lis 



JotJENAii OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



t February 13, 1873. 



took the lead. The four plants entered for the premier prize in 

 Grey edges were all of this variety — an eyidence of the opinion 

 entertained of it by growers, and well it deserves the partiality 

 sho^Ti to it. Next in excellence I must, I think, put Light- 

 body's Richard Headley. Although some have found fault 

 with it for not opening flat, with me it generally did so. Good 

 old Lightbody had a high opinion of his Robert Traill, but I 

 have never had a satisfactory bloom of it. Chapman's Maria, 

 although not sufficiently defined in its edge, was yet most 

 lovely, and no lover of the Auricula can ever dispense with so 

 beautifully coloured a flower. Cheetham's Lancashire Hero, 

 which before the advent of George Lightbody was considered 

 the best grey edge, was also very fine ; it is, however, some- 

 what late in blooming. Fletcher's Ne Plus Ultra although 

 very large was coarse, and while I must keep it for the stage, 

 I question very much if it will ever do for the exhibition table 

 again. Waterhouse's Conqueror of Europe is another old 

 flower of good character, but still not equal to the more 

 modern ones. 



White edges are a scarce class. Taylor's Glory seems almost 

 a thing of the past, and yet it is the very best and purest 

 white edge we have, many of the others having quite as much 

 grey as white in them. This is the fault with Smiling Beauty 

 and Eopplewell's Conqueror, while Countess of Dunmore has 

 the division in the segments too marked. Two of the best 

 white-edged Jlowers I had last season were Smith's League and 

 Ne Plus "Ultra ; the latter, especially, was very good. 



_ Selfs are a numerous class, and a very attractive one. Spal- 

 ding's MetropoUtan was lovely with me ; its intensely beautiful 

 blue captivated all who saw it. Campbell's Pizarro is one of 

 the best dark-coloured flowers we have, although at times apt 

 to spHt ill the paste. But the best flower of that type that I 

 had was Lightbody's Lord Clyde, a deep rich maroon with a 

 dark green leaf. Spalding's Blackbird was also very good, 

 although apt to be a httle thrum-eyed— that is, to throw up 

 the stamens above the eye. I did iiot see, except in very im- 

 perfect form, Campbell's new Selfs, but Mr. Horner, no mean 

 authority, thinks highly of them. 



I have a few notes on some seedlings of which pips were sent 

 to me, and I may give them next week, and must now close 

 these rambhng notes. — D., Deal. 



tointerr the beginning of September." These and other opera- 

 tions the reader is advised to carry on during " benign inter- 

 vals," but whether such are to be looked for and taken advan- 

 tage of in the weather or the cultivator, does not very plainly 

 appear. — -E. D. Taylob. 



[The leaf sent to us by our welcomed correspondent is from 

 the third edition of a book of which we have seen only the 

 first edition. This is entitled, " Dictionarum Rusticum ; or a 

 Dictionary of Husbandry, Gardening, Trade, and Commerce. 

 With plates ; two volumes 8vo., 1704." We do not know the 

 date of the second edition, but the third was pubhshed in 

 1726, and the fourth in 1728. On the leaf sent is a list of the 

 books on gardening " made use of " by the compilers, and 

 among them is " Mrs. Ives' Way of Ordering GiUiflowers and 

 double Stocks, 4to." If that list was in the edition of 1704 

 we overlooked it. 



Miisures, we believe, were the species of Mouse-ears. Flames 

 or Fla my are a rare old local name for the Pansy. lioses nf 

 Geldahond are our Gueldre Eoses. Bee-flotoer is the Ophrys 

 apifera. Star-floieer is our Aster. Muskets are the Musked 

 Crane's-bill. Jacinths are Hyacinths. Tripol]) is our Aster 

 Tripolium. — Eds.] 



MRS. IVES' BOOK ON GILLIFLOWERS. 



In my inquiries about the old name GilUflowers, it would 

 seem that I have stumbled upon traces of what must be a very 

 rare book indeed, when you doubt its ever having been in 

 existence. That such a book was pubhshed, however, there 

 can bo little doubt, and I am not without hopes of being able 

 by-and-by to make and estabUsh for her the claim— not an 

 unenviable one— of being the first lady writer on horticulture 

 in England. 



The enclosed leaf is taken from a short list of old books on 

 gardening and rural economy, and in it you will see mentioned 

 the good old lady's (luarto volume. I have also seen it in 

 another old catalogue, which 1 am sorry is not now in my pos- 

 session, but I am nearly positive that the date there assigned 

 to it was 1690. 



