410 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
October  29,  1903. 
possible  to  estimate  the  benefit  they  have  conferred  on  the 
teeming  millions  to  whom  the  Potato  is  one  of  the  cheapest, 
and  in  many  cases  the  chief,  article  of  diet.  Whether  it  is 
owing  to  the  fact  that  Potatoes  are  now  more  highly  culti¬ 
vated  than  they  used  to  be,  or  not,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  useful  life  "of  varieties  of  recent  introduction  has  been 
comparatively  short.  The  Regent  Tender,  as  it  became  in 
its  latter  years,  enjoyed  a  fairly  long  popularity  ;  so  did  the 
White  Rock.  Then  we  had  The  Champion,  which  saved  the 
situation  during,  and  after,  the  dire  season  of  1879  ;  and  it 
was  immediately  followed  by  the  Magnum  Bonum  which 
held  sway  until  Mr.  Findlay’s  advent  on  the  stage  of  Potato 
culture. 
Except  the  Magnum,  every  new  kind  has  been  more 
quickly  superseded  than  its  predecessors,  and  this  constant 
substitution  of  young  and  hardy  stock  is  no  doubt  a  chief 
cause  of  the  great  success  which  has  attended  Potato 
cultivation  in  this  country.  Hybridising  has  been  adopted 
as  a  profession  by  many  enterprising .  people — both  firms 
and  individuals — and  the  number  of  new  varieties  annually 
put  on  the  market  is  almost  bewildering.  Considering  the 
nature  of  the  competition,  the  success  of  Mr.  A.  Findlay, 
of  Markinch,  N.B.,  is  nothing  less  than  phenomenal,  and 
the  striking  point  about  it  is  its  gradual,  yet  rapidly  in¬ 
creasing  progress.  He  gave  us  The  Bruce,  then  Jeannie 
Deans,  and  Her  Majesty ;  then  Up-to-Date.  The  latter 
we  thought  would  mark  the  limit  of  immediate  improve¬ 
ment,  but  he  has  given  us  Evergood  and  Empress  Queen, 
to  show  us  that  we  were  wrong  ;  and  now  his  Northern  Star 
seems  destined  to  bea'’’  all  records,  if  it  has  not  already  done 
so.  It  certainly  has  beaten  all  records  as  a  money-maker 
to  the  speculator.  The  three  varieties  just  mentioned,  with 
the  addition  of  a  coloured  Potato  named  King  Edward  VII., 
are  almost  the  only  Potatoes  talked  about,  although  great 
things  have  been  expected  from  another  introduction  from 
Markinch,  named  Royal  Kidney,  and  a  first  early.  Sir  John 
Llewelyn.  Well,  wise  men  take  for  granted  that  all  is  not 
gold  which  glitters,  and  that  it  is  not  always  the  most 
talked-of  Potato  that  eventually  obtains  most  popularity, 
and  it  will  be  well  to  examine  carefully  the  credentials  of 
the  new  gold  mines  before  taking  shares  in  them. 
The  three  necessary  qualities  in  a  new  sort  are:  First, 
cropping  powers ;  second,  good  table  quality ;  third,  hardi¬ 
ness.  Many  fancy  kinds  have  been  boomed  and  sold  at 
high  prices,  which  are,  now  never  heard  of  when  put  to  the 
test  of  extended  field  cultivation  ;  and  put  on  the  market  they 
failed  in  some  one  or  other  of  these  necessary  points.  The 
disappearance  of  all  the  old  varieties  has  been  due  to  the 
loss  in  course  of  time  of  these  qualities.  The  Regent 
succumbed  to  disease  ;  the  Magnum  deteriorated  in  crop¬ 
ping  power ;  disease  was  the  factor  in  the  cases  of  Sutton’s 
Abundance,  also  Her  Majesty  and  British  Queen  ;  whilst 
Reading  Giant  and  Imperator  were  knocked  out  by  the 
superior  quality  of  Up-to-Date.  So  it  has  always  been,  and 
will  be,  and  the  question  now  is :  Has  the  day  of  Up-to- 
Date  gone  by,  and  what  will  take  its  place?  It  is  not 
sufficient  to  be  a  big  cropper  and  sound.  Will  the  great 
British  public  eat  it  1  That  is  a  question  that  cannot  be 
answered  here,  but  only  by  actual  test  on  the  markets. 
