Jnly 17, 1873. ] 



JOXJBNAL OP HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



11 



at the same time as the old females, whereas imported or 

 purchased males flower considerably earlier. This has been 

 foaud here, without exception, to be the case, and is looked 

 npon in these gardens as a valuable discovery. — G. H. Cooke, 

 The Gardens, Peniarth, Merioneth. 



FORCING THE KOSE. 



Most varieties of the Eose are capable of being forced ; but 

 the Hybrid Perpetuals are much to be preferred as a whole, 

 and it is of them that the great bulk of our stock is composed. 

 A few of the old Cabbage and common Moss Roses are desir- 

 able on account of theu' fragauce and delicate colours — besides, 

 the Moss makes the finest button-hole Eose ; they ai-e also 

 both very prolific bloomers. A few also of the summer-blooming 

 Eoses are indispensable, such as Coupe d'HiJbe.Chai'lesLawson, 

 Paul Eicaut, Maiden's Blush, and a few others. But it is 

 among the Hybrid Perpetuals that the grandest Koses are to 

 be found and the gi-eatest variety selected. Baroness Eoths- 

 obild is a magnificent light-coloured Rose for forcing, and a 

 strong grower; Duke of Edinburgh, a dark Eose, also fine; 

 La France, a superb Eose ; Miss Poole, Jules Chretien ; and of 

 older Eoses, Jules Margottin is very prolific ; SCnateur Vaisse 

 and General Jacqueminot are two old Eoses of fine scent and 

 colour ; Souvenir de la Malmaisou is a sure and distinct Rose : 

 but selection is scarcely possible ; they are nearly all equally 

 suitable — at least we iind them so. Many of the Tea-scented 

 Roses are also first-rate for forcing, cutting them when just 

 about to open. It is needless to name varieties, as the whole 

 of them are suitable for pot-culture. If plants are received 

 from the nnrsery they must be examined at the roots to see 

 if drainage is all right and the soil in a healthy condition. 

 Any plants with the pots full of roots should be shifted at 

 once ; those not demanding shifting should remain until some 

 growth has been made, standing the plants in a cold pit for a 

 time with plenty of ventilation. 



By the first week in June, when the sun is getting hot and 

 powerful, they should be plunged in the full blaze of his rays 

 out of doors. This is the time when we repot aU our stock of 

 pot Eoses ; till the first week in June they have been resting 

 after the flowering period, attention being paid to them in 

 watering and not overcrowding them in some sheltered place 

 out of doors. Those in small pots are shifted-on if the pots be 

 full of roots and the soil he.ilthy ; others may require partial 

 shaking-out and repotting in the same sized pots ; none of 

 them are in larger than 11-inch pots, which is large enough for 

 early-forced Koses, and fine large plants can be grown in pots 

 of that size. We do not cut or prune Hybrid Peipetuals at 

 this stage, believing that they should have all the foliage left 

 to ripen the wood and enable them to make roots ; much fresh 

 growth after tliis is not desirable on Roses to be forced early. 

 We, however, cut out any old exhausted wood from the Tea- 

 scented Eosea. 



The Eose iu the open ground thrives best in strong loam 

 whose basis is clay ; for potting, however, a lighter open soil 

 is to be preferred : a light, yellow loam of a sandy texture is 

 what we use, well-enriched with rotten farmyard manure. 

 Light manures, sjich as leaf mould or old mushroom-bed dung, 

 are not of much use for Eoses — they like more substantial fare. 

 'Ihe soil should be chopped up rough, and a sprinkling of 

 cmshed bones will much improve it, and a few over the crocks 

 will serve the double purpose of drainage and manure, which 

 the roots soon find out. I'ot firm, and drain well. When 

 firmly potted the soil is not so liable to become waterlogged, 

 or the drainage disarranged. Eoses want a deal of water in 

 the summer. When all are potted as they require, aiTange the 

 plants in rows according to size — the tallest at the back, and 

 giving room to those which require it, without any attention 

 as to the distances being uniform — in a turf pit facing the sun, 

 in a warm sheltered place, and fill-in between the pots with 

 sawdust, which keeps the roots equable as to temperature and 

 moisture. The sawdust absorbs the heat of tlie sun througli 

 the day, and Pine-wood sawdust is also obnoxious to worms 

 when it is fresh. Here they will now require verj- little atten- 

 tion throughout the summer, except watering, and an eye to 

 Backers from the stocks if the Eoses are worked plants. Those 

 known to be well-rooted should have weak liquid manure at all 

 times when watered. We sometimes top-dress the whole with 

 sheep's or other dung, as it is useful at a rainy time. When 

 the water-pot is not required, the rain washes the manure into 

 the soil. All flower bads are picked off the plants as they are 

 formed, and sometimes a few plants may require staking, but 



not often, unless a strong shoot gets top-heavy, catches the 

 wind, and unsettles the whole plant in its pot. About the end 

 of October we remove tlie whole to the Peach cases, where 

 there is abundance of air night and day. Here they are allowed 

 to become comparatively dry at the root, when the foliage will 

 soon begin to turn yellow and fall off, a sign of ripeness of the 

 wood. Water may now be withheld entirely. SBsl?! 



