JbIj 28, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE XNV COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



We were tolerably well agreed as to the merits and de- 

 merits of the various Eoses which the previous year had 

 produced, the unquestionable excellence of a large number 

 of them having been recognised in France as well as here, 

 there being, however, the predilection for dark Koses such 

 as Vulcaiu — a taste we cannot as yet arrive at on our side 

 of the water. He had already bloomed our fine EngUsh 

 Eose John Hopper, and expressed hi m self greatly pleased 

 with it. Madame Clemence Joigneux is said to be some- 

 thing Uke it ; but I have not seen that variety, and so am 

 unable to say whether it be so or not. M. Margottin 

 spoke in high terms of rran<;ois Lacharme, which we have 

 all learned on this side of the water to esteem highly. 

 By-the-by, I should be glad if your rosarian subscribers 

 would test this as to its perfume : a bloom that [ cut the 

 other day had the most peculiar fragi'ance I ever recollect 

 to have met with in a Eose, it having a most distinct flavour 

 of lemon, almost like the Sweet-scented Verbena, so called, 

 combined with attar of Eoses. It may have been owing to 

 some peculiarity of soil, but it certainly was the most de- 

 liciously scented Eose I ever smelt. Chai'les Lefebvre, 

 Madame Boutin, and other flowers which have established 

 themselves in our good graces were also highly spoken of. 



We had a long talk on the subject of seedling Eoses, and 

 his treatment amply explains the fact that so few indifferent 

 Eoses have been let out by him; in fact, if ever he does 

 let out a Eose of second-rate merit, I believe it to arise 

 from the capriciousness which attends the growth of this 

 lovely flower in all seasons and places. A gi-eat deal has 

 been said, for example, against JBoule d'Or. WeB, it is in 

 some seasons difficult to open ; but I have cut this summer 

 from a standai-d on the Briar, as fine and highly coloured 

 flowers as I ever saw at Bourg-la-Eeine ; making one ex- 

 claim. If only one had such blooms every three years it 

 woiild be Uke running the blockade, one hit would amply 

 repay two losses. 



The plan which M. Margottin adopts with regard to 

 seedlings is, when he sees one of jiromise to bud it on two 

 or three stocks for the first year. If it succeeds well on 

 these, he next year increases thenumbei-, so as to have about 

 twenty on trial. If it does not answer his exisectations he 

 throws them away, keeping only one or two ; but if it 

 maintains its chai-acter it is still fui'ther increased, so that 

 four seasons elapse before it is let out; and it sometimes 

 happens that even then it belies its promise, and he is 

 obliged to thi'ow it away. We saw one vaiiety which he 

 had grown for nine years, and which he intended to have 

 discarded ; but last season it gave some beautiful blooms, 

 and so he has tried it another season. Another, with very 

 beautiful blooms, had wood of so " vUain " a character, so 

 like the wild Briar, that he could not gi'ow it, for the point 

 at which he aims is robust habit combined with excellence 

 of bloom. He considers that no beauty -htU warrant his 

 sending out a soi-t deficient in constitution. We know that 

 Jules Margottin, Louise Odier, Louise Mai-gottin, &c. are 

 excellent in tliis respect ; and I have no doubt we shall find 

 the same character peiTading his new ones. What use is 

 there in growing, for instance, such a sort as Madame Fvu*- 

 tado ? You may obtain an excelleut flower, and it is a 

 beauty when caught well ; but then nine out of ten of the 

 plants are yellow and weakly, and disfigure the bed in which 

 they are growing. 



M. Margottin had heard notliing of the new Eoses 

 of other growers, but he has thi'ee of his own which he 

 believed would be found to be acquisitions. Two of these 

 he has since foi-war'ded blooms of to me, and one of them 

 will be figur-ed in the September No. of the " Floral Maga- 

 zine." It is quite a novelty among Bourbons ; a seedling 

 of Louise Odier crossed with some dark Hybrid Perpetual, 

 retaining the shape of its jjarent, of a dark crimson 

 colour, and having what is very rare in this class — a most 

 delicious fragrance. This he has named after myself, and 

 will be let out this autiunn. Another was a large crimson- 

 flowered Hybrid Perpetual, a seedling li-om Souvenir de 

 I'Exposition, and, like the preceding one, is of very vigorous 

 habit, and I believe will be found an acquisition. 



