September 24, 1868. J 



JOURNAL OF nORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



219 



ROSES WHEEE THE SOIL AND CLIMATE 

 ARE UNFAVOURABLE. 



AST year I was obliged, by change of resi- 

 dence, to invest in a new stock of Roses, and 

 as I was rather rusty in the new varieties, I 

 settled upon a list supplied by Mr. Radclylle, 

 and purchased all the varieties he mentioned, 

 addinj:; to them some I was familiar with 

 myself I am under many disadvantages as 

 regards Rose-culture, therefore I think my 

 experience during the season may be of use 

 to some who are intending to purchase, this month or next. 

 It may show those who live, as I do, in a cold north-mid- 

 land county of Ireland on high plateau land, what kinds it 

 will be tlieir wisdom to select. If Mr. Radclyiie read this 

 paper, and condescend to make any remarks upon it, cor- 

 recting any errors I may liave made in culture, I shall 

 feel very grateful. I have derived very great benelit from 

 liis able articles of this time last year, and have endea- 

 voured, as far as I was able from circumstances to do so, 

 to carry out liis instructions. 



My garden is partly a Hat, and partly a slope ; the flat 

 faces south-west, the slope north-east. I divided the one 

 from the other by a wall of wooden boards, painted bl.ack, 

 against which I planted Roses. I dug a very deep walk 

 next to the Rose border, and made a second plantation on 

 the other side of it. The Rose borders were dug out nearly 

 4 feet deep, and were filled with a mixture of good loam 

 from a p.asture field, hotbed manure, leaf mould, earth from 

 old Potato ground, and a good admixture of sand. The 

 rest of the Roses were planted in beds cut out of grass, in 

 the north-east-facing slope. They had more manure, but 

 less fresh earth and leaf mould than their sisters on the 

 wall and next to it. 



As the climate here is very wet, causing the frost to be 

 particularly mischievous, I covered all the plants well with 

 fern and stable manure during the winter. Here, I am 

 sure, I was wrong, for the ■\\'inter was excessively mild, 

 and they did not need protection, and the covering made 

 them push a number of weakly premature shoots. Some 

 of these when I pruned in March I left on, and there was 

 not a decent blossom on one of them. 



At first I was inclined to disagree with Mr. Radclyff'e as 

 to the relative merits of Manetti and Briar stocks. The 

 Briar Roses pushed earlier, and at first more vigorously 

 than the others, which rushed mostly from the top, and 

 exhibited long, lanky, ill-furnished stems for some time ; 

 but by the middle of .Tune I began to alter ray opinion, 

 and I am now entirely convinced that ]\Ir. Radclyffe is 

 right. The Manetti-stocked Roses have distanced those 

 on the Briar altogether, and are now (in September), 

 giving a very fair quantity of young wood, which will 

 bloom at the end of the month or in October. 



I gave them a great quantity of water, quite as much 

 as Mr. Radclyft'e says he gave his, let it How freely over 

 their leaves, supplied them well with superphosphate, 

 stuTed the soil about them every second day, and up to 

 the end of .Tidy had very little mildew indeed, though all 

 No. 391.— Vol. XV., New Seeies, 



the gardens about were white with it. I was absent for 

 the entire month of August, rather a wet month here ; 

 when I returned home I found a great deal of mildew and 

 orange fungus. I have nearly got this under now, but the 

 Roses on tlte north-east slope look very far from healthy. 

 Their leaves have mostly dropped ofl', they are making very 

 little blooming wood, and such blossoms as are on them 

 are poor and stunted. Does Mr. Radclyff'e think that this 

 arises from the aspect not being sufficiently warm for them, 

 or does he think that it would be well to dig them up, and 

 enrich the beds '.' 



Marc-hal Niel, I suspect, like Mr. Radclyffe's plant last 

 year, had bad roots. It is on the Briar stock, and came 

 from the nursery a nice-looking plant with one shoot about 

 S inches long, "it hardly grew at all till the middle of 

 July, since which time it lias made a considerable quantity 

 of wood, but only now has it condescended to show any 

 flower buds. It has never had either mildew or fungus 

 on it. though the Rose next to it, Madamr Fillioii. has 

 been bad in both these particulars. Mr. Kent described 

 Madame Fillion last year as delicate in constitution. I 

 have not found it such, but if it do not give me better 

 flowers next year tlian this season I shall discard it. The 

 blossoms opened all to one side, and were not worth 

 looking at. I consider them rose-coloured, not salmon- 

 coloured at all. 



ItKshtdn Biidcli/Jf'c arrived a miserably small plant. At 

 first it was very sickly, but in .Tuly it began to grow, and 

 on the Tilth of that month it had by far tlic most mag- 

 nificent blossom for size and colour 1 ever saw in my Ufa. 

 It was enormous, quite double, beautifully shaped, and 

 nearer the colour of the Lobelia fulgens than of any other 

 flower I can think of Afterwards it gave a few more 

 beautiful blossoms, not equal to tlie cue described, but 

 it is now healthy, and has a good many buds 



very fine ; 

 on it. 

 Oeortjr 



Prince bloomed abundantly, and has made good 

 wood. It is a double, well filled, small Rose, of a bright 

 cerise crimson. 



Chiirles Wiinil is very valuable, the blossoms large, 

 double, durable, of a fine bright crimson ; the habit of the 

 plant very free, and apparently an abundant autumn 

 bloomer. 



Dr. Amlre and Jran Roscnlcrnntz are very like each 

 other, both in blossom and foliage. Tlie bloom of the 

 former is gi-and in every respect ; tlie foliage of the latter 

 large, glossy, and luxuriant. They resemble each other 

 also in producing their blooms on singularly long flower- 

 stalks. 



Lord Chjde, first-rate. The colour particularly rich, 

 more scarlet than any other Rose, except Rushton Rad- 

 clyffe ; a good grower, and good bloomer. 



Charh's Lefdicrch.ai\. some beautiful blossoms : and upon 

 the whole, where they are good, it is about the best Rose 

 out, but the blossoms seem to sutler much from the attacks 

 of some insect (I could never find it, though I saw its 

 traces), and the habit of the plant is very scraggy ; I have 

 have always found it to be so. 



Marh'hal VntUxnt, first-rate ; shape, colour, fidness, 

 No. 1048.— Vol. XL., Old Seeies. 