By the middle of December they may be pruned. This we 

 do to the whole at one time. It is not at all necessary to leave 

 those unpruned which are required later. They will start as 

 required, just as Vines in pots will. The difference in flowering 

 is effected by the time the plants are pruned, but by this time 

 they get introduced into heat. The first lot may be selected and 

 started at once ; the moist mild temperature of a Peach house 

 just started suits them well. Here they will have the syringe 

 daily, and for a time plenty of light, and a minimum of fire heat. 

 If a low span-roofed forcing house can be devoted to them, so 

 much the better ; they can be better attended to as regards 

 ventilation, and will have the benefit of all the sunshine pos- 

 sible, better than under Vines or Peach trees. One good soaking 

 of water will be suflicient for a time ; the syringe will keep 

 them moist enough until they have developed Fo;:;e foliage. 

 The-chief points to be attended to now will be to husband the 

 sun's heat, to ventilate freely when the weather will allow, but 

 avoid draughts, which will injure the tender foliage and induce 

 insects. The object must be to get strong growth ; spindly 

 drawn growth ruins the plants for future use, as well as yield- 

 ing poor unrecognisable flowers. Fumigate on the least ap- 

 pearance of aphis, and watch for the Eose grub, which curls 

 up the leaves and eats out the buds. Force slowly with as 

 little fire heat as possible, the thermometer ranging from 50° 

 to 65°, or 80° with sun heat. 



The plants must be gradually hardened before removing to 

 a cool house, else the buds may turn yellow and drop off. If 

 the conservatory be warm they will not feel the change, 

 especially if the forcing has not been rapid, and the pots not 

 been plunged in heat. Water with liquid manm-e as soon as 

 the buds begin to show, and continue until all the flowers are 

 cut, after which the same routine of ripening, and resting, and 

 potting begins for another year. — The Squiee's Gaedenee (in 

 The Gardener.) 



THE NEW STRAWBERRY DWARF TOMATO 

 A DECEPTION. 



AiioNa the announcements of vegetable novelties for the 

 present season there appeared the following taking description 

 of a " New Strawberry Dwarf Tomato :" — " An entirely dis- 

 tinct variety, of novel form, and totally different in appearance 

 to aU other I'omatos. The fruit has a juicy pulp of a pleasant 

 Strawberry-lLke flavour, with a certain degree of sweetness 

 and acidity. With the addition of lemon juice it is frequently 

 preserved like Plums, as well as stewed like Cranberries, if 

 kept from the frost till spring." To give still greater force to 

 this announcement, it was further stated that the variety, with 

 some others, had " been recently introduced by us from Ame- 

 rica, and can be highly recommended." Like many other 

 gardeners I gave suflicient credence to a statement so attrac- 

 tive, and bearing such an appearance of truthfulness, as to 

 order a packet of the seed — not of the introducers, but of 

 another leading and highly respectable firm, who were deceived 

 equally with myself. The seed was sown, the plants raised 

 and cultivated, and the result is that the so-called novelty 

 proves to be — not a Tomato, but our old friend Physalis eduhs, 

 the Capo Gooseberry 1 Now, the cost of the seed and its cul- 

 tivation was so trifling that one would hardly be at the trouble 

 of complaining if nothing more were involved, but it is the 

 feeling of distrust that such faulty practices engender that is 

 most to be deptored. Willingly do I ascribe to enthusiasm 

 the highly-coloured, often-exaggerated descriptions which herald 

 the advent of many new plants and flowers ; but when an old 

 plant is pressed under a new name upon the public, it becomes 

 a matter of duty to expose it and all such practices. 



It is always painful to publish strictures of this kind, smd I 

 venture to hope that the matter may be explained to the satis- 

 faction of all concerned, on this side of the Atlantic at least. 

 — E. Ldckhdest. 



Propaoation of the Mistletoe in Wales. — Two years since 

 some seeds of the Mistletoe were rubbed upon, not inoculated 

 into, an old Apple tree here, a large original Ribston Pippin. 

 Last year the only symptoms of vegetation which any of these 



