IRISH GARDENING. 



Roses. 



By O'DONEL BROWNE, M.D. 



NOW and llieii during- the last two }eais that have 

 gone by references have been made in these 

 short notes of mine to various books, written b}- 

 our most ardent rose growers, dealing- excliisi\ely with 

 the rose. Inasmuch as I consider that no person can 

 really grow roses to perfection without having read, 

 marked, and learnt these books, and inwardly dig-ested 

 ihem as well, I hope I ma)- be permitted to put would- 

 be growers on the track of something- well worth study- 

 ingf these bleak nights, for I do really think that were it 

 not for these books we should be plodding along: paths 

 of semi -darkness, and we owe a tremendous lot of thanks 

 to our rose growers, some of whom unfortunately have 

 g-one to the majority. Let us hope there are rose-fields 

 there for them to give us tips in when ii'e arrive. 



Of the man\- books which I have read, I think I am 

 voicing- the majority of rose growers when I put the late 

 Rev. Foster Melliar's book on the Rose first on the list, 

 both for clearness and terseness. I have often read it, 

 and the more I do the more I see clearly how deep he 

 trenched the soil of his mind. There is not fiom begin- 

 ning to end of the book, one passag-e that a child could 

 not understand. It is profusely illustrated with photos 

 of our best roses which it would well repa\- intending 

 exhibitors to study. These plates and the chapter on 

 exhibiting should be most carefully studied ; there is a 

 mine of useful information in them, especialh- to those 

 amateur growers who annually stage roses at our 

 countr}' shows. Therefore, amateurs read this book — 

 I might almost say learn it by heart. 



Next on the list comes the book by the late Dean Hole. 

 There are many people who would plant this book first 

 on the list. I have not done so, though I possessed a copy 

 of his book long before I owned any other. My reason 

 is this. To really understand the Dean's book you must 

 know a good deal of rose-culture. When you have read 

 other books, then refer to the Dean's. In his book you 

 get the finishing touches and a great deal of wit. 

 Nothing will pass over a dreary winter's night quicker 

 than reading- this most worthy book. It is a g-reat pitv 

 it is not more fully illustrated ; but we must not look for 

 too much. 



Undoubtedly the most comprehensi\e and best written 

 and worked out treatise on rose growing is found in the 

 " Rose Garden," by the late William Paul. He differed 

 from the two previous named writers in that he was 

 a professional- being one of that most worthy and 

 honoured firm of Paul and Sons. Here you may find 

 anything or everything, save self-glorification. It is a 

 wonderful work (I believe it took him years to write 

 it), simply teeming with knowledge. It has often puzzled 

 me why other books were ever written after his, but, at 

 any rate, the late Dean's and Foster Melliar's books 

 have plent)' to recommend them. Its one drawback is 

 the largfe size, being- a work you cannot hold up well and 

 read before a fire — a most comfortable position these 

 nights. It is especially useful as a reference book, and 

 should be — I am sorr}- I have not one — in everyone's 

 collection. The edition I was lent was rather old, and 

 I am told that later editions are well up to date. In 

 last month's article I mentioned " Roses for English 

 Gardens," by Miss G. Jekyll and Edward Mawley. Miss 

 Jekyll is well known to be an able writer, and what 

 more can be said for Mawlej-, than there are few more 

 able rose g-rowers in all England. He is the worthy 

 secretary of the N. R. S. and a hard worker. This book 

 is most profusely illustrated, in fact, too much, in m\- 

 humble opinion — but it is hard to gfet too much of a i:;ood 

 thing-. On the subject of growing roses for the g-arden's 

 decoration. Miss Jekyll gives valuable information, which 

 you find glossed over by Dean Hole and Foster Melliar. 



The second half of the book deiils with growing roses 

 for the exhibitions, and in it, though only dealt with in a 

 very short manner, one can easily see that a veritable 

 past-master is dealing- with this most difficult subject. 

 The plates in this half are good — one, especially, of 

 " Ernest IMetz " being grand. 



There are other books on rose-growing, some of which 

 I have reviewed for this paper, which give useful informa- 

 tion ; but in my opinion, if any rosarian cannot get 

 along well with those I have mentioned above — well let 

 him give up. I cannot close this article without letting 

 my readers know that in the dim future there is to come, 

 so I am told, a book by the Rev. J. H. Pemberton, and 

 when it dc>es come we may expect something- grand. 

 Mr. Pemberton is the second biggest amateur lion in 

 England, and when his book conies — well we shall see 

 how he roars ! 



The Christmas Rose. 



This is of course, not a Rose at all but a Hellebore 

 belonging to the same family as anemones and 

 buttercups. Its flowers are so strikingly handsome, 

 and as they appear at a time of greatest scarcity of 

 colour in the garden, one wonders why the Hellebores 

 are so relatively scarce in this country. Once they are 

 well established in a suitable soil and situation they require 

 little or no attention afterwards. The soil they like 

 best is a deep, rich loam that will yield a liberal supply 

 of water during the growing season. As to situation, it 

 must be such as will afford protection from direct sunlight 

 during the hottest part of the dav. The most commonly 

 grow-n species \s HeJlcbonis niger iilfifoltits. The flowers 

 ai-e large (4 or 5 inches across), and of a pure white 

 colour, shaded with pink. This particular plant is not 

 native to the British Isles (its home being in mid-Europe), 

 but there are two native species, the green Hellebore 

 and the Stinking Hellebore or Bearsfoot. All the Helle- 

 bores are undoubtedly poisonous, the Stinking Hellebore 

 being particularl}- so — indeed the name means in Greek 

 " to injure " and " food. " In reference to this distinctive 

 properly the black Hellebore (iiiger) has been famed for 

 its medicinal properties since quite ancient times, and 

 apparently not always judiciously dispensed, as we find 

 one writer saying "it is used by venturesome quacks in 

 decoction aiid coarse powder to kill wc">rms in the body, 

 which it never faileth to do ; where it killeth not the 

 patient it would certainly kill the worms ; but the worst 

 of it is it will sometimes do both (!) " 



In the pla}- of " Romeo and Juliet " Shakespeare puts 

 into the mouth of the Friar in his speech to Juliet the 

 s\mptoms of Hellebore poisoning, graphically detailing 

 what maybe expected as the immediate result of swallow- 

 ing the contents of the phial, thus : — 



" 'rhrougli all thy veins shall run 

 A cold and drowsy hnmonr, which shall seize 

 Kach vital spirit ; for no pulse shall keep 

 His natural progress, but surcease to beat : 

 Xo warmth, tio breath shall testify thou livest ; 

 The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade 

 To paly ashes ; thy eyes' windows fall 

 Like death, when he shvits up the d.-iy of life." 



Do gardeners realise that the soil supports an enor- 

 mous population of germs — in other words, that we ha\e 

 in our soils thickly growing- crops of extremeh- minute 

 plants? It is these germs or bacterial that digest, as it 

 were, the insoluble foods in the soil and make them fit 

 to be taken up in solution in water by the roots of oiu- 

 cultivated crops. It is estimated, for example, that in a 

 well-drained and properly cultivated field the bacteria 

 living in the soil liberate, and so make available for the 

 the use of crops, about 42 lbs of nitrogen per acre each 

 year. But to enable them to do this valuable work the 

 soil must be kept well drained and well cultivated, as 

 abundance of air in the soil is one of the chief factors 

 in the promotion of good bacterial gi-owth. 



