242 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER '* 
March  21,  1901. 
practised  it  There  are  some  kinds,  however,  which  are  excee  'ingly 
prolific  in  producing  offsets,  but  unhappily  most  of  them  are  not  of 
first-rate  quality.  Traill’s  Beauty  is  very  free  in  this  respect,  and  so 
is  Turner’s  Col.  Champneys.  This  last  in  many  respects  does  not  come 
up  to  a  florist’s  notion  of  a  good  Auricula,  but  it  has  a  most  lovely 
body  colour — a  beautiful  dark  violet  one  hardly  knows  bow  to 
describe,  but  it  is  a  colour,  so  far  as  I  know,  not  met  with  in  any 
other  flower. 
But  it  may  be  asked.  What  do  you  mean  by  “  body  colour  ?  ” 
Well,  the  pip  of  the  Auricula,  as  the  single  flower  is  called,  is  arranged 
in  colours  arranged  in  circles.  There  is  the  edge,  either  grei  n,  grey, 
or  white;  the  body  colour,  which  is  dark  violet  or  plum  colour  ;  the 
paste,  which  is  pure  white ;  and  the  eye,  which  ought  to  be  bright 
yellow  or  orange.  In  the  first-rate  Auricula  these  parts  ought  to  be 
equal,  and  should  not  run  into  one  another  ;  thus  the  edge  ought  not 
to  be  mixed  up  with  the  body  colour,  nor  the  body  c  lour  run  into 
the  paste.  These  regulations  may  seem  to  be  very  artificial,  and  so 
in  truth  they  are  ;  but  Mr.  George  Lenev  many  years  ago  framed 
these  regulations,  and  anyone,  I  think,  who  saw  a  flower  fossessed 
of  these  properties  placed  alongside  of  another  in  which  they  did  not 
exist  coirectly,  wi  uld  not  lose  a  moment  in  pronouncing  on  the 
superiority  of  the  former. 
Of  late  years  a  good  deal  has  been  said  about  the  beauty  of  the 
border  varieties,  as  they  have  been  called.  Their  colouring  is  of  the 
most  bizarre  character;  they  are  bound  by  no  rules,  and  are  evidently 
the  same  in  character  as  those  which  appear  in  the  prints  of  the  old 
Dutch  flower  painters;  and  so,  when  people  have  sometimes  said  to  me, 
How  beautiful  vour  Auriculas  are !  you  find  on  inquiry  they  mean  not 
the  Show,  but  the  Fancy  varieties. 
I  have  said  nothing  about  a  class  which  has  come  into  great  favour 
of  late  years,  I  mean  the  Alpine  Auricula  (see  page  241)  It  is  of 
hardier  constitution  than  the  Show  varieties,  and  indeed  may  be 
grown  slice  sdully  out  of  doors.  The  substance  of  the  flowers  is  firmer 
than  that  of  the  Show  varieties,  but  their  range  of  colour  is  not  so 
varied.  They  produce  seed  freely,  and  hence  their  varieties  have  of  late 
years  considerably  increased  in  number.  It  is  unwise  for  anyone  who 
wishes  to  raise  seed  from  the  Show  varieties  to  place  any  plants  of 
Alpines  in  their  irame,  for  they  will  be  sure  to  make  their  mark  felt 
wheie  it  is  not  wantid.  The  variety  Dean  Hole,  raised  by  Mr.  James 
Douglas,  is  brilliant  gold  and  crimson. 
What,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  are  the  varieties  that  most  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  florist  ?  I  should  place  at  the  head  of  the  list 
green  edged  varieties — Prince  of  Greens,  raised  by  Traill  of  Scotland. 
This,  like  most  Auriculas,  is  not  perfect,  the  tube  being  weak,  lor  it  is 
very  pale,  a  fact  which  detracts  greatly  from  the  bright  appearance  the 
flower  would  <  therwise  have;  then  would  come  Simonite’s  Rev.  F.  D. 
Horner,  Douglas’s  Abbd  Liszt,  and  Marmion.  Lee’s  Colonel  Taylor  I 
remember  to  have  seeu  catalogued  as  a  £3  plant,  but  I  question  very 
much  whether  it  be  procurable  now.  Mrs.  Henwood  (see  page  241), 
raised  by  Simonite,  I  believe,  named  after  the  wife  of  the  energetic 
secretary  ol  the  National  Auricula  Society  (southern  section).  It  is  one 
of  the  newest  additions,  and  is  a  first-rate  flower  of  good  constitu¬ 
tion,  and  has  a  very  bright  green  edge. 
