126 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



FRAGRANT ROSES 



WERE one asked to name the most striking characteristic 

 of the newer Roses, the answer ninst be in one word— 

 •■color." Since M. Pcrnet-Ducher introduced Madame Edouard 

 Herriot (the so-called Daily Mail Rose; in 1912, Rose lovers 

 have enjoyed a wonderful period of progress in this respect. 

 So much so that our French friends appear to have relegated 

 form and everything else to the background in order to worship 

 color exclusively. In our own countries the long-established 

 English standard of form in flowers has saved us from this 

 extreme : however one may admire, for example, the saw-edged 

 flowers of the American carnation, it must be admitted that 

 the smooth-petalled flower by the British florist has an un- 

 equalled charm and beauty. The maintenance of too close 

 an adherence to any particular convention of the kind would, 

 however, be a bar to progress. Twenty years ago no rose 

 hybridiser would have dreamt of retaining the Padres, Red Letter 

 Days. K. of Ks., Isobels or other semi-single or single-flowered 

 roses found amongst his seedlings in the flowering season. Such 

 are disappointing to those who cannot appreciate a rose which is 

 not full, but what would our gardens be without the numerous 

 modern "decorative" hybrid teas which flower almost without 

 cessation from June till Autumn, producing a profusion of bloom 

 quite unknown to nineteenth-century gardeners? 



It would be interesting to hear what that great rosarian, the 

 '.ate Dean Hole, would say were he to pay a visit to one of our 

 present-day National Rose Shows. I5ut perhaps he is now 

 gardening with roses beyond our ken in form and color and in 

 fragrance. Ah ! there's the sting, for too many of our new roses 

 lack perfume, and in fancy one imagines the Dean sorrowful as he 

 goes round the Show. But our rose raisers are keenly aware of 

 the dericiency, and at no distant date there is little doubt that the 

 ranks of sweet roses will be considerably strengthened. The 

 .sense of smell, nevertheless, appears to have been dealt out in 

 somewhat unequal proportions, and the writer is afraid that raisers 

 of new roses at times And in their own bantlings a fragrance, the 

 detection of which is denied to ordinary tnortals. In any case, 

 it is difficult to obtain information of a fully satisfactory char- 

 acter as to scented varieties ; even the list of fragrant roses given 

 in the National Rose Society's handbook does not to the present 

 writer appear to be infallible, and. as a guide to himself, and as 

 a possible help to others, notes have been taken in successive 

 recent Summers respecting the fragrance of some seven hundred 

 varieties of hybrid roses. 



Amongst the sweetest twenty-four hybrid roses should be placed 

 Mrs. Bryce Allen, Hugh Dickson, General MacArthur, George 

 Dickson, Crimson Emblem. Edgar M. Burnett, Hadley (one of 

 the best of dark roses), H. E. Richardson, Madame Abel Chat- 

 enay, Madame Maurice de Luze. Mary Countess of Ilchester, Mrs. 

 A. E. Coxhead, Lady Greenall, \V. E. Lippiatt, Mrs. Maud Daw- 

 son, Zephyrine Drouhin, Duchess of Wellington, Ulrich Brunner, 

 Mrs. Richard Draper, Commandant L. Bartre, Alfred Colomb, 

 Mrs. J. Laing, Beauty of W'altham, and the old favorite La 

 France. Of these. Duchess of Wellington possesses so strong and 

 sweet a tea fragrance as to resemljle closely the scent of freesias ;' 

 flowers of Lady Greenall will scent an entire room with delightful 

 perfume, as also will Madame Abel Chatenay.* In degree of 

 sweetness the above set of roses is closely followed in fragrance 

 by Admiral Ward, Chas. J. Graham, Captain F, Bald, Chateau 

 de Clos Vougeot, Cheerful, Colleen, Duchess of Westminster, 

 Edward Mawley, Florence W. Veitch (one of our grandest crim- 

 son roses, whether as a climber or large bush), Gustav Grunner- 

 wald, Gruss an Teplitz, Hoosier Beauty, Jonkeer J. L. Mock, 

 Laurent C:arle, Lieut. Chaure, Madame Meha, Sabatier, Molly 

 Hli.gh (a fine, large new pink rose). Mrs. Forde, Mrs. Geo. Nor- 

 wood, Ophelia (soon to be in every .garden), Walter C. Clark; 

 and, of course, quite an extensive list could be named of roses 

 which possess tea perfume in varying degree. 



It will be observed that most of our sweetest hybrid roses are 

 of red or pink shades. Probably the sweetest white rose is the 

 rugosa Blanc Double de Coubert, which reminds one that the 

 large pmk flowers of the hybrid rugosa Conrad F. Mcver are also 

 powerfully sweet. — Irish Gardening. 



'(;T^^ nicksoii, I'lrich Rninner aii.l Mrs. J. I.-.inB ^h.,lTl,l In- d.issilUrl 

 i's HvhriM Pcri>ftu:ils. -Editor. 



