May 10, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE QAEDENEB. 



34S 



ayerages about £3000. There were held in England in the 

 year 1876 at least fourteen Rose shows deserving to be named, 

 besides many others of only local importance. That I may be 

 understood, I name the places in which the fourteen shows 

 were held. They were Alexandra Palace, Crystal Palace, 

 Regent's Park, South Kensington, Maidstone, Oxford, Frome, 

 Chipping Norton, Nottingham, Hereford, Helensburgh, Gallo- 

 way, and Wisbech ; and one of the most enjoyable of all our 

 Rose shows is utterly unknown beyond the circle of its pro- 

 moters. This is held annually io the corn market of Mark 

 Lane in the heart of the City of London, the competitors being 

 the merchants who carry on trade there, and the object of it 

 being to aid the cause of charity. It is a transition from the 

 beautiful gardens of these rich men, situate for the most part 

 in the richly-planted suburbs of London, to the little gardens 

 of the artisans of Nottingham, where Roses are grown as well 

 as anywhere in the world ; and for many years past the exhi- 

 bitions of Roses by working men have been characterised by 

 floral merit in the highest degree. This busy central town, 

 noted for its manufactories of net, lace, cotton, silk, and wool, 

 has for an appendage to its smoky dusty turmoil ten thousand 

 little gardens that blossom into a giant wreath to comfort the 

 brow of care and redeem human nature from sordidness. 



On the 4th of July in the coming summer the amateurs will 

 have a great day in London. A considerable number of the 

 most eminent, with our greatest rosarian the Bev. Canon 

 Hole leading the way, have combined their forces in a National 

 Rose Society, and have arranged to hold a great exhibition of 

 our national flower in the far-famed St. James's Hall, wherein, 

 on the 1st of July, 1S58, was held the first so-called National 

 Rose Show, under the auspicious auspices of the same govern- 

 ing mind. Some reforms are to be attempted ; the show is to 

 be like a flash of lightning — bright, startling, and soon over ; 

 and there is a growing desire for a more picturesque mode of 

 displaying the flowers. But so long as high quality of indi- 

 vidual flowers is desired and required, the prevailing mode 

 does not admit of any improvement, except in detail — the 

 principle is sound, and represents the experience of many 

 generations in floral competitions. Those who yearn for pic- 

 turesque grouping of cut flowers are mostly young men who 

 have everything to learn in respect of technical merit in ex- 

 hibition subjects — as they grow in age, and wisdom, and depth 

 of love they become conservative, and have no more to say 

 about the vain dreams of their inexperienced youth. Tour way 

 of showing Roses we consider horrid, but you must not suspect 

 me of any lack of politeness in saying so ; because, in matters 

 of floral art, we have agreed long since that candour, seasoned 

 with a good spirit, cannot offend. It is a glorious sight to see 

 ranks of Roses reposing on the freshest of green moss all in 

 Buch order and so neatly named that every flower may be 

 judged upon its merits, and we forget the harshness of flat 

 surfaces and straight lines in the rapture that accompanies 

 critical comparison of flowers that seemed destined to fill us 

 with perplexity as to what after all is the acme of perfection, for 

 they differ so, and yet are so deliciously beautiful throughout. 



Two great results may be pointed to in justification of our 

 enthusiasm in exhibitions. The cultivation of the Rose as a 

 pot plant has attained with us a degree of perfection never 

 known before. Oar great exhibitions at Chiswiok long since, 

 and at Regent's Park in later days, have been characterised by 

 the splendour of the pot Roses, and in remembrance of them 

 the names of Lane, Paul, Francis, Fraeer, and Veitch flash 

 upon ns for ever honourably associated with this phase of 

 floral art. But there has not been seen in England such per- 

 fection of finish as in the pot Roses shown by Mr. Charles 

 Turner of Slough at the Royal Aquarium and at South Ken- 

 Bington in 187G. It is this curiously successful cultivator's 

 forte, that whatever he enters into becomes his forte, and his 

 daily work illustrates the motto, " Fortes fortuna juvat." Thus 

 far one result. The other is really a part of it. Until quite 

 recently pot Roses have been well grown by our commercial 

 rosarians, but badly by our amateurs. But now — oh, happy 

 time, that so it may be recorded — they are well grown by both 

 parties. Thus the prizes offered for pot Roses grown by ama- 

 teurs are no longer offered in vain, for in truth we customarily 

 see of late years beautiful specimen plants from the hands 

 of amateurs, although but a few years back such a pleasant 

 Bpectacle was unknown. Pardon a possible egotism if I ex- 

 press the thought, which perhaps is vain, and the hope, that is 

 certainly honourable, that the " Amateur's Rose Book " has 

 helped to bring about this beneficial change in our cultivation 

 of Roses. 



