D.-;3uber 11, 1373. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



459 



JUDGING AT EOSE SHOWS. 



AM much delighted tliat my letter to you 

 on the Manetti stock bas evoked so much 

 discussion, and I hope that the one I now 

 indite may fare as well. 



I want to bring before my Kose brethren 

 '/ "■--'_ the subject of judging at the shows. I should 



( ' like there to be some definite laws on cer- 



^v •■ tain points laid down as a guide to exhi- 



yn bitors and judges. I refer more particularly 



to the varieties exhibited and their re- 

 spective value in a judge's eyes. 



1. Is a box of twenty-four varieties improved by the 

 insertion of two or three Tea Koses, although they may not 

 be such fine blooms as the twenty-one Hybrid Perpetuals ? 



Now this is a very important question, concerning 

 which I never find two men have the same opinion. If 

 I knew who was to judge my Roses I should make-up my 

 box accordingly. If I knew my friend Mr. Keynes were 

 to judge, I should put in three or four fine Teas. If Mr. 

 Paul were judging, I should try my utmost to have twenty- 

 four even blooms of good Hybrid Perpetuals. If Mr. 

 Cant were judging, I should put all the tine Teas I had ; 

 but if Mr. Turner were the arbitrator, Teas would be 

 conspicuous only by their absence. Mr. Keynes, I know, 

 would give me two or three good marks for a fine Tea ; 

 while, on the other hand, if it destroyed the symmetiy of 

 the stand, however fine itself, Mr. Paul would give me a 

 bad mark. Now, should this be ? 



2. Ought not a Tea Rose when a fine bloom is shown 

 always to mark double points ? I think so, and for this 

 reason, that the Tea Rose is so much more difficult to 

 cultivate. I find walls are necessary for it to do well, 

 and have buUt over lUO yards of low wall for it ; but the 

 very protection the wall aflbrds proves a drawback to the 

 exhibitor. His Teas are, as a rule, over by the middle cif 

 June, and then nothing but puny blooms can be found 

 on a long wall. .At AYhitsuntide last year I had a thou- 

 sand blooms of Marechal Niel. I decorated my church 

 entirely with these and beautiful blooms of Souvenir d'un 

 Ami, but when the exhibition season began I had the 

 greatest difliculty in finding a Tea Rose. Then, again, 

 there is the diversity of colour and form to be considerfed. 

 Surely this should gain some reward. 



My idea of a perfect box would bo to have three lovely 

 Teas, one in each row. Nothing so breaks the somewhat 

 stiff appearance of a stand as a fine bloom of Manchal 

 Niel, Souvenir d'Elise, and Souvenir d'un Ami. But if 

 the judge does not think so, but, on tho contrary, con- 

 demns the stand, as I have had mine condemned over 

 and over again, because there were one or two blooms 

 not equal in size to the remainder, it is very annoying to 

 find tliat you liavo been beaten on a matter of taste. I 

 should prefer that Teas were excluded from stands where 

 Hybrid Perpetuals are shown, rather than that a judge 

 should regard size and evenness to tho detriment of taste 

 and skill. On this point I want to hear the opinion of 

 your readers. 



Ko. MS.— Vol. XXV , Kew Series. 



With regard to Teas, my selection is a much smaller 

 one than my friend Mr. Handley's. I only grow De- 

 voniensis, Madame Willermoz, Nipbetos, Catherine Mer- 

 met, Souvenir d'Elise, Souvenir d'un Ami, Marie Van 

 Houtte, and I am going to try Souvenir de Paul Neron. 

 Of the Noisettes I only grow Marrchal Niel, Celine Fores- 

 tier, and Triomphe de Eennes. I think that by far the 

 finest Tea Rose that has come out since Marechal Niel 

 is Catherine Mermet, and I rejoice to see the forward 

 position it has attained in the lists which have lately 

 appeared in " our Journal." — John B. M. Camm. 



NEGLECTED BEDDING PLANTS.— No. 1. 



A RAILWAY journey invariably reveals the fact that 

 certain districts are more favourable to the perfection of 

 certain things than of others, although the latitude may 

 in all eases be the same and the natural advantages but 

 little different. This observation is not confined to tender 

 or half-hardy subjects, but extends to some that are in- 

 digenous. A few years ago, being in Derbyshire, I could 

 not but notice how robust and strong was the variegated 

 form of Dactylis glomerata, and that it almost approached 

 the old Ribbon Grass of former years, whilst with me it 

 merely exists, and there are plenty of other places where 

 it is in the same condition. Nature, however, pi'ovides 

 a class of plants suited for each locaUty, and it is to such 

 local differences that the following stray notes are spe- 

 cially devoted. 



Arabis albida varictjata. — It is nearly twenty years 

 since I called attention to this plant as being one of the 

 most useful of the dwarf white-leaved or variegated plants ; 

 and as being ornamental in winter as well as in summer, 

 I do not hesitate to place it in the first position of useful- 

 ness for both of these seasons ; but I find some excep- 

 tion taken to it in places that suffer much from dry 

 summers, although with me it withstands drought better 

 than Daisies and many other plants. I find it flourishes 

 more luxuriantly further north, where there is more mois- 

 ture and less sunshine. I saw it lately in the centre of 

 Northumberland in a more robust condition than I ever 

 observed it in the south of England, tho whole plant 

 having such an amount of vigour as it rarely or never 

 assumes in a more southern latitude, and yet it showed no 

 disposition to run into the green stale. It was not in one 

 locality alone that it waa to be met with, but in all it 

 seemed to play an important part in the ornamental 

 department, its compact habit rendering it suitable for 

 edgings or lines, and its hardiness of constitution enabling 

 it to withstand frosts and rain; long periods of dry 

 weather alone seemed to injure it. I saw it within a 

 stone's throw of the German Ocean, and it was good there. 

 Strange to say, its compeer Arabis lucida variegata, 

 dwarfcr, and with a golden variegation, is but seldom seen. 

 I have never known it do well in Scotland, except at one 

 or two places ; many who have tried it have also failed, or 

 have only met with indifferent success in propagating it. 



Daciylis f/loinct-ata vai-tcffala.— It is nearly twenty 

 years since I found this plant near the centre of Lanca- 



No. 1315.— Vol. L., Old Sebies. 



