowers more readily than when the 
flowers are produced in dense masses on 
short stalks. In a collection this species 
is quite distinct from most others in culti¬ 
vation, and for this reason alone it should 
be more often cultivated than at present. 
The character of the plant is similar to 
that of A. Novi-Belgii, but it is more 
spreading in habit, and if allowed plenty 
of freedom would form a round-headed 
bush. Propagation may be effected 
much in the same way as the better known 
kinds which produce suckers freely round 
the rootstock. 
«JLSST • dr'- *' ^£33 
n 
Aster turbinellus. 
Maclaren and Sons, 