But I must stop, and "leave half-told the pleasing tale." I 

 will hope to write again if you will have me do so. Remem- 

 bering, as a rosarian must, the debt that England owes to 

 France — for the names of the Roses tell the tale — how shall I 

 do other than hope that the Rose and the Lily may flower in 

 both lands in gay and sweet companionship, and prove the 

 true symbols of a gentle and lasting love that knows not of 

 boundary lines and interests that conflict, but is animated by 

 the spirit of dear Robert Burns when he yearned for the day 

 when all men, the world around, would become " brithers a' ?" 

 — Shiblet Hibbebd (in Journal des Roses). 



UNHEALTHY VINES. 



" A Jersey Readeb " gives us a sad history of his Vines, which 

 consist of Black Hamburghs and Muscats planted in the same 

 house seven years ago. They have produced " splendid fruit 

 annually till last year, when the fruit was very inferior — badly 

 coloured, and many small berries in every bunch. This year 

 the crop is again a poor one, especially of Muscats, the growth 

 of which is excessively weak and puny ; while, on the contrary, 

 the Black Hamburghs promise better things in future, as they 

 are making good wood." It is supposed that this unfortunate 

 state of things is owing to mismanagement, the cause of the 

 "host of small berries" being clearly traceable to a check 

 sustained by the Vines just as the berries were commencing 

 swelling, and the statement that " the fire was out for two or 

 three days when the bunches were in bloom " points to neglect; 

 or was the example of faulty practice owing to ignorance ? It 

 is not at all unlikely, or at any rate it was undoubtedly igno- 

 rance which induced the subsequent application of a dressing 

 of some three hundredweight of guano to a small Vine border, 

 and thus instead of enriching it killing all the tender rootlets, 

 and giving such a shock to the entire system of the Vines that 

 careful treatment and painstaking will be necessary to bring 

 them again into a flourishing condition. 



So many examples of mismanaged Vines having come under 

 our notice renders it desirable that the reply to "AJebset 

 Reabes" should be made as useful as possible to others re- 

 quiring some assistance. The remedy in this instance is of 

 the most simple nature. Examine the border immediately, 

 and make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the condition of 

 both roots and soil. If rootlets are abundant, stout, healthy, 

 and spreading among the soil in every direction, then let well 

 alone, and turn your attention to the branches, which keep 

 well thinned and thoroughly clean in every part, foliage as 

 well as bark, letting little, if any, fruit remain upon them thia 

 year, and you may look forward to a full and abundant crop 

 next year ; for the nature of all Grape Vines is so wonderfully 

 elastic that a season or two of skilful treatment is all that is 

 requisite to bring the most sickly, often apparently worn-out. 

 Vines into a satisfactory condition. But if, instead of healthy 

 growing roots, most of them are found to have perished at 

 the ends and new rootlets are not pushing freely in the soil, 

 then we would not lose a day, but set to forthwith and re- 

 move all the soil in which the roots have failed, replacing it 

 with rich sweet turfy loam. If your soil is not naturally a 

 rich and fertile one, then use a mixture of three-fourths of 

 turf an inch in thickness pared from an old pasture, broken 

 into pieces as big as one's fist, and one-fourth of old black- 

 lookiug well-decayed manure, with an ample sprinkling of any 

 gritty matter that you can obtain, such as shattered bricks, 

 the chippings of a stone quarry, or, best of all, gritty road 

 scrapings. Apply this, give an occasional soaking of water if 

 the weather prove very hot and dry, and you will soon have 

 new roots in abundance greedily feeding upon the rich store 

 provided for them, and infusing new life and vigour into stem, 

 branches, and foliage. 



Thus much for this particular case. Now let us tarn our 

 attention to general causes of failure and of success. It is a 

 well-understood fact that without good soil we cannot have 

 good Grapes ; yet undue stress is occasionally laid upon the 

 matter, and the scientific formation of Vine borders has been 

 carried to an extreme, and what is really a very simple matter 

 has been made to appear a very complicated and withal costly 

 affair. Let us call in a little common sense to our aid in this 

 matter. The soil which will produce good vegetables will pro- 

 duce good Grapes, and we may safely apply it to either pur- 

 pose ; but in doing so we must not forget that vegetable cul- 

 ture is an affair of weeks or months, the crop then being 

 matured, the plants removed, and the soil broken up and 

 renovated with manure. The Vines, on the contrary, not only 



