334 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 12, 1870. 



StcUaris. — Amber, with a distinct yellow tip. The flowers 

 are cone-shaped, and new in colour. 



riinipo. — Rosy purple ; very double, close, and large. 



White Eye. — Pure white; exquisite form, and wax-like ap- 

 pearance. 



Of the new flowers in this section, the following have been 

 well spoken of : — Beauty of Stoke, yellow, shaded with amber ; 

 Dnke of Edinburgh, rosy lilac, with light centre ; Globosum, 

 dark Indian red ; Miss Hope, delicate lilac ; Mrs. Wreford 

 Mnjor, deep rose, very close and compact ; Prinoess Louise, 

 delicate rosy lilac ; and Virginale, a dwarf late-flowering va- 

 riety. — D., Deal. 



EEPORTING PROGRESS IN NORTH DORSET. 



My horticultural and floricultural knowledge is so limited 

 that I must ask leave to report progress generally, as the par- 

 liamentarians do when they are brought to a " fix." My flori- 

 cultural knowledge is entirely limited to Roses; with them I 

 will begin and end. 



The Rose plants have suffered much here from orange fungus 

 and violent winds last summer injuring the foliage, and, there- 

 fore, sickening the plants. I have cut out a forest of injured 

 wood, but enough is left, and on the whole the plants look well, 

 and many are in forward bud, wanting only warm nights and 

 genial days. None here look better than the plants of Jules 

 Margottin and Charles Le/ebvre, the two leaders of the Hybrid 

 Perpetnals. 



Of new Roses I can say but little. I have them forward in 

 hud in pots in my little vinery. The first I name, I think will 

 be a first-class Rose— Marquise de Mortemart. As soon as it 

 is unfolded I shall be able to speak more confidently. The 

 following also appear to promise well — Charles Lee, Souvenir 

 de M. Poiteau, and Edouard Morren. Souvenir de M. Poiteau 

 is of first-rate growth and habit. Marie Sisley and Mon- 

 plaisir, two Tea Ro3es, are not forward enough to enable me to 

 form an opinion. I expect to find Marie Sialey an improved 

 Homer, and very superior. I have ordered Princess Christian 

 and Prince Leopold, the climber. The picture of the former is 

 tempting. 



Look over your south wall trees, and kill all the aphides you 

 can now, and you will save yourselves from much summer 

 annoyance. They commence in hot situations. 



Now for horticulture. Apples will be a grand crop, as the 

 blooms are very late. Pears are wonderfully bloomed, and I 

 hope may Bucceed. Cherries are set, and most abundant, and 

 I hope they may not be injured. On Monday night (May 2nd) 

 we had a Eevere frost and ice, but as yet I see no damage. 

 Plums are well set ; but, as I can only give them a west aspect, 

 they may fail. Currants and Gooseberries are plentiful. 

 Strawberry plants are well crowned, and look like clumps of 

 Firs. They will bloom late, and be safe from frost. Rivers' 

 Eliza, and Dr. Hogg, which is the finest of the Queen race, 

 have wintered best. These also have wintered well — Mr. Rad- 

 clyffe, Lucas, Cockscomb, and Wonderful. Royalty, Duke of 

 Edinburgh, and Early Prolific, have wintered well, considering 

 they were planted so late in the autumn. I shall have enough 

 fruit to test them. 



I now come to what interest me much — namely, Peach and 

 Nectarine trees. Of these I have about 108. Their blooming 

 was grand, and thfy have set well on the whole. Some of the 

 trees are wonderfully set. I am a short, alternate, irregular 

 pruner, and I think I could please M. Grin, as some of my 

 trees are main branches, and "bouquets de Mai." Long- 

 pruning out of doors in exposed places in our variable climate, 

 will ultimately bring a tree to grief. It is easier to ripen three 

 shoots each 4 inches long, than a shoot of 12 or 14 inches. More- 

 over, it is better to have three shoots of 4 inches in length, 

 with one Peach on each, than a 12-inoh shoot with three 

 Peaches on it. When the shoots are short, the Peach is nearer 

 the main flow of sap, and sun, air, and light have a better 

 chance of ripening the wood, upon which the success of the 

 next year's crop much depends. For two years I have cut all 

 the leaves in half in September, which caused the leaves to 

 drop earlier, and gave me hardened blood red wood, instead of 

 3oft, sickly, pale green shoots. I have not on 108 trees a single 

 blistered leaf. I attribute this to my using Bheets, and to 

 giving water at the roots even when the nights were cold, to 

 3apply sap equal to the evaporation occasioned by the drying 

 easterly wind and sun. Frost on the young leaves, accompanied 

 by extreme evaporation, is, in my opinion, the main cause of 

 blister. There cannot be a more severe situation than that of 



my garden. It is as open to the east Rnd south-west winds as 

 the Eddystone lighthouse, with only a 7-feet brick wall to keep 

 back fourteen miles of north wind blowing over the fine vale of 

 Blackmoor. — W. F. Raeclyffe. 



