218 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  10,  1904. 
Potatoes  and  the  Potato  Boom. 
WTVHE  prices  given  and  taken  for  recent  new  varieties  have 
caused  us  to  wonder.  Eldorado  selling  at  £150  a  pound, 
Sim  Gray  at  £5  for  a  similar  quantity,  Discovery  £1, 
Northern  Star  3s.,  and  dealers  tumbling  over  each  other 
in  their  anxiety  to  purchase  reliable  stocks  of  popular  varieties! 
What  does  it  all  mean?  Yet  many  liave  tried  their  hand  at 
Potato  raising,  with  loss  rather  than  profit  to  themselves.  Still, 
the  question  once  more  arises.  What  does  it  all  mean?  For  no 
amount  of  manipulation  of  the  markets  will  induce  growers  to 
pay  fabulous  prices  unless  there  is  at  least  a  great  prospect  that 
the  newcomers  possess  qualities  infinitely  better  in  some  re¬ 
spects  than  do  older  ones.  Well,  it  means,  I  think,  this:  that 
if  we  grow  during  wet  seasons  the  varieties  we  have  been  accus¬ 
tomed  to  cultivate  for  their  high  quality  or  capacity  to  produce 
heavy  crops,  they  succumb  to  the  disease  so  badly  as  to  make 
their  culture  unprofitable.  Growers  therefore  fully  realise  that 
a  real  disease  resister  is  worth  paying  a  high  price  for,  as  the 
stock  can  soon  be  largely  increased,  and  under  similar  condi¬ 
tions  in  regard  to  the  prevalence  of  disease,  the  original  outlay 
is  repaid  with  si^lendid  interest,  if  the  disease  resister  continues 
to  be  such  for  a  few  years.  No  one  expects  them  to  remain 
so  for  long. 
The  great  question,  then,  is.  Are  the  newcomers  the  real 
disease  resisters  many  claim  them  to  be?  Extremely  contra¬ 
dictory  reports  have  been  circulated  concerning  them,  and.  put¬ 
ting  aside  the  reports  of  interested  parties,  it  is  not  a  matter  for 
wonder  that  so  many  conflicting  statements  have  been  made  ; 
for  do  we  not  all  know  that  nOi  other  vegetable  grown  varies  so 
much  in  different  soils  and  districts  as  the  Potato?  Northern 
Star  does  not  seem  to  have  succeeded  anything  like  so  well  in  the 
South  as  in  the  Midlands.  Several  instances  have  come  under 
my  notice  in  which  quite  phenomenal  crops  have  been  obtained 
without  the  slightest  trace  of  disease  in  the  tubers,  and  there¬ 
fore,  in  regard  to  these  two  important  points,  the  Star  is  a 
“star”  indeed. 
I  notice  each  year  that  reports  of  disease  in  Potato  tops  in 
the  South  are  generally  published  a  fortnight  before  we  find  any 
trace  of  disease  in  the  Midlands,  and  as  the  disease  does  not 
usually  affect  the  leaves  until  growth  is  almost  completed,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  the  growth  being  somewhat  later  here 
than  in  the  South,  our  crops  have  a  shorter  dangerous  period 
to  pass  through,  during  which  time  the  disease  may  be  working 
in  the  leaves,  stems,  and  tubers.  The  coming  trials  of  the 
National  Potato  Society  will  do  a  vast  amount  of  good  in  clear¬ 
ing  up  this  and  many  other  points. 
The  thought  will  perhaps  arise  in  many  minds,  W’hat  about 
the  table  quality  of  Northern  Star?  For  I  know  it  has  been 
darkly  hinted  in  some  quarters  that,  although  a  heavy  cropper, 
it  is  scarcely  fit  to  eat.  I  do>  not  often  indulge  in  expensive 
dishes,  but  in  order  to  test  the  matter  to  my  own  satisfaction 
I  had  a  couple  of  tubers  cooked  to-day.  They  were  grown  on 
a  light  soil,  and  I  can  honestly  say  that  in  my  opinion  it  is  a 
much  better  Potato  to  eat  than  Up-to-Date,  white  in  flesh,  not 
quite  so  floury  as  some  vai'ieties,  but  excellent  in  flavour. 