Our  friends  have  been  growing  Royal  Kidney  and  Sir  John 
Llewelyn,  and  judging  by  their  testimony,  neither  variety 
is  likely  to  be  much  further  heard  of  in  connection  with  field 
culture,  although  the  Sir  John  may  prove  useful  for  early 
work  in  the  garden.  Neither  kind  is  free  from  disease, 
and  both  have  another  and  bad  fault,  viz.,  w'ant  of  size, 
under  ordinary  field  conditions. 
Fairy  tales  about  Northern  Star  are  numerous,  and  if  we 
believed  every  word  we  hear,  we  might  be  inclined  to  put 
all  our  capital  into  a  field  of  it.  With  every  allowance  for 
exaggeration,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the 
Potato  Mr.  Findlay  has  produced  a  wonder;  for  we  can 
vouch  for  the  following  few  records : — It  will  respond  hand¬ 
somely  to  the  system  of  rubbing  off  the  young  sprouts  and 
rooting  them  in  pots,  by  which  means  a  large  number  of 
plants  (twenty,  or  even  thirty)  may  be  raised  from  one 
tuber.  By  this  means  a  nobleman’s  gardener  has  this  year 
grown  3cwt  from  lib.  A  shoemaker  by  the  same  system 
grew  l^cwt  from  lib.  The  difference  in  these  two  results 
might  be  owing  to  the  greater  facilities  and  superior 
technical  knowledge  of  the  gardener.  Both  these  growers 
have  sold  their  stocks  at  Is.  9d.  per  lb. 
Another  speculator  (this  time  a  pork  butcher)  purchased 
4lb  and  planted  them  on  the  single  eye  system.  He  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  raising  3cwt,  and  is  refusing  an  offer  of  £9  per 
cwt  for  them.  Another  grower  (a  saddler  by  trade)  planted 
14lb,  also  on  the  single  eye  system.  He  produced  T^cwt, 
and  sold  them  by  auction,  realising  £108.  The  next 
example  is  that  of  a  farmer  on  not  very  rich  soil,  who  makes 
a  speciality  of  the  cultivation  of  new  kinds  of  Potatoes. 
He  had  a  plunge  at  Northern  Star  last  wunter  and  purchased 
2cwt  for  £60.  By  planting  these  very  wide  apart,  and 
cutting  the  tubers  to  single  eyeSj  he  made  them  cover  half 
an  acre,  but  he  probably  wasted  some  space.  He  has  only 
lifted  a  portion,  but  estimates  his  total  crop  from  the  half¬ 
acre  at  6  tons,  half  of  which  he  has  already  sold,  and  he 
has  2  tons  more  to  spare,  the  price  being  £180  per  ton.  He 
talks  of  planting  the  remaining  ton,  but  may  be  tempted 
by  price  (a  bird  in  the  hand  you  know).  We  had  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  this  gentleman’s  men  lifting  a  plot  of 
Empress  Queen,  and  we  were  very  much  impressed  by  the 
weight  of  the  crop  and  the  fine  size  of  the  tubers.  The  owner- 
seemed  fairly  w'ell  satisfied  with  them,  but  expects  a  better 
return  from  Evergood,  which  he  considers  a  better  cropper 
and  quite  free  from  disease,  .which  he  would  not  say  for 
Empress  Queen. 
While  speaking  of  the  Evergood  we  may  say  that  we 
have  this  day  (October  20)  tested  our  own  crop  of  it,  and 
had  4201b  from  60  square  yards — about  15  tons  to  the 
acre — and  only  noticed  three  diseased  ones.  This  was  on 
heavy  land,  over  clay,  and  under  ordinary  field  cultivation. 
