Novomber '26, 1868. ] 



JODBNAL OF HORTIOULTUKB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



3'JT 



it matters little. It does not pay a I'lnm cultivator to wait 

 until the fruit are (juite ripe ; they would not carry to market 

 in Rood condition, and tlio losses arising from spoilt fruit, 

 through bad weather and other causes, are sometimes -very 

 serious indeed. A day of rain makes sad havoc amongst ripe 

 Plums ; I have seen hundreds of bushels destroyed ; the skin 

 cracks, and the fruit splits and is totally spoiled. Mr. Dancer 

 runs no risks of this sort, but gathers the fruit aa soon as it 

 will sell. 



Another variety of Plum, largely cultivated, and held very 

 high in Mr. Dancer's estimation, is the Prince of Wales, which 

 is a medium-sized roundish fruit, with a bright purplish skin. 

 This is also of second-rate quality ; the flesh is somewhat 

 coarse and of a yellowish colour. It belongs to what is called 

 the Orleans class, and is a most excellent culinary variety and 

 a most abundant bearer. There is no variety of Plum which 

 can be depended on with so much certainty of a crop as this ; 

 there is never a season in which it does not bear one. It 

 might be called frost-proof, its peculiarity, which at the same 

 time is also a great recommendation, being that the flowers 

 and the leaves expand at one time, so that the leaves, which 

 are large, become in a great measure a protection to the flowers. 

 There are seldom frosts severe enough to injure the young 

 fruits which are thus protected. In the case of every other 

 variety that I am acquainted with, the flowers open a good 

 while in advance of the leaves, and so are quite unprotected 

 for a time. The tree grows freely and to a tolerably good size ; 

 yet here again it is subject to another peculiarity — freak it 

 might be called. It is this ; The trees may have attained a 

 good size and appear as healthy as need be ; they blossom well, 

 and there is every appearance of a good crop, when suddenly 

 one or two droop their leaves, shrivel up, and die. No, not 

 quite ; for if left alone until next season the main stem or 

 trunk will throw out some young shoots, which, when the 

 entire dead top is taken off, will again grow up into a tree, 

 thus showing that the cause of death — the death of the top at 

 least — did not arise from any defective root action, the roots 

 being quite sound and active. Mr. Dancer has numbers of trees 

 going ofl' in this way every year, yet he is totally unable to 

 account for this result in any way. I myself have examined 

 both the living and dying trees, and can assign no reason for 

 its occurrence. There is no gumming, nor anything of that 

 sort apparent, which would be likely to cause the mischief. 

 Apropos of this, a certain grower of this particular variety of 

 Plum, the Prince of Wales, some two or three years ago sued a 

 certain company for damages for having caused the death of 

 several of his Plum trees, through the establishment of some 

 works immediately adjoining, from which great quantities of 

 smoke and other noxious gases were distributed. I believe 

 the Plum grower gained his point ; yet here, in Mr. Dancer's 

 grounds, are the Prince of Wales Plum trees dying off in 

 exactly the same manner, without, as Mr. Dancer says, the 

 slightest suspicion of any such cause. Despite this drawback, 

 it is a Plum which Mr. Dancer highly recommends, and I am 

 able here to state that he has upwards of three hundred trees 

 of it in cultivation. 



The next Plum which I shall notice is Mitchelson's. It 

 ought properly to have been mentioned first, as it is one of 

 Mr. Dancer's " bringing out." It is cultivated very extensively 

 at Little Sutton, and greatly valued. It is a rather small, 

 roundish-oval, black Plum, somewhat like a Damson, but larger 

 than that, and not quite so large as the Diamond, which it 

 also sometimes resembles when well grown, as Mr. Dancer has 

 it. Mr. Dancer grows a very great number of trees of this 

 sort. There are lines upon lines of them from 10 to 20 and 

 iiO feet high ; and every tree this season, and for that matter 

 every year, is a perfect sheet of black (there are more fruit than 

 leaves), with the thickly clustered fruit. It is, indeed, a most 

 prodigious bearer, and very valuable as a market Plum. A 

 portion of Mr. Dancer's ground having been required by the 

 new railway to Eichmond, about two hundred of these Mit- 

 chelson's Plums were removed to other quarters two years ago. 

 Almost every tree is growing, and many of them were well 

 loaded with fruit. Plum trees bear removal very easily, and if 

 unfruitful it is an excellent plan of inducing fertility. Mr. 