Sutton’s  Discovery  (kidney)  is  certainly  a  much  more  hand¬ 
some  Potato  than  the  Star,  and  it  seems  to  have  cropped  and 
resisted  the  disease  equally  well.  I  predict  its  sterling  qualities 
will  win  for  it  a  great  reputation  among  the  best  of  recent  in¬ 
troductions.  Although  I  have  a  few  tubers,  I  am  more  interested 
in  increasing  my  stock  than  in  testing  its  merits  when  cooked, 
but  it  has  the  appeai'ance  of  a  variet.v  of  good  table  quality. 
In  purchasing  Evergood  one  undoubtedly  gets  good  value 
for  the  money  spent,  as  it  is  a  grand  cropper,  and  takes  the 
disease  but  little.  King  Edward  VII.  I  like  very  much,  as  the 
tubers  are  clean  and  shapely ;  but  why  it  is  often  described  as 
a  round  I  do  not  understand,  as  the  bulk  of  the  tuber's  I  have 
seen  are  decidedly  kidney  shaped.  Sir  J.  Llewelyn  and  The 
Facter  are  two  second  earlies  which  everybody  should  grow,  and 
Webb’s  Express  and  May  Queen  are,  I  believe,  absolutely  the 
two  earliest  kidneys  in  cultivation. 
I  also  have  a  vei'y  high  opinion  of  both  The  Challenge  aird 
A1  as  second  early  rounds,  as  both  crop  well,  and  the  former 
produces  tubers  which  are  wonderfully  even  in  size  and  clear 
in  the  skin. 
Edgcote  Purple,  Mr.  Bresee,  and  Peerless  Rose  are  fine 
coloured  kidneys  for  exhibition  puiqroses,  and  Lord  Tennyson, 
Purple  Perfection,  and  Reading  Russet  are  excellent  coloured 
rounds. 
Royal  Kidney,  Webb’s  Industi-y,  Charles  Fuller,  Sensation, 
and  Motor  are  all  grand  cropping  late  varieties,  though,  unfor¬ 
tunately,  not  disease  resistors. 
If  by  any  chance  we  should  happen  to  get  hot  summers 
during  the  next  few  years,  it  is  quite  probable  that  growers 
generally  may  be  lulled  into  a  false  sense  of  security,  and  pay 
but  little  regard  to  the  planting  of  disease  resisters.  It  will, 
however,  certainly  be  unwise  to  adopt  such  a  course,  for  now 
that  a  disease  resisting  strain  has  been  struck,  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  raise  other  varieties  from  such  strains,  so 
that  by  degrees  old  kinds  may  be  entirely  replaced  by  others 
which  show  no  fatal  weakness  during  unfavourable  seasons. 
So  much  has  been  done  by  hybridists  in  various  branches  of 
horticultui’o  that  it  ought  to  be — and,  I  believe,  is — possible 
to  work  steadily  onward,  till  we  have  abundance  of  disease 
proof  varieties  of  good  table  quality,  and  those  who  manage  to 
accomplish  so  great  a  task  will  deserve  well  of  the  whole  com¬ 
munity,  for  they  will  not  only  add  to  the  nation’s  wealth,  but 
also  to  her  security.  So  long  as  we  have  to  rely  upon  many 
varieties  grown  to-day,  every  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  prevent 
disease,  by  allowing  the  tops  ample  room,  not  being  too  liberal 
with  farmyard  manure,  using  some  artificial  manure,  and 
thoroughly  working  thei  soil. 
The  deluge  of  rain  last  year  rendered  spraying  in  many  cases 
ineffectual,  but  I  think  the  old  plan  of  pulling  up  the  haulms 
directly  the  leaves  show  the  .slightest  traces  of  disease  is  not 
half  enough  practised,  for  it  undoubtedly  may  be  the  means  of 
saving  many  a  valuable  crop.  I  treated  about  forty  rods  in  that 
way  last  year,  and  not  more  than  61b  of  diseased  tubers  have 
been  found  among  the  produce,  nor  has  any  complaint  beefl  made 
in  regard  to  the  flavour  of  those  used.  —  Horticultukal 
Instructer. 
- - 
Odd  Things  in  Garden  Life. 
