April 20, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
267 
Potato 
Duchess of Cornwall. 
Yucca recurvifolia. 
should .place a guard round these Yuccas 
to prevent accident when young people 
run against the leaves, as tney are apt to 
do. This could easily be done by means 
of a low wire guard that would just keep 
the small fo.k at a safe distance. 
In course of time both of these A uccas 
develop a stem 2 ft. to 4 ft. or 5 ft. high, 
thus carrying their leaves out of the way. 
The other fairly common and free flower¬ 
ing Yucca is Y. filamentosa, termed a 
herbaceous species because it does not 
develop a stem or trunk, so that its leaves 
are always close to the ground, while the 
flower stem rises up to a height of 2 ft. to 
3 ft. Ail three are very striking objects 
in garden landscape, with a background 
of trees, as in this instance, and worthy 
of cultivation even where space is rather 
limited. — E d.] 
-- 
Germany is the largest Potato-growing 
country in the world. 
Needle. 
Potato Duchess of Cornwall. 
Yucca recurvifolia. 
\ Hardy Adam's 
“I am sending you a photo taken by an 
mateur in 1903, when the flower stem 
as 7 ft. high. The soil is gravel and 
uid, with a south aspect. As we are 
nly three miles from the most easterly 
omt of England, the garden is very 
luch exposed to blustering winds. YVe 
,ive several plants, and trom 1897 we 
uve never been without some of them 
■looming, sometimes with two trusses on 
ne plant. A\ hen the flrst inflorescence 
ppeared we thought we could never have 
.nother in our liletime ; so the once in a 
amdred, or even seven, years is a fallacy, 
.’he blossoms are a rich waxy cream, but 
heir beauty is hidden by the drooping 
labit of the flower stalks, because only by 
joking quite into the blossom can its e'x- 
tuisite beauty Ire seen. It is not at all a 
riendly plant, as its long pointed leaves 
pve to the unwary a sharp stab, some- 
lines with unpleasant results. 
“In conclusion, I congratulate you in 
jutting forth such a clear type in The 
Gardening World, and to some of us, 
vhose eyes are past their best, this is a 
lesideratum.”—B. PARKER, Lowestoft. 
The plant, of which our correspondent 
;ends us a photograph, is Y'ticca recurvi- 
olia, one of the few that prove perfectly 
tardy and flower freely in all the southern 
:ounties of England after they attain a 
rertain stage of development, that is, the 
lowering stage. Another rather less 
common one is Y. gloriosa, which attains 
similar dimensions, but is much stiffer in 
habit owing to the more erect and thicker 
character of the leaves. They are also ; 
more dangerous if one should happen to 
run against them accidentally. hen 
the leaves of A', recurvifolia attain about 
their full or average size, they droop 
gracefully and are then less dangerous. 
It would be well, however, where chil¬ 
dren play in the garden, that the owners 
During the recent boom in Potatos a 
large number of new varieties were raised 
and others which had previously seen the 
light were brought to the front. Natur¬ 
ally many of the new comers did not 
come up to expectations, but temporarily 
made a demand which was in excess of 
the average. The really good varieties 
will remain, while all the worthless ones 
will disappear, and already a number of 
them have sunk from the highest rung of 
popularity to the lowest. 
Duchess of Cornwall has been in culti¬ 
vation for some little time, but its merits 
were partly overlooked until the demand 
for new Potatos arose. Although raised 
in Scotland, it found its way to Ireland, 
and there got up its name as a heavy 
cropping variety and relatively free from 
disease. In other words, it was a 
vigorous variety, of strong constitution, 
aUwough the 'tubers possessed nothing 
very remarkable either in size or appear¬ 
ance to attract the eye. 1 he tubers are 
somewhat pebb-e-shaped, and although 
not particularly shapely as an exhibition 
Potato, the variety has proved worthy of 
cultivation by reason of the enormous 
crops it produces and the relatively fair 
quality of the Potato for table purposes. 
Now it takes its position as a main 
crop or late Potato for field purposes. It 
is suitable for a variety of soils, heavy or 
light, but apparently likes a fairly humid 
atmosphere. It grows well in any part of 
the British Isles, but the Irish growers 
claim that it gives the heaviest produce 
in that country. The skin is white and 
fairly rough, which is usually considered 
a good sign of quality. 
'With late varieties good cultivators at 
the present day consider that they should 
be planted early to give them a long sea¬ 
son. Whereas it is important to place 
early varieties in bo'xes and sprout them 
before planting, it is unnecessary to do 
so in the case of late varieties which are 
planted where they are intended to crop 
and. indeed, before they have sprouted. 
Nevertheless, it is not too late to plant 
this variety, as field Potatos will he 
planted in Scotland up till the end of 
Mav. Indeed, very little field planting 
of Potatos is done there until the season 
is well advanced, although we think it 
