134 



JODBNAL OF UORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAItDENER. 



[ August ^, 1B6T. 



should be glad to know through any of your correspondents, if 

 Mr. Poynter showed the true Gardener's Delight, and if it is 

 considered to be identical with Ne Plus Ultra, as I believe I am 

 in a position to prove such is not the case. — Samuel Eandall, 

 Foreman to Lucomhe, Piiice, d- Co. 



[Those shown certainly were Ne Plus Ultra, and a sample 

 sown at Chiawick also proved to be the same.] 



ESTIMATE OF ROSES. 



I DO not know whether your correspondent Mr. Flitton would 

 ■ number mo amongst the enthusiastic novelty-seekers ; but as 

 I was the first, either amateur or nurseryman, who had what 

 I must still esteem the honour of an introduction to Marfichal 

 Niel, I should like to say a few words on your correspondent's 

 objections. When I saw it with Monsieur Eugene Verdier at 

 Paris I was particularly pleased with it, but even then my 

 opinion of it was a qualified one. I said, " I am quite per- 

 suaded, it it open as well with us as it does in France, that it 

 will be quite an acquisition ;" and when it was figured I said, 

 " There are one or two points which make us hesitate about it. 

 It is said by M. Verdier to have been raised in the South of 

 France, and consequently there must be some doubt as to the 

 certainty of its opening well in England, for Boule d'Or, which 

 we have seen in perfection from the neighbourhood of Paris, 

 win not, without a good deal of coaxing, display its beauties 

 with us ; and then it is unquestionably in foliage and form of 

 flower very like Isabella Gray, and therefore, we fear, is likely 

 to partake of the defects of that flower." In all this I have 

 not indulged in extravagant praise ; and when I saw it pro- 

 nounced in a contemporary as perfectly hardy, and knew that 

 one grower of it had lost 2000 and another 1500, I could not 

 but smile at the notion. Yet I cannot agree with your corre- 

 spondent altogether. A shy flowerer I fear it will be ; but I 

 saw this time last year at Mr. Keynes's at Salisbury row after 

 row of it, and every one of the plants loaded with flowers. On 

 the Briar I fear it will not do very well ; but Mr. Hedge, of 

 Colchester, has succeeded in flowering it most profusely when 

 budded on the Bauksian Hose ; and shy flowerer though it be, 

 a bloom of it is invaluable. I have always contended it was a 

 Noisette and not a Tea ; so, I think, are Gloire de Dijon and 

 COline Forestier. 



As to going to Eose shows to see which are the good Eoses 

 being a mistake, " cc!a depend." Some persons wish to have 

 one kind of Eose, some another ; some grow them for the 

 purpose of making a blaze in their garden, and others for the 

 sake of cutting choice blooms to put in their rooms. To see 

 which are the finest Eoses there is no place better than a 

 flower show ; but to see which are the most vigorous, most 

 showy, and most ornamental, you must go to a Eose-grower's, 

 or ask some amateur who knows what Eoses are. 



Are we to take Mr. Flitton's own recommendations ? Let 

 us see. He will pardon me, I am sure ; but the critic lays 

 Hmself open to criticism. In dark Roses he selects seven. 

 Of four of these there can be no doubt. Charles Lefebvre, 

 Lord Clyde, Lord Macaulay, and Madame Victor Verdier are 

 first-rate Eoses ; but I do not agree with him that the other 

 three ought to be at the top of the list. Eugene Appert is no 

 doubt brilliant in colour, but it is ragged ; Due de Wellington 

 is a splendid scarlet flower, but not quite full enough ; and 

 Fisher Holmes has the same fault. Then he has omitted Pierre 

 Notting, Dr. Andry, Maurice Bernardin, Due de Eohan, and 

 Baron Adolphe de Rothschild, all of which are worthy of a place 

 alongside the first four, and I think far superior to the other 

 three flowers. He gives us eight rose-coloured varieties, and 

 here again I take exception. I have no objection to Beauty of 

 Waltham, Comtesse de Chabrillant, Jules Margottin, and John 

 Hopper ; but I think Anna de Diesbach a flaunting dame. 

 Colonel de Rougemont a platter-face and a delicate grower, 

 Victor Verdier coarse, and Madame ThCro^e Levet I do not 

 know. But why has he omitted such Roses as Louise Peyronny, 

 Madame Boll, Madame Clemence Joigneaux, Marguerite de St. 