Then  amongst  grey  edges  we  have  that  grand  flower  George 
Light!  ody;  Douglas’s  Conservative,  Woodhead’s  Rachel,  Mrs.  Dod- 
well,  Variable,  whose  edge  is  sometimes  white  and  sometimes  grey  ; 
and  A  exander  Meiklejohn,  which  I  have  seen  at  tines  very  good 
indeed.  In  the  white  edges  Read’s  Acme  and  Taylor’s  Glory  are  good 
and  well-defined  flowers.  It  is  difficult  to  get  a  good  truss  of  the 
former,  and  a  plant  is  apt  to  break  up  into  offsets.  In  seifs  we  have 
Woodhead’s  Black  Bess  and  Mrs.  Potts,  Horner’s  Heroine,  Lord  of 
Lome,  Campbell's  Pizarro,  and  the  deep  maroon  Midnight  (see 
page  241). — D.,  Dtal. 
- - 
Early  Potatoes. 
Much  has  been  written,  and  well  written  too,  as  the  past  volumes 
of  our  Journal  amply  show,  on  Potato  growing,  both  as  to  early  and 
main  crops.  That  writing  has  been  done  from  so  many  and  varied 
standpoints  and  conditions  that  it  may  be  said  to  cover  every  possible 
phase  in  the  production  of  our  national  and  indispensable  esoulent.  As, 
however,  new  readers  are  being  added  weekly,  and  as  these  readers  (at 
least,  the  generality  of  them)  oannot  by  any  means  get  easy  access  to 
past  numbers  and  volumes,  it  becomes  necessary,  so  as  to  satisfy  all 
demands,  to  go  over  again  the  old  ground,  and  state  or  restate  the 
lessons  which  every  Potato  grower  learns  year  by  year  for  himself, 
and  which  he  is,  like  every  true  gardener,  anxious  to  give  to  his  neigh¬ 
bour,  and  particularly  to  any  young  neighbour  who  is  striving  to  do  his 
best  in  the  situation  he  finds  himself  placed  in.  Let  me  here  say  that 
these  remarks  are  from  the  standpoint  of  a  gardener  who  is  catering 
for  an  establishment  in  the  middle  grade  of  society,  and  who  has 
I  therefore  to  adopt  many  expedients  which  the  gardener  in  the  higher 
I  grade  of  society  would  smile  at  and  look  down  upon.  Even  in  these 
middle  grade  places,  each  one  has  its  own  special  conditions  and 
requirements,  the  differentiation  of  each  being  in  many  cases  wide  of 
the  other,  and  the  gardener  has  to  study  the  particular  needs  and 
demands  made  upon  him,  to  prepare  his  plans  and  carry  them  out 
to  suit  those  needs  and  demands  to  his  own  oase,  quite  irrespective 
of  what  his  immediate  neighbour  may  be  planning  and  doing;  and 
though  he  may,  and  often  does,  compare  notes  and  discuss  plans 
with  his  neighbour,  he  has  to  evolve  out  of  his  own  individual  powers, 
his  skill  and  judgment,  just  those  plans  and  those  operations  which 
he  knows  or  feels  will  give  him  the  required  results.  There  is  no 
cast-iron  law  in  gardening,  and  least  of  all  is  there  any  fixed 
immutable  law  as  to  the  growing  of  Potatoes  in  detail,  though  the 
general  principles  of  their  cultivation  are  understood  and  carried 
out  by  everyone  who  grows  them  successfully.  Those  principles  may 
as  well  be  once  more  concisely  summarised,  as  it  is  soon  done.  Here 
they  are. 
Well  dug  land,  double  dug  when  possible,  autumn  manured  by 
preference;  timely  planting  of  good  seed,  properly  kept  and 
prepared,  and  occasionally  changed,  in  rows  of  good  width,  say 
3  feet  apart  and  18  inches  in  the  row  (“Nothing  pays  like  plenty  of 
room  wi’  ’taties,”  said  an  old  Yorkshireman  to  me  very  early  in  my 
gardening  career,  and  I  have  often  proved  the  wisdom  of  his  saying)  ; 
keeping  them  clean,  and  earthing  up  judiciously  at  the  right  time. 