The work mentioned at the head of the list I send you is 

 entitled " A Dictionary of Husbandry, CJardeniug, Trade, Com- 

 merce, and all sorts of Country Affairs. Printed in London 

 for .James and .John Knapton and others," and bears the date 

 of 172(5 on the third edition. The compilers of this dictionary 

 give Mrs. Ives' book as one of tlieir books of reference ; so that 

 from this you will sec, although not entombed in the British 

 Museum, it is not entirely forgotten, and its authoress, if she 

 be a myth, is at least a very old one. 



In this same dictionary may also be found most of the old 

 names I mentioned; thus under the heading of "May" we 

 read—" This month presents us with an infinite number of all 

 sorts of flowers, such as Tuhps, Stock-Gilhflowers of all colours. 

 Primroses both deep and pale blue, Musures, Daisies, Flames, 

 Spring Honeysuckles, Eoses of Geldabond, single Anemones, 

 single and double Narcissuses, Peonies both of the flesh or 

 carnation, and of the very red colour like the Persian Lily, 

 Bee-flowers, Star-flowers, Julians, Yellow Trefoil growing on' a 

 .shrub, Marigolds, Sedums, Muskets, white Stock-Gilliflowers, 

 Columbines, Plumed or Panached Jacinths, yellow Martagons, 

 and a multitude more." And in the calendar for October, 

 " The planting of Ranunculuses, Tripoly, A'ernal Crums, etc., 

 and to remove seedling Holy-Hocks and others are also proper, 

 as 'tis the time of year to plant choice Tulips which you feared 



EOSES IN THE NOETS. 



Every admirer of the queen of flowers must feel deeply 

 grateful to Mr. Hinton for his most interesting and pains- 

 taking Rose poU, and it is to be regretted that there seems to 

 have been no return from these northern regions. Although 

 it is not to be expected we could compete in the cultivation of 

 England's emblem, stiU it would have been interesting to have 

 noted the varieties possessing the hardihood of constitution to 

 succeed among our Thistles. Being of the " modest Rose- 

 growing" class, cultivating only some 150 varieties, I do not 

 intend now to step forward with a supplementary list as the 

 Scottish representative, but merely to note two or three varie- 

 ties that do, and as many more that do not, succeed with us. 



To begin, then. The premier Rose, Charles Lefebvre, well 

 deserves his place — a most robust free grower and constant good 

 bloomer, making shoots often fuUy 10 feet in length in a season ; 

 and I have had the pleasure of cutting well-formed blooms, 

 the other mild fall so late as the 4th of December. Would I 

 could say as much for the gorgeous-coloured Marechal Niel. 

 Since its introduction I have spent more money in its pur- 

 chase than I dare reckon up ; I have tried it extensively on its 

 own roots, Manetti, Briar, and Glohe de Dijon, and all these 

 years to no purpose, for I have never been rewarded by even a 

 single bloom, except when the flower-buds had been well deve- 

 loped under glass before being planted-out. I have grown it 

 on walls, trellises, and poles. On its own roots it will not sur- 

 ^"ive a sharp winter ; on the Manetti stock it is little better ; on 

 the Briar, trained peudulously, I have forced it into flower-bud 

 in April, but on the slightest check the buds dropped, and again 

 it would bear another crop of promise in autumn — too late to 

 open. Mr. Rivers, jun., made a valuable discovery in finding 

 Gloire de Dijon was its most suitable stock. I was delighted 

 with a beautiful box of blooms exhibited in early summrr a 

 year or two ago at a Glasgow show ; they were grown in the 

 open air, but on making imiuiry I found the stock on which 

 the plant was budded was Gloire de Dijon. The locality— the 

 warm and sheltered sea-beach on the southern shore of an 

 arm of the Clyde — and the enthusiastic grower, to eifect his 

 purpose, having availed himself of the additional warmth 

 afforded by the flue of a baker's oven to which the plant was 

 trained, explained the phenomenon. In Scotch catalogues, at 

 least, this Rose ought always to be described as for the con- 

 servatory only ; out of doors it is an utter failure. 



No. H, Alfred Colomb, is too weak a grower to have gained 

 such prominence, but it is at the same time a very free bloomer, 

 and possesses the additional advantage of being bright and fast 

 in colour, not sporting to the many shades of purple numbers 

 of the reddish crimson class do. Madame Rothschild, coming 

 next in order, is of a nice soft colour, and beautiful in the 

 half-expanded stage, but altogether lacks the central stuff of 

 her next-door neighbour, John Hopper, first-rate in every re- 

 spect. Souateur Vaisse, too, is lower down than I would have 

 anticipated ; as for colour, growth, and free-blooming qualities 

 it is hardly to be equalled, and as a competition flower it is 

 generally awarded the proud distinction of the best bloom in 

 the room at exhibitions in our quarter. I recollect of seeing 

 a large quarter in a nursery, planted with all the Hybrid Per- 

 petual varieties, quite a blakse of beauty at the time of my 