 Dancer was the first to bring this Plum into such good repute 

 as it now enjoys, and nobly he shows it ofE. Although a very 

 profitable variety for the market gardener, it is not in my 

 opinion so good in any way as Prince Englebert, which at first 

 sight might pass for Mitchelson's. It is more oval in form, 

 larger, and sweeter. Mitchelson's Plum usually ripens Ln the 

 end of August ; this year it was much earlier. It is often 



confused with Ickworth Impfratrice, from which it is totally 

 distinct, the Ickworth ImpOratrice being quite a late Pluiu. 



ROSE LORE. 



A WHITE Bose seems to have been unknown to the ancients , 

 and, indeed, until comparatively modern times, consequently 

 from liodoii, ruddy, its Greek designation, almost all the nations 

 of Europe have adopted a name of synonymous meaning. 

 Jtusa, it.s Latin designation, has the same reference to colour, 

 and it is surprising — because without a parallel — that nearly 

 every European nation has done likewise. In Anglo-Saxon it 

 is Rose; in Welsh, liluts ; in Dutch, Iloos ; in German, Host ; 

 in Danish, Rose ; in Swedish, Ros ; in Scotch, Ros ; in French, 

 Ruse: in Italian, Rosa; in Spanish, Rusal ; in Portuguese, 

 Rosrira ; and in Ilnssian, Rosa. 



The unanimity characterising its nomenclature also charac 

 terises the high esteem in which it has always been held. It 

 was the flower dedicated to Love and its birthgiver Beauty — 

 to Cupid and Venus. The arrows of Cupid were said to bo 

 formed of Hose thorns, and his wings of its petals ; he is always 

 fresh, ruddy, and smiling, and his hair as golden as the flower's 

 anthers. The flowers were said to have been created white 

 from nectar spilled by Cupid at a banquet of the gods, bnt 

 that blood from the foot of Venus as she rushed to the aid of 

 Adonis fell on the petals and stained them permanently. 



A deity to whom a flower was dedicated by mortals seems to 

 have exercised the rights of ownership, and to have rededicated 

 that flower to such as he or she deemed meriting the distinc- 

 tion, or even as a bribe. Thus, Cupid, like a dutiful son, 

 dedicated the liose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to en- 

 gage him not to betray the evil acts of his mother Venus. 

 Hence it became the emblem of silence ; was held up as ft 

 polite check to the loquacious, and was placed upon the guest 

 table to intimate that the conversation around it was confi- 

 dential. With a similar intent the Greeks also wore Hoses at 

 their feasts ; Comus, deity of the table, and Hebe and Gany- 

 mede, nectar-bearers to the gods, were crowned with Roses. 

 •* None, crown'd with Roses, drink the insipid spring ; 

 No joy to mortals thin potations bring. 

 Bacchus loveH flowers; to Bacchus garlands dear; 

 Witness the starry wreath on Ariadne's hair. " — Grid. 



When auricular confession prevailed here, the English clergy 

 wore commonly a Rose, and it frequently was retained by them 

 until about a century and a half since. 



The Rose also was placed in the hand of one of the Graces, 

 and wreathed the heads of two of the Muses, Erato and 

 Thalia ; it was also the emblem of youth, and sculptured on 

 the tombs of the maiden dead. Even the tombs of all ages 

 were decked with its flowers. 



" When life's no more their odonrs shed 

 A grateful fragrance o'er the dead ; 

 'Tis well, for when their charms decay, 

 And sinking, fading, die away. 

 Triumphant o'er the work of time. 

 They keep the fragrance of their prime."— .ifnacr^on. 



Even now in some parts of Wales it is customary to plant a 

 white Rose upon a maiden's grave, and a red liose on the grave 

 of any one of noted excellence. 



The Rose has always been preferred as the emblem of Beauty 

 but it is also associated with effeminacy and voluptuousness. 

 Gallienus, the Roman Emperor, justified this association by 

 having in summer time a bed of Rose petals, and he, like 

 Smindyrides, complained that a crease in one of them caused 

 pain. 



At Athens, early in May, at the festival of Hymen, the 

 maidens and lads were crowned with Roses. Similar crowns 

 were awarded to poets, and the Feast of Koses was one of the 

 assemblies of the Troubadours. 



Nor has the Rose escaped from association with supersti- 

 tion. In mediaeval times the maiden gathered Roses on Mid- 

 summer eve, 



" And hid it, for her shepherd's sake. 



Await the new year's frolic wake — 



When, faded, in its altered hoe 



She read, ' My lover is untrue ;' 



But if retained the crimson paint. 



Her sick'ning hopes then ceas'd to faint." 



It has been a custom for the popes annually to bless and per- 

 fume a Golden Rose tree, and to send it to some sovereign or 

 other eminent person who has markedly served the cause of 

 Romanism. The French Empress had it presented to her by 

 the present pope. This ceremony of blessing the Golden liose 

 was instituted by Pope Leo IX., who was elected to the ponti 



