to  the  yet  fuller  action  of  our  great  orb  on  the  surface  of  the 
fruit  itself  in  those  regions ;  the  expression  of  the  action  and 
conv'ersion  into  yet  richer  tints  than  with  us  being  its  e-quivalent, 
when  in  due  time  rain  follows.  The  “cold  snap,”  of  course, 
affects  the  soil  that  is  in  a  high  state  of  nitrification,  but  it 
usually  comes  about  by  rainy  weather  setting  in,  in  the  first 
instance.  It  is  not  “  in  spite  of  the  rain,”  as  “  Sunny  South  ” 
opines,  that  fruits  colour,  but  from  its  cooling  influence. — 
H.  H.  Raschen,  Sidcup, 
Large  Potatoes. 
Having  seen  a  few  different  accounts  of  large  Potatoes,  I 
have  been  led  to  pen  these  few  remarks  of  my  experience  with 
the  Potato  Up-to-Date.  This  season  I  planted  a  few  tubers 
which  have  yielded  the  heaviest  Potatoes  I  have  ever  seen.  I 
lifted  one  tuber  making  the  remarkable  weight  of  21bs  IS^ozs, 
and  a  very  good  shaped  tuber  it  was.  I  also  lifted  one  root  with 
six  fine,  even  tubers,  fit  for  any  exhibition  table,  the  six  weigh¬ 
ing  7Ibs.  There  were  also  three  smaller  tubers  on  the  same  root, 
juaking  the  total  weight  of  71bs  lO^ozs.  There  were  a  good 
many  of  the  tubers  weighing  Iflbs,  and  not  one  diseased  tuber 
in  the  whole  crop.  Is  there  any  record  of  a  heavier  Potato  than 
the  above? — W.  B.,  Kent. 
Scottish  Horticultural  Association. 
{Queen  Alexandra  Chrysanthemum  Prize,  1903.) 
With  your  kind  permission,  I  would  like  to  say  that  the 
“  Queen  Alexandra  Prize”  is  not  out  of  place.  Does,  our  friend, 
“Interested”  (page  401),  think  that  the  gardeners  in  a  town 
can  compete  against  gardeners  from  the  country?  I  say  no!  the 
town  gardener  never  has  a  look  in.  I  am  sure  that  it  was  a 
great  credit  to  the  Council  of  the  Scottish  Horticultural 
Association  to  think  of  giving  the  gardeners  in  Edinburgh  and 
Leith  a  class  to  themselves.  I  can  inform  “  Interested  ”  that 
there  are  as  good  growers  of  Chrysanthemums  in  Edinburgh  and 
Leith,  at  the  present  time,  as  in  any  part  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  I  can  as.sure  our  friend  “  Interested  ”  that  there 
will  be  a  big  competition  for  the  “  Queen  Alexandra  Prize.” 
Following  uji  the  remark  made  by  another  friend,  “  Anglo-Scot,” 
page  41G,  I  would  say  that  if  a  vote  was  taken  at  the  Scottish 
Horticultural  As.sociation’s  meeting  in  Edinburgh,  I  am  sure 
there  would  be  a  great  majority  vote  in  favour  of  the  “  Queen 
Alexandra  Prize.”  It  is,  I  may  say,  the  Edinburgh  and  Leith 
gardeners  that  are  the  main.spring  of  the  Association.  They 
are  nearly  all  town  gardeners  that  attend  the  mcetiufis  of  the 
Association  ;  and  I  think  that  they  (the  town  gardeners)  deserve 
a  class  to  themselves  for  their  trouhle.  If  our  friends  (“In¬ 
terested”  and  “Anglo-Scot”)  have  the  opportunity  of  visiting 
the  Chrysanthemum  Show  in  Edinburgh,  they  will  see  the  Edin¬ 
burgh  and  Leith  gardeners  are  second  to  none. — W.  W.  S. 
[We  have  no  wish  to  take  .sides  in  this  controversy,  but  w'e 
would  observe  that  if  the  Edinburgh  and  Leith  growers  are 
“  second  to  none,”  why  is  there  any  need  to  shut  off  culti¬ 
vators  from  the  other  parts  of  Scotland  or  England?  To  won 
in  open  competition  would  surely  be  the  greater  honour. — Ed.] 
- - 
Farmyard  Manure. 
{Continued  fromp.  423.) 
Treatment  of  Dung  in  the  Homestead. 
