March  31,  1904- 
1*78  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Birds  and  Gooseberry  Buds. 
f^ast  year  one  ot  yonr  conespoiulents  recoinnieiulecl  the 
tlireadin.u:  ot  Goosel)eiMy  hnslies  hy  means  ot  Hoyle’s  threader, 
to  kee])  i)irds  tiom  eatiiift  the  hnds,  stating  that  it  \\as  an 
al)solnte  preventive.  Actitig  on  Ids  advice,  1  procured  a  tlireader 
and  .some  cop.s  ot  cotton,  and  threaded  nearly  an  acre  ot  hnslies. 
Witli  me  the  i)lan  has  proved  a  tailnre,  and  so  it  has  in  the 
gardens  ot  two  persons  to  whom  I  lent  my  threader.  I  wove  the 
thread  as  thickly  as  seemed  to  nu'  necessary,  trom  close  to  the 
mound  to  over  the  top  ot  each  hush,  hut  gales  hlew  mnch  of  it 
off.  So  little  did  the  birds  care  tor  the  threads  that  they 
stripped  off  hnds  an  inch  or  two  under  a  strand  ot  thread.  Some 
Imshes  have  had  nearly  all  their  shoots  almost  entirely  stripped, 
so  that  they  have  to  l»e  cut  out.  (pute  sjioiling  the  shape  ot  many 
hushes.  I  did  nothing  to  the  hushes  last  season,  and  this  year, 
in  spite  of  the  threading,  they  have  been  injured  more  than  they 
were  in  1902-3.  They  are  less  injured  in  the  held  than  in  the 
oichard,  because,  I  believe,  they  got  some  of  the  caustic  soda 
and  potash  spray  when  the  Apple  trees  were  sprayed.  But  that 
was  not  till  the  middle  ot  February,  l)y  which  time  much  ot  the 
mischief  had  been  done. 
In  another  held,  containing  eight  aci'es  ot  Cob-nuts  and  Goose¬ 
berries,  both  were  sprayed  in  November  with  a  wash  containing 
(piaiter  peck  ot  freshly  slaked  lime,  one  ]hnt  ot  sulphur,  and  l^lb 
ot  sottsoap  to  3galls  of  water,  as  jecommended  in  M  'right’s 
“  fruit  Grower’s  Guide.”  vol.  1,  page  191.  A  little  of  the  lime  in 
lumps  shoidd  l)e  placed  in  a  pail,  and  sprinkled  with  enough  hot 
water  to  slake  it,  a  little  sulphur  being  then  dusted  over  it,  and 
then  more  lime  added,  and  so  on.  This  dissolves  the  sulphur. 
The  sottsoap  is  dissolved  separately,  and  added  to  the  other 
ingredients.  Then  water  to  jnake  3galls  ot  solution  is  added. 
Ot  course,  tor  eight  acres,  I  multiplied  the  (piantities.  If,  as 
one  of  your  correspondents  stated,  the  caustic  .soda  and  potash 
wash  is  also  effectual,  it  is  much  to  l)e  preferred,  as  lime  is 
t  ronhle.some  to  sprav,  except  Ihrough  a  very  coarse  nozzle.- - 
AV.  E.  B.  ■  ' 
— — ■ 
Potatoes  and  the  Potato  Boom. 
Not  being  a  very  pugnacious  individual.  I  am  usually  content 
to  sit  cn  the  fence  and  listen  to  the  sayings  of  others,  hut  the 
article  under  this  title  in  your  Spring  Number  by  '' Horticultural 
Instructor,”  compels  me  to  get  into  a  fighting  attitude! 
“W’hat  does  it  all  mean?”  asks  your  correspondent,  and  he 
then  endeavours  to  tell  us.  Hailing  as  he  does  from  the  Midlands, 
I  should  imagine  that  he  has  seme  affinity  with  the  lecturer  who 
urged  cottagers  to  get  a  supply  of  Northern  Star  by  combining 
their  cash  and  getting  a  <|uantity.  'I  his  same  lecturer,  by  the 
'\ay,  has  methods  of  his  own,  for  I  recenily  noted  that  he  advised 
another  class  not  to  invest  much  money  in  the  variety  referred  to. 
