Aognst !iO, 18C8. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



123 



seasons, find owing to the intenso heat very few flowera were 

 to be Been. 



There were, however, two rowa of Marcchal Niel worth going 

 a hundred miles to see. They were two-year-old plants budded 

 as half-standards on the Briar, the branches tied down to a 

 sort of rough framework, and from one end to the other dozens 

 upon dozens of brilliant blooms in all stages. Away with those 

 who babbled about its being the worst introductioli for many 

 years. It is the grandest Kose we have had introduced to 

 EngUsh gardens for many a year, and I have never seen it 

 necessary to abate one jot of the praise I gave to it when 

 Engone Verdier first showed it to me in Paris, if only it ful- 

 filled conditions as to growth, &c., of which 1 could not theu 

 speak, bat which it most certainly has done. At any time 

 during the summer, Mr. Keynes said, he oould have cut dozens 

 of blooms from these two rows. On young plants it may, from 

 its very free growth, be shy of blooming, although I have not 

 found it to be so, but afterwards it is one of the freest of 

 bloomers, and certainly one of the very finest Roses we have. 



The very exceptional season which we have had told upon 

 Mr. Keynes's Koses as upon those of everyone else, mildew 

 being prevalent ; but at the same time I never saw a finer- 

 looking lot of plants, whether on Briar or Manetti stocks. 

 About 50,000 on the latter were especially fine, and great care 

 had evidently been taken to cut out the eyes of the stock under 

 ground, for there was scarcely a Manetti shoot to be seen, and 

 all who have grown Boses on this valuable stock know what a 

 boon this is. 



With regard to sorts, I had a long chat with Mr. Keynes, 

 and our opinions on the older varieties were very much in 

 accord. With regard to the new I could not say much, as my 

 opportunities for seeing them had been but few. Those that 

 he had marked as especially good were Ehe Morel (Liabaud), 

 rosy lilac ; Louis Bulliat (Gonod), bright crimson shaded with 

 violet black; Madame Cirodde (C. Verdier), clear rose, extra 

 good ; Madame or Baronne de Rothschild (Fernet), bright rose 

 shaded with white : it has been exhibited this year, and was 

 certainly very beautiful ; the only doubt I had was as to ils 

 being full enough. Merveille d'Anjou, splendid bright re.l, 

 large and full : this is highly thought of. If good it is, I think, 

 the first Rose of first-class merit Touvais has raised. Keine 

 de Midi (Rolland), delicate rose. La France was not so highly 

 thought of, having too much of the Tea Rose in it, but I am 

 inclined to think it will be a good and useful Rose and bloom 

 very constantly. 



Who has seen Oomtesse de Jaucourt this season ? Many 

 were the sly shakes of the head, in the true Lord Burleigh 

 style, as to what a grand stroke they would make who propa- 

 gated it. Nobody, or next to nobody, knew anything about 

 her ; but she was a star. It might be so, and like the Unknown 

 Knight in " Ivanhoe," she might vanquish all comers; but I 

 doubted, and I could not learn anything about her here. Not 

 so a Rose which seems unaccountably in its year of introduc- 

 tion to have escaped notice, but is now unquestionably in the 

 front rank — Marie Baumann. Mr. Keynes considers it even 

 superior to Alfred Colomb — one of our very best Roses, as I 

 predicted it would be. Again, another Rose of which I would 

 say a word, and which many saw this year — Monsieur Noman 

 — when I last mentioned it I was under the impression that I 

 had hastily condemned it last year, and made my amende ac- 

 cordingly. It was not so, however. The Rose I condemned 

 was Madeleine Noman raised by Gonod, and not Monsieur 

 Noman, which was raised by Guillot pere. Another Rose much 

 valued here is Hippolyte Flandrin ; it is evidently not a very 

 free bloomer, but the flowers are magnificent. I was glad to 

 find that my judgment with regard to another flower, Made- 

 moiselle Marguerite Dombrain, was fully confirmed here ; and 

 the fact that Mr. Keynes took the second prize with it at Bir- 

 mingham in the stand for the best twelve blooms of any Rose 

 which has been sent out, the first being taken by Alfred Colomb, 

 speaks volumes in its favour. 



