iS: 



IRISH GAROKNING. 



niciMr.i 



Roses. 



AXOTllKR rose season has passed and JlJOiu*. and 

 now we no longer look back to wliat lias passed 

 never to return, but strain our eyes to the one 

 which is coming'. Tliere is one certain tliin),' about 

 which most rosarians are agreed, and tliat is that the 

 past season, to most of us, was a wretclied one. As 

 a well-known hff urc in our circle of flower lovers said 

 re the summer rose show, iii.it "there were more 

 flowers at Nelsons Pillar" tli.m we had at the rose 

 show, seems :i trifle hard. It was not a jjood show, 

 but 1 think we amateurs are to be conifratiilated on 

 havin>f had any v,'Ood flowers there at all, seeing that the 

 end of June and Julys flrst week were fearfully ayainst 

 us. No ; no one can say that the past season was a 

 recompense to the poor amateur with his handful of 

 plants, but there is a very dincreiil story when we 

 consider how exceedingly well our brother j^rowcrs— 

 those doutfhty, dauntless trio up in the North— placed 

 our names alonj? with their own at the top of the tree. 

 Such a sequence of wins as the two firms of Messrs. 

 Alex, and Hug-h Dicksons" chalked and notched on their 

 already heavily-scored pillars will never be forgotten. 

 First, we have .Alex. Dickson winning the blue riband of 

 rose-growers against five other firms, and thereby be- 

 coming the champion firm of the British Isles. Not only 

 this, but on the same day. at the same show, they an- 

 nexed the forty trebles — /.<■., three blooms of each 

 variety— forty varieties arranged triangularly. This is 

 the biggest class for which any firm ever competes ; 

 but what pleased me was the fact that all those who 

 saw their trophy stand (seventy-two varieties) agreed 

 that they were easily first, and of those seventy-two 

 varieties no less than thirty-six varieties were raised by 

 themselves— in fact, nursery born. Then, again, this 

 year will ever and alwaj-s remain to my memory as 

 "Sam M'Gredy's year." Messrs. M'G. have had a 

 wonderfully fine time of it, not by showing varieties 

 already in commerce, though they did a bit of this game 

 also, but by taking gold medal after gold medal, until 

 it nearly became t|uite monotonous, for new varieties 

 not yet in commerce. I have, in some few numbers 

 back, tried to tell my readers what I mean by seedling 

 roses— how they take such time, &c., to perfect — but 

 sufiice it to say that if my memory serves me right. I 

 think that Sam M'Gredy & Co. have established a world's 

 record by scoring no less than five or six "golds" this year. 

 In some respects it is a pity that we poor amateurs find 

 it hard to keep place and pace with this ever-increasing 

 number of "news" which are coming into commerce, 

 but still all old Irish rose-growers must and will feel 

 proud of our Irish firms. Ethel Malcolm and Mrs. May- 

 nard Sinton are roses which you will see figuring in 

 every stand soon. The former is described as a pure 

 white Mrs. \V. J. Grant ; let ns pray that it will accom- 

 modate us with a climbing sport as Mrs. \V. J. G. has 

 so kindly done, or else be a better grower than the 

 dwarf Mrs. Grant. Mrs. Ma\ nard Sinton is claimed b}' 

 the raisers to outrival our great Mildred Grant. Let 

 us pray that this "new" will throw more flowers per 

 year per bush than Mildred Grant. Many people are 



inclined lo crab and say n.isty things about poor Mililred 

 .IS to her shyness in flowering ; two i>r three enormous 

 flowers seem .ibout the average nmnber per tree per 

 ^ear ; but, oh ! wh.it flowers when seen in tlie London 

 show. She is a giantess, but S. .M'Gredy & Sons are 

 quite emphatic in their statement that their new rose is 

 well able to cross swords with Mildred. The only point 

 I have against large roses, such as these two, is thai 

 they dwarf any other variety, anil make a box look un- 

 even at a show. It is not often that the triumvir.ile 

 firms h.ive shone so well, but that they were greatly 

 helped by the third firm is easily seen when one re.nls 

 the account of the i'rovincial Showof the National Ko>.. 

 Society. Here we see Hugh Dickson at his very best, 

 and taking the Jubilee Cup for thirty-six varieties against 

 very strong competition for the fourth (I think so, cer- 

 tainly the third) time in succession ; truly a remarkable 

 feat. That was a great day for those brothers at Hel- 

 niont. rind we should be justly proud of them. Besides 

 tills ilu\ also won some "golds," one of their "news" 

 being Leslie Holland, a dark-red I lybrid Tea, which is a 

 good grower. This rose, I believe, is to be sent out in 

 the spring, and will rapidly come to the front. Its 

 colour and perfume are all that is essential to make a 

 good rose. It is a case of a bad parent plant (if I know 

 the parentage aright) making a good seedling, and 

 Leslie Holland is all this. They showed this rose in 

 several classes for twelve new roses — dark, andineveiy 

 case they scored, truly a remarkable record, not, how- 

 ever, unprecedented, as they did the same thing before 

 with J. B. Clarke. Truly, our brothers in the North are 

 "streets" ahead of all the trade on this year's count- 

 long may they be so ! 



Current Topics. 



Bv C. F. Ham., Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



TllK present year has been a bad one for fruit 

 growers, with few exceptions, throughout Ire- 

 land. In such a year a retrospect is especially 

 valuable, for some varieties of fruit stand out in spite 

 of adverse conditions, and have borne fair crops which 

 naturally command a good price in a time of scarcity. 

 Intending planters will do well to give such varieties 

 consideration when ordering trees. The varieties of 

 apples which Mr. Moore notes as having produced the 

 best crops this year in Ireland are Bramley's Seedling, 

 Lane's Prince .llbert, Lady Henniker, Golden Noble, 

 Domino, and Grenadier. 



Among pears William's Bon Chretien, Heurre Hardy, 

 and Durondeau are three sorts which have done well. 

 In some gardens cordon pears and apples have fruited 

 well when trained obliquely upon wires stretched like a 

 fence from post to post. For small gardens, where space 

 is very limited, this plan can be recommended. For this 

 purpose the trees should be obtained grafted upon the 

 broad-leaved English Paradise stock in the case of 

 apples and upon the Quince in the case of pears, if upon 

 the free stocks they grow too strongly and need con- 

 stant attention in regard to root-pruning. 



Among currants Victoria and Boskoop Giant are to 

 the front ; the latter variety is said to be less subject to 