P.S.— The Marquise de Mortemart has since unfolded two 

 most beautiful blooms. It i3 a silvery white with a delicate 

 blush centre. It is in the line of Baroness de Rothschild, but 

 fuller in the centre. It is of fine outline, with petals well dis- 

 posed, and completely full. It is a great success, and I thank 

 the raiser— Liabaud. — W. F. R. 



NOTES ON PELARGONIUMS, ROSES, AND 

 POTATOES. 



You invite amateurs to give from time to time the results of 

 their experiments in the garden ; I therefore send two or three 

 notes which may be interesting. 



Last summer I bedded out a great variety of Pelargoniums, 

 with the view of finding out what would best suit my soil — a 

 deep strong loam. Mr. Peach, in your number of April 28th, 

 cries down Dr. Lindley. I had such a magnificent bed of this 

 last year, that I have worked up a large stock for the coming 

 season. With me it was the first out, and the last to give up. 

 I had nothing to equal it for show in any class. Stella and 

 Cybister gave me the next best show. Orange Nosegay came 

 on better towards the end of the season. Wiltshire Lass did 

 much better as a pink than Christine. 



I had single plants of Seraph, Sambo, Christine Nosegay, 

 Rose Stella, aud Hon. G. Hardy, which promised well. I shall 

 try them in greater numbers this year. Among the Tricolors, 

 Lady Cullum beat everything. So much for Pelargoniums. 



Roses were a great success with me. Miruchal Niel, as a 

 standard, astonished all who saw it. David Pradel, Souvenir 

 d'un Ami, Monplaisir, and Madame Charles, among Tea Roses, 

 were my best. Alfred Colomb and Victor Verdier were un- 

 commonly good last year. Out of fifty Tea Roses I have lost 

 but three plants — namely, two of Madame Fa'.cot, and one (my 

 only one) of Bouton d'Or. 



I have been having a Potato " Derby." I planted one pound 

 of each of the following sorts — Early Rose, Climax, Bresee's 

 Prolific, Bresee's King of the Earlies, Royal Ashleaf, Suttons' 

 Racehorse, England's Glory, and Kelway's Nonpareil. They 

 were set side by side in rows in new rich ground. Early Rose 

 and Kelway's Nonpareil were " neck and neck," and easily 

 first ; yesterday they were strong and healthy, but last night's 

 frost (May 2nd) has laid them low ; they are as black as a coal. 

 I was anxious to weigh the result of the trial, but now the 

 first will, I fear, be lost. Early Rose was first-rate with me 

 last year, an immense crop. I think, however, that people 

 make a mistake about it, and dig it up too soon. It is soon up, 

 but ripens slowly. I have twenty-five different kinds of Po- 

 tatoes planted this year, and shall, if you will permit me, let 

 you know the result. — Stiff Soil. 



[Your reports, and all like them, are very acceptable. — Eds.] 



ALPINE AURICULAS— ROCKERIES. 



I am glad to see a few remarks about the Auricula in " our 

 Journal." I was beginning to think in these " bedding-out " 

 times that it was a plant almost forgotten, and yet so beautiful — 

 so very beautiful ! I shall never forget the first frameful of 

 the show varieties that I saw ; it was more than thirty-five 

 years ago, and in my mind's eye I can see them now as plainly 

 as I could then. But what I was about to observe is, that 

 though the Alpine Auricula is so hardy, so lovely, and of such 

 variety of colour, one scarcely ever sees it made use of for the 

 decoration of rockeries. In fact, I have been shown many which 

 abound with Sedums, Saxifrages, and other plants of that de- 

 scription, but never any Alpine Auricula. This to me is extra- 

 ordinary, as it is one of the few flowers in which one can have 

 nearly a blue and also a bright yellow ; then there are the 

 varieties of lake, brown, carmine, and purple, almost black — I 

 never saw a white — and the foliage, too, when off the blooming 

 season is of so varied a character as to render the plaftt even 

 then very ornamental. At this moment I have about a hundred 

 in bloom on my rocks, and no two alike in colour or habit. I 

 am delighted with them, and so are my visitors, who generally 

 say, " Dear me ! I had no idea they were half so varied or so 

 beautiful." I suppose if they " bedded-out well " we should 

 hear and see more of them. 



Many of my Alpine Auriculas I have raised from seed, and 



