58 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGK GAKDENER. 



[ Januaiy 25, 1877. 



tefore the great heat seta in, and is consequently unaffected 

 by it. It requires to be sown in a frame in February and 

 March to produce heads in August, and it is in August that 

 the supply of Cauliflowers often breaks down. 



Globe Artichokes planted in May as usual supplied heads 

 till the frost cut them off, and indeed some time after, for some 

 were cut and kept fresh by having their stems placed in water. 



Very little watering was done in the kitchen garden, except- 

 ing for Celery. Peas, Beans, and the like were kept suiliciently 

 moist by having dry litter placed round them, and they con- 

 tinued bearing all summer ; but then I must again remind my 

 readers that my soil is heavy, and although it has its disad- 

 Tantflges, last summer suited it admirably. — William Tailob. 



TEA-SCENTED ROSES. 

 A MiSEKAELT wet Sunday, the twentieth in succession (about 

 that number of people at church), and no signs of any improve- 

 ment in the weather. Everybody looking doleful and draggled. 

 These are not very enlivening circumstances under which to 

 write on the loveliest flower that grows, the darling of my 

 heart — my queen, my queen, the Tea Rose. Oh, what a time 

 it seems since I have seen one ! although they are the most 

 constant of all Eoses and are the last to disappear from my 

 garden. How I long once more to see a Souvenir d'Elise and 

 a Marie Van Houtte, and how many weeks must elapse before 

 I am gratified, as I have no glass and so cannot force them. 



Two correspondents want advice on the cultivation of Tea 

 Koses, and both, strange to say, hail from a land where the 

 cultivation of those charming flowers is a matter of some 

 difEcnlty. One writes'from Leek, that rosy town in Stafford- 

 shire, where I had the pleasure at the last show of meeting 

 snch enthusiastic rosarians, and the other from I know net 

 where ; at all events his rosery is situated 2000 feet above the 

 sea level, so that he may be said to live in an exceedingly 

 breezy atmosphere. I will give them both the best advice that 

 I can ; but at the same time think it only fair to say that I am 

 not handicapped in the way they are. Although I am a wyld 

 man of the woods, my abode is in mild Dorset, three miles 

 from the sea, just sufficiently far from the ocean to get the 

 sea air blended and subdued by that from the laud. Occa- 

 sionally in the spring we suffer dreadfully from the sou'- 

 westers, but that is the only wind that hurts me. But I have 

 •a little vicarious experience of northern latitudes, as my brother 

 grows Eoses in Yorkehire under most depressing circumstances ; 

 for a pall of smoke ever hangs over his rosery, and this lies 

 so low and so near a running foul " beck," or stream, that he 

 suffers terribly from spring frosts, so that I am able to advise 

 on this subject better than I should otherwise be if my lot had 

 always been cast in this charming climate. 



J[y experience, then, derived from observing my brother's 

 attempts, leads me to declare that Tea Roses cannot be suc- 

 cessfully grown in the north, or under such circumstances as 

 your correspondents describe, in the open air without certain 

 precautions being taken. Here I never protect a Rose, and 

 they never want it ; of course a lot die, and so do Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, but I do not think that the weather kills them. 

 For a time I used to grow my Tea-scented Roses under a wall, 

 but I found that only one side of the wood ripened, and that 

 consequently the plants did not flourish ; so I now grow them 

 in the moat open spot I can find, with, of course always, a 

 south aspect. But if I lived at Leek I should have to protect 

 my Teas and aid them in some way or other in their conflict 

 with .Jack Frost, Eurus, Boreas, &a. 



If your correspondents have glass I should recommend them 

 to take up their Teas before the winter, say in October, pot 

 them and place them in a cold house, and not transplant them 

 till April. My experience proves that you may plant the Tea 

 Rose much later than the H.P. Last spring, owing to some 

 alterations, I moved all or nearly all of my Teas in April, and 

 put some Manetti Roses in their places. 



It certainly was very late to plant Eoses, and I did not 

 expect either would do much good. The Manettis, which were 

 purchased from one of the leading nurserymen — about five 

 or six hundred— all died, but the Teas did uncommonly well, 

 and most of my show Teas were out from those plants ; 

 certainly those which won the first prize at the Aquarium 

 were. My old man shook his head when he saw these Teas 

 moved into the kitchen garden, and prophesied that we should 

 do nothing with them this year ; but as soon as genial weather 

 set in they started and put forth a lot of healthy fresh wood 

 and bore fine blooms and also (which was of the greatest 



consequence to me) the blooms came about three weeks later 

 than they would have done if the plants had been left in their 

 original place, and so I was enabled to cut Teas for all my 

 stands throughout the show season. If, however, your corre- 

 spondents have no glass they must protect their plants in 

 some way or other. Mr. Reynolds Hole recommends fronds 

 of Ferns to be placed among them, or even straw could be 

 wrapped round the stems, or screens of wood conld be placed 

 near them so as to break the force of the wind. Now, I am 

 aware that the general custom is to prune the Tea Rose very 

 slightly indeed, but such is not my plan. I out my Teas as 

 hard as my Hybrid Perpetuals, but I cut them much later. 



