ioly i, 1887. ) 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



very elegant plant, but if it behaves generally aa it has done 

 here, when planted out, it will be of little or no use for out- 

 door decoration. — D. Thomson, Archtrfield. 



OKEFORD FITZPAINK. 

 When my worthy friend Mr. RaJcIyffo claimed to be A 

 rosarian, and not merely a Uose-^rower, he made a distinction 

 which to some appeared not very plain, but which a visit to 

 his home and half an hour's conversation with him would soon 

 make manifest to be thoroughly well founded. There are many 

 persons who grow the Koso, but those who understand it are 

 comparatively few. Sumo grow it simply as an exhibition 

 plant ; they would not go to half the expense or trouble tliat 

 they do wore it not that they intend to enter the lists for com- 

 petition. Some grow it because they love flowers in general, 

 and thoy would not consider their garden well furnished with- 

 out, if not a rosery, at any rate some Roses. Others u'row 

 them because the Rose is a fashionable flower, and not to know 

 something about a fashionable flower would indeed seem to be 

 out of the world of horticulture. But for none of these reasons 

 does my good friend grow his Roses. He has exhibited in day.^ 

 past, but bis exhibition days are over. He does not care, I 

 believe, in the least for any other flower, and he is perfectly in- 

 different to what fashion wills or wills not ; but he loves the 

 Rose because — because it is the Rose, the flower par excellence. 

 " It is his first, his last, his only love,'' in winter and in sum- 

 mer. When keen biting frost, and heavy snow, and blasting 

 winds are wounding his pets, or in summer when thoy reward 

 his care by their clustering blooms, he is alike interested in 

 them. I have heard of a Lancashire weaver taking the blanket 

 off his bed at night to cover over his frames of Auriculas. I be- 

 lieve blankets, and quilt, and all would go out into the garden if 

 the dear Roses at Okeford needed it. Ami this character of a rosa- 

 rian may be, as I have said, justly claimed by Mr. Radclyffe, 

 for his Roses are, considering all that they have gone through, 

 wonderful. He had to leave Rushton early last year, and his 

 Roses were consequently deprived of his paternal and maternal 

 care ; and yellow rust, black mildew, and aphis were allowed 

 to do pretty well as they liked so far as he was concerned, 

 though I believe " Steevie" had his eye on them. They were all 

 moved between the 24th of August and the 10th of September 

 to their present quarters, into a soil which, while far better 

 than Rushton, is not a good Rose soil. It rests on the green- 

 sand, and is what we call in our neighbourhood " elity " — i. <■., 

 stiff and hungry-looking, not like the rich, beautiful, loamy 

 soils of Hertfordshire. He cut them back, trusting to the 

 vigour of his stock that they would push their way. We know, 

 and many, alas I to their cost know, what a winter we have 

 had. What wonder, then, that, exposed as he is, his Rases 

 should have been cut down, and in the great majority of cases 

 to the snow line? Had he not been a rosarian half of them 

 mast have gone ; but he mulched them well, and then regularly 

 banked them up, so leaving the wet a fair opportunity to run 

 off ; but when I saw his beautiful yellow Roses cut down to 

 the very bull, I must own I felt disposed to doubt whether even 

 his care could restore them ; and even after I had been there 

 in April came that severe May frost, which did as much if not 

 more injury than that in January. When I say that, notwith- 

 standing all this, I have nowhere seen more luxuriant growth, 

 or finer and cleaner foliage, I could not for a moment hesitate 

 to give my friend the c'uaracter of beipg the first rosarian that I 

 know. One of his Triomphe de Rennes Roses in the front of 

 the house has made shoots G feet long. His plants of Gloire de 

 Dijon are equally vigorous ; his Celine Foresliers budding all 

 over; and out of his twelve hundred Roses, for this is the ex- 

 tent of his stock, he had not a score of losses, while his wounded 

 aie now convalescent. Had it not been such a winter, his 

 Boses would now have reached the top of the poles, and if they 

 grow as they are growing now they will still do so ere long. 

 What I particularly admired was, that when the first head of 

 bloom was over, immediately below it strong vigorous shoots 

 bad been made, and you could already feel the young buds that 

 would make the second bloom, and this he assured me would 

 he succeeded by a third. Mr. Radclyffe is no friend to novel- 

 ties; he waits to see what they are before they are added to 

 his list, and then he adds freely ; but he says, " While I have 

 snch Roses as Charles Lefebvre, Madame Victor Verdier, Lord 

 Uacaulay, John Hopper, Jules Margotlin, Madame Vidot, and 

 Comtesee de Chabrillant, I feel it is no easv matter to beat 

 them, and I had ralhurmultiply those than order a lot of thiugi 



which I should have afterwards to throw away." Hence yoo 

 find these in large abundance in his garden, along with Genersd 

 Washington (which was better and showing less of the green 

 eye than I have ever seen it), Caroline de Sansal, Prinoa 

 Camille de Rohan, Senateur Vaisse, Madame de Cambac<.re8, 

 Pierre Netting, ka. The only novelties he had were those of 

 Mr. Wm. Paul's raising, and of these he is disposed to think 

 well of Lady SuQield and I)r. Lindley, the latter especially. 

