236 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



r September 26, 1867. 



frame, and in severe weather place a covering of mats on the 

 glass, leaving one mat on to shade from sun when there is any 

 danger of frost being inside. 



By pmrsiiing the above mode of treatment I have never had 

 a plant affected with yellowness, as described by your coire- 

 spondent at page 189. Doubtless his plan is very good where 

 plants are calculated by so many dozens ; but where as many 

 thousands are wanted, I fear the pot system would take up the 

 room required for other plants which are more impatient of 

 moisture and frost. 



The winter over, air is given more freely, and every day as 

 the sun gains greater power ; and when April with its genial 

 showers has come, the plants are growing rapidly. I now take 

 them from their winter quarters, and plant them out in 

 turf-pits or frames, about 4 inches asunder, in good soil. I 

 keep them close for a day or two until they take hold of the 

 new soil. I never allow them to flag or bec(ime dry, and stop 

 at every second joint, so that in May I have line sturdj' plants, 

 which are removed to their summer quart ers with a good ball 

 of soil about them. 



. If the above treatment were carried out, we should not hear 

 B9 many comjilaints of Calceolaria failures. — W. Osboese, 

 Co. Cork. 



MAKECHAL NIEL ROSE. 



Mdch dissatisfaction has been expressed, and still more felt, 

 at the very unfavourable results obtained by the numerous cul- 

 tivators of this variety of yellow Eose. On the other hand, 

 there are many who have been more successful, and who are, 

 therefore, not without reason ready to affirm that the causes of 

 discontent are groundless. This has till lately been inexplicable. 



When this Eose was first announced in the glowing and 

 rather exaggerated way in which the French growers are ac- 

 accustomed to put forth their novelties, hopes were entertained 

 that it might prove a really valuable addition to our yellow 

 Eoses, a colour so very popular with us among Eoses, as much, 

 perhaps, from the very distinct character it adds to the ex- 

 hibition-stand and to the bouquet, as from its own peculiar 

 merits combined with form, as seen in Triomphe de Bennes 

 and Cfiline Forestier. But when the first glorious blooms of it 

 were seen, as exhibited by Mr. Mitchell, Messrs. Paul & Son, 

 Mr. Keynes, and others, it was received with admiration, such 

 as has never before been accorded to any single Eose. As a 

 matter of course, not only rosarians and Eose growers, but the 

 horticultural wovM generally, were in a fever of anxiety to 

 possess it, and the propagation of it was, and is still, an im- 

 portant business with nurserymen. Thousands of plants have 

 been distributed, and pleasure and disappointment have both 

 followed. 



Tile Marechal Niel is really a very beautiful yellow Eose, now 

 so well known as not to need description ; nevertheless, to the 

 Bose critic it has a slight defect in form which a thorough-going 

 rosarian must acknowledge, and hope that before long another 

 Idnd will appear that will yield symmetry of *hape with the 

 glorious colour of the Marechal. Whence have arisen the dis- 

 crepancies that now perplex the possessors of this fine Eose ? 

 It has for some time been suspected that there are in commerce 

 two Eoses und jr the name of Martchal Niel ; and comparison of 

 plants, or even foliage, leaves not only no doubt, but even leads 

 to conviction, that there are really two different Eoses that have 

 been sent out under this name, and that difference in results 

 arises from this fact. Nor is it in England alone that these 

 circumstances have been noted, for I hear that in France dis- 

 appointments on the one hand, and favourable accounts on the 

 other, have also been expressed ; and there also it is asserted 

 that there are two Marechal Niels in commerce. It is further- 

 more accounted for in this way. I give the statement as I re- 

 ceived it, without being able to vouch for its correctness further 

 than that it came from an authority who would not give it 

 currency without sufficient foundation. 



Marechal Niel Eose was raised by a young gardener named 

 Pradel, somewhere in the south of France. M. Eugene Verdier, 

 of Paris, became the possessor of the stock, or original plant. 

 It is said that Pradel sent to M. Verdier two seedlings without 

 distinguishing them. In the belief that both of these plants 

 were of the same kind, propagation was proceeded with from 

 them indiscriminately ; hence arose the confusion, for which 

 M. Verdier is responsible, if not to blame. Be it as it may, 

 great annoyance has been felt, and it is but due to the public 

 that some explanation should be offered to clear away the un- 

 Ceitainty at present existing. Should this statement be even 



an approximation to the truth, it will be quite evident that our 

 nurserymen are quite free in m any blame attached to the dis- 

 tribution of the wrong kind. It will also be remembered that 

 the manner in which Marechal Niel was first sent out was not 

 altogether unobjectionable. 