However,  I  will  pas.s  on  to  "  Horticidtural  Instructor’s”  note, 
and  try  and  discover  what  amount  of  instruction  is  therein.  He 
says  that  if  we  grow  in  a  wet  season  the  varieties  we  hav('  been 
accustomed  to  they  succumb  to  disease,  as  if  new  varieties  of 
Potatoes  were  few  and  far  between.  We  are  told  that  no  mani¬ 
pulation  of  the  markets  will  induce  growers  to  pay  fabulous  sums, 
a!id  this  paragraph  indicates  how  little  •' H.  I.”  knows  of  the 
matter.  Anyone  may  easily  understand  the  cause  of  the  rush, 
and  it  is  £.  s.  d.  A  few  wirepullers  may  easily  start  a  boom, 
ivhich,  when  started,  arouses  the  interest  of  the  lay  Press.  The 
man  in  the  street  then  becomes  interested,  and  noting  this,  the' 
l)ig  grower  scents  profit,  not  by  growing  these  wonderful  Potatoes 
for  ware  nor  for  stock  alone,  but  for  sale  as  seed.  The  figure 
<iucted  for  Ifldorado  has  long  since  been  surpassed,  and  the  only 
guarantee  of  its  merits  are  the  words  of  three  growers,  so  that, 
though  successful  on  their  ground,  it  may  prove  a  failure  on 
others,  as  witness  the  “Star”  in  the  south.  Yet,  southern 
growers  (I  among  them)  paid  the  price,  and  reaped  a  yield  vary¬ 
ing  i)i  (luantity,  but  general  in  (piality.  The  Victoria  x  Hon 
narentage  has  not  resulted  in  a  Potato  enual  to  Fp-to-Date. 
British  Queen,  I'lvergood,  ttc.,  despite  the  fact  that  these  and 
miuiy  others  are  more  closely  i-elated  to  the  old  pair.  In  my 
I  Ijinion,  Northern  Star,  as  far  as  appearance.s  go,  is  a  step 
Towards  the  old  Champion,  and  the  quality  is  no  advance. 
Now  ‘‘H.  I. ’’  calmly  informs  us  that  a  real  disease  resister  is 
worth  a.  high  price,  as  the  stock  can  soon  he  increased,  but  I 
iidiesitatingly  declare  that  there  is  no  leal  disease-resisting 
I’otato.  I  can  jjoint  to  more  than  one  raiser  who.se  seedlings  were 
'■ecase  rcsisters.  and  whose  latest  novelties  are  eriually  -o.  but 
they  will  not  remain  thus.  ‘‘  No  one  expects  them  to.  '  renrarks 
“  H.  I..”  and  from  that  I  take  it  that,  by  the  time  a  novelty  ha.s 
been  grown  in  sufficient  quantity  to  plant  the  whole  country 
(about  50, 0(X)  tons)  it  will  be  done  for,  and  must  be  replaced  by 
somethi)ig  (dse!  I  should  imagine  that  "H.  I.”  is  a  replica,  of 
the  great  Cotton  Sulley,  with  a  desire  to  compel  gardeners  and 
others  to  be  always  paying  high  prices. 
tScveral  instances  of  phenomenal  crops  have  come  under 
“H.  I.’s”  notice,  but  he  does  not  say  whether  they  were  grown 
artificially  or  naturally.  All  good  Potatoes  of  the  past  have 
yielded  very  heavily  in  their  early  stages,  under  ordinary  treat¬ 
ment,  but  because  there  was  no  boom  no  one  thought  to  propagate 
from  cuttings,  and  so  get  ten  times  the  plants  and  crop.  Yet. 
after  all,  what  were  the  greate.st  yields  of  Northern  Star  under 
ordinary  treatment  in  the  field?  Eighteen  tons  per  acre  is  the 
heaviest  I  know  of.  and  that  can  be  said  of  Evergood  and  King 
Edward  VIl.  In  the  garden  trials.  Northern  Star  did  not  out¬ 
shine  King  Fdwarel  at  21  tons  per  acre,  nor  Duchess  of  Cornwall 
at  23  tons,  nor  Warrior  at  25  tons ;  and  how  many  of  your  readers 
have  grown  crops  equal  to  these  amounts  from  the  old  varieties 
when  in  their  prime?  More  than  one  I  venture!  And  when  it 
comes  to  artificial  propagation  many  of  your  old  readers  w  ill  recall 
the  great  crops  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  I  can  find  records  (if 
over  half  a  ton  from  one  pound  of  seed,  but  no  such  crop  has  been 
reported  from  Northern  Star.  Moreover,  we  do  not  want  them, 
for  the  tubers  in  such  yields  are  fit  only  for  cattle,  and  resemble 
nothing  but  coarse  mangolds:  ‘‘busted”  up  wdth  manure  so  that 
no  man  could  relish  the  sight  of  them,  let  alone  eating  them. 
