250 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r October 8, 186T. 



the Roses at planting-time ; let them die back, and you will see 

 by the freshening eyes where to cut. In a word, let the sap 

 flow before you cut. 



SITUATION OF THE ROSERY. 



Where a situation can be selected, one with a south aspect, a 

 dead flat, well-drained, and airy but not windy, is the best. Even 

 a windy situation is preferable to a close place, so conducive to 

 fungoid diseases, especially in August and September. Wind, 

 however, if sufiiciently violent to bruise all the leaves siraul- 

 taneously, is very injurious. Destruction of the leaves, or the 

 stoppage of their pores by dust, soot, or fungus of any kind, 

 will damage the trees as much as wind that bruises the foliage, 

 for they all act as the lungs of the plant. The generality of 

 Hose growers are obliged to submit to situation instead of being 

 able to select one. 



The best situation for pot novelties is not, as is generally 

 supposed, a hot south wall, where fungus is sure to appear, 

 but an open space protected from violent winds. I have raised 

 some of my finest Manetti Roses from pot novelties on raised 

 banks, such as Thorn hedges are planted on. The banks ran 

 north and south, so that the sun at rising affected one side of 

 the bank, the midday sun the surface, and the setting sun the 

 other side, thus acting as a forcing-house out of doors, with 

 the benefit of a free current of air, for want of which so many 

 forced things are spoilt. On arrival I wash with blue vitriol and 

 water the house-raised novelties ; as, though I cannot always 

 see fungus on them, I suspect it to be there, or that the Rose 

 is in a state predisposing it to fungus, which is not created 

 by the atmosphere, but is dependant upon atmospheric con- 

 ditions for its development. 



DROUGHT AND EXCESSIVE MOISTURE. 



Both of these extremes are drawbacks to Kose-growing. The 

 former may be cured by plenty of pumps and willing pumpers, 

 the latter by drainage. The gardens of our great people are 

 generally very deficient in water supply. The same may be 

 saidof smaller gardens. Gardening cannot be effectually carried 

 on without free access at all times to water. It is im- 

 possible to cultivate Roses successfully, and keep them healthy, 

 unless there is free access to plenty of water. The health oi 

 the foliage, in other words, the health of the trees, which here 

 surprised " D.," and surprises hosts of visitors, is mainly owing 

 to free drainage, frequently stirring the surface soil, and afford- 

 ing plentiful supplies of water, in hot dry weather especially, 

 both for the roots and leaves, which answer to each other as 

 face answers to face in a mirror. Stirring the ground con- 

 stantly is a great secret. It should be done deeply between 

 the rows, and lightly over the roots. By so doing less water is 

 required to touch '■ all the points of the roots," and the night 

 dews, which are in the same ratio as solar heat, are more 

 easiJy admitted. ^ The exhausting powers of the sun and the 

 copiousness of night dews are little understood. The roots, no 

 less than the leaves, require air. It is absolutely necessary, 

 especially in the vicinity of towns and dusty roads, to wash the 

 leaves of Roses : unless these are kept clean, and the stomates 

 of the leaves kept open, the tree cannot breathe, and the pre- 

 cious gases of the atmosphere cannot enter to act on the sap 

 which rises to the axils of the leaves for purification. A great 

 poet has said, "Water is the best thing:" in gardening it is 

 an essential thing. 



As regards an excess of moisture, it seldom arises from the 

 cultivator's supply, but in strong lands it will occur in some 

 seasons, unless the ground is drained. No drainage is worth 

 anything unless the drains are at least 3 feet G inches deep. 

 I have drained two of my gardens here, causing the drains to 

 flow into my pump weU. The pump, bricks, oak crib, and 

 labour only cost me £10. I have another pump on the place, 

 and a little pond into which flowing water continually runs. I 

 think of putting up one or two more pumps. Water may be 

 supplied to the leaves by syringing or simply pouring it from a 

 water-pot. — W. F. Radclyffe. 



(To be continued.) 



GRAPE JUDGING. 



Looking at the various aspects of this question, and the 

 mere opinions which are being advanced concerning it, it ap- 

 pears more and more desirable that an attempt should be made 

 to settle it in something like a practical manner. To me it 

 seems quite evident that even very eminent growers may con- 

 tinue to advance opinions as to the relative merits of mere 



colour and flavour, as well as the relation these qualities bear 

 to each other, without arriving at any tangible or useful con- 

 clusion. 



