288 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Octoier 16, 1873. 



like Exposition de Brie, on which, however, it is an improve- 

 ment. An abundant autumn-bloomer. 



Fislii'r Holmes. — A beautiful dark Rose, with thick petals. 

 A constant and late bloomer. 



Gc'uiJralJacqiit'minot. — Not veiy double, but in every other 

 good quality not to be surpassed. It has bloomed beautifully 

 this season. 



Gloire dc Dijon. — Same as ever — good. 



John Hopper. — We cut a most lovely bloom of this Rose 

 to-day (October 7th) ; but it is not usually up to the mark 

 late in the season, though very fine and constant earlier. 



La France. — Not so good as usual this season. Fine weather 

 appears to suit this Rose best, though it does tolerably well at 

 all times. Very floriferous and sweet. 



Louis Tan Houtte. — A superb dark Rose, gorgeous in colour, 

 richly scented, and constant. A fine autumn-bloomer. 



Madame de Rothschild. — A magnificent Rose, a true Hybrid 

 Perpetual ; but it has not been so good as usual with us this 

 season. No scent. 



Madame Victor Verdier. — A superb crimson-scarlet Rose, 

 good in every way. Very free and fine in autumn. 



Madame IVillermo: (Tea). — A most beautiful and free-bloom- 

 ing Rose. Still to the front. 



Mdlle. E. Verdier. — Most charming, distinct, very florifer- 

 ous, and a thorough perpetual. One of the best, but it has 

 no scent. 



Marfiucritc de St. Amand. — Very good, blooming well this 

 autumn. 



Marquise de Gastellane. — A Rose that is better with us in 

 autumn than in summer. A lovely clear rose colour, and very 

 free-blooming. 



Marlchal Niel. — A grand Rose, Tea-scented, blooming very 

 early in summer and late in autumn, but sparely in mid- 

 season, except from buds of the year. This Rose has been 

 more than usually good this season, and is stiU producing 

 excellent blooms. 



Paul Neron comes in late ; its chief recommendation is its 

 great size. 



Pierre Notlin;). — A good Rose, producing fine autumn blooms, 

 but rather uncertain early in the season. 



Senateur I'aisse. — As good as Madame Victor Verdier, which 

 it much resembles. 



Souvenir d'un Ami (Tea). — This Rose has done remarkably 

 well this season early and late ; stOl in bloom. 



Souvenir d'Elise (Tea). — A lovely sleepy-looking Rose, with 

 large petals, very constant, and still in bloom. 



Souvenir de la Malmaison. — A good old Rose, well known as 

 an abundant autumn-bloomer. 



I'i<.-(or Verdier.- — StiU in flower. A fine handsome Rose, but 

 scentless. 



In making these notes at the present time many most ex- 

 cellent Roses are of necessity omitted, such as Marie Baumann, 

 Prince Camille de Rohan, and others, which do admirably up 

 to the end of August, but afterwards have blooms so much 

 inferior to those produced earlier in the season as to be almost 

 worthless. 



What is chiefly remarkable is, that of the thirty-six varie- 

 ties named, no less than eight are Roses sent out in 1870 — viz.. 

 Belle Lyonnaise, Catherine Mermet, Comtesse d'Oxford, Fer- 

 dinand de Lesseps, Louise Van Houtte, Mdlle. Eugenie Ver- 

 dier, Marquise de Gastellane, and Paul Ncron. 



It is also remarkable that, although such a multitude of new 

 varieties were introduced in 1872, my experience of them has 

 not led me to give any of them a place in the above list. The 

 most promising appear to be Etienne Levet, Richard Wallace, 

 President Theirs, and Lyonnais, three of which are scentless. 

 I should much like to hear if any of the 1872 Roses have done 

 better in other hands. 



Of the new Roses of 1873 which have bloomed in my garden 

 this season, the most promising appear to be Claude Levet, 

 MacMahon, Duhamel de Moneeau, Felicien David, Mrs. Veitch, 

 and Madame Lacharme. Perle de Lyon (Tea) is apparently 

 a valuable acquisition. — R. W. Beachey, South Devon. 



DocBLE-ELOssoMED PEicH FRUITFUL. — In the gardens at 

 Clontarf, near Dublin, the seat of Sir A. Guinness, Bart., is to 

 be seen on a wall a beautiful, trained specimen of the double- 

 flowering Peach, bearing from four to five dozen splendid fruit 

 — well coloured, and of a most delightful flavour. Mr. Smith, 

 the intelligent gardener, informs me it has fruited before. Is 

 it not a very unusual thing to see fruit as above stated ? I 



may also state that the crops of Apples and Pears are every- 

 thing that could be desired ; some are most extraordinary 

 fruits.— A. 0., October 8th. 



