May 8, 1873. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGE GARDENER. 



great interest. Here and there in nooks ami corners are pieces 

 of statuary, and in prominent positions are to be found busts 

 of Dodoens, Clusius, and other old world botanists and bor- 

 ticnlturists whose names and memories M. de Cannart delights 

 to honour. 



We have given this general account of a charming town 

 garden, to show how much can be done in a small space, and 

 how much enjoyment and instruction may be concentrated 

 even in the centre of a large city, when there is a mind capable 

 of devising, and a will to cairy out so desirable an object. 



CONCERNING EOSES. 



One word about certificates. No Rose should be certificated 

 upon hearsay. It should be a specimen in front of adjudi- 

 cators. It should not only be a good Rose, but distinct and 

 better than those we have in the same line ; and here I must 

 ask permission to thank the French and English raisers for a 

 glorious lot of Roses. 



It is not uncommon to hear persons talk of the new Roses 

 as a pack of trash. Such persons do not know how difKcuIt it 

 is to raise a Rose as good as its parent or parents. It might 

 take a man many years to raise as good a Rose as the worst 

 that comes out annually. It is not a nurseryman's work, but 

 that of an ardent, laborious, and most patient amateur. More- 

 over, it takes four or five years before you can be sure that 

 your seedling is worth anything. Roses grown under glass 

 with solar or fire heat are oftentimes very different in character 

 and attributes from the same Roses grown out of doors. For 

 my part, till Roses are on strong stocks I do not much care to 

 have them. I bought only two last year, from which in my 

 vinery, planted out, I never obtained a flower- — viz.. Baron de 

 Bonstettein and Baronne Louise UxkuU. The former is now 

 in beautiful bud (eight buds), and the latter, a more growthy 

 plant, promises me three or four buds to judge from. I ^viil 

 then report, but it will be an under-glass report. 



I have looked over the Usts of novelties of the year, and as 

 far as reading and guess go I think the trump cards will come 

 out of these. Tea. — Perle de Lyon, Madame Dr. Jutte. 

 Noinrtte. — Madame Caroline Kuster. Hi/hrid PerpeUials. — 

 Claude Levet, Princess Beatrice, Firebrand, Madame Lacharme, 

 Pierre Seletzsky, and AmClie de Pays Bas. 



The Roses here (Dorset) have wintered well. I have lost 

 only one Rose out of 18.51 plants. I have raised the rosery up 

 to 2060 plants ; they are in forward bud. I have just finished 

 the spring priming. I have cut out many shoots with good 

 buds, as it is not well to take a full crop for the first series. 

 It stops continuous blooming. The Roses here lasted in an 

 iinexpanded form till the first Sunday in .lanuary. The last 

 four buds, very fine, were cut from M. de Montigny, one of the 

 finest Roses in its line of colour ; it is the only Rose of which 

 I can say I never lost one. I had originally, many years since, 

 sixteen plants of it, and they are all alive now and in good 

 condition. 



It is good to be " on with the new love before we are off 

 with the old." I have great respect for some of our old Roses 

 which have been given up by some people, such as M. de Mon- 

 tigny, Caroline de Sausal, Baronne Pruvost, Triomphe de Paris, 

 La Ville de St. Denis, Gloire de Vitry, Madame Knorr, and 

 W. Griffiths. 



" A living dog is better than a dead lion." We want strong 

 growers with hardy constitutions, no others will last any time. 

 Such Roses as Louis XIV., Madame Furtado, Marquise de 

 Mortemart, and some others, are very beautiful and may do 

 under glass, but they will not do outside of it. The two best- 

 constitutioned Roses in the world are Gloire de Dijon and 

 Jules Margottin ; nevertheless, Madame Levet, deep buff, is 

 better than the former, and Edouard Morren is better than the 

 latter. They seem equal to them in other attributes. — W. F. 

 RAPCLyrrE. 



BALSAM CULTURE. 

 The common garden Balsam is now one of the most beauti- 

 ful of our summer decorative annuals. It is of East Indian 

 origin, consequently tender. Its position should be in the list 

 of subtropicals. It, like most flowers taken in hand by the 

 florist, has been very much improved, and none but the very 

 best strains should be grown. There are still a number of 

 flimsy trashy varieties sold, of lanky habit and indescribable 

 colour, like the bulk of German Ten-week Stocks ; therefore 

 the first consideration in starting to grow Balsams is to obtain 



good seed; and when a good strain is secured, seed should be 

 saved from picked plants. 



