JOURNAX OF HORTICULXUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



EOSE PEOSPECTS. 



\^,f^^^^ N looking round my garden last summer 

 ¥^fpYfm tliere were two objects which filled me with 

 "^ *"'' forebodmgs as to then- future — the Eoses, 



and Eed Currant bushes ; the former from 

 the vu'ulent attack of orange fungus under 

 which they were suffei-ing, and the latter 

 from the equally vu'ulent attack of aphis, 

 or, as they call it here, " dolphin." I warned 

 the " powers that be " that Currant jelly 

 ought to be husbanded, for it would be 

 difficult to get any fiTiit for it this year, and I thought 

 to myself Eoses wdl not be such a galaxy of beauty as 

 they have been in former years ; and I grieve to say I 

 was no false prophet. I leave the Currant bushes, and 

 will now give my view of the Eose question. 



There are two classes of Eose-gi'owers — those who grow 

 for exhibition, and those who grow merely for then- love 

 vif the Eose and for the ornamentation of their gardens. 

 The former, whether dealer or amateur, looks upon his 

 older Eose trees with comiiarative indifference ; he has 

 planted Ins Briars or Mauettis, the dealer by thousands 

 and the amateur by hundreds ; their buds have been 

 dormant, and are now starting up for then' maiden bloom. 

 'It is in these blooms his hopes of success at the exhibition 

 depend, and these have been, from the necessity of the 

 case, out of the way of the horrid orange fungus, and then- 

 prospects depend not on the history of the past, but the 

 probabihties of the futm-e. On the whole they are hterally 

 free from the danger which assails the amateur who does 

 not enter the " tilted field," and who is uninfluenced by 

 the laudable ambition of being a cup-winner or prize- 

 taker at any of our now numerous Eose shows held 

 tln'oughout the country. 



It is of the general prospects of the Eose in the garden 

 of the Eose-grower that I now speak ; and I do not see how 

 we are to have a good Eose show tliis season when I re- 

 member how tree after tree was stripped of its foliage, and 

 thus the very lungs of the plant lost. I could not but fear 

 for then- future well-being, and now that the pruning has 

 taken place I find my forebodings too true. I never cut 

 out so much dead wood in my life, and I do not at all like 

 the look of much that remains. I have talked with several 

 friends who grow Eoses as I do myself, and they tell me 

 much the same. My friend the Eev. W. F. Eadclyffe 

 wrote to me that he had been obliged to cut away a large 

 quantity of bad wood ; tins, then, forms one bad element 

 in our prospects. The great increase of orange fungus 

 and mildew I attribute to the long droughts of the past 

 three year.?, and I cannot but hope that the abundant 

 rains we have had during the last six months wdl have 

 remedied tliis evil. I wonder, too, how many Eose- 

 growers will have had to deplore the severe frosts, 

 sun, and wind of the latter part of last month. I 

 have seen many places where the plants have all been 

 burned as if fire had passed over them, and tliis will 

 also interfere with a good bloom ; for the plants liaving 

 been so very forward, the severe weather has told on 



No. W3.-V0L. XXJL, New Setiies. 



them much more severely than it would have done in 

 ordinary seasons. I shall' be very agreeably disappointed 

 if after all this severe hancUing my own bushes, and those 

 which I have elsewhere seen, do as they have done in 

 foi-mer years. 



With regard to new Eoses I have but httle to say. My 

 estimate of several of those brought out dm-ing the last 

 two or three years differs from that of some of my friends. 

 I do not think so higldy of Edward Morren as Mr. Ead- 

 clyffe does; as I have seen it, it is too uncertain, and 

 is, moreover, somewhat coarse. Madame Chu-ard I 

 have never to my knowledge seen. Eeve d'Or I think 

 a decided acquisition to our climbing Noisette Eoses. 

 Amongst the Tea Eoses, there have been some very 

 pretty adihtions in such flowers as Belle Maconnaise, 

 Belle Lyonuaise, Madame GaiLlard, Coquette de Lyon, 

 and Mont Blanc. Some of the Eoses of the present 

 season promise well, but of their performances we shall 

 have more to say by-and-by. — D., Deal. 



COCKSCOMB CULTUEE. 



Sef,ds should be sown early in tins month in well- 

 di-ained pots or pans, and placed in a little bottom heat. 

 As soon as the seedlings come up imt them into a cool 

 place for a few days to strengthen, otherwise they will 

 grow weak. "When they are about an inch lugh put them 

 in 60-sized pots, and plunge them in bottom heat. For 

 this a bed of fermenting material should be prepared; 

 manure wiU do, but I prefer tan, as manure is apt to 

 ferment too strongly, and prove destructive to the roots. 

 When these are well estabhshed give another moderate 

 shift, and keep the plants as near the glass as possible, 

 as the dwarfer they are gi-own the better. Keep the 

 plants close for a few days ; the heat may range from 

 80" to 90° by day. Give a little air dm-ing hot sunny 

 days, close early, damp or syringe the plants, keep them 

 well watered, but let tlie drainage be good. Give the 

 plants a third shift into 8 or 10-inch pots, and treat them 

 as before. 



The compost I prefer is rich turfy loam, with one part 

 decayed cow dung ; add a httle leaf sod and silver sand. 

 With tins compost I have found Cockscombs do well. 

 After the comb is made they may be placed in a cool 

 temperature, and with the above treatment the plants 

 wUl make a good display in autumn. — W. Ashfoed, 

 Southend Gardens, Darlington. 



SPH^EOGYNE LATIFOLIA CULTUEE. 



Amongst fine-fohaged plants there are few that are 

 equal to the above for effect for stove decoration. It is 

 strictly speaking a tender stove plant, and therefore can- 

 not be used generally as a decorative one without con- 

 siderable risk being run of seriously damaging or losing 

 the plant. The fine, large, quilted leaves are admu-ed by 

 all, and few plants are more effective than a well gi-own 

 and clothed plant of this on an exhibition stand. 



To grow it successfully plenty of heat and moisture are 

 neoessaiy, but it does not require so much pot-room as one 



No. 123J.-VOI.. XLVir, Old Seeizs. 