AUTUMN CARE OF FRUIT TREES 



I AM now firmly convinced „l the value of Winter spraying as a 

 1 preventative of fungous diseases. Last year there was 'little dis- 

 ease of any kind, and one could not be quite sure of the results 

 i)t spraying. This year .\pplr scab and brown rot arc prevalent 

 and spraying has a chance to show its value. The contrast be- 

 tween sprayed and unsprayed trees is so striking that I no longer 

 feel any doubt By far the best crops of Apples and Plums are 

 in two orchards that were sprayed last Winter, and the foliage is 

 much stronger and healthier. There are blocks of Worcester 



Pearmain in four orchards. In one that was Winter-sprayed the 

 crop is a picture, the fruit being well developed and practically 

 free from scab. In the other orchards fruits of this variety are 

 badly scabbed, and there is a large proportion of small fruit, in 

 spite of Summer spraying with lime-sulphur. In Plums there is 

 much less brown rot in the orchard that was winter-sprayed. 

 This has given me such a lesson that I shall go in strongly for 

 spraying next Winter, and shall rely on this entirely as a pre- 

 ventive of fungous diseases, concentrating on insect pests in the 

 Summer. It would, of course, be foolish to deny that the normal 

 summer spraying against fungous diseases does good ; but it is 

 often disappointing, and I doubt if it is worth while when winter 

 spraying is so successful. The wash used during the past two 

 winters was a combination of copper sulphate and caustic soda, 

 but lime-sulphur will be substituted in the coming Winter. Caus- 

 tic soda should not be used repeatedly, as it has a hardening 

 effect on the bark. Moreover, it is so unpleasant for the men 

 who have to apply it that a change will be welcome. Caustic soda 

 was used only because the trees were rather heavily coated with 

 moss, due to neglect of Winter spraying during the war. Lime- 

 sulphur is an excellent cleanser if the trees are not too mossy. 



Fruit-growing becomes more and more scientific. Hitherto the 

 manuring of orchards has been done on more or less haphazard 

 lines. Most growers restrict their manuring to Winter dressings, 

 either at regular intervals or when the frees seem to need help. 

 There is always an extra amount of manuring done after a heavy 

 crop because it is recognized that the trees have undergone a 

 strain and want feeding if they are to continue cropping. Those 

 who have given the matter much thought, however, must have 

 realized that manuring in the Winter is too late to help the yield 

 of the following year, since the fruit buds are formed during the 

 year previous to that in 'which they open. Moreover, they burst 

 in Spring before the roots have started into action and become 

 capable of utilizing the manure and feeding the tree. For the pro- 

 duction of strong bloom and the setting of fruit the tree must, 

 therefore, depend on assimilated plant food which it has been 

 able to store during the previous season. 



A special soluble organic manure is applied in early August. 

 This time is chosen because the swelling and development of the 

 crop are then nearing completion. The food material given will 

 not, therefore, pass into the fruit. It will go instead into the 

 leaves, where it will be fabricated ; and, not being wanted for 

 immediate needs, must be stored by the tree for the next year, 

 both in its fruit-buds and its system generally. This August 

 dressing is followed by Winter manuring with some lasting organic 

 material, such as hoof or meat meal. This insures that the trees 

 shall be able to support the lilossoms by a vigorous .growth, so 

 that the fruit may be held and the work carried on. These two 

 dressings are given annually, and it is considered important that 

 there should be no break. As a result it is hoped that the dis- 

 tressing habit of alternate year bearing, common to many late 

 varieties of .Apples, has been overcome. 



.Although I have some trees in grass which have so far proved 

 quite successful, I do not welcome the idea of extending the sys- 

 tem, as it gives less scope for manuring and involves a lot of 

 mowing. — Tlir Gardeners' Chronicle (British). 



DEPARTMENT OF BOOK REVIEWS 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY 



1922 .linericau Noie Annual ( .Xmerican Rose Society). This 

 book includes 192 pages of text plus 16 inserted sepia plates and 

 two color plates, the frontispiece being a double-size plate of a 

 rose not yet introduced. Inasmuch as the members of the society 

 make the .-Vmerican Rose .Annual l)y their contributions and ex- 

 l)eriencc, it closely reflects the growing rose spirit of .America, 

 in 1922, there are some outstanding features. Three articles on 

 back yard rose gardens tell the story of success under unfavorable 

 conditions. .A syin])osiuni, participated in by all the important rose 

 hybridizers of .America, and by many amateurs, tries to answer 

 the question "What New Roses Does .America Need?" Resiiond- 

 ing to many requests, there is presented a most complete com- 

 lieiidinm of information concerning insects and diseases that 

 bother ro.ses, |)robably the best and most useful information of tlie 

 sort ever provided in .America. Reports of the society's Test 

 Gardens, observations concerning roses abroad, an accurate list 

 of all the new roses of all the world, an intelligent account of 

 the new En.glish ro.ses by the secretary of the N.itional Rose So- 

 ciety of England, and a thoughtful survey of the rose cut flower 

 situation, carry on the breadth of the book. There are as well 

 many interesting rose notes provided by members of the society 

 ,^iiid a (lo/en an<l more addiliim.-d articles, all original and forceful. 

 '] he life and work of .America's greatest ro.sari.m and plant hybri- 

 dizer. Dr. Waller \:iii b'leet, are presented in a symposium of a|)- 

 jireciation. i Continued on fane 128) 



