January  27,  1898.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
compensation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  they  require  scarcely  any 
furtlier  attention,  and  last  for  an  indefinite  time.  They  vary  both  in 
height  and  -width,  but  the  average  might  be  taken  at  about  5  feet  in 
height,  6  to  9  feet  wide  at  the  base,  and  2^  or  3  feet  wide  at  the  top. 
A  cone  of  earth  is  formed  proportionate  to  the  size  of  “fence” 
requiied,  and  this  is  then  faced  with  stone,  and  the  workmen  who 
have  become  skilful  by  long  practice  at  this  construct  as  even  and 
regular  faces  as  the  best  bricklayers  could  do.  Upon  the  soil  at  the 
apex  of  the  cone  young  seedling  Beech  are  planted,  and  are  usually 
protccteo  from  cattle  for  the  first  few  years  by  a  wire  stretched  along 
each  side  projecting  from  the  wall  at  the  top.  The  cost  of  such  work 
necessarily  differs  somewhat  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  “  fence,’' 
but  the  visual  rate  is  3s.  to  4s.  per  yard  run,  or  at  least  four  times  the 
cost  of  a  ihorn  hedge,  though  the  cost  of  keeping  and  trimming  the 
latter  is  constant,  and  in  the  other  case  it  is  practically  nil.  In  a 
district  exposed  to  strong  gales  such  “  fences  ”  afford  valuable 
Apart  from  all  other  considerations,  that  is  the  most  likely  means  of 
leading  to  constant  disappointment  and  failure.  It  is  unnecessary,  too, 
for  there  are  several  firms  of  nurserymen  advertising  in  the  Journal 
columns  who  make  a  speciality  of  British  Ferns,  and  who  send  out 
well-established  plants  in  pots  at  moderate  prices.  Unquestionably 
there  is  a  great  degree  of  interest  in  growing  Ferns  found  by  oneself, 
but  there  are  few  of  the  species  which  grow  on  the  stone  fences  or 
walls  that  can  be  transplanted  successfully. — Viator. 
(To  be  continued.) 
A  “CUIllOUS’.’  METHOD  OF  PllODUCING 
EARLY  POTATOES. 
As  you  have  thought  the  “curious”  Potato  sent  you  by  Mr. 
W.  Brown  worth  figuring,  I  have  thought  you  might  consider  the  lollow- 
ing  worth  printing.  It  may  interest  some  of  your  readers.  In  the  early 
Eia.  13.— MASDKVALIAA 
ARMINI.  .  {See  page  11.) 
protection  for  stock,  and  very  rarely  need  re})air.  When  the  Beech  is 
well  established  it  makes  a  dense  and  beautiful  hedge,  even  in  winter, 
as  the  yellow-brown  leaves  are  retained  so  long. 
Though  not  an  intentional  or  practical  use  these  “  fences  ”  serve 
another  purix)se,  which  can  perhaps  only  be  duly  appreciated  by  the 
lovers  of  some  of  our  most  graceful  British  plants,  the  Ferns,  that  find 
in  the  crevices  and  crannies  between  the  stones  a  congenial  home. 
It  is  possible  to  travel  for  miles  along  some  of  the  roads  where  the 
fences  are  older,  and  to  find  scarcely  one  square  yard  unoccupied  by 
colonies  of  exquisite  Ferns,  in  some  instances  diminutive  gems,  and  in 
others  vigorous  examples  of  their  respective  species.  It  is  a  Fern 
hunter’s  paradise,  but  in  places  Vandals  have  been  busy,  and  have 
stripped  the  “fences”  of  their  natural  ornaments.  It  is  doubtful, 
however,  if  the  charms  of  our  native  Ferns  are  generally  appreciated 
as  they  deserve  to  be,  for  there  are  many  amongst  them  that  will  rival 
in  elegance  of  frondage  the  most  costly  and  delicate  exotics.  A 
proportion  do  not  lend  themselves  readily  to  cultivation  it  is  true,  but 
a  number  can  with  ordinary  care  be  satisfactorily  grown  on  rockeries 
and  in  cool  houses.  It  must  not  be  supposed  fora  moment  that  I 
.advocate  a  wholesale  tearing  up  of  wild  Ferns  by  amateur  cultivators. 
forties,  when  I  was  employed  in  what  was  then  considered  one  of  the 
foremost  early  forcing  places  in  Middlesex,  and  where  early  fruits  and 
vegetables  were  cultivated  with  a  measure  of  success  I  have  never  seen 
excelled,  Potatoes  were  required  as  early  as  they  could  possibly  be 
produced,  and  this  was  accomplished  in  January. 
The  previous  season  the  necessary  number  of  the  largest  tubers  that 
could  be  collected  from  both  farm  and  garden  were  thinly  stored  in  the 
coolest  place  available.  They  were,  after  a  certain  date,  looked  regularly 
over,  at  short  intervals,  and  every  attempt  at  growth  checked  by  rubbing 
off  every  growth  as  soon  as  it  apjteared. 
Early  in  autumn  the  tubers  were  i)laced  in  deep  boxes  in  layers,  not 
too  thickly,  alternately  with  finely  sifted  layers  of  dry  loam.  The 
position  chosen  for  this  was  a  shed  in  which  w-ere  two  furnaces,  and  was 
therefore  moderately  warm.  Very  soon  a  young  tuber  was  forced  out 
from  every  eye  of  the  old  tuber.  The  crop  was  examined  at  intervals, 
and  as  soon  as  they  had  attained  sufficient  size  the  young  tubers  were 
removed  from  the  parent,  and  sent  to  table  in  the  ordinary  way.  The 
crop  never  failed.  The  secret  of  success  lay  in  preventing  the  exhaustion 
of  the  large  tubers  by  being  allowed  to  grow  in  the  ordinary  way. — 
D.  Thomson. 
[We  well  remember  this  method  being  practised  late  in  the  “forties,” 
and  many  dishes  of  new  Potatoes  from  the  size  of  unshelled  to  shelled 
Walnuts  obtained.] 