Viewing the controversy from this stand-point, it will not be 

 expected that I should here throw in my opinion to add to the 

 clash of arms which has taken place already ; although I may 

 remark in passing on to my present object, that under ordinary 

 circumstances I see no particular difficulty in the way of an 

 experienced cultivator producing in a house of Black Ham- 

 burghs a black and a brown shade of colour in the Grapes 

 borne by different Vines, and that it is to be feared mere 

 sweetness is often accepted by some palates for that vinous 

 flavour which a properly trained palate requires in a Black 

 Hamburgh Grape. I think few classes of Grape-consumers 

 are so trustworthy in forming a correct conclusion as our no- 

 bility and gentry, who have been accustomed all their days to 

 the correct flavours of things in general. It is with them 

 something approaching to a science. Certainly I consider that 

 the opinion of this class of the community should go a great 

 deal further in this matter than that of many others who con- 

 sume fruits which are valued more for a stare than anything 

 e!S'3. 



But to come to my present object. I would suggest that the 

 Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society should 

 take the matter in hand, and invite growers to send to the 

 meetings in 1868 — say from .Tunetill October — samples of what 

 they consider their best and properly flavoured Grapes. This 

 — admitting that the Committee are a reliable conclave — would 

 at least test the relation which colour bears to thickness of 

 skin and real Grape flavour. I feel confident that, if this course 

 were adopted, the Committee would be liberally supported by 

 growers in their endeavour to settle whether it be necessary 

 and desirable to taste Grapes in order to decide their merits. 

 It certainly appears to me a little absurd to prefer mere colour 

 to flavour in any production the chief end of which is to be 

 eaten ; and amid the multitude of opinions which are being 

 advanced, it would be most interesting that an appeal should 

 be made in this practical form for a few mouths in succession, 

 before any set of rules should be drawn up for the guidance of 

 growers and judges. — D. Thomson, Archcr/wld Gardens. 



TllANSPLANTING W^ELLINGTOKIA GIGANTEA 

 AND CUPRESSUS LAWSONIANA. 



I AM glad that the subject of planting trees and shrubs has 

 been again brought before the readers of this Journal, by 

 various writers who have described their practice or views ; and 

 equally acceptable with accounts of success are the details of 

 failures, for these serve as warnings as to what to avoid. Now, 

 the planting of shrubs and trees is not uufrequently done at 

 times which the operator knows to be hazardous, but circum- 

 stances compel it to be done at such times, and now and then 

 we have heard some planters boast of their success almost as 

 soon as the tree was fixed in its new position, as if the removal 

 of a tree from one place to another was only a mechanical un- 

 dertaking, irrespective of all harm the roots might receive in 

 the operation. Indeed, I have sometimes been told to look at 

 the neatly-arranged turf around the stem of the newly-planted 

 tree, and been asked to bear witness how little harm the top 

 had undergone by the change, very soon after that change had 

 taken place, and long before it was possible to see what would 

 follow ; for a large tree or shrub when transplanted at the most 

 suitable time, does not show the effects of its removal to any 

 considerable extent for some while, but by-and-by the damage 

 done is perceptible enough. Now, I am not certain that the 

 best possible time to transplant each kind of shrub or tree is 

 known as yet, for certainly there is a difference in the results 

 attending the planting on the same day of two kinds of shrubs 

 that appear to have a certain degree of affinity ; and I will now 

 mention the case of two species of trees planted and treated 

 alike, and describe the result.?. 



In the autumn of 1863 I obtained a batch of upwards of two 

 hundred WeUingtouias in thumb and 60-sized pots. Scarcely 

 any of the plants were more than 6 inches high, and ruany 

 less. I had also a more numerous lot of Cupressus Lawsoniana 

 of the same size. Both these lots of plants I turned out care- 

 fully and planted them in nursery-rows on a plot of ratier 

 light land on which a crop of Potatoes had been grown, wking 

 care to unfold the roots carefully and spread them o"' to '^^jr 

 fullest extent, which was easily done with plants s" small. This 

 was in the middle of October, and althouyii the winter was 