Our  Northern  Star  farmer  has  grown  Sir  John  Llewelyn, 
Royal  Kidney,  and  Sutton’s  Ninetyfold,  and  has  sold  out 
all  three,  as  he  does  not  consider  them  suitable  for  field 
culture.  We  have  two  reports  as  to  King  Edward  VII.,  and 
they  agree  fairly  well  in  saying  that  it  is  a  very  heavy 
cropper,  of  large  size  ;  but  it  is  coarse  in  shape  this  season, 
and  then  there  is  the  colour  against  it.  We  have  heard 
nothing  of  its  cooking  qualities.  We  have  tried  the  flavour 
both  of  Empress  Queen  and  Evergood  and  found  both  satis¬ 
factory,  though  we  liked  the  Empress  a  little  the  better. 
Evergood  is  whiter  in  flesh,  but  not  quite  so  floury,  and 
rather  w-anting  in  Potato  flavour.  We  suppose  no  one 
except  Mr.  Findlay  know's  the  taste  of  Northern  Star 
yet !  !  ! 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Better  late  than  never ;  and  at  last  we  are  favoured  with  a 
spell  of  fine  weather  (?).  In  ordinary  seasons  Wheat  drilling 
would  now  be  the  general  employment,  but  farmers  have  no  time 
for  that  yet,  though  yesterday' we  saw  a  press-drill  making  excel¬ 
lent  work.  The  harrows  nvere  covering  the  seed  well,  and  it 
would  be  quite  safe  from  both  rooks  and  larks.  Threshing  has 
been  so  much  delayed  that  machines  are  now  working  as  long  as 
light  will  allow,  and  all  are  booked  until  the  end  of  the  year. 
A  good  deal  of  Barley  has  been  knocked  out  this  week,  and 
we  are  glad  to  report  that  the  early  and  well  saved  crops  are 
turning  out  excellently,  both  as  to  quality  and  quantity.  Crops 
which  appeared  but  light  are  turning  out  5qrs  per  acre,  at  from 
30s.  to  32s.  per  quarter,  which  is  very  satisfactory  for  the  season. 
The  demand  for  the  best  Barley  is  becoming  very  keen,  but 
common  lots  are  hardly  saleable,  which  also  applies  to  the  Wheat 
iusrk0t 
Farmers  who  are  not  threshing  are  lifting  Potatoes,  and  with 
finer  w’eather  the  work  is  much  cleaner ;  but  disease  is  more 
apparent  than  ever.  Dealers  are  hanging  about  and  offering 
improved  prices,  but  insufficient  to  tempt  sellers,  who  are  too 
well  occupied  to  care  about  delivering  Potatoes  yet  awhile.  So 
soon  as  lifting  is  finished,  there  will  be  a  great  sorting  and  re¬ 
storing  in  the  pies,  but  not  many  sales,  we  fancy.  Half  the  crop 
is  lost,  but  farmers  mean  to  make  their  money  out  of  the  other 
half.  The  White  Monarch  Wheat  we  spoke  of  in  a  previous 
number  has  been  threshed,  and  has  yielded  an  excellent  return, 
viz.,  forty-eight  bushels.  It  is  a  Wheat  we  can  strongly  recom¬ 
mend.  ,  ■  ■  w 
The  floods  have  been  very  bad  for  .steam  cultivation.  We 
found  our  cultivator  men,  a  day  or  two  since,  helping  a  neighbour 
to  thresh.  They  state  that  their  engines  and  tackle  have  been 
stranded  in  a  low  and  wet  situation  for  three  weeks,  and  they 
will  probably  not  be  able  to  get  them  out  until  severe  frost  sets 
in.  They  have  orders  to  last  them  a  year,  so  their  case  is  truly 
a  trying  one  ;  but  it  is  quite  as  unfortunate  for  the  farmers,  who 
need  their  services  and  wdll  have  to  w-ait  until  the  proper  season 
for  the  work  is  past. 
Rams  which  have  been  with  the  ewes  three  weeks  should  now 
be  marked  with  a  different  colour  (black  or  blue),  so  that  the 
early  lambing  ewes  may  be  distinguished  later  on.  Where  more 
than  one  ram  is  used,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  let  them  change  places, 
as  it  makes  the  farmer  more  secure  of  a  succassful  lambing. 
No  opportunity  should  be  lost  of  mating  cows  and  heifers  with 
the  bull,  so  that  they  may  calve  during  the  autumn  months, 
when  there  will  be  the  greatest  demand  for  the  young  stock. 
