May 23, 1667. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



361 



Zea Japokioa foliis albo-vittatis (Japan Maize with white- 

 Btriped leaves). — The leaves are both striped and spotted with 

 white.— (76td., 1673.) 



Uaranta ROSEo-ncTA (Rose-variegated Maranta). — Leaves 

 with a rose-coloured band round each a short space from their 

 edge, and pink-nerved ; under surface purplish red. — {Ibid., 

 1675.) 



Pear Princess of Wales. — See Journal op Hobticul- 

 TCRE, vol. xii., page 88, n.s. — {Florist and Pomologist.) 



CAMELLIA CULTURE. 



Mr. W. Paul is under quite a wrong impression if he thinks it 

 was with an eye to business I criticised Lis remarks on Ca- 

 mellias. They are no speciality of mine. One house is all I 

 devote to their culture, and this for the sake of blooms more 

 than with any other object. Those who have read my papers 

 will hardly think interested motives have dictated their com- 

 position, the greater number of them being on subjects of no 

 pecuniary interest to me. I question if Mr. Paul is older than 

 I am, and must say I hope he does not intend to convey the 

 impression that when he was a boy he grew Camellias in green 

 turf and found it fail, or that it was the old and general mode 

 of culture. It is all very well to talk of not " depreciating the 

 honest efforts of any fellow-labourer, however humble," but 

 when a man takes the stand of a teacher on any subject, I 

 think he should be prepared not only to find others differ from 

 him in opinion, but to be asked questions and have to reply to 

 them. Few are in the position to speak ex catlicdn'i on any 

 subject, and it is better to answer with cogent arguments than 

 ungenerous insinuations. " Dark Laurel-like bushes are not 

 what the public want, particularly if large enough to hide a 

 bullock." Perhaps not ; at any rate the public seldom obtain 

 them. I once sent to the gardener at Wollaton for a few 

 blooms of white Camellias for a ladies' party, and he sent me a 

 large clothes-basket full, " the dark Laurel-like bushes" being 

 then almost covered with blooms. 



I certainly am disappointed in Mr. Paul. I thought I ran a 

 good risk of having my objections answered in a way which 

 would make me appear quite in the wrong, and that I should 

 have had to solace myself with the fact that at any rate the 

 public were the gainers. I took up my pen 



" With the stern joy which warriors feel 

 lu foemen worthy of their steel," 



and instead of being set right and having explained to me 

 what " loamy peat" is, I am told, or rather the public is, that 

 Mr. Paul has some thousands of Camellias to sell, grown 

 according to his rules, and that the first prize for Camellias 

 was awarded to him by the Royal Horticultural Society. He 

 does not say if these thousands of Camellias were propagated 

 and grown by himself or by his foreign pupils, only that they 

 have been grown according to his rules. 



Though I have been a member of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society some years, I never heard of the Camellia Show. I 

 did hear of a few middhng cut flowers being exhibited, which 

 took a prize for want of competition. Surely these are not the 

 kind of prizes of which a mao like Mr. Paul ought to be proud. 

 If I had grown such Roses in pots as he has exhibited, I 

 should consider myself an authority in Rose-growing, and 

 should be ashamed to talk of a few cut blooms of Camellias. — 

 J. R. Pearson. 



Birmingham Rose Show. — On reference to our advertising 

 columns it will be seen that the sixth annual Show will be held 

 in the Town Hall, Birmingham, on Thur.'^day and Friday, July 

 ■4th and 5th. The prize list will be ready for circulation in a 

 few days, having undergone a very carefiil revision at the hands 

 of the Committee. Several features of interest have been 

 added, of which we may particularise a class for eighteen 

 Tarieties of Tea-scented, Noisette, and China Koses ; another 

 for twelve varieties of Summer Roses, including Provence Koses, 

 (not Moss), Gallica, Hybrid China, Hybrid Bourbon, Alba, iind 

 Damask Koses ; a class for amateurs who have not previuusly 

 won a prize for Hoses ; and some useful modifications with re- 

 gard to Moss Koses. Hitherto there has been but one class 

 for baskets of Roses, and for designs. These are now separated. 