Fisher Holmes is another good flower that does not receive 

 generally the favour it deserves. It is very brilliant in colour, 

 and the form of the flower is excellent. Horace Vernet is 

 regarded as too rough, a fault it certainly has ; while Napo- 

 leon III., although brilliant in colour, is too uncertain. Felix 

 Genero is regarded as a beautiful rose-coloured flower, with a 

 dash of violet in it ; and Franvois Treyve, a bright scarlet, large 

 and well-formed, is also highly thought of. I do not remember 

 to have seen either of these, but I have not been much at 

 exhibitions this year. 

 Mr. Keynes's houses were full of splendid-looking Tines in 



pots raised from eyes, and his house of Tea-scented Rosea 

 looked vigorous and well ; iu fact, the same might be said 

 of all the stock. There can be no question that the Salis- 

 bury Dahlias and Roses are destined for more triumphs— a 

 return they are bound to give for the care which they receive. 

 — D., Deal. 



DUG DE MALAKOFF STRAWBERRY. 



In answer to Mr. Radclyffe's letter in the Journal for Au- 

 gust 13th, and to that of Mr. Biggs in the previous number, 

 concerning Duo de Malakoli Strawberry, I received the plants 

 from Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworkh, exactly four years ago, and 

 have no doubt as to their being the true sort. The fruit is large, 

 roundish ; flesh deep red throughout ; the foliage soft and 

 rather downy, and the whole appearance of the plants, as well 

 as of the fruit, quite distinct from that of any other variety 

 which I have. 



I did not allow the juants to bear any fruit the first year, and 

 only saved one runner from each— fifty in all, which I fruited 

 in pots. More plants of it were barren the first year of its 

 fruiting than I hked to see, but it ultimately improved in that 

 respect, as the runners were carefully selected from the fruiting 

 plants. It is now discarded, because the fruit spoils almost as 

 soon as it ripens. Mr. Biggs cannot have the true sort. I 

 would have sent him runners, but have destroyed all the plants. 



Would Mr. Radclyffe be kind enough to say if he would grow 

 Due de Malakoff as one of eight varieties? Andhe would 

 confer a favour on myself and others if he would give the 

 names of the best four Strawberries to ripen with Frogmore 

 Late Pine. — .J. Douglas. 



WOEK NEEDED ON SUNDAYS. 



Are gardeners generally required to water greenhouse plants 

 on Sunday? I have a new man who thinks that plants ought 

 to take care of themselves on that day ; but he says he will 

 water them or do any other work I order (in reason), provided 

 I take the moral responsibility on my own shoulders. I tell 

 him that so long as plants are grown in pots it is an act of 

 necessity to water them on Sunday during the hot months. — 

 Amatede. 



[There is something very entertaining in the proposition of 

 vicarious moral responsibility. Some ill-natured people would 

 be apt to say in the present case, that the tender conscience of 

 the servant was very much akin to mere personal ease and 

 convenience ; but there seems to be such a kind desire in the 

 employer to meet as far as possible the conscientious scruples 

 of his servant, and in the servant there seems to be such a 

 willingness to oblige, combined with honest simplicity and a 

 regard to religious principle, that we would be slow to think 

 that in the present case conscience was made a plea for bodily 

 ease. 



The subject is one that has several times come before us, 

 and that not always in such pleasing aspects as the present. 



On one side it has been contended that* growing plants in 

 pots is no work of necessity, and that therefore watering them 

 could form no work of necessity. We can enter into no serious 

 discussion on this point, for on the same ground we might 

 contend that as a horse kept for pleasure is not a necessary, 

 therefore it is objectionable to feed it or water it. A plant in 

 a pot must have sustenance when it needs it, or it may suffer 

 proportionally with a horse left without sustenance on a Sunday. 

 Men who resolve to do nothing except what is in the highest 

 sense a work of necessity, shoKld confine themselves to trades 

 iu which nothing is required of them on that day. The gar- 

 dener who has religious scruples about watering a flagging 

 plant in a pot on a Sunday may retain his scruples, but he 

 should take to another occupation. He could not, with advan- 

 tage to himself or to his own satisfaction, fill the situation of 

 gardener in the smallest place where plants are grown in pots. 



On the other hand, few men more deserve the Sunday's rest 

 than gardeners. Employers should exact as little from them 

 on that day as possible. We know that in some places it i3 

 the most harassing day of the seven. Employers— often, it 

 may be, as a mark of mistaken kindness— will take their gar- 

 deners along with them over the demesne, and plan futi^a 

 arrangements with them, totally oblivious of the fact that the 

 gardener has had enough of walking for six days already. 

 Others have a habit of giving orders for hampers and packages 