Attention  should  be  given  to  the  prevention  of  the  escape 
of  licjuids,  for  these  hold  the  larger  and  much  more  valuable 
part  of  the  plant  food.  These  may  drain  into  the  ground  if  the 
floor  of  the  yard  or  dung-heap  be  porous,  therefore  the  surface 
on  which  the  mass  rests  must  be  water-tight.  More  frecjiuently, 
perhaps,  they  are  allowed  to  run  away  in  a  surface  stream,  and 
unless  this  can  be  led  on  to  a  meadow  or  other  field,  the  loss 
may  be  very  serious.  The  floor  of  the  dungstcads  should  not 
only  be  impervious  to  the  passage  of  licjuids,  but  it  should  have 
a  clistinct  slope  backwards,  so  that  the  fi'ont  is  2ft  or  3ft  higher 
than  the  back.  No  doubt  concrete  is  the  most  satisfactory 
form  of  floor,  but  no  great  waste,  if  any,  will  take  place 
through  a  foot  of  well-beaten  clay  oyerlaid  by  rubble. 
Over-heating  is  productive  of  loss  in  various  directions.  The 
heat  that  is  always  more  or  less  associated  with  a  mass  of  dung 
shows  that  actual  burning  is  going  on,  and,  in  the  process, 
nitrogen  escapes  into  the  air.  The  weight  of  organic  matter  is 
also  reduced,  and  as  part  of  the  value  of  farmyard  manure  is 
clue  to  its  being  a  bulky  organic  substance,  it  is  undesirable 
to  have  this  substance  largely  consumed  in  the  dung-heap. 
During  a  winter’s  storage  the  loss  of  weight  will  usually  he 
about  20  to  30  per  cent.,  but  it  may  be  double  this,  and  when 
the  loss  is  exceesive  the  capacity  of  the  masis  to  suck  up  ancl 
retain  liquids  is  correspondingly  reduced.  Moderate  decom¬ 
position  cannot  be  avoided,  and  is  not  to  be  regretted,  for  if 
no  loss  has  occurred  by  drainage,  and  but  little  by  the  air,  the 
smaller  mass  will  contain  practically  all  the  original  plant  food, 
and  this,  too, -in  a  more  portable  and  convenient  form.  If, 
for  instance,  5  tons  have  shrunk  to  4  tons,  the  value  of  the 
latter  quantity  should  be  as  great  as  the  former,  so  that  if 
5  tons  of  fresh  dung  are  worth  1.5s. — i.e.  3s.  per  ton— 4  tons 
of  matured  dung  will  still  he  worth  15s. — i.e.,  3s.  9d.  per  ton. 
Over-heating  is  avoided  by  keeping  the  ma.ss  well  com¬ 
pressed  ;  and  this  i.s  secured  by  the  treading  of  animals — as 
in  yards,  courts,  or  boxe.s^ — or  by  wheeling  each  barrow-load 
or  cart-load  over  what  was  there  before,  or,  by  loading  on  soil 
or  rotten  turf.  The  mass  should  also  be  kept  saturated  with 
moisture,  and  this  is  best  secured  by  preventing  the  escape  of 
liquids.  With  dung  of  a  very  dry  character  (horsC'  manure), 
especially  in  a  covered  dungstead,  it  may  be  desirable  to  add 
water,  but  only  if  there  is  no  chance  of  supeidluous  moisture 
escaping  by  drainage. 
If  manure  is  stored  in  a  compact,  deep  dungstead,  with  a 
properly  constructed  floor,  and  if  care  be  taken  to  prevent  its 
getting  more  water  than  falls  directly  on  it  in  the  form  of  rain 
or  snow,  there  is  no  need  to  cover  it  in.  Loss  by  excessive 
washing  can  be  better  prevented  by  other  means  than  by  erect¬ 
ing  a  roof  over  the  mass.  It  is  obvious  that  the  advantages  of 
a  covered  dung-heap  will  be  greatest  in  a  district  of  heavy  rain¬ 
fall,  but  in  any  case  it  is  doubtful  if  it  will  pay  to  provide  a 
roof  for  the  dungstead  unless  it  can  be  also  used  as  a  cattle-shed. 