BUSH AND PYEAMID APPLE AND PEAR 

 TREES. 



I AM glad of the success of Mr. Douglas with the Apple on 

 the Paradise, and the Pear on the Quince stock. What have 

 others to say on the subject ? Have those cultivating these 

 trees found them produce satisfactory crops hi the last three 

 seasons ? 



Our Blenheim Orange is eight or nine years planted, and I 

 do not think it has produced a single fruit, and is about as 

 likely to do so as it ever was. Other specimens of the same 

 kind are no better, the first fruit has yet to appear on them. 

 There is reason to know they are on the Doucin stock, on 

 which are other kinds which seem to thrive, except the Haw- 

 thornden, which is cankered to a frightful extent. Even the 

 Ribston Pippin is remarkably vigorous and free of canker, not 

 a speck anywhere to be seen on the shoots, branches, or stems. 

 But as if to teU us that the freedom from canker is not due to 

 the stock, we have a Ribston on the same stock that was 

 entirely eaten by canker to within 6 inches of the stock two 

 years ago, and this tree has now branches as free of canker as 

 the others. 



Benrrfi Hardy Pear is a magnificent pyramid, as free on the 

 Quince as we have it on the Pear stock. The graft has in this 

 instance " overruled the stock quite." Other instances may 

 be mentioned in Jargonelle, Zi'phiria Gregoire, Beurrfi de 

 Capianmont, Bergamotte Esperen, Beurre Bivort, Beurr6 Diel, 

 Beurr6 d'Aremberg, Marie Louise, and Beurr6 Giffard of the 

 dwarfing influence attributed to the stock not being apparent, 

 and in no wise contributing to their fruitfulness. 



The effects of the Quince on the Louise Bonne are so marked 

 that two trees have died outright, and another has all the 

 leaves withered and the wood drying-up. More are so weak in 

 growth that it is plain their days are numbered. What a con- 

 trast to those we have of this kind on the Pear ! Who will set 

 us right in the matter of stocks for fruit trees ? — G. Abbey. 



TUBEELESS POTATOES. 



Examples are asked for. I produce one. It may, however, 

 not meet the case of " H. H. S." I was the other day called 

 to sit or stand in judgment on apparently one of the finest 

 pieces of Potatoes ever seen growing. The strength, length, 

 and vigour of the haulm were extraordinary. The yield was 

 by the owner expected to be immense. It was nothing — abso- 

 lutely nothing. There were no tubers, and no signs of there 

 having been any. Neither were there any traces of wireworm 

 or other subterranean enemies which might be supposed to have 

 destroyed the incipient tubers. They, the wireworms, have, 

 however, in this case no right to be blamed, as the cause was 

 clear. The plot on which the Potatoes were growing was deep, 

 Mght, old gai'den ground. Its depth and lightness were further 

 increased by shifting a lot more similar boU and putting on the 

 top of it, making a depth of not less than 4 feet of soil rich in 

 humus and deficient in calcareous matter. In such soil tubers 

 will not form. 



In a square of the garden under my charge I found that the 

 Potato plants would not tuber. It was a black mould 3 to 

 4 feet deep, and for years the practice had been to trench into 

 it hotbed manure — mainly rotted leaves — freely ; so light was 

 it that no difficulty was found in sinking a spade quite up to 

 the handle. Stopping the manure and the trenching, and 

 Ughtly digging-in fresh soU, as roadside trimmings, itc, and 

 even planting some crops without digging at aU, have been 

 the means of consoUdating the plot and making it better for 

 everything. There must be some resisting power in the soil 

 to induce a free formation of tubers. In soils too hard the 

 tubers form in a cluster close round the stem, they ripen early 

 and are small, lacking support by a cramped and restricted 

 root or fibre action. In frames, if light soil is used and thrown 

 in lightly also, the crop will not be so early or productive as if 

 the same soil were trodden reasonably firm. Some soil, of 

 course, requires no artificial firming, it may be already too 

 firm and too close, and must be trenched to secure aeration 

 and what we call lightness. But the indiscriminate trenching 

 of all soils for Potatoes is erroneous. Soot is one of the best 

 manures on heavy soil for Potatoes — and perhaps everything 

 else — but if freely used on very light and also deeply-worked 



