THE 



GARDEN ©01DE. 



July, 1865. 

 EOSES IN 1865. 



T the great- Rose Show held at the Crystal Palaca on 

 the twenty-fourth of last month, there could be no 

 question that this is not an altogether good season 

 for roses. To he sure there were plenty of fine 

 blooms, and many fine collections. Messrs. Mitchell, 

 Paul and Son, Keynes, Francis, and Cranston, sustained 

 the credit of their respective establishments in the classes for 

 trade exhibitors. So among the amateur collections, the 

 splendid samples from Mr. Hedge and Mr. Hole were a delight to all 

 who saw them, and contrasted agreeably with the poor collections which 

 abounded on every hand. Taking the exhibition as a whole, it 

 was eyident that the intensely hot weather, with east winds and a dry 

 atmosphere, had seriously impoverished the blooms in a majority of 

 instances, so that in size and substance they were inferior to roses of 

 former years. I made some progress in classifying the collections, as 

 to their several qualities and the kinds of soil which produced them ; 

 but I had not made sufficient progress hefore the barriers were removed 

 to enable me to speak decisively ns to any relationship that could be 

 proved to exist between good and bad roses and good, and bad soils ; 

 but I think I may venture to say that a large proportion of the smallest 

 and thinnest roses came from districts where light soils prevail. How- 

 ever, it is certain that the best flowers were from trees that had had 

 liberal cultivation ; the size of the leaves accompanying them waa 

 evidence sufficient to prove that only on stout wood and healthy plants 

 are roses fit for show produced. This of course leads to the further 

 conclusion, that a firm soil, abundance of manure, and, if it can be had, 

 abundance of water also, are needful elements in the cultivation of the 

 rose ; for it must be understood that merely sticking a plant in the 

 yoL. tiii. — so. tii. h 