Many  farmers  prevent  lo.ss  due  to  escaping  liquids  by  leading 
these  directly  on  to  the  land,  or  by  conducting  them'  to  a  tank 
which  is  periodically  emptied  into  a  liquid  manure  cart  and 
distributed  over  the  land.  If  the  character  and  lie  of  the  fields 
suit  such  methods  of  treatment,  they  are  in  every  way  com¬ 
mendable,  but  local  circumstances  often  make  it  difficult  or 
impossible  to  carry  them  out. 
Over-heating  and  excessive  loss  of  weight  are  obviated  by 
compression  and  saturation,  simply  because  the  dung-heap 
under  these  conditions  contains  comparativelj'  little  air,  and 
air  is  a  necessity  of  fermentation  and  decomposition. 
To  bring  raw  manure  into  a  rotten  condition,  farmers  often 
turn  it  over  once  or  twice,  the  result  of  which  is  that  air  per¬ 
meates  the  whole  mass,  and  great  heat  is  developed,  with 
corresponding  loss  of  weight.  No  doubt  there  are  circumstances 
w’here  such  treatment  is  expedient;  but,  considering  the  cost 
of  labour  and  the  loss  of  organic  matter,  and,  to  some  extent, 
of  nitrogen,  it  i.s  probable  that  the  process  is  often  performed 
when  it  would  be  better  avoided.  The  familiar  example  of  the 
slow  combustion  of  a  “  backed  ”  or  “  banked  ”  fire  of  coals  is 
strictly  comparable  with  what  takes  place  in  a  well-packed  mass, 
of  dung,  Avhile  in  both  cases  rapid  combustion,  with  concurrent 
disappearance  of  solid  material,  will  follow  vigorous  stirring. 
Equality  of  composition  throughout  the  whole  mass  should 
be  secured  as  far  as  possible,  or  otherwise  the  be.st  results  both 
in  the  heap  and  on  the  crop  will  not  be  secured-  The  duirg  from 
the  stable,  cow"  byre,  feeding  byre,  store  byre,  and  piggeries  has, 
in  each  case,  its  own  characteristics,  and  the  mingling  of  all  will 
produce,  on  the  whole,  better  material  than  having  the  horse 
dung  in  one  part,  the  cattle  dung  in  another,  and  the  pig  dung 
in  a  third.  The  wet,  inert,  cold  character  of  byre  dung  Avill  add 
moisture  to  the  .stable  dung  and  prevent  its  being  over-heated 
(“  fire-fanged  ”  it  is  .'-ometimes  called),  while  the  rich  manure 
from  the  feeding  boxes  will  improve  the  quality  of  the  dung  of 
the  store  cattle. 
Conservation  Agents. 
From  time  to  time  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  preven¬ 
tion  of  loss  in  manure  heaps  through  adding  gypsum,  super-phos¬ 
phate  of  lime,  kainit,  or  sulphuric  acid.  On  the  whole,  it  cannot 
be  said  that  any  of  these  has  much  effect.  The  admixture  of 
soil  with  dung,  iiowever,  is  always  to  be  recommended,  provided 
.such  material  can  be  obtained  at  little  expense  for  labour.  To 
give  the  best  results,  the  soil  so  employed  must  be  of  a  loamy 
character,  and,  if  possible,  rich  in  organic  matter.  Its  effects  are 
to  fix  ammonia,  to  encourage  the  formation  of  nitrates,  to  assist 
in  consolidating  the  mass,  and  to  suck  up  and  retain  li(|uids. 
Needless  to  say,  soil  so  employed  mmst  not  contain  the  sec'ds  of 
troublesome  weeds  or  the  germs  of  plant  diseases,  such  as  finger- 
and-toe.  iMoss  litter  or  peat  is  also  an  excellent  fixer  of  ammonia 
and  absorbent  of  liquids,  and,  if  for  nothing  else  than  to  improve 
the  manure  heap,  it  i.s  a  good  plan  to  have  a  little  in  use  for  some 
of  the  live  stock.  Such  peaty  manure,  unless  it  i.s  being  used  in 
a  yard,  should  daily  be  spread  in  the  dungstead,  and  the  (piality 
of  the  resulting  ma.ss  will  be  thereby  appreciably  improved. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
Crotons  show  highest  colour  when  pot-bound,  and  exposure  to 
the  cool  nights  of  October  will  accentuate  it  and  make  them  all 
rieht  for  Cliristmas  trade.  As  a  rule  anything  that  checks  growth 
heightens  colour. 
November  12,  1903.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  44-3 
