July as, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



71 



before Btated, this circumstance wiU to a Rrcat extent account 

 foi' its not having cxlubited still earlier characteristics than it 

 has already done. In our own trial grounds, in two different 

 localities near Chester, the one sheltered, warm, and early, 

 the other exposed, cold, and late, our First and JJcst I'ea was 

 in each case about two days later in bloominp and coming into 

 bearing than its two rivals, but the crop Avas much heavier, 

 and the pods larger and better tilled. We found Sutton's King- 

 leader and <.'ai"ter's First Crop to be identical in every respect, 

 and inclined freely to sport, whereas our own was very true. 

 First and liest is also a little taller, and a more vigorous grower ; 

 and while it yielded three and four copious gatherings, but 

 barely two pickings could be obtained from the two former. 

 Dillistone's Early was some days later than ours, and Sangster's 

 No. 1 and Daniel O'Rourke later than Dillistone's. Carpenter's 

 Express we were unable to obtain ; Eley's Essex Rival appears 

 to be a good second early Pea, coming into bearing between our 

 Early Favourite and Champion of England. We are growing 

 our First and Best Pea very extensively this season, as we are 

 certain it will be found and pronounced to be the best early 

 Pea in cultivation. — Fiuncis & Akthdb Dickson & Sons, lOG, 

 F,(utgatc Street, Chester. 



GOLDEN VARIEGATED BAI.M. 



By what means can the golden blotches in Golden Balm be 

 preserved ? In my borders it looked jiromisiug when first put 

 out, but now it is quite green. — Disapi'Oiniment. 



[The Golden Balm preserves its colour best in poor un- 

 manured soil. Rich loamy soil is almost sure to send it back 

 to the original green. There is always a tendency to this when 

 much transplanted. This and golden-striped Mint alwaj's look 

 best in spring. We have given them up as ornaments, because 

 towards auturmi in heavy ground they either became green 

 or had a dirty variegation worse than green. In light jioor 

 soils they do better.] 



NEW ROSES OF 1865. 



I AM always delighted with a "Rose gossip" from " D." of 

 Deal. I agree with him it takes time to find out really good 

 Roses, especially if you are to speak of endurance and general 

 good manners under adverse circumstances. Let it be under- 

 stood that Roses are sent from France to England upon suffer- 

 ance. Roses are, more or less, volatile things. It takes years 

 to find out Roses that are good at all points, and good under 

 adverse circumstances. To those previously recommended by 

 me, I now beg to add Leopold the 1st, a fine, full, and weU- 

 shaped red Rose ; also Due de Wellington (Granger), a most 

 beautiful Rose. It is thus rightly described : "Very vigorous, 

 large, vivid velvety red, dark shaded, fiery to the centre." I 

 have two blooms out. They are very beautiful. Duchesse de 

 Caylus, Rushton Radclj-ffe, and Due de WeUington, are the 

 three best of ISUS as yet, and I can conscientiously recommend 

 them. As you may have new subscribers, and as memories 

 are frail, I repeat the names of those I have recommended 

 lately in the .Journ.al : — Madame V.Verdier, Pierre Notting, Lord 

 Macaulay, Lord Herbert, Lord Clyde, Rushton Radclyffe, 

 Duchesse de CayUis, Duchesse de Morny, Eugene Verdier, and 

 Baronne Pelletan de Kinkeliu, to wliieh may now be added 

 Leopold the 1st and Due de WeUington. You cannot burn 

 your fingers with the above. I must, however, make one 

 obseiTafion with regard to Lord Clyde — namely, sometimes it 

 is rough at its edges. 



To-day I have sent a lot of Roses to Mr. Kent for his Bleeh- 

 ingly Cottagers' Allotment Exhibition. I was much tempted to 

 send two blooms of the Due de Wellington ; but I resolved at 

 last to chop up the plant, and bud briars with it. I have two 

 very healthy plants, and good growers, about to bloom — namely. 

 King's Acre and Achille Gonod ; of these more in a few days. I 

 have had one very nice bloom of King's Acre, but wish to see it 

 once more. The last two are of excellent growth and habit. 

 The last is evidently a seedling from Jules Margottin. As yet, 

 not one of its chikten is equal to it, neither Victor Verdier, 

 L'Esmeralda, or Bernard Pahssy. Phoo ! •' Jewels," as we call 

 him, is not going to the rear yet awhile ! I have many infants 

 yet to introduce to your readers. I will never tell you what 

 Rose is bad, but if I say it is good you may buy. 

