Juuo 12, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4C5 



nothing can surpass the frorgeous display produced by a clump 

 of it when in llower. The white Spanish and the common 

 yellow Broom are both ueeful for dwarf clumps. The white 

 kind in particular is very valuable for its air of sprightly grace, 

 and the green bark renders both kinds ornamental even when 

 they are not in flower. — Edwakd Luckhukst. 



BAD SOIL FOR KOSES. 



Will you inform me how to improve the worst kind of 

 sandy gravelly soil, which we call here in Dorset "ridscript?" 

 All my garden books give pages of instruction as the improve- 

 ment of clay soils, but no work that I can find offers any 

 advice as to how I can improve my " unkindly soil." What 

 I do at present, though at immense labour and expense, is to 

 remove it 2 to 3 feet deep for Roses, and, indeed, every kind 

 of flower or Conifer ; but if you could tell me a way of im- 

 proving this miserably poor soil, or the names of any flowers 

 which wUl grow freely in it with the aid of unlimited manure, 

 I shall be very much obliged to you. A friend of mine, a 

 most successful rosarian at Exeter, laughed to scorn the idea 

 that I had a bad soil. " A man that can show Eoses like you 

 do to talk of having a bad soil is utter bosh," was the polite 

 response I met with, and on my assuring him that every tree 

 grew in soil that I had prepared and wheeled there myself, I 

 saw that he thought I was romancing. Mr. Rivers, of Saw- 

 bridgeworth, states, iu the "Rose Amateur's Guide," that 

 there is no soil so bad that the Rose when worked on the 

 Manetti stock will not do well in. So two years ago I sent him 

 a hamper of my soil, and asked him whether he could grow Ma- 

 netti Roses in it, to which he replied that he would try ; but I 

 regret to say that owing to an oversight he has not been able 

 to tell me the result of the trial. 



I send you a small box of the soil by post, and I shall be 

 much obliged if you will tell me what kind of flower, or shrub, 

 or Conifer, or even forest tree, will grow in such a soil ; and if 

 you can name one flower worth growing, I promise to do my 

 best to improve it by excessive cultivation. If at the same 

 time you will tell me any way of improving the soil short 

 of removing it, so that I may grow my Roses without this 

 drawback, you will confer on me the greatest possible kindness. 

 — John B. M. Camm. 



[Yours is about the most hopelessly bad soil that we have 

 ever seen, and your remedy seems the only likely one — that is, 

 removing it. It can be materially improved by adding clay 

 and loam, with leaf soil; it has the material to give Eoses 

 colour, provided you add plenty of other ingredients to it. 

 You deserve much praise for the great success which has 

 attended your efforts at Rose-growing, and we are not sur- 

 prised at your being so decided an advocate for the JIanetti 

 stock, of which, if we remember aright, you have advocated 

 the cause in another gardening periodical, as experience will 

 have told you that in your soil no other stock is likely to suit. 

 We cannot, we fear, give you much information which you do 

 not already possess. We should be inclined to think super- 

 phosphate of lime would be more efficacious than guano, and 

 that a slight top-dressing of nitrate of soda in the spring and 

 autumn would be of great sei-vice. Sedums, Saxifrages, An- 

 tirrhinums, Wallflowers, Foxgloves, Arabis, Aubrietia, Ar- 

 meria, Sweet WUliams, Valerian, Variegated Thyme, Cistus, 

 Phlox vema, frondosa, Nelsoni, Alyssum, Ai-temisia, dwarf 

 Dianthus of sorts, Helianthemum of sorts, Linaria, Liuum 

 of sorts, and Sempervivums, are the plants most likely to 

 succeed with you.] 



WIEEWOEMS AND THE GLADIOLUS. 



A nENTLEMAx personally unknown to me, but a lover of the 

 Gladiolus, sent me the other day two shoots which had come 

 up in a bed of some bulbs which he had purchased this season. 

 The shoots appeared above ground and then died-off. In 

 sending them he asked. Was this the disease ? In my reply I 

 said. No, but that it looked suspiciously like the effects of 

 wireworm. Before he received my letter, however, he had found 

 out that my surmise was true, for finding another going off, 

 he had taken heart of grace and examined his bulbs, and found 

 a couple of the "varmint" at every bulb. I was the more 

 alive to the subject from having had my bulbs attacked in a 

 similar manner three years ago, as I have mentioned iu my 

 little work on " The Gladiolus," page 12. It is too late to 

 warn people this year, as all the planting is done ; but I would 

 strongly urge that the advice sometimes given of planting in 



new ground should never be followed ; it is a most dangerous 

 practice. One may escape, but the chances are that the 

 wireworm will master him. The worst of these destroyers 

 is that soot, lime, and such-like things seem to leave them 

 positively unharmed, and the only way of getting rid of them 

 is by hand-picking. We are obliged to do this with the soil 

 we use for Picotees, and if I had any doubt of the compost 

 I was using for Gladiolus I should do the same ; and this is 

 one of the reasons that has made my friend Souchet say that 

 good market garden soil is the best calculated for the growth 

 of the Gladiolus. It is pretty sure to be free from wu'eworms, 

 and mellow iu other respects. — D., Deal. 



