4p6 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ May 22, 1878. 



foliaRe to the basp, and covered with superb flowers, as was the 

 case with that best of all Koses for pot-culture, Charles Lawson, 

 iu Mr. Turner's collection. Many of his other plants were 

 quite as healthy and nearly equally well flowered, the largest pro- 

 portion of them being Hybrid Perpetuals. Such specimens are 

 far beyond the reach of ordinary growers, but they showed us 

 what can be done with the queen of flowers as a pot plant. 

 They are specially grown for exhibition, and they well deserved 

 the highest honours that could be awarded them. The smaller 

 specimens, which can be grown and flowered beautifully in 

 8-inch pots, are within the reach of the most modest owner of 

 a greenhouse, and no greenhouse, however small, should be 

 without a few pot Roses. 



Roses are divided into two great sections, which may be 

 subdivided into many more: First, the summer Roses, flower- 

 ing in .Tune and July ; in this section are comprised the Moss, 

 Provence, French or Gallica, Hybrids of Chinese and Bourbon 

 Roses, &o. Second, autumnal Roses, flowering from June to 

 November, or later if frost and snow do not prevent. The most 

 important of this section are the Hybrid Perpetual and Tea 

 Roses ; nor can the Noisettes be omitted, as Marechal Niel is 

 amongst them ; but for culture in small pots the Hybrid Per- 

 petuals and Teas are decidedly the best. With a few of the 

 best varieties of the above, and very little trouble or expense, 

 fresh and fragrant Roses may be cut every month of the year. 

 Roses grown in 8 or 9-inch pots are also more useful for ordi- 

 nary decorative purposes, as they can be worked-in well in the 

 conservatory border or on a greenhouse stage. When well 

 managed such plants also produce better flowers than large 

 specimen plants. 



As a pot plant the Rose is easily managed, and can be grown 

 more satisfactorily in that way than planted out of doors, 

 when soil or other circumstances do not favour vigorous de- 

 velopment. In the garden under my charge it is discouraging 

 ■work to cultivate the Rose out of doors ; we are open to the 

 east winds, we are under the influence of the impure atmo- 

 sphere of the east end of London, and the soil is of the worst 

 possible description — light gravelly stuff of no depth, with a 

 dry gravel subsoil. Our only chance to obtain a good Rose 

 in the open air. is to plant Briars, using as much clayey loam 

 as we can get to mix with the soil, and to bud our own. Some 

 good flowers are obtained the first year from the bud, after- 

 wards they rapidly deteriorate. From our pot Roses grown 

 under glass flowers are being cut which would not suffer Ijy 

 comparison with the noted Roses of Cheshunt or Waltham. 

 A number were grown this year without any forcing, except 

 that a fire was put on in winter on a very few occasions to 

 keep out the frost, and a succession of flowers has been 

 obtained by pruning from November to February, Teas and 

 Hybrid Perpetuals being the sorts grown. The earliest blooms 

 opened about the third week in April, and on some of the 

 latest the buds cannot as yet (May 13th) be discerned. 



Some varieties seem to have a tendency to flower earlier 

 than others. The first to flower (and I am now alluding to 

 those pruned all at one time and subjected to the same treat- 

 ment), was H.P. Louisa Wood, followed closely by Lyonnais, 

 Countess of Oxford, Madame Laurent, Monsieur Woolfield, 

 Climbing Devoniensis, and, last to open, though the best of 

 all, Duke of Edinburgh and Marechal Niel. i)uke of Edin- 

 burgh as a standard or half-standard is a splendid pot Rose ; 

 the buds are very brilliant. 



As a pot plant the Rose is easily managed. I have it on the 

 Briar, the Slanetti, and on its own roots ; the largest propor- 

 tion are on the Manetti stock, and they seem to do well on it. 

 Now is the time to purchase the new Roses which have been 

 grafted on this stock, and can be sent out in good plants grown 

 in 5-inch pots. If they are intended for pot-culture they 

 should be shifted at once into 7-iuch pots, and grown for a 

 ■week or ten days in a greenhouse preparatory to being placed 

 in a sheltered position out of doors ; the plants will grow freely, 

 and will furnish plenty of good eyes for budding on Briar 

 stoAs fcy the end of July. In September all the small shoots 

 may be used for making cuttings, which will, if planted in 

 small pots, root freely in a cold frame under a north wall. 

 The Tea Roses strike out roots the soonest, but very few of 

 the Hybrid Perpetuals fail. As soon as they are rooted pot 

 them off singly in GO-sized pots, and place them in an airy 

 greenhouse or pit ; they will continue to grow all through the 

 winter iu mUd weather, and by May each plant produces three 

 or four flowers, and continues to do so during the summer 

 months. Of course they must be shifted into larger pots. 



