360 



JOUBXAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GiKUBNEB. 



[ May 17, 1877. 



all colour out of the blooms. After her I place as a free- 

 grower Jean Daoher. This variety is not at present much 

 known, bnt I think it will soon take a foremost place among 

 Teas. 



Bnt as I look over my stock and compare notes the con- 

 clnsion forces itself on my mind, how few good Teas there are 

 which can be cnltivated out of doors. They can almost be 

 counted on the fingers of the hands, and I never know how to 

 make np the dozen required at the shows. Here they are 

 according to my judgment — Devoniensis, Catherine Mermet, 

 Souvenir d'un Ami, Souvenir d'Elise, Marie Van Houtte, Mare- 

 chal Niel (Noisette), Cloth of Gold (Noisette), Belle Lyonnaise. 

 Then we come to an end ; the other four must be cut from 

 such varieties as may chance to give ns a fair bloom, bnt 

 which rarely, if ever, do for a show — Niphetos, Madame Willer- 

 moz, Comtesse de Nadaillae, Marie Guillot, Triomphe de 

 Rennes, Celine Forestier, David Pradel, and Homure. Have 

 we ever seen a first-rate stand of twelve Teas and Noisettes 

 without one or two weak blooms ? I have never judged one or 

 seen one anywhere. The problem, then, is (1), How are we to 

 grow very tender Teas out of doors ? (2), How are we to re- 

 tard them enough to show them at the great exhibitions? Mr. 

 George Paul is trying a plan which I tried to describe last 

 year in our .Journal, and I shall be most anxious to see how he 

 succeeds this year. The Tea Roses add immensely to the 

 beauty of a stand ; and whether or not they ought to have 

 points given to them on account of the difficulty of growing 

 them, I think at least they should have points on account of 

 the light shade that they give to a stand of seventy-two dis- 

 tinct Roses, the great majority of which are always crimson 

 and dark-coloured Hybrid Perpetuals. 



There is, however, a good time coming for Tea Roses, as 

 Mr. Boseawen has induced the Bath and West of England 

 Society to give two silver cups at their Show this year. This 

 is to be at Bath, the home of the Tea Rose, and we are sure to 

 have a feast of good things there held, as it is at the very 

 time when Tea Roses are at their best. I consider we owe a 

 deep debt of gratitude to that gentleman for having given us 

 ihis grand opportunity of showing and seeing the Teas under 

 the most favourable circumstances, and I have every confi- 

 dence that the result of his exertions will be a magnificent 

 show. 



The Torquay Rose Society has, in deference to the protest 

 which they have received against holding a two-days show, de- 

 termined most wisely and kindly on only holding it on the 28th 

 of June — a capital fixture. But there is one remarkable feature 

 in their schedule upon which I should like to hear Mr. George 

 Paul's opinion. They have decided that Cheshunt Hybrid and 

 Beauty of Glazenwood are to be excluded from the classes for 

 Teas. Concerning the latter I know nothing, but Cheshunt 

 Hybrid is a Rose so extensively grown that this decision comes 

 as a blow in the face to men who, like me, have hailed the ad- 

 vent of Cheshunt Hybrid as an acquisition in giving us a colour 

 to relieve the white and yellows of our stands of Teas. At the 

 same time I think that the Committee is right. Cheshunt 

 Hybrid is not a Tea pure and simple, nor does Mr. George 

 Paul call it so. Although it is in the list of Teas he calls it a 

 Hybrid Tea ; bnt in habit, growth, and leaf it reminds one far 

 more of a Bourbon than a Tea. Still, such an authority as 

 Mr. Reynolds Hole speaks of it as a Rose which on " examina- 

 tion has all the characteristics in wood, leaf, and habit as the 

 Tea-scented China Rose." That good rosarian, Mr. Walters 

 of Exeter, who spends his whole day in his nursery, in speak- 

 ing of this Rose and praising it said, " Bless you, sir, it is no 

 more a Tea than I am ; it is a climbing Bourbon." When 

 doctors differ who shall decide? Bat the Committee have 

 solved the difficulty so far as they at Torquay are concerned, 

 and they declare that, whatever else it may be, it is not a 

 Tea.— Wild Savage. 



KITCHEN GARDEN ARRANGEMENT. 