(letting  on  to  other  varieties,  ”  H.  I.”  does  not  display  much 
knowledge.  He  quotes  Discovery  as  a  kidney,  whereas  it  is 
lound,  to  pebble  shaped.  I  wonder  whether  he  knows  what  shape 
Sim  Gray  is.  for  I  observe  he  quotes  it  as  a  lead  off.  Respecting 
this  variety  I  should  imagine  he  has  been  following  the  advertise¬ 
ments  of  its  pusdiers.  Nor  does  he  apparently  know  that  it  has 
been  out  several  years  as  Lymn  Gray,  and  can  be  obtained  at  12s. 
per  cwt.  Assuredly  it  has  come  to  a  fine  pass  when  the  bestowal 
of  a  R.H.S.  certificate  enables  a  farmer  to  claim  he  has  the  sole 
stock.  “  H.  I.”  condescends  to  like  King  Edward  VII.  variety 
very  much,  but  does  not  under, stand  why  it  is  frequently  described 
as  a  round.  I  wonder  whether  he  has  King  Edward  VII.  at 
all.  for  he  makes  no  mention  of  its  having  pink  flushes  on  some 
parts  of  its  surface.  As  an  instructor  he  displays  some  weakness 
in  not  knowing  that  his  kidney  King  Edward  VII.  (if  he  ha.s  it  at 
all)  should  never  have  been  so  named,  because  Mr.  W.  Kerr  sent 
out  a  white  round  in  1902  under  that  title,  while  Butters  came  our 
in  1903.  Then  he  gives  Sir  John  Llewelyn  as  a  second  early, 
w  hereas  it  is  a  first  early ;  and  Factor,  although  sent  otit  at*  a 
second  early,  has  extended  its  season,  and  by  my  own  and  Dobbin 
and  Co.’s  showing,  is  a  late  variety.  As  to  May  Queen,  it  is  a 
variety  more  suited  for  fi’ame  work,  or  Guernsey  grower’^,  for 
whom  Sutton  and  Sons  worked  it  up...  As  to  its  being  the  earliest 
is  a  debateable  i>oint.  “H.  I.”  gives  Royal  Kidney  as  not  being 
a  disease  resistor,  but  it  only  comes  a  point  or  two  behind  Ever¬ 
good  in  that  respect,  whilst  it  is  a  good  cooking  variety. 
It  will  be  unwise,  says  ”  H.  I.,”  to  plant  old  sorts  now  that  a 
disease-resisting  strain  has  been  struck;  and,  apparently,  he 
imagines  that  there  are  only  one  or  two  raisers  who  aim  at  .such, 
and  for  their  benefit  we  should  keep  laying  out  exorbitant  .sums 
in  purchasing  their  novelties,  and,  of  course,  as  with  Northern 
Star,  which  is  now  surpassed  b.y  Eldorado,  the  latter  will  in  turn 
be  beaten  by  another  in  a  year  or  two,  for  already  therc'  are 
rumours  of  its  superior  from  the  same  .source.  Until  a  smooth- 
leaved,  smooth-stemmed  variety  is  raised,  there  will  be  no 
immunity  from  disease,  for  the  hairy  nature,  of  the  foliage  give- 
divease  spores  every  opportunity,  whilst  the  grooved  stems,  which 
are  a  provision  by  Nature  to  carry  water  down  to  the  roots  to 
enable  the  plants  to  live  in  their  native  habftat.  also  carry  disease 
germs  to  the  tubers,  and  as  the  Potato  has  now  been  in  cultivation 
some  300  years,  it  appears  that  it  is  impos.sible  to  eliminate  tliese 
characteristics  (  ?). 
Respe.cting  the  plan  of  pulling  up  the  haulm  when  disease 
first  appears,  it  tends  to  show  still  more  how  little  “  H.  I.”  knows 
about  Potatoes.  It  may  be  news  to  him  to  learn  that  over  lOO 
years  ago  it  was  the  custom  of  some  farmers  to  feed  their  catth' 
cn  the  irelds,  until  they  found  that  the  yield  of  tubers  rvas  con¬ 
siderably  le.ssened.  Speaking  of  those  daj'S,  what  would  some  of 
our  farmers  say  were  they  able  to  get  varieties  like  the  Ox  Noble. 
Surinam,  and  Kentish  Seedling,  which  yielded  28  to  47  tons  per 
acre  ;  Potatoes,  by  the  way,  which  were  only  cattle  food,  although 
there  rvas  talk  of  an  offer  of  £1,000  for  a  variety  of  good  quality 
yielding  not  less  than  30  tons  per  acre?  “H.  I.”  apparently  is 
unaware  that  main  crop  varieties  are  more  busily  engaged  i;! 
swelling  their  tubers  when  the  disease  comes  (about  July  and 
August)  than  any  other  period,  and  the  removal  of  the  haulm, 
when  in  full  vigour,  can  only  end  in  a  sudden  check,  more  so  rha)i 
when  disease  runs  its  course. 
Of  course  if  seed  Potatoes  are  the  object  the  check  does  no 
harm  ;  but  certain  it  is  that,  while  a  bit  of  stem  remains,  the 
tubers  continue  to  swell,  and  in  practice  1  venture  to  say  Hat 
(juite  as  many  Potatoes  are  liable  to  disease  after  the  haulm  ;• 
