ii6 



IRISH GARDENING, 



Roses. 



Hv 01')(>Mi. Mkownk, M.n. 



Tlli:\- havi- i-oi.u> and 

 ijoiio for llie ini'seiU, 



Kood 



one is sorry that the rose 

 sliow in DiiliHn was ushered 

 in by such unseasonable 

 weatlier, and threat were the 

 mistakes made by many as 

 to shading- with the object of 

 trying; to keep back buds 

 which promised to come and 

 ,t;o ere tlie show. Fickle 

 weather I it robbed us of 

 our best, and the only 

 wonder is that we amateurs 

 who grow a few trees were 

 able to make such a brave 

 show in the time. It was a 

 g-roat bit of bad luck and 

 nothing else that the sun 

 which came after the show 

 did not come before, tlien 

 would we have seen dry 

 weather roses, such as 

 Mildred Grant, the Cochets, 

 Bessie Brown, and Ulster in 

 profusion. I must not forg^et that box of six Bessies 

 from the winner in Meath. They only made us sigh for 

 more. Then, again, where were Nadaillac, La France 

 (good), Mawle}' 

 and when they 

 remarked to me— "We have not enough shows, it's no 

 use growing; flowers for show and trying to have them 

 on a given date ; better have plenty of shows, and then 

 a man would now and then drop on a day." By heavens 

 he would, and we should not have critics (abominable 

 people !) passing comments on our flowers when they 

 were ''off colour." As I write there are splendid 

 blooms of both Cochets and the best and highest coloured 

 Souvenir de Pierre Netting I have ever seen. A rose 

 connoisseur stated that this would be a grand year for 

 this charming Tea, and it is a fact that all flowers of 

 Notting have been good. But poor Notting must shake 

 himself if he is to remain, for there came a rival into 

 this world of roses a few years ago which threatens to 

 place even Comtesse de Nadaillac in the shade. This 

 year, though not at ail suitable for this champion, has 

 shown us some wonderful blooms, and judging by the 

 young rods coming from the base of my plants we are to 

 have more and better flowers of this grand variety 

 Madame Constant Soupert. There is only one thing to 

 warn growers of about this rose, and that is, to get your 

 shade over the bud when first you see colour and keep 

 it there until you cut your flower. Constant is mighty 

 particular about getting her frock wet, and in this 

 respect she is akin to Souvenir de Pierre Notting. 

 Now comes, in my opinion, the newest gem of all the 



&c. They have come since and gone, 

 ame they were good. As a friend 



Teas, with nianm-is .ind customs much liki- tiu- two 

 preceding \arielii-s, Inil if I wen- asked 1 should put 

 this beauty lirsi. I refer to Mrs. Myles Kennedy. 

 .Never —no, not even in Alex. Dickson's stand, who 

 raisetl this grand Tea— have I seen such flowers as a few 

 plants 1 put in against a soutli wall given me. Every 

 one of them as full as full could be, perfect in shape ; 

 very few showing dividctl centres, but all glorious in 

 their clean colour. I had one in Dubliei of which I felt 

 very proud the more is the pity I had not hail more ! 

 People are, I think, always hasty at forming an opinion of 

 a new variety, and I own I judged Mrs. Myles Kennedy 

 somewhat harshly when first I saw her (not the lady 

 after whom this rose is called, I /lave seen /tir photo, 

 but the rose), but I got a warning last year from some 

 maiden standards of what this flower was made of. 

 Horrible dicta ! Jack Frost killed all my standards, but 

 ere he came I had worked all the buds available, and 

 this year we have had grand perfect flowers. "A 

 glorified Elsie V'ardon," the raiser's description is; 

 but surel}', Mr. George Dickson, Mrs. Myles 

 Kennedy is worthy of a better description ? It will be 

 a long time before another Tea comes from Newtown- 

 ards to oust Mrs. M. Kennedy. There are grand rods 

 coming from plants here, so I am to have another feast. 

 Will they be as good as the first lot? Care alone will 

 make them so, and if I cautioned you to be careful with 

 your shades with Mme. Constant do not forget to pop 

 one or two over }our Kennedy buds at the same time. 

 There must be many readers who are at sea when I 

 talk of shades, so I introduce to you one of the newest 

 variety of shade (and the cheapest) which we poor 

 rosarians can use. It is made of oiled paper, to fold 

 and unfold like a folding cardboard box does. .At the 

 end of the season one can fold all away until next they 

 are wanted. They are very light and, as far as I can 

 see, they are admirable. Mind you, I do not want to 

 throw water on the linen shades, which are all so excel- 

 lent, but for a poor man and lovers of roses I think these 

 •' Jeff'ries" shades are good enough. The great beauty 

 about them is that re covers only cost 2s. per dozen for 

 the small size ; who would begrudge this amount for 

 good flowers? The maker is a good rosarian, and I 

 hope when next you want shades that you will write to 

 i\Ir. F. J. JeftVies, Rose Grower, 13 Colvin Road, 

 Thornton Heath, London, S.W. 



Experiments with Potatoes.— Last season, at the 

 Harper-Adams .Agricultural College, experiments were 

 carried out in order to compare the effect of frost upon 

 greened and ungreened potato tubers. The results 

 obtained showed that the greened tubers could stand 

 without injury three or four degrees of frost, while 

 ungreened exposed to the same temperature were of 

 course badly frosted. Other experiments were con- 

 ducted at the same college in order to test the compara- 

 tive merits of immature and mature tubers for "seed" 

 purposes. It was found that potatoes lifted early in 

 August and unripe produced in all cases heavier crops 

 than those obtained from tubers allowed to remain in the 

 drills until fully ripe before harvesting. 