 Amand, and old William Grifiiths — all of them, I feel sure, 

 superior to those I have objected to ? I have said nothing of 

 any of the new Eoses, although I fancy such flowers as Alfred 

 Colomb, Abel Grand, Josephine Beauharnais, and Marguerite 

 Dombrain will take a good place. Nor have I enumerated all 

 that I consider good Roses ; but have endeavoured to show that 

 even in what was meant to be a very select list, according to 

 my view of matters great blunders had been made. But then 

 tastes vary. I haye seen legs o£ pork weighing some 30 lbs. 



selected by soldiers here to be roasted for a treat for Christmas. 

 I envied their digestion, but not their taste. So some people 

 tliiuk size and display everything, and correctness of form 

 nothing. 



At tlie same time I think there is much in that which I have 

 no doubt suggested Mr. Flitton's remarks — the great quantity 

 of rubbish and inferior varieties that are every year palmed 

 off on us as improvements — Eoses of which, as my friend 

 Mr. Eadclyffe says, " there are novelties without anything new, 

 varieties without variations, and distinct only by being dis- 

 tiuctly worse than the older varieties." And yet what is to be 

 done ? Novelty has ever a charm to all lovers of flowers, and 

 an excessive caution may lead to our rejecting many a valuable 

 addition to our gardens ; while to be able to send out a new 

 Eose which shall sell at '251. each is a piece of temptation that 

 French flesh and blood can hardly resist, although I have seen 

 some of the Rose-growers who have resisted the temptation, 

 and cut up and destroyed hundreds of plants which they 

 had regarded as safe to bring them in a goodly sum. I am 

 afraid we must still buy our experience, and sometimes rather 

 dearly ; but if we were to consider more the character of the 

 persons who raise and let out the Roses we should not be so 

 often bitten. — D., Deal. 



AETERNANTHERAS— \^OLA CORNUTA. 



Your correspondent " Calcaeia " expresses a wish that I 

 should give my opinion upon the above, and it is with much 

 pleasure I do so. I have had several letters respecting them, 

 asking questions too numerous to answer in detail : therefore 

 I shall content myself, and I trust satisfy all, by offering a few 

 general remarks. 



Having great faith in the Alternantheras I last season pro- 

 pagated as many as possible : therefore, when I planted out, 

 my plants were exceedingly small, and then to diminish them 

 in size a small beetle, at times very numerous in the forests 

 here, attacked them so fearfully as almost to annihilate them. 

 However, it so happened we had a week or two of fine weather, 

 they then began to grow and look interesting ; indeed I was so 

 pleased with Alternanthera sessilis amosna that I thought it 

 the most lovely plant for edgings I had ever seen. Then came 

 more drenching rains and a frost, and wet continued more 

 or less from the end of July, 1866 ; indeed from August 1st we 

 registered 9J inches of rain. There can be no question that 

 last summer was the most unfavourable for bedding-out that 

 has been known for many years, and I am sorry to say the 

 present is also very unfavourable ; but the question I am asked 

 again and again is, Will the Alternantheras do for bedding? 

 All I can at present say is, my faith in them is as strong as 

 ever. The last season was a most remarkable one, and as we 

 have had to contend against the worst of seasons, we trust for a 

 better future, and I also predict such for the Alternantheras. 



Last season, in consequence of so much wet, nearly all the 

 Cevastium was killed ; such an occurrence has not taken place 

 before in my time : therefore if the Cerastium would not grow, 

 what could we expect of the Alternantheras ? S till they did not 

 succumb to the wet, but stood it bravely, although quite at a 

 standstill. They also proved more hardy than I expected, for 

 they have withstood 12° of frost. Therefore, taking the last 

 unfavourable summer and the present one up to now into con- 

 sideration, and looking at the progress they have made with 

 me this season, I see no reason for altering my previous opinion 

 respecting them and their merits as bedding plants. A fine 

 summer will, no doubt, bring out their true character, and as 

 they are doing tolerably well this season at Osberton, they 

 will doubtless do better elsewhere, for a more unsuitable place 

 for bedding could not well be met with ; it lies low and wet, 

 and is subject to early and late frosts. They are all easily kept 

 through the winter, and make beautiful plants for the conserva- 

 tory, but they require a little warmth to keep them through the 

 winter. Alternanthera paronychioides is a fine bedder ; this 

 and sessilis amoena are the two best. 



With respect to Viola cornuta. Purple Queen and Mauve 

 Queen are both in perfection here, the only difference to be 

 seen is that Purple Queen flowers more profusely with me, and 

 the flowers are a trifle larger, otherwise it would take a very 

 clever man to detect the difference. This Viola must be seen 

 in its various combinations to be appreciated. I have the per- 

 mission of my employer and the Viscountess Milton, the lady 

 I have the honour to serve, to invite any of your correspondents 

 interested in the Viola question to yisit Osberton, and decide 