■  N  tlie  garden  it  frequently  occurs,  and  especially  when 
incur.sions  are  made  into  other  gardens  that  things  are 
met  with  which  at  once  strike  the  observer  as  being  odd, 
out-of-the-common,  unusual.  Particularly  is  this  so  in 
old-fashioned  gardens,  wherein  may  be  found  the  ideas  of 
ancestral  times  still  joreserved.  If  an  inspection  of  horticultural 
buildings  of  a  century’s  age  is  made,  there  will  certainly  appear 
in  the  construction  many  items  of  detail  that  give  rise  to  the 
passing  thought.  How  very  odd! 
Then  large,  heavy  timbers  were  introduced  as  rafters  to 
carry  roof  lights  ;  these,  like  the  principals,  being  beavily  con¬ 
structed,  and  with  narrow'  sashbars  almost  invariably.  A  short 
time  .since  I  saw  a  partial  conversion  of  the  old  type  to  that 
of  the  modern  one  designed  by  Mr.  Challis,  and  recently  ilhus- 
trated  fi’om  Wilton.  Readers  may  easily  understand  how  odd 
w'as  an  adaptation  of  very  light  purlins  fitted  on  massive 
principals  that  had  carried  ordinary  old-fashioned  sliding  lights. 
Needless  to  say,  economy  in  expenditure  wms  a  prevailing  factor 
in  the  reservation  of  these  heavy  timbers,  when  so  much  lighter 
supports  Avould  have  better  ansAvered  the  imrpose.  I  am  not 
quite  sure  Avhich  presented  an  aspect  the  most  strikingly  odd — 
the  view  from  the  outside,  or  the  internal  scene. 
Another  old-fashioned  idea  was  the  use  of  thick  rolled  glass 
instead  of  that  of  a  transparent  clearness.  We  can  only  sug¬ 
gest  that  the  fear  of  Vines  being  scorched  by  exposure  to  a 
clear  sky  gave  rise  to  the  adoption  of  glass,  rolled  or  fluted, 
and  through  which  the  sun  could  give  no  shadow.  We  can  point 
to  an  instance  where  such  glass  is  still  in  use,  and  the  probability 
is  that  the  Vines  growing  beneath  it  would  suffer  very  badly 
for  a  time  were  clear  glass  substituted  for  this  old-fashioned 
make.  The  exigencies  of  time,  a  lower  income  and  larger 
outgoings  of  the  ow'ner,  account  for  the  absence  of  a  modeiui 
exchange,  but  remembering  how'  great  is  the  contrast  betAveen 
the  appliances  of  the  tAvo  periods,  it  is  not  a  little  surprising  hoAV 
good  a  response  is  obtained  even  noAv,  odd  though  the  system 
.seem®  to  be  to  visitors. 
The  early  hot-Avater  heating  systems  again  give  other 
instances  Avhich  the  present  day  probationer  Avould  consider  odd. 
Instead  of  4in  and  lesser  sized  pipes,  to  Avhich  aa'o  are  so  much 
acciustomed.  Gin  seemed  to  be  the  favourite  diameter,  and  these 
on  being  cut  are  found  to  be  quite  ^in  in  thickness,  and  often 
of  greater  den.sity  even  than  that.  The  pipes,  too,  instead  of 
being  arranged  Avith  a  graduated  rise  to  the  farthest  extremity, 
are  dispo.sed  in  just  the  opposite  direction.  The  highest'  point 
occurs  close  to  the  boiler,  and  thus  gravitation  from  this  position 
back  to  the  loAvest  return  point  on  the  boiler  becomes  a  nat'ural 
laAv. 
In  those  remote  days  almost  eA'ery  house  had  its  oAvn  separate 
boiler  for  heating,  Avhich  permitted  of  this  simple  system  of 
hot-Avater  heating.  With  boilers  of  peculiar  pattern,  and  flues 
more  rustic  than  complicated,  there  Avas  need  of  much  .stoking 
and  coal  smother  ere  the  Avater  Avarmed  the  external  portions 
of  these  massive  pipes  and  the  cubic  air  space  they  Avere 
destined  to  agitate.  What  Avith  smoky  and  small  coal  and 
many  apparatus,  young  journeyman  gardeners  of  those  far- 
removed  dajvs  and  times  have  been  described  as  better  repre¬ 
senting  chimney-.SAveeps  than  gardeners,  Avhich  no  doubt  Avas 
true  enough. 
Strange  though  it  seems  that  Avith  experiences  varied  and 
continued  for  so  long  a  course  of  year®  perfection  .seems  far 
removed,  yet  judged  by  the  ambitions  of  active  brains  .still  being 