NOTES ON GEEANIUMS. 



I HAVE read with deep interest the notes of the Rev. C. P. 

 Peach on the merits of Geraniums at pages 111 and 300 ; and 

 though I agree with him to a certain extent, I do not do so 

 in the main. 



I purchased the new sorts which Mr. Pearson sent out last 

 year, and the set of new ones sent out by him this season I 

 received early in the year ; moreover, I last year saw those 

 sent out in the present season on the trial beds at Mr. 

 Pearson's. 



Of crimsons. Dr. Tate stands pre-eminent, and when once 

 it is known it will be as much sought after as the famous 

 Bayard. Mr. Pearson considers it one of the very best he has 

 raised. It is one of the new ones of last year. Rev. T. F. Fenn 

 is, as described by your correspondent the Rev. C. P. Peach, 

 distinguished by a line large truss, with a wonderful freedom 

 of inflorescence, good in habit, and a fitting companion for 

 Dr. Tate. Samuel Bennett is dropped oirt of the catalogue 

 this year. I cannot speak so favourably as your correspondent 

 respecting Miss Sibray, Mrs. Vincent, and Miss Sanders for out- 

 door decoration, yet they are all good for pot-culture. 



As a red or rosy crimson. Colonel Holden is the best, and 

 to all appearance will prove one of our most useful bedding 

 varieties. Shakespeare and Mrs. Vincent Fenn disappointed 

 me ; in all honesty I must put them do'wu as only second-rate. 

 As they seem to possess some of the blood of Violet Hill , I 

 shall give them another trial. 



Coming to the scarlets, I must offer an encomium on your 

 correspondent's namesake, the Rev. C. P. Peach. By many 

 who have seen it, it has been considered the best scarlet we 

 possess, and as a pot plant under glass its colour comes out to 

 perfection. WTieu turned out of doors it is too straggling in 

 habit, and a very bad grower. Mrs. Hetley is likely to prove 

 a formidable rival to it. In the reds. Amy Robsart is a decided 

 acquisition ; it is very dwarf and compact, of line habit, re- 

 markably free-flowering, and its beautiful trusses rise well 

 above the foliage. 



Of rosy pinks we have Rose Bradwardine, Amaranth, and 

 Florence Durand, which stood almost unscathed during the 

 unfavourable weather we experienced last year. Amaranth is 

 becoming so well known that it scarcely needs anj' eulogium 

 here ; and Florence Durand is so good that it deserves a 

 tribute of praise. It is pre-eminent in the conservatory ; and 

 its freedom of bloom and strength of petal render it equally 

 good for out-door decoration. Rose Peach is perfectly distinct 

 in colour, handsome as a pot plant, but I fear will never be- 

 come popular. The young lady will require very good cultiva- 

 tion and high keeping before she can be brought out so as to 

 secure the admiration of the multitude. Mrs. Hole is a ma- 

 genta of the colour of Arthur Pearson, but being so very dwarf 

 and compact in habit, and having fine large trusses produced 

 in such abundance, it is likely to become much more popular. 



The above are what I consider the cream of what Mr. Pear- 

 son sent out in 1872. If I am wrong in my estimate, either 

 Mr. Pearson or some other correspondent who has grown 

 them wUl, perhaps, correct me. 



I must, before concluding these rambling notes, add a word 

 about those of this year. Contessa Quarto and Mrs. Fytche are 

 in advance of all that have gone before them. They possess 

 superior properties for bedding purposes, and as the progress 

 in pink kinds has been but slow, these will be hailed with 

 delight by those who have to cater for the flower garden. Mrs. 

 Augusta MUes and Mrs. Holden are also good, either for in 

 or out-door use ; their large trusses resemble those of a finely- 

 grown Hydrangea. Of the very dark crimsons. General Outram 

 and Edward Sutton are of sterling merit, and only require to 

 be seen to be appreciated. 



I have tried to make a selection from the numerous varieties 



