Fobrunry 27, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



167 



I '11 write to those kind gentlemen, and toll them, and then, 

 perhaps, before we are all exterminated, they will let Bome 

 one say a word in behalf of a onco-loved but now neglected — 

 OLD-iAsnioNED Flowkr. 



RAISING KOSES FROM SEED. 



Now, as Mr. Rivers tells us in his charming " Hose Guide " 

 — now is the time for sowing Rose seeds — " in February or by 

 the first week in JIarch ; the young plants will, perhaps, make 

 their appearance in April or May." Mr. W. Paul in his '• liose 

 Garden " advocates autumn sowing : " So soon as gathered let 

 them bo sown ; they will then break through the ground in 

 the following March, and, probably, some of the Autumnals will 

 flower the first year." But bow very little is done in England 

 in the way of raising Roses — not because our climate is un- 

 suitable, for some of our best Remontants (all honour to their 

 originators), are English seedlings. What a comfort, too, it is 

 when in the catalogues one meets with an English appellation, 

 although this is not alsvays a sure sign, such as sturdy .John 

 Hopper ; Beauty of Waltham, our best red climber ; the Tea 

 Devoniensis, which still holds its own against all comers ; and 

 our new friends, charming Princess Mary and not less charm- 

 ing Miss Ingram, who is just going to have her first season 

 under Mr. Turner's auspices. 



It is not a task of any great difficulty to raise seedling Rases. 

 I do not mean to cross ; this would require careful study of 

 the great Rose authorities' instructions ; but any one can 

 collect the seed pods that every season form on some of the 

 good Roses, and have them sown, and then there is a chance 

 of something good resulting. The older and common Roses 

 are hardly worth taking ; but such as General Jacqueminot, 

 Jules Margottin, Geant des Batailles, Coupe d'Hcbe, Prince 

 Camille, and Safrano, ripen seed readily in our southern coun- 

 ties, and out of the vast quantity of seed that is allowed to 

 waste every year, surely something might be raised that would 

 be worth keeping and caring for. It would introduce, too, an 

 interesting novelty into the Rose garden for each enthusiast to 

 have his seed plot to show his friends, and excite their envy ; 

 and even the privates in our Rose army would then feel like 

 Napoleon's veterans, that they, too, each carried a possible 

 Marochal Niel in their knapsack. 



If the man is to be accounted a benefactor to his race who 

 makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, 

 how much more the originator of a really good Rose ? And 

 then the delight of naming it ! " Glory of somewhere," of 

 course ; or, if white, what a delicate compliment to some fair 

 lady ! or, if red, to some red coat ! or, perhaps, the happy 

 owner prefers giving it a title ; for it is pleasant to have people 

 with handles to their names connected with us — say a Mar- 

 quis at least — let us say the Marquis of Carabas I as poor Bc- 

 ranger sang — 



" Chapeau has ! Chapeau bas '. 

 Gloire au Marquis do Carabas t" 

 -A. C. 



THE CLOCHE. 



Much has been written on the subject of French and English 

 gardening of late, and it seems to have been generally admitted 

 that while in the broad features of horticulture we are far 

 beyond the French, there are some points on which they are 

 equally in advance of us, and that one of these points is the 

 production of good winter salading. Now in this verdict I 

 most heartily agree. While they are admirable theorists in 

 every department of horticulture, good experimentalists, and 

 careful manipulators, yet they can show nothing comparable to 

 some of the grand achievements of practical gardening of 

 which we are so justly proud. Their private gardens, whether 

 those of the nobility or wealthier merchants, are not to be 

 named with ours, while their nurseries are very far inferior. 

 Take the very best of those about I'aris, and what are they to 

 some of our great metropolitan establishments ? "A molehill 

 to Olympus ;" — badly kept, confined in space, and limited in 

 their collections. The public gardens in Paris are certainly 

 fine ; but here the lavish expenditure of Emperor Haussmann, 

 a greater man than Napoleon himself, supplies those sinews of 

 war which are so grudgingly given in most private establish- 

 ments abroad : and even here I question if we are not rapidly 

 treading on their heels. They have nothing, not even the Pare 

 de Monceaux, to compare with Mr. Gibson's wonderful achieve- 

 ment at Battersea ; and if the improvements in the Regent's 



Park and other public gardens go on, and the roughs allow 

 them to remain, we may hope that we shall not be so very far 

 behind them. 