The end of April even here is not too late to prune the Tea 

 Rose, and in Staffordshire I should say that the middle of 

 May would not be too late. My brother has found that unless 

 he prunes very late indeed he cannot get a good bloom. Let, 

 then, the weather do its worst; be patient if you can, and 

 wait till the sun is so high in the heaven that severe frost is no 

 longer to be feared, and then cut hard. Go down to healthy 

 wood, even if you have to cut all your tree away and leave 

 only a small stump, it is the only way. Badly ripened or 

 frost-bitten wood is like a cancer to the Rose, it cannot 

 possibly put forth healthy .shoots. It must be cut out. I 

 have a firm conviction also, that if your corrrspondents were 

 to lift the Teas and examine the roots and replace them either 

 in the same soil, or in fresh soil, about April, that they would 

 do a wise thing. 



I have given the results of my own experience, and no man 

 can do more. I may be wrong, and very hkely numbers of 

 your readers will say that I am wrong, and perhaps some will 

 write to you and say so. I hope they will, for nothing pleases 

 me more than a man to tell me that I know nothing whatever 

 about the subject of Roses, in the " Rose .Journal," for then 

 we can have a spirited set-to in print, like we did about the 

 Rose election, and the Rose public at least will benefit, if 

 there is any truth in the proverb " In the multitude of coun- 

 sellors there is wisdom." 



Now as to sorts likely to do well at Leek, that is a rather 

 difficult matter. There are certainly some sorts which will 

 not flourish, or which at lea5t in my opinion it would be mere 

 folly to attempt to grow. I do not think Cloth of Gold conld 

 succeed in the open air there, nor do I think Eeine de Portugal 

 or La Boule d'Or would do; but I am positive that the best 

 of all Roses (Tea and every other kind), Marie Van Houtte 

 will do well. She is so robust, she has such vigour of con- 

 stitution, she is such a darling in every way, that I feel sure 

 she would do there. She grows stronger here than any Rose I 

 have. I had visits from the proprietors of several Eose 

 nurseries last summer who wanted buds of Marie Van Houtte, 

 and I was able to cut great shoots like you would from a strong 

 cHmbing Rose without injuring the trees. Souvenir d'Elise, 

 Souvenir d'un Ami, Niphetos, Alba Rosea, Devoniensis, Sou- 

 venir de Paul Neron, Madame Willermoz, Rubens, Catherine 

 Mermet — these, the best of the Teas, would in my opinion do, 

 provided that protection was afforded them in severe weather, 

 and great care and attention all the year round. 



I shall be most interested to hear in the course of the year 

 whether your correspondents have acted on this advice, sind 

 what the result has been. Of course I may be mistaken and 

 the result may be a failure, but if so let them remember before 

 they condemn me that I have given them the best advice I 

 could ; I have told them my own plan, explained to them my 

 treatment of Teas, kept nothing back, shown my whole hand, 

 and most sincerely do I wish and hope that they may succeed 

 in growing the loveliest daughter o£ Flora's court, the Tea- 

 scented Eose. — Wyld Savage. 



CHENOPODIUM BONUS-HENEICDS— MERCURY. 

 The following is in reply to a question in reference to the 

 " Lincolnshire Mercury ;" — I can answer for the fact that this 

 plant is largely grown in the cottage gardens of Lincolnshire. 

 I cannot name one in particular out of the hundreds of beds 

 of " Markwerry " which are established in many villages, but 

 there they are, and their produce is much prized by their 

 owners. Mercury being regarded as their " first spring vege- 

 table." This vegetable can scarcely be said to be cultivated, 

 for, as a rule, it receives no care or assistance beyond an occa- 

 sional soaking vfith soapsuds. It is seldom found in the 

 gardens of the nobility, clergy, or gentry, from whence it has 

 been driven away by the more aristocratic Spinach, Mercury 

 being a plebeian vegetable. The Chenopodinm, which is popn- 



1 



