306 



JOXJKNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 20, 1863. 



the stable; and some who cannot procure either of the 

 above use grass momngs from the pleasure grounds, but 

 where it can be obtained stubble from a coitx field is to be 

 prefen-ed. 



The plants should never suffer from want of water from 

 the time the fii-st bloom expands xintil the last fruit is 

 gathered. 



Many gai'deners, as soon as the tniit was gathered, used 

 to cut or mow off all the leaves ; but this barbarous practice 

 has happily passed away. But the question ai'ises. What 

 is to be done with the foliage ? No doubt by the end of 

 October it has performed the functions of keeping the plant 

 in health and vigour, but it has other work to do. The 

 plant or cro\vns requu'e iJi'otection in winter, and what is 

 more suitable than theu- own foliage ? Therefore it is in- 

 judicious to remove the leaves in the autumn, and they 

 should remain till spring. 



There is one other question which remains to be discussed 

 — Is it right to dig between the plants ? My practice is to 

 dig deep and manure heavily previous to planting. I then 

 sm-face-dxess the beds in the autumn, and fork the middle 

 of the alleys a few inches deep, tm-ning in a quantity of 

 manui'e at the same time. The manure on the beds acts as 

 a protection to the surface-roots, and forking the alleys 

 loosens the soil made sad by being frequently walked itpon. 

 Where they are planted in rows, not in beds, the middle of 

 the row may be forked down one fork wide with advantage. 



The foregoing is the substance of my practice, and I can 

 say it has been successfvd : indeed I have thought it satis- 

 factory when I have seen the admh-ation of my employers, 

 and basket after basket fiill of fine, large, luscious fruit has 

 been gathered. 



With regard to sorts I can say but little. I do not grow 

 many, nor can I give the result of my experience with many 

 new kinds. I may just say that for the early crops I use 

 the Black Prince ; for the main general ci'op to Supply all 

 culinary piu'poses. Keens' Seedling — this is succeeded by 

 British Queen and a few others ; and for a very late crop 

 I grow the Elton. The last-named supplied us with splendid 

 fruit till after the middle of August. I am told that the 

 Frogmore Late Pine is later and of superior quality to the 

 Elton. This variety, with a few others of high repute, I 

 hope to prove next summer. — Qtjintin Eead, Biddulj^ih. 



NEW EOSES. 



" Here they are again ! " List after list comes tumbling 

 in, of beauties of sm-passing excellence. " Oh ! she's lovely, 

 she's divine!" cries out each enthusiastic gi'ower, as one 

 after another marshal themselves before our admiring eyes ; 

 but, alas ! opinions differ about beauty. " Byes blue and 

 black " have their various champions. Some, if we may 

 believe the pre-Eaphaelite schools, admire red locks and a 

 tawny visage ; others are contented with a " nut brown 

 maid;" and as our neighbours across the water have theii' 

 notions about beauty, and somewhat different from ours, 

 the petit nez retro^issc being an especial favovu'ite with them, 

 I often think that they do not consider what we call a good 

 Eose a proper standard of beauty. Year after year dames 

 of high-sounding pretensions, gallant cavaliers, and belted 

 knights come across the water to take us by storm. The 

 fi'eshness of their appearance and the charm that novelty 

 ever has give them a favourable reception ; but they 

 gradually clrop off, become few by degrees and beautifidly 

 less, unto at last some half-dozen or so remain with us. 



There is one fault, too, to be found with our French 

 fr-iends — viz., that they do not artificially fertilise, they trust 

 to insects ; and if they had been more pai-ticulai- on this head 

 I do believe, grand as are the flowers they have sent us, we 

 should have had finer still. And when one desires to know 

 somewhat of the parentage of theu- chUda-en, alas ! they can 

 tell us nothing. The pips are gathered, in some instances 

 the names of the mother plants are preserved, but no more, 

 while in England a better plan is being pursued, Mr. Ward, 

 especially, the raiser of John Hopper, being very cai-eful both 

 to artificially fertilise and to preserve the names of both pa- 

 rents. He is now, I beheve, very busily endeavouring to infuse 

 some of the Tea blood into the Hybrid Pei-petual Koses, and 

 if he succeed he will open up a new era in our Eose gardens. 