These  are  the  main  points  in  Potato  cultivation.  We  then  have  to 
consider  the  question  of  varieties,  and  it  is  here  where  every  gardener, 
though  he  may  receive  many  valuable  hints  as  to  this  variety  and  that 
being  better  than  some  other,  he  has  to  prove  for  himself  by  practical 
experience  from  the  really  wonderfully  numerous,  varied,  and  high- 
class  sorts  that  are  in  cultivation,  which  kinds  will  suit  him  in  all 
particulars  for  every  demand  made  by  the  kitchen  people  as  to  Potatoes 
all  through  the  season.  In  one’s  young  days,  when  we  are  eager  to 
know  everything,  and  very  impetuous  in  carrying  out  one’s  ideas,  we 
occasionally  make  mistakes,  and  notably  so  in  trusting  too  credulously 
to  all  that  is  told  us  by  people  who,  though  well  meaning  enough,  are 
a  little  too  enthusiastic  at  times  in  their  descriptions  of  the  things  they 
have  to  dispose  of.  Addressing  myself,  then,  to  would-be  Potato 
growers,  and  especially  the  younger  ones,  I  would  say  ;  Prove  all 
varieties  as  circumstances  admit,  and  then  stick  to  those  which  are,  to 
you,  good.  I  must  add  to  this  advice  this  special  warning — never  trust 
to  a  novelty  for  the  daily  supply.  Have  the  supply  always  safe  from 
known  and  proved  varieties,  and  let  the  novelty  or  novelties  show  up 
their  merits  according  to  their  ability.  I  am  an  old  man  now,  and  once 
in  the  days  of  my  youth  in  gardening  I  trusted  to  a  much  advertised 
variety  of  Potato  to  give  me  my  first  liftings  for  the  master’s  table. 
Ah  me  !  My  much  vaunted  first  early  variety  proved  to  be  only  a  very 
ordinary  second  early  sort,  and  I  was  ten  days  to  a  fortnight  behind 
time,,  and  I  never  heard  the  last  of  that  mistake.  It  was  a  lesson  to 
me.  And  now  I  try  new  varieties  every  year,  but  only  in  a  tentative 
and  cautious  way,  and  advance  them  into  my  annual  positive  supplies 
of  roots  or  drop  them  altogether,  as  they  show  themselves  to  be  worthy 
or  unworthy. 
My  first  variety  for  the  earliest  liftings,  and  only  for  the  first,  is  of 
course  Sharpe’s  Victor.  As  one  might  easily  conclude,  from  the 
excellence  of  the  true  variety,  there  are  Victors  and  Victors,  and  there 
is  a  very,  very  wide  difference  in  the  respective  sorts.  Once  secure  the 
true  variety  and  then  one  is  all  right.  I  only  grow  sufficient  of  these 
to  lead  me  up  to  the  next,  which  is  Sutton’s  Ringleader,  but  before  I 
go  further  I  must  say  a  very  good  word  for  an  early  variety  I  tried  for 
the  first  time  last  year,  and  that  is  Harrison’s  Short  Top.  It  is  a 
splendid  grower,  early,  very  prolific,  and  fine  on  the  table.  I  am 
extending  its  cultivation  this  season.  After  Ringleader,  which,  with 
great  prolificacy,  has  a  refinement  of  colour  and  flavour  about  it  com¬ 
mending  it  to  its  consumers  to  such  a  degree  that  there  is  less  complaint 
of  monotony  and  want  of  change  of  it  than  of  any  other  early  variety, 
though,  recognising  this  desire  for  change  in  the  tastes  of  the 
consumers,  a  desire  which  must  be  considered  and  provided  for  by 
every  private  gardener,  I  grow  a  few  of  Early  Puritan  and  Harbinger. 
These  varieties  are  bountiful  in  production,  and  being  of  part 
American  breed  are  softer-fleshed  than  our  other  drier  early  sorts,  and 
are  an  agreeable  change  on  the  table.  Then  I  fall  back  on  what  has 
been  for  many  years  past  my  main  second  early  variety,  the  Royal 
Ashleaf.  Some  call  it  Myatts’,  some  Rivers’,  some  Veitch’s.  I  only 
know  that  I  got  my  seed  from  a  noted  place  in  the  Midlands,  where 
they  grow  this  variety  most  extensively  for  the  markets,  and  the 
growers  religiously  preserve  their  own  seed  year  by  year.  Here, 
through  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  I  became  possessed  of  some,  and  have 
never  lost  it  since.  It  is  a  splendid  cropper  ;  comes  out  clean,  and  eats 
firm  and  dry  and  mealy,  and  will  eat  so  from  time  of  lifting  until 
the  seed  is  ready  to  go  into  the  ground  again.  To  change  on  this, 
and  a  change  from  this  very  good  one  is  desired  occasionally,  I  grow 
Windsor  Castle  and  Prizetaker,  each  excellent  in  its  way  both  as  to 
cropping  and  table  quality,  and  that  finishes  my  early  Potatoes.  The 
after  supply  comes  from  the  farm,  where  Magnums,  Stourbridge  Glory, 
and  Up-to-Date  are  grown  in  quautity  ;  but  as  this  is  a  little  chat 
on  early  Potatoes  I  need  not  say  anything  more  about  them. 
Perhaps  there  may  be  something  in  this  which  will  be  of  use  to 
some  other  Potato  grower.  So  mote  it  be. — N.  H.  P. 