M. Margottin's garden is returning to its former weU- 

 stocked state, having recovered from the severe winter of 

 1861 which killed so many of liis seedling plants. I never 

 saw a finer lot of plants than those which he has now in it, 



and I deeply regretted I had not been there three weeks later 

 to see them in bloom. 



I also paid a visit to M. Charles Verdier, and from him 

 learned that it is his intention, if possible, to send over a 

 collection of Gladioli somewhere towards the end of this 

 month ; but I fear there will not be any shows at which he 

 can exhibit them. He has gone largely into their growth, 

 as may be gathered fi'om one fact — that he will have nearly 

 a thousand bulbs of Eeine Victoria (the finest white grown) 

 for sale this autumn, and that he wiU be able to reduce the 

 price to about three francs a-bulb ; and as he is most careful 

 in all connected with his business, Gladioli-growers would 

 do well to bear his name in mind. His address is Eue 

 Marche aux Chevaux, Paris. I could glean nothing about 

 new Eoses from him. The pleasant task of reporting on 

 them I must leave to some other more fortunate traveller 

 than myself, and conclude with again acknowledging the 

 great kindness and attention I received from all with whom 

 I came in contact in the horticultural world.- — D., Deal. ^ 



KNOWLEDGE DESLRABLE FOR GAEDENEES. 



" I am a young gardener, and would like by-and-by to 

 obtain a good situation. Meantime I should Uke so to im- 

 prove my time as to fit me for such a situation, if I should 

 happen to procure it. I want to know, therefore, what are 

 the things that are most requisite for a gai-dener to acquaint 

 himself with. Botany, I know, is necessary ; but I t h in k 

 there are other things to be studied even before botany. 

 I do not think it would benefit a gardener if he were to study 

 ever so long at botany if he coidd only read and write. 



" I know that gardeners, as well as other tradesmen, ai'e 

 nothing the worse of knowing a Uttle of evei-ything ; but 

 stUl there are some things that they should know most 

 about, and these things are those on which I am particularly 

 desirous of infoi-mation. 



" I leai'nt a Uttle of Latin at school, so that I can under- 

 stand many of our botanical names better than a good 

 number of gardeners. I have heard even head gaa'deners 

 giving such absurd names to plants, that I often would have 

 Uked to have con-ected them only for fear of giving offence. 



" If you do not think my letter vei-y fooUsh, perhaps you 

 would be kind enough to reply to it in your answers to cor- 

 respondents, and teU me what I had best study in the 

 meantime. If you do think my letter too fooUsh you might 

 teU me so, and that itself wUl be a lesson to me. — D. B," 



The having repUed in a short note as to the purport of 

 your letter when we received it must, with having Uttle 

 time on our hands lately, plead om- apology for not sooner 

 entering upon the subject more in detail. We by no means 

 imagine that the matter of inquh-y is at aU fooUsh, but con- 

 sider, on the other hand, that scarcely anything could be 

 more sensible. The difficulty in replying as to the branches 

 of knowledge most important for a gardener to study, arises 

 from the great difference in taste and mental constitution, 

 ih unison with the weU-known fact that we wiU natm-aUy 

 excel in those departments that are the most pleasing and 

 interesting to us. 



You are quite right in coming to the conclusion that the 

 more aj young man knows the more liJiely will he be to sui> 

 cfeed as a gardener ; but then it should never be forgotten, 

 that the success wiU be even less owing to the possession 

 of knowledge, than to the power and generaUsing tendency 

 Of bringing that knowledge to bear upon and regulate the 

 operations of oiu- everyday life. Many a man possesses 

 wondrous stores of knowledge, but for want of this simple 

 adaptation quality they are of Uttle more use to himself or 

 others than the hoarded riches of the miser. The fanner 

 dearly values his huge piled-up heap of manm-e in the farm- 

 yard, not for the good it wiU do there, but for the effects 

 it win accompUsh when incorporated with the soil of his 

 fields: ' We must try mth aU our gettings to avoid being 

 a mere piled-up heap of good manure. "I know it is in 

 him ! I know it is in him !" used to be the ejaculation of 

 a loving father as to tlie abiUties of an only son,_ that others 

 of our village community looked upon as anything but par- 

 ticularly bright. " But what if it never comes out, Tom ?" 

 was the reply of a messmate. Ah ! the coming-out was the 

 grand proof, and the proof never came. Hence men of but 