 Seedling Roses, new plants, seedling plants, and novel and 

 effective methods of exbibitiug cut Roses are invited, and cer- 

 tificates of merit will be given where deserved. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



It is true, though not generally known, that many of our 

 most grateful perfumes are now produced artificially, and, 

 what will strike most of our readers as approaching the incre- 

 dible, these artificial perfumes are obtained by the chemiat's 

 art from some of the most offensive of organic remains. We 

 believe that even the most valuable of vegetable perfumes, 

 attar of Roses, will be eventually prepared artificially, for it is 

 really only defiant gas rendered solid at common temperatures. 

 This ia apparent if we place the tables of their chemical com- 

 position side by side. 



Attar of Hoses. Olefiant Gas. 



Carbon 8G.74S 85.71 



Hydrogen 14.889 11-29 



defiant gas is the most valuable constituent of the coal gag 

 which illumines our streets and honsea. When pure it ia nearly 

 scentless, but if mixed with a little chlorine gas it becomes a 

 heavy oil, and acquires a sweet ethere.tl odour. Some other 

 addition one of these days will impart to it the odour of the 

 Rose. We were led to these thoughts by the following note on the 

 extraction in Turkey of the attar from the cultivated Roses : — 

 " Mr. Blunt, the British Vice-Consnl at Adrianople, in his report 

 to the Foreign Office this year, gives an account of the Rose 

 fields of the vilayet of Adrianople, extending over 12,000 or 

 14,000 acres, and supplying by far the most important source 

 of wealth in the district. This ia the season for picking the 

 Roses — from the latter part of April to the early part of June ; 

 and at sunrise the plains look like a vast garden full of life 

 and fragrance, with hundreds of Bulgarian boys and girls 

 gathering the flowers into baskets and sacks, the air impreg- 

 nated with the delicious scent, and the scene enlivened by 

 songs, dancing, and music. It is estimated that the Rose 

 districts of Adrianople produced in the season of 18G6 about 

 700,000 miscala of attar of Roses (the miscal beiug Ij drachm), 

 the price averaging rather more than 3s. per miscal. If the 

 weather ia cool in spring, and there are copious falls of dew 

 and occasional showers, the crops prosper, and an abundant 

 yield of oil ia secured. The season in 1866 was so favourable 

 that eight okea of petals (less than 23 lbs.), and in some cases 

 seven okea, yielded a miscal of oil. If the weather is very hot 

 and dry it takea double that quantity of petals. The culture of 

 the Rose does not entail much trouble or expense. Land is 

 cheap and moderately taxed. In a favourable season a donum 

 (40 paces square), well cultivated, will produce 1000 okea of 

 petals, or 100 miscals of oil, valued at 1500 piastres ; the 

 expenses would be about 540 piastres — management of the 

 land, 55 ; tithe, 150 ; picking, 75 ; extraction, 260 — leaving a 

 nett profit of 960 piastres, or about £8 ll,^. An average crop 

 generally gives about £5 per donum clear of all expenses. The 

 oil is extracted from the petals by the ordinary process of dis- 

 tillation. The attar is bought up for foreign markets, to which 

 it passes through Constantinople and Smyrna, where it is 

 generally despatched to undergo the process of adulteration 

 with sandal-wood and other oils. It is said that in London the 

 Adrianople attar finds a readier sale when it is adulterated 

 than when it is genuine." 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Asparagus. — The beds in full cutting — that is to say, in their 

 prime, may have every shoot cut away until the middle of June. 

 Sprue, or very small Asparagus, may, however, be permitted to 

 grow. This will hardly prevent the development of the dormant 

 buds. Broccoli, see to the sowing of Cape and other autumn 

 Broccolia. Celery, let the plants in all their stages have due 

 attention as to pricking-out, watering, stirring the soil, (fee. 

 The watering, above all, is a most important point ; it should 

 ever bo borne in mind that Celery will grow in a ditch. Kidney 

 Beans, make fresh sowings, for those above ground are not 

 much to be depended on. Capsicums may be planted under 

 the front of vineries or in other warm situations. Tomatoes, if 

 hardened off, may now be planted out ; the blanks on the walls 

 are most eligible. Plant them on raised mounds, which will 

 have the effect of reducing their grossness. Attend to the 

 thiuniug of plants in seed-beds. 



FRUIT GARDKN. 



If wall trees, of the stone-fruit kinds, have been hitherto 

 well managed, they will exhibit a regular development of foliage 

 throughout. No time should be lost in removing superabun- 

 dant shoots from any place where there are indications of au 