As regards the salading, go when you will to the Halles 

 Centrales — (oh I that we iiad such a place instead of dear, dirty, 

 dingy Covent Garden) — you are sure to see fine blanched En- 

 dive, splendid Lettuce, and at this season harhi' de cnpucin 

 and other salading. Why cannot we do the same ? Mr. H. 

 Knight, of Pontchartrain, has given in a contemporary an in- 

 teresting account of the manner in which all this is done. But 

 the groundwork and foundation of all is the cliche, or large 

 bell-glass, of which you see hundreds in all the market gardens 

 about Paris ; and unfortunately we cannot manage the cloche. 

 " Not manage it!" some one will say; "why, I thought we 

 could do everything!" Well, it is just this — it will not pay. 

 Full of zeal on the subject, and thinking it afforded a fair 

 opportunity for some of our glass merchants to do a "stroke 

 of business," I went the other day to the head of one of our 

 leading firms^Mr. Phillips, of Bishopsgate Street, and had a 

 talk with him about the cloche. He had tried it, and doubtless 

 if it could be managed it would suit their purpose, as the liquid 

 glass which remains in the bottom of the vessels after the finer 

 material is run off would do, and it could be made by boys ; 

 but he assured me that the straw for packing to send away 

 cost more than the cloches themselves ; that if a person were 

 living near the factory where he might carry them away, it 

 might answer, but that it would never pay to have to pack them 

 and send them any distance from the manufactory; so that 

 I fear it is hopeless for us to expect to obtain them. 



In the course of conversation Mr. Phillips also mentioned 

 that he had failed in endeavouring to make a glass suitable for 

 putting over bunches of Grapes on a wall. Here the difficulty, 

 as I understood, was that in seeking to make it of the oval 

 shape necessary, it was impossible to avoid making the base 

 (if I may so call it) convex, and so prevent its lying close to 

 the wall. Perhaps some one may suggest a means whereby 

 this difficulty can be overcome. — D., Veal. 



CATERriLLARS ON BEDDING PLANTS. 



I SEE one of your correspondents (Mr. F. Fowler, page 12-1), 

 has been troubled with caterpillars on his softwooded plants, 

 and that he thinks they are the larvae of the Cabbage Moth. It 

 would be well if he could settle the question satisfactorily, as 

 it is an interesting one. I have my doubts on the subject. 



In common with many of your readers I have suffered from 

 this caterpillar plague. Having this year more than five 

 thousand seedling Pelargoniums of the bedding class, with 

 almost an equal number of named varieties, I found it a serious 

 business to have them all looked over plant by plant several 

 times during the winter, to search for green caterpillars resem- 

 bling in colour so closely the leaves on which they feed. Wish- 

 ing to know to what moth I was indebted for this pest, I fed a 

 number of the caterpillars, which varied in colour from green to 

 brown. I had little doubt they would turn out the larva> of the 

 Yellow Underwing, as they exactly resembled the figures o£ 

 that caterpillar in Curtis's " Farm Insects." Out of eight, 

 varying from bright green to dark brown, six moths have come 

 to perfection, and they are all Angle Shades Moths (Phlogo- 

 phora meticulosa). The colour of the caterpillars depends, I 

 think, on their age, the eldest being generally the darkest. 

 Though I am quite satisfied all the caterpillars I have seea 

 feeding on Pelargoniums are of this kind, another species may 

 have troubled your correspondent. — J. R. Peaf.son, Chilwell. 



IMPROVED MELVILLE'S VARIEGATED 

 BROCCOLI. 



Foe winter decoration we find these varieties very valuable. 

 Last spring we had a bed of them mixed with Hyacinths, and 

 they were the admiration of all who saw them. At this season 

 one of the bright-coloured heads, surrounded with a few hardy 

 spring flowers, and a sprig or two of Box tree, make an excel- 

 lent bouquet for table decoration. 



We could have sent you a good many more varieties, but 

 those now sent will give you some idea of the strain. We hope 

 still further to improve these, and have had some really bril- 

 liant colours selected for seed. — Stuart & Mein, KeUo, 



[We received about twenty specimens, each differing from 

 the others, all beautifully ourled, and varying in tints of creamy 