Out of the lists which have been sent to me I have 

 gathered that there are sixty-five new Eoses coming over 

 this autumn. Of this number three are Tea-scented, six 

 are Bom-bon, and the remainder Hybrid Pei-petuals. Other 

 lists may add more even to this number, but I have culled 

 these from those sent me by two of the best growers, 

 Margottin and Charles Verdier, who, however, neither of 

 them undertake to say anything save of their own seedlings, 

 for these Eoses are raised in different paa'ts of France, are 

 seldom seen in Paris, and, therefore, they are as little likely 

 to know anything of them as we are. We ai'e, then, perforce 

 obliged to recui- to this — What have these raisers or senders- 

 out done before ? what faith can we put in thefr recommen- 

 dations ? are they good judges ? and is theu- taste similar 

 to oiu-s ? I believe this to be the only way in wliich we can 

 arrive at anything Hke a proximate estimate of what the 

 new Eoses wUl be. It is the plan we very much act upon 

 in England -with regard to other flowers. New lists of 

 Verbenas or Geraniums come out ; growers may not have 

 seen them, but they (b-aw their conclusions much in the 

 same way. " Oh ! Mr. A. always sends out such a lot of 

 rubbish, one cannot depend on there being anything good 

 amongst them;" "Mr. B. had some good things last year, 

 and I dare say we shall find some novelties amongst them ; " 

 " Ml'. C, who is he ? Quite a new raiser : we must be 

 cautious;" and so on. And so with Eoses. Who raised or 

 sent out Senateur Vaisse, or Comtesse de Chabrillant, or 

 Fran(;ois Lachai-me, or Charles Lefebvre, or Due de Eohan, 

 or Eugene Appert ? Who sent out, amongst Boiu-bons, Louise 

 Odier, or Catherine Guillot, or Louise Margottin ? And I 

 think we shall find that by attending to such a method we 

 shall be more likely to come to a right decision for the future 

 than by listening to all the high-sounding praises that the 

 raisers or senders-out themselves give of them. 



Then there is another rule I think we may lay down, that 

 when a French Eose-grower describes a flower as " nearly 

 full" or "moderately full," it wiU not do for us. And 

 yet once more : when we see a flower sent out at 15f. or lOf., 

 we may not uncharitably conclude that as they ordinarily 

 charge 25f. or 20f., that there is something wrong about it. 

 Taking these "canons," then, to guide us, let us examine 

 the lists : — 



BOTJKBONS. 



1. Celine Gonod (Gonod). 



2. Madame de Stella (Guillot pere). 



3. Madame Josephine Guget (Touvais). 



4. Eeine de CastiDe (Fernet). 



5. Madame Clotilde Perraidt (Vigneron). 



6. Eevorend H. Dombrain (Margottin). 



Of these No. 1 is described as only moderately full, so I 

 would not augur much concerning it. 2 Comes from a 

 good source, and but for its price (lof ), I should have con- 

 cluded it to be a desii-able variety. 3 Is said to be small ; 

 and as Touvais has never given us anything worth mvioh, 

 much is not to be expected from it. Of 4 the same may 

 be said. 5 And 6 ai-e seedlings of Louise Odier, and we 

 may therefore hope are good. Of 6 I can speak fi-om per- 

 sonal knowledge. I saw it growing in Mons. Margottin's 

 garden, and afterwards had blooms sent to me. It is 

 without doubt a fine Eose, and possesses the unusual 

 property amongst Bourbon Eoses of being very fragrant. 

 \Vlien to this is added that the raiser of it has never sent 

 out a bad Eose yet, and that he has a very high opinion of 

 this variety, we may safely conclude that it wiU be a great 

 addition. It is of a bright lively cai-mine, very i-igorous 

 and hardy. 



And now for the Hybrid Perpetuals. We will take them 

 according to the raisers. 



CHARLES VERDIER. 



1. Alpaide de Eotalier (Campy), transparent satin rose. 



2. Alphonse Belin (Gautreau), clear brilliant red. 



3. Joseph Diu-and (Ledechaux), slaty, shaded red. 



4. Triomphe de Villecresnes (Ledechaux), clear vivid red. 



5. Leopold Eoi des Beiges, clear velvety red. 



Of these, none of which were raised by Mons. Verdier, 

 1 obtained a prize at the Floral Committee (Comite de 

 Floricultm-e) of the Societe Impi'riale et Centrale, at Paris 

 in July, 1862 ; and 5, a prize at Brussels in the same month. 

 3 Is not ftdl enough. 2 Has the under side of the petals 