 Amongst the customs which have taken deep root in the 

 gardening world is that of having borders and rows of frnit 

 trees (more or less tortured with the view of getting them into 

 some ideal shape which but few ever attain), running parallel 

 with every walk in the kitchen garden. I daresay this answers 

 very well in small gardens where the proprietor is his own 

 head gardener, or where the work is not too much for one 

 trusty man to do all ; but in larger establishments, where the 

 kitchen garden covers from three to ten or more acres, it is 

 questionable if this arrangement is the best. 



I am of decided opinion that it is more economical, and that 

 better results are attainable, by having vegetables by them- 

 selves and fruits by themselves as much as possible. Those 

 who cannot see any beauty or take any interest in a well-kept 

 vegetable garden are to be pitied, but it seems to me that the 

 usual arrangement starts with the idea that there is something 

 loathsome in growing Cabbages, and that we must screen such 

 crops from the eye of the refined, and therefore rows of 

 pigmy trees are planted to separate the ornamental (?) from 

 the useful. If the screen is to be a perfect one, the trees 

 cannot be of much use, as they must be crowded ; on the other 

 hand, if the usefulness of the trees is studied, glimpses be- 

 tween them will often reveal a state of things not quite in 

 harmony with themselves and the borders. Sach borders and 

 such trees entail an immense amount of labour ; and as there 

 are not many gardens where there is more than a sufficiency 

 even when used economically, it is plain that if the borders 

 get more than their share something else must go short, and 

 too often the result is to be seen immediately behind the trees 

 and borders in the shape of poor, scanty, and unclean crops of 

 vegetables, which are an eyesore all the summer and a source 

 of vexation and trouble through the winter. 



The remedy for this state of things is — first of all to ac- 

 knowledge that a continuous supply of good vegetables, includ- 

 ing salad, is often the most difficult as well as the most im- 

 portant part of a gardener's duties. Much skill and attention 

 are required to have Cabbages early in April ; Peas from 

 May to November; Lettuces, Broccoli, or Cauliflower always. 

 Yet these and other equally important crops have to be pro- 

 vided, and the reason the gardener of the period does not fail 

 oftener than he does in this direction is, perhaps, because he 

 generally has some good, useful, though it may be despised, 

 kitchen-garden labourers to prompt him. 



Bat labour to be used economically must all be directed from 

 a central head where all datails are understood. It is human 

 nature to be selfish, and we cannot expect a man whose time 

 is solely occupied with growing vegetables to care very much 

 for fruit trees, and the shanoes are that a root on which the 

 life of a favourite tree depends may be ruthlessly amputated 

 for the sake of growing an extra Cauliflower. I have had 

 many trees on the Paradise and Quince stocks seriously in- 

 jured with the spade and fork before I fenced them off from 

 ordinary labourers. The mischief was not done wilfully, but 

 merely through a lack of sympathy. We know that a work- 

 man who takes an interest in what he U doing is worth twice 

 as much as one who only looks forward for night. Perhaps all 

 are not capable of interesting themselves in gardening matters ; 

 they may not have the requisite talent, or their interest may 

 lie in another direction, but wherever ability or taste show 

 themselves they oaght to be utilised and cultivated by means 

 of heaping responsibility on the shoulders of the possessors, 

 for depend upon it there is nothing can make men of us so 

 quickly as responsibility. 



The work of one department ought to be separated as much 

 as possible from that of another, so that the man in charge 

 of the one may devote his time and attention to the natural 

 difficulties, of which there are sure to be enough, and that he 

 may not have to contend with difficulties made by the thought- 

 lessness of those belonging to another department. 



In the vegetable garden I prefer to see the crops running in 

 hues parallel with and at right angles to the main walks and 

 coming close np to them, every variety being carefully labelled 

 where it can be read from the walk, and all kept in the highest 

 style of cultivation. This is simpler, more systematic, and 

 more economical than the usual arrangement, and there are 

 not many proprietors who would fail to interest themselves as 

 much in a crop of Onions averaging three-quarters of a pound 

 in weight as they would in a row of prettily trained but often 

 fruitless Pear trees. 



Borders there are against the walls, and these are useful for 

 forwarding or retarding according to aspect, but no ordinary 

 labourer's spade must come within 6 feet of the wall if the 

 frnit trees are expected to flourish. — William Tatloe. 



VALLOTA PURPUREA CULTURE. 



As the finest of bulbous window plants, the most useful of 

 late summer greenhouse evergreens, and most gorgeous of 

 plants for masiing to flower in September and October, the 

 Vttllota merits notice. As a window plant grow it in a pot of 

 twice the diameter of the bulbs, and after draining sufficiently 

 employ a compost of turfy loam and one part of leaf soil or 



