July 16, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



71 



British Horticulture 



A MILE OF ROSES 



What i? fairer or more fragrant than an avenue 

 "trelJised with clustering roses gay." This thought 

 came to ni}' mind lately when visiting an avenue em- 

 bowered on each side with thousands of the "Queen of 

 Flowers" on the hillside of Purley, a Surrey suburb, 

 about 13 miles from London. This famous rose walk 

 supplies a continuous row of about a mile of blooms. 

 On reaching the hill the eye is feasted with a blaze of 

 color from the brilliant array. A wide road is flanked 

 on each side by a grass bank. Behind the bank and 

 fronting the picturesque detached villas is the rose 

 garden, which extends as far as the eye can see. The 

 beds are about 25 feet wide, affording full scope for a 

 varied and interesting display, and the cultural stand- 

 ard is of the highest. In the front row are the pom- 

 pon roses, besides other dwarf kinds. Behind these are 

 H. P. and H. T., the finest varieties in standards and 

 half standards. A fitting background is formed of a 

 splendid selection of vigorous climbing roses, trained 

 on trellis wo]-k. 



THE ROSE SHOW 



From Mr. E. Mawley, the popular Hon. Sec. of the 

 National Eose Society, I learn that there is every 

 prospect for a successful display at the Society's annual 

 show this month. "There are, as usual," he writes, 

 "one or two new features, the most noteworthy perhaps 

 of which is a class for a basket of bedding roses, which 

 ought to be a very pretty one. It will show the suit- 

 ability of the varieties selected for massing together 

 in large or small beds. The new seedling roses which 

 are shown for the first time for the gold medal of the 

 Society, the greatest honor any new rose can obtain, 

 are alw.ays the most popular feature of the show. This 

 year to prevent overcrowding and to allow a comfort- 

 able inspection of these novelties they will be shown in 

 a separate tent. Why I think this show is likely to 

 be the finest held for some years is that the season 

 being early and the date of the bhow unusually late 

 the whole country will be better represented. All the 

 earliest blooms which are generally inferior will be over, 

 and tliose which follow (the choicest of the season) will 

 be available." .\s to the show of novelties, Mr. Mawley 

 states: "There are now so many good raisers of roses in 

 the Briti.sh Isles and for the reasons before stated as 

 to the seasons the display of novelties is likely to be un- 

 usually good; the varieties shown will be displayed at 

 their best. There are three features on which we pride 

 ourselves: the position of the show in the chanuing gar- 

 dens of the R/iyal Botanic Society, the loftiness and 

 newness of the tents, and the excellence of the catering 

 for refreshments — lunclieons, teas, etc." 



THE CARNATION SHOVT 



The spring show of the Perpetual Carnation Society 

 delayed by the King's death, was held in London on 

 June 9th, and was a gratifying success. There was only 

 one entry in the clas= for British-raised novelties; 

 this came from W. H. Lancashire, a successful Channel 

 Island raiser who exhibited Emperor, white striped 



crimson ; Black Chief, dark crimson, and Rose Dore, 

 rosy-cerise. Mr. Lancashire also secured the award 

 for the best group of cut blooms, and the Covent 

 Garden Challenge cup. In the class for American 

 novelties there were three competitors. The challenge 

 cup was obtained by W. E. Wallace, his selection 

 being Delight, Afterglow and Mayday. The silver 

 gilt miedal was taken by B. E. Bell, and the silver 

 medal by H. T. ^Tason, of Hampton Hill. A 

 remarkably good group was staged by C. Engelmann, 

 of Saffron Walden, Essex, which secured a gold medal. 

 The exhibitor is the raiser of Carola, several excellent 

 specimens of which were shown. A bloom which came 

 in for unstinted admiration was a scarlet sport from 

 Carola, which is likely to prove a valuable acquisition. 



ITEMS OF INTEREST 



Women florists, at a recent meeting, decided to call 

 the attention of the Home Secretary to the withdrawal 

 of his order by which florists' establishments were ex- 

 empted from certain provisions of the Factory and 

 Workshops Act, and urging him to make a new order. — 

 The July number of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 "Journal" contains an interesting article by Mr. H. 

 Hincks on the cultivation of fruit in British Columbia. 

 — Owing to the increasing prevalence of streak and yel- 

 lowing amongst sweet peas, a sub-committee of the Na- 

 tional Sweet Peas Society has been formed to inquire 

 into the diseases and pests of this flower. — The annual 

 banquet of the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution 

 was recently held under the auspicious conditions. The 

 sum subscribed during the evening totalled £1,000. 

 The Society has 141 men and 99 women receiving pen- 

 sions from its funds. Since its foundation there has 

 been distributed by the charity the sum of £130,000. 

 — At the show of the Royal Agricultural Society at 

 Liverpool the horticultural section was a strong fea- 

 ture, being far in advance of previous years' displays. 



Brasso-Cattleya Mariae 



This lovely hybrid orchid, a portrait of which adorns 

 our title page, is a product of the crossing of Brassa- 

 vola Digoyana and Caltleya Warneri. As a cut flower 

 it out-shines the cattleyas, which have now reached 

 their zeruth of popularity in the flower market, but 

 there is no probal>ility that the Brasso-Cattleya will 

 ever, within the experience of anyone now practicing 

 floriculture, become a drug on the flower market. 

 Hybrid orchids are rare in nature and most of those 

 we see in the exhibitions are the product of artificial 

 pollination. The Brasso-Cattleyas were well represent- 

 ed in the recent orchid exhibition at Boston, the win- 

 ning- group by Julius Roehrs Company containing no 

 less than seven distinct representatives. The photo- 

 gTaph from which our cover illustration was made 

 shows a plant in the collection staged on that mem- 

 orable occasion by E. B. Dane, Chestnut Hill, Mass., 

 and we have the privilege of using it through the 

 courtesy of the superintendent and grower at that noted 

 estate, Donald McKenzie. It is worth remembering 

 that while tin's type of hybrid orchids, is and for many 

 years will be, expensive to procure, yet as a rule and 

 under judicious cultural care they are less prone to 

 "run out" than is the case with collected species, so 

 that anyone making an investment in stock of this 

 quality may feel safe as to its stability. 