 Some of the individual flowers that were measured, such a8 

 Jules Margottin, were from -i to 4i inches across, and models 

 of form, and this without any disbudding, but all plain, fair 

 sailing. Marguerite de St. Amand is another favourite, and 

 beautiful it looked, while John Hopper was everywhere splen- 

 did; but tho put of the garden is, I think, Cbailes Lefebvre.. 

 and, bo it remembered, all are on the Manetti stock, by which 

 he stands under all circumstances. Some one has said that 

 Acidalie is dehcate. Why, he had plants fifteen years old 

 perfect bushes on the Manetti, and so with all the rest. 



We all know that Mr. Radclyffe is an authority on Straw- 

 berries (M. De Jonghe, of Brussels, putting him at the head of 

 the list), and henoe one might evpect to find them in perfection 

 at Okeford. They seem magnificeut in foliage, and the produce 

 astonishing, but very late. The first bloom was cat off by 

 the May frost, and hence their backwardness, Rivers's Eliza 

 being the only one really in full bearing. Besides this, he has 

 fine beds of Wonderful. Dr. Hogg, Cockscomb, and Mr. Rad- 

 clyffe — the last new seedling of Mr. Ingram's. The three last 

 are evidently of the British Queen race, combining, however, 

 great vigour with the delicious flavour of that fine Strawberry. 

 He has hiid a great deal of difficulty with his wall, a large 

 portion having fallen ; but willial that. I saw what I have never 

 seen before — fruit on maiden trees of the Noblesse and Rojal 

 George Peaches. 



With that generous kindness towards others, which has 

 always characterised my friend, he willingly allows any of his 

 neighbours to come in and see the Pioses. The other day " the 

 Club " were permitted to perambulate it, and I think he was 

 more complimented by the remiuks of one of its members 

 than he would be by that of the Inostaccompli^hed P»ose-grower. 

 " Why, sir ! my missus thought more of them Roses than she 

 did of all the club." So many are availing themselves of his 

 kindness, although in an out-of the-way place, that he says 

 DOW, " I must keep a showman." But this excellence is not 

 arrived at, as I have already tried to show, without considerable 

 labour and trouble. He is up early every morning watering, 

 and all daylong he is overhauling something in bis garden, 

 and giving that personal superintendence to everything which 

 is of such value. In this, indeed, he is ably seconded by 

 " Steevie," who is well nigh as enthusiastic as bis master, 

 and they may well be satisfied wilh the re.-^ult of their united 

 efforts. I know many places where there are large collections 

 of Roses ; I know many where there is a greater number of 

 varieties grown ; I know many where you might find finer in- 

 dividual flowers ; but I know no place where the Rose is more 

 lovingly cultivated than a: Okeford, and I certainly know no 

 one who has a greater claim to be considered an out-and-ont 

 rosarian than my worthy and kind-hearted friend, Mr. Rad- 

 clyffe. May he and his Roses alike flourish. — D., Deal. 



A PLEA FOR CACTI, AND HOW TO GROW 

 THE.\r. 



Can you tell ma the best mode of effecting exchanges «jf 

 young plants of the more beautiful or sweet-scented of the 

 Echiuopsis. Ecbini^cactiis, and allied species ? I have been very 

 successful in growing them, and it has often been a matter of 

 astonishment to me, that our English gardeners, as a rule, so 

 completely ignore a class of plants that are so easily grown, 

 and the flowers of which, whilst compensating for their short 

 duration by their profu.-ion. hive amongst tbem some that are 

 unsurpassed, either in beauty of colour or fragrance, by any 

 flowers grown. The R,ise may well lie <all«-d the queen of 

 flowers, but any one who has >tvu (be Night-blooming CereoB 

 in all its glory, will, I am sure, allow it tu deserve the name of 

 empress of the floral world. 



I have grown these plants for many years, and as each snc- 

 ceeding season developes new beauties and good points in my 

 favourites, it has given rise to this short article, and my 

 question, How to dispose of the host of surplus stock that 1 am 

 obliged to take off from my specimen plants, and which I hav& 

 not the heart to throw away ? 