 I never knew Roses sport so as they have done this year. Had i 



the blooms been bad, " abu(jrmity " would not have surprised 

 nie. I never had such a good season. Prince Leon and Lord 

 Macaulay have occasionally been striped exactly like Triomphe 

 d'Amieus. Alfred de Kougemont has been brilliant crimson 

 and dee]) purple on the same plant. One of the blooms of 

 Triomphe dp Rennes was deeply red-tinted. I have read what 

 is said of Mdlle. Bonnaire. It is not a good grower, Ijut no 

 white Rose is ecpuil to it. Its being a sport from (icneral 

 Jacqueminot has much amused me. If a man marries a white 

 woman, and she produces a " little black boy with curly hair," 

 I fancy that he would hardly be satisfied with the exi)lanation 

 that it was " a sport ! " Excepting Senateur Vaisse, ihere has 

 not been one Rose raised from this old spiirtinij General that 

 has been worth a " stump ! " — W. F. Radclyite, Tarrant llwih- 

 toii, Bhiiulford . 



SOFTENraG HiVRD WATER. 



Mr. Robsos has called attention to the unsnitableness of 

 hard water for plants ; and, doubtless, almost all spring waters 

 possess in a greater or less degree the property termed hardness 

 — a property which depends chiefly ujjon the presence of super- 

 carbonate of lime, or of sulphate of lime, or both ; and the 

 quantity of these earthy salts varies very considerably in dif- 

 ferent instances. Mr. Dalton long since demonstrated that 

 one grain of sulphate of hme contained in two thousand grains 

 of water converts it into the hardest sju'ing water that is com- 

 monly met with. If about twenty drops of a solution of oxalate 

 of ammonia added to half a wine-glass of water causes a white 

 precipitate we conclude that the water contains lime. By 

 means of this test one grain of lime may be detected in 24,250 

 of water. If this test occasions a white precipitate in water 

 taken from the pump or spring, and not after the water has 

 been boiled and suffered to grow cold, the lime is dissolved in 

 the water by an excess of carbonic acid ; and if it continues to 

 produce a precipitate in the water which has been concentrated 

 by boiling, we then are sure that the lime is combined with a 

 fixed acid. Hard waters may in general be ciu'ed in part by 

 dropping into them a solution of sub-carbonate of potash. I£ 

 the hardness of water be owing to the super-carbonate of lime 

 only, mere boiling will greatly remedy the defect ; but if the 

 hardness be owing in part to sulphate of lime, boiling does not 

 soften it at all. When spring water is left exposed in shallow 

 reservoirs for some time, part of the carbonic acid becomes 

 dissipated, and part of the carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. 

 Such resei-voirs, however, should not be constructed with bricks, 

 unless covered nvith cement, as they render soft water hard. 



The question of soft or hard water probably affects some of 

 your worthy contributors much more than others. For in- 

 stance : Mr. Fish, having a rather stiff retentive soil, would 

 not require a tithe of the water for out-door purposes that Mr. 

 Robson would with a light soil and chalk subsoil ; but, of 

 course, the houses would all require the same amount of water- 

 ing. I therefore think that any information on the subject 

 would be acceptable to a large number of your readers. 



I should much like to know whether the sub-carbonate of 

 potash is at all injurious to Pears when used in sufficient quan- 

 tity to soften hard water, or to any class of Pears, and whether 

 the water would not require modifpng in temperatiu'e after 

 being rendered soft by a solution of sub-carbonate of potash. — • 

 F. Feitton. 



WHAT IS A TRUSS OF FLO^MSRS'? 



Will you exjilaiu what is meant by a " truss of Roses, three 

 blooms on a truss ? " The Glasgow and West of Scotland Hor- 

 ticultui-al Society offered prizes for a certain number of trusses 

 of Roses. For one of the prizes I competed, exhibiting three 

 blooms growing from the one shoot. The prizes were in every 

 instance awarded to bunches of three separate blooms tied to- 

 gether. Was this correct ? — A. Roeehtson. 



[In the prize list quoted from by our correspondent, the 

 words are, '• Six Roses, distinct varieties, to be shown in 

 trusses of thi'ee blooms each." To satisfy this condition the 

 three Roses of each variety exhibited ought to have been in a 

 truss. " Truss " is the florists' name for what botanists call 

 an umbel, in which several flowers have their stalks united at 

 one common centre, or, as in Roses, from one common stalk. 

 Three separate Roses tied together are not a truss, but a bunch. 

 —Eds.] 