The pseudo Mar6chal Niel may be distinguished from the 

 true one by its habit, foliage, and Uowers. The habit is less 

 robust and more straggling ; the foliage of a deeper green, re- 

 sembling that of Isabella liray; the leaves smaller and more 

 pointed ; the flowers are smaller, hard in opening, but when 

 open of a deeper yellow, but in no point so good as the right 

 variety. — Adolphijs H. Kent. 



Mk. F. Flitton in a recent number characterises MarCchal 

 Niel as " a very very shy bloomer, and a bad opener." I have 

 only possessed it two seasons, and must say that I cannot 

 endorse his opinion. My plant, which is quite small, and pro- 

 ducing very few shoots, last year showed bloom almost simul- 

 taneously with the first leaf-growth, and this year a bud in- 

 serted in 180G on the coman n Pink China stock, began to 

 grow most vigorously, an i e hibited seven or eight buds as 

 soon as it was as many inches long. These opened as well as 

 any Eose in my cultivation. The testimony of other growers 

 n this neighbourhood coincides with mine. — Iseemis. 



PIGMY VINES. 

 As I have lately had a number of letters inquiring about the 

 culture of Vines alluded to in your Journal of September 5th 

 by " J. S." (page 171), I shall feel obliged by your permitting 

 me to state gt n .'rally in reply to their inquiries that the "pigmy 

 Vines " alluded to were all cuttings from Vines that had been 

 started in February last. The cuttings were taken off the old 

 Vines after the fruit was all set, and were potted in five, six, 

 and seven-inch pots. — William Hendeeson. 



PROLONGED HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 

 I ])Eo to enter a protest against the custom of continuing 

 horticultural exhibitions for four or five days, or a week, as is 

 fast becoming the rule at provincial as well as metropolitan 

 shows. I speak chiefly with regard to fruit, although I have 

 no doubt the same objections apply to plants. Looking at the 

 extra expenses incurred, the loss of time, the value of the prizes 

 awarded, and, above all, the damage to fruit by long exposure 

 and the like, there is really little or no inducement to venture 

 to the exhibition table. True, there is the honour and grati- 

 fication of receiving a prize; but, then, what a counterbalance 

 is there in the care, .inxiety, and expense of conveying a large 

 quantity of valuable fruit a distance, perhaps, of eighty or one 

 hundred miles and back. 



It is, I believe, generally understood, between gardeners and 

 their employers, that the gardener pays all expenses and reaps 

 any benefit which may be gained ; and it is also reasonably ex- 

 pected that the fruit will be brought back again in as good 

 condition as possible. Indeed, I have known cases where per- 

 mission to exhibit was accorded only on these conditions — con- 

 ditions, I may observe, upon which it is hardly necessary to 

 insist, for it is the interest of the gardener in every respect to- 

 lay his very best samples upon his employer's table, and when 

 he ventures with the pick of his produce to the exhibition 

 table, it is important for him that it is taken care of. I have 

 not a word to say against curators or others in charge at our 

 exhibitious, for, in general, everything is conducted in a satis- 

 factory manner in this respect. It is the damage arising from- 

 exposure, whereby the fruit is rendered unfit for almost any 

 purpose whatever, to which I allude. As an exhibitor and ob- 

 server, I can speak with confidence, and instances need not be 

 wanting. To an exhibition which lasted the best part of a week, 

 the writer of these remarks sent five bunches of Grapes, weigh- 

 ing together 23 lbs., also Peaches, Pines, Melons, Figs, &a. On 

 the last day of the exhibition a man was sent to bring the 

 fruit back — but in what condition ? Figs were mouldy, and fit 

 only for the rubbish-heap; the slightest bruise which the 

 Peaches had sustained was now an ugly blemish ; Melons felt 

 so spongy, and smelt so decidedly, that their appearance at 

 dessert was considered risky, and they followed the Figs ; and 

 the Grapes, which I contemplated sending to dessert with Bucb 

 satisfaction, and which I cut with such grave misgivings on. 

 I the morning of the show, were now all flaccid, the footstalks 