To grow Rosea well in pots the soil must be rich, to cause 



them to make strong growth ; use turfy loam of a clayey 

 nature four parts, and one part of rotted stable manure, and 

 if there is much clay in the loam some leaf mould should be 

 added to it or a little sharp sand. They should be potted 

 rather firmly, first placing plenty of potsherds in the bottom 

 of the pot, and some fibry turf over them to prevent the 

 potting material from mixing with the drainage. If the drain- 

 age is choked up the plants will not continue to thrive. 



Potting may be performed at any season, but October is the 

 month when the largest proportion of them should be shifted ; 

 those in large pots should have the ball well reduced, and the 

 plants repotted in pots of the same size as those from which 

 they were turned out. The smaller plants may be shifted into 

 larger pots, or if the size be Umited the roots may be reduced 

 accordingly. At that season no harm will arise from re- 

 ducing the roots to a large extent. Even if the plants are 

 plunged out of doors during winter, the roots will continue 

 to grow and the buds to swell whenever the weather is not 

 too severe. — J. Douglas. 



THE SPBUCE FIR AND ITS FAILURE. 



It is about thh-ty years since a sort of disease attacked this 

 tree, and many succumbed, not, perhaps, just at the time, 

 but in a few years afterwards. Though occasionally outcries 

 have been raised, yet I do not remember of any one season in 

 which tokens of ill health were so manifest as one spring about 

 the time alluded to. I have never been an especial admirer of 

 this tree, and latterly have become less so than before, but I 

 am sorry we are likely to lose it as an ornamental tree, and 

 more certainly as a useful one, for it is seldom we meet with it 

 of any considerable size without showing signs of ill health, 

 from which, when it once sets in, the tree never recovers 

 unless such ill health is from some temporary local cause. 



During the past winter we had here occasion to thin-out some 

 plantations of mixed trees that were planted between thirty 

 and forty years ago, and which had, of course, been thinned as 

 necessary at intervals during that time. The plantation being 

 of mixed trees, it is curious to note that but very few of the 

 Spruce Firs are now left, and amongst those we cut the past 

 winter very few were sound, while at the same time all the 

 Scotch Firs retained their healthy appearance. Whether on 

 the dry stony soil of the upland, or the stiff retentive loam 

 bordering on the clay of the valleys, they seemed iu every 

 case likely to outlive their neighbours by many years. May I 

 ask. How is this ? for both were alike healthy and vigorous for 

 a number of years — say twenty, after which the Spruce Firs on 

 the outside of the plantation, on the windward side, showed 

 signs of injury, while the hardy Scotch Firs retained their 

 deep glaucous hue unimpaired, and have continued to do so until 

 the present time, their neighbours dyiug-off one after the other, 

 or, falling into ill health, they had to be cut down. It would 

 then be discovered that decay had set in at the root, and if 

 left alone, ere long they would have been laid on their side by 

 some high wind. It will be said that the soil did not suit 

 them, but why is it that the Spruce thrives so well for a certain 

 period and then falls off ? Here the growth of the latter tree 

 exceeds that of the Scotch Fir for the first ten or twelve years, 

 and there are no signs of disease, but in the countries to which 

 it is indigenous we are told it far exceeds the Scotch Fir iu size 

 and longevity, which is certainly not the case at this place, for 

 we have some tolerably healthy Scotch Firs that much exceed 

 one hundred years of age, containing as many cubic feet of 

 timber, and, though fully exposed on high ground, showing no 

 further signs of decay than those of old age. That there is 

 something at fault either in the soil or situation, or both, that 

 prevents the Spruce from attaining the same age and di- 

 mensions is apparent, and I am inclined to think it is some at- 

 mospheric cause — some deficiency of moisture. That the tree 

 will endure a large amount of moisture I am well aware, and 

 in some of the northern districts it thrives very well. 



I remember come years ago seeing the Spruce very ex- 

 tensively used in ornamenting the grounds at Drumlanrig 

 Castle, and there it appeared to be in the most robust health, 

 feathered down to the ground ; and in conjunction with largo 

 fine bushes of the common Berberry, vthich were laden with 

 their coral berries, it formed a very important feature of the 

 place. The soil appeared to be suitable to the wild Heath, 

 but grass and similar herbage formed the ground-covering, and, 

 perhaps, one of the secrets of success was that the annual ram- 

 fall of the district was nearly .50 inches. 



In such a situation it may be advisable to plant the Spmoe, 