It is no great exaggeration to call many of the better varie- 

 ties Camellia-flowered. The last two years we have h«d some 

 white flowers that were quite reflexed in the petal, and im- 

 bricated, and perfectly double, like Camellia Imbricata, from 

 seed got at a respectable London house; the colours very fine, 

 various shades of red, pink, and almost crimson, white, and 

 mottled, as well as good purples, alongside of which common 

 strains,or indeed no strain at all, would not have been looked at. 

 The quality of flowers, however, depends much on culture. 

 Under the best management it wUl be observed that plants 

 which have yielded vei-y fine flowers when in their progressive 

 stages will, when on the wane, produce flowers quite single, 

 though the colours will be still distinct ; then is the time to 

 secure seed — to obtain a crop of good plump seed in this 

 climate by planting out a selection of the earliest plants, which 

 have flowered in pots, on a bed of rich soil, in the blaze of the 

 sun in the open ah'. This is, however, not necessary to seed 

 saving, only it saves labour in watering and house room ; and, 

 moreover, a Balsam in a seedy state is not ornamental in-doors. 

 The Balsam should be quickly grown when taken in hand ; it 

 requires plenty of sun and air, so that it is not advisable to 

 sow the seed very early in the season. The plants should 

 never be drawn by want of light or room, and not starved for 

 want of pot room if large plants are wanted. A large Balsam 

 can be grown in a comparatively short time under good condi- 

 tions. A bright sun and plenty of air are essential to mature 

 the growth as it progresses. We therefore do not advise to 

 so\: the seed before the first week in April for the first lot ; 

 later sown will even be better. As the sun increases in power 

 and the plants in size, air may be given with more freedom 

 with the advancing season. 



If seed be scarce, we prefer sowing single seeds in small pots, 

 or, if plentiful, more seeds to the pot, selecting one plant and 

 pinching out the rest, ^^'hen they are well up, the pots are 

 placed in a dung frome or warm pit near the glass ; and at once 

 guard against overmuch moisture aud closeness, as the seed- 

 lings will get drawn in one day if forgotten or mismanaged. 

 From the beginning the pots would be better plunged in saw- 

 dust or tan, thinly, but more especially as the plants advance 

 in size, when more air is given ; a steady temperature of from 

 75° to 80" at the root is immensely in their favour ; the top 

 heat may fluctuate very widely without any harm. 



If the seeds have been sown in 3-inch pots, the first shift 

 should be into 6-inch, with one large crock over the hole. 

 They should be shifted when the roots have well hold of 

 the ball of soil but not matted. The plants will be by this 

 time short sturdy fellows if they have not been coddled. Some 

 do not mind their being a little long in the stem, as the balls 

 can be kept low in the pots at the time of shifting, aud the soil 

 brought up to near the first pair of branches ; but we do not 

 advise the practice, because it should not be necessary. When 

 shifted, they must be again plunged, but not in much bottom 

 heat ; the heat of the sun on the plunging material, whether 

 sawdust or tan, will be sufficient in tA&y and onwards. 



At this first shift it will be necessary to speak of soil. We 

 prefer turfy loam of a sandy nature, which has been stacked 

 for a few months with layers of dung put np with it ; the turf 

 will have absorbed the good qualities of the dung. We chop 

 it up rough on the potting bench, and to it we add a third of 

 horse-droppings, which have been prepared for the mushroom 

 liouse, with the bulk of its good qualities remaining, but 

 sweetened for use; old mushroom dung is poor stuff. If the 

 soil is not sufficiently sandy — that is, if it be of a close texture 

 — a small portion of gritty river sand should be added, or sharp 

 pit sand ; fine silver sand is not necessary to such a coarse- 

 rooting plant as the Balsam, although it will do perfectly well. 

 We, however, prefer for coarse-rooted plants a coarser eand. 

 The sand in this instance is not necessary simply to keep the 

 soil open mechanically ; sand is necessary, we believe, as a 

 feeder or digester, especially in very rich soils. A plant will 

 sometimes be found not to root in pure dung, but add a por- 

 tion of sand to the dung, and it roots in it directly. With the 

 above soil the plants may be potted rather firmly. 



Increased attention will now be required to air-giving. The 

 plants must have plenty of room, to allow of a free circulation 

 of air about them, and prevent them shading each other — the 

 lights of the pit tilted half way down the side, not top and 

 bottom, to avoid draughts. They will now make very rapid 

 progress and sturdy growth. Water cautiously for a few days 

 after netting, and always with water of the same temperature 



