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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ August 22, 1865. 



liigli. Close to it, on the other side, is a wide stream of water 

 from the neighbouring mill, which in wet seasons overflows the 

 adjoining meadows, and renders them httle tetter than a 

 swamp. All who have had any experience in gardening are 

 aware how injurious and disappointing are the spring frosts 

 which occur in our chmate, to the detriment, and verj- often 

 the total destruction of the tender shoots of our favourites ; 

 more especiaUy do these frosts occur in damp and low i)laces, 

 and then- efl'ects are there more destructive. Owing, then, to 

 the proximity of this swamp, the spring fi-osts in the garden 

 at Eushtou are an enoiinous difficulty to fight against. 



The soil is light, with little depth, and naturally poor, and 

 requires constant feeding with the best manures to enable it to 

 produce a crop. Such is the jjlaee in which, in one of his 

 quaint, good-humoiu'ed articles, Mr. Eadelyfle tells your readers 

 that he determined some \tars ago '• to have a go at gardening." 

 (JouKXAL OF Horticulture, August 23rd, 1864.) 



The subjects to which Mr. Eadclyffe has devoted his attention 

 are few — namely, Eoses, Strawberries, and Peaches, to which 

 may be added Easpberries, and latterly, chiefiy, I believe, at 

 the instance of Mr. Eivers, of Sawbridgeworth, Pears on the 

 quince stock. His principle is, " keep a few things in your 

 garden, and have them all weU done." Keeping this simple 

 axiom steadily in view he has brought to bear on the subjects 

 he has raidertaken an indomitable perseverance, an earnest 

 search after the truth in connection v.ith them, and an im- 

 deviating consistency in the maintenance of it. No horticul- 

 tuT'al %^Titer on these subjects enjoys a gi'eater share of the con- 

 fidence of cultivators. No one is more looked to as a guide 

 and instructor in the selection of kinds, and the management 

 of them. No one has done more to raise the pubUc taste for 

 good Eoses, or to select with greater accmacy the best kinds of 

 Strawberries out of the host of varieties continually sent out to 

 tempt the unwaiy. 



I propose to review each briefly as I found them on my late 

 visit to Eushton. 



Eoses. — Owing to vai-ious circumstances I was unable to visit 

 Dorsetshire in time to see them at the zenith of their first bloom ; 

 nevertheless, the evidence of what had been, from the quantity 

 of flower-stalks left, and the excellence of the blooms remaining, ] 

 was unmistakeable. I was informed by Mr. Ford, rt respected 

 friend and neighbour of Mr. Eadclyffe, that he had never seen [ 

 such a mass of Eose blooms upon living plants concentrated in | 

 one spot before, a result the more to be admired from the [ 

 great difficulties to be contended against in order to produce j 

 them. Mr. Eadclyffe has made no secret of this success, the 

 course pursued has been regularly and constanth' imparted to 

 the public. He may say of Eoses and Strawberries as Franldin 

 did of wealth — the way to obtain them is "as plain as the 

 way to market," and others may have them as well, if they 

 will but follow up the simple dii-ections he has jirescribed in 

 his various articles. 



The most important pomt connected with the Koses at 

 Eushton. is the use of the Manetti stock, of which Mr. Ead- 

 clyffe has for several years past been an unflinching ch.impion. 

 Having now seen them there three times in very different 

 seasons, 1 can fully corroborate all that Mi-. Eadclyii'e has said 

 about it ; and u.-<ing it myself in preference to any other, I have 

 had the truth of his observations confinned in my o\vn garden. 

 In a recent article on the Manetti stock, Mr. Eadclyffe enu- 

 merates the following points of advantage (I copy from the 

 "Florist and Pomologist," of March and April of the present 

 year-) :— 



1. Eoses will thrive on it with less water and less manm-e 

 than on any other. 



2. They may be gi'own in lands where those on any other 

 stock would be hopeless. 



3. They are earher, mare abundant, more continuous, and 

 later. 



4. They will stand more violation from the weather, fi-om 

 fungoid diseases, and fi-om neglect of the owner. 



5. They may be removed and transplanted at any time and 

 become quickly estabUshed. 



With these results before us, the adaptability of the Manetti 

 stock is conclusive enough. 



In addition to the garden above described, Mr. Eadclyffe has 

 a plot of ground about half a mile distant entu'ely planted 

 with Eoses. This 5 lautation may be said to eonsitt chiefly of 

 the well-estabhshed kinds on the Manetti stock, planted in 

 rows, such a-e Seiiateiu- Vaisse, Comtesse de Chabrillant, Jules 

 Margottin, Mrs. Eiveis, Victor Verdier, Madame Knorr, and 

 others that will remain in the catalogues for years to come. 



The entire stock of Eoses, although numerous, does not amount 

 to so many as might be supposed. Every inferior or worthless 

 kind, as soon as it is proved to be so, is rigorously weeded out. 

 While retaining only kinds worth cultivating and bestowing 

 upon them every care, Mr. Eadclyffe'a Eose cultm-e is also 

 essentially experimental. Thus we find some appropriated to 

 beds, and others trained as pillars, others as climbers ; some, 

 again, are allowed to grow attached to high poles. These ex- 

 periments are not confined to single specimens, every promis- 

 ing kind is allowed full scope suitable to its habit. The follow- 

 ing are worthy of remark : — Chmbers : Solfaterre, Triomphe 

 de Eermes, Aiistide, Gloire de Dijon ; and among the Hybrid 

 Pei-petuals, Due De Gazes and Louise Carique. Pillar Eoses : 

 Maurice Bernardiu, Due de Eohan, Souvenir de la Eeine de 

 I'Augleterre, Anna Alexieff, Madame Plantier, &c. Attached to 

 poles are three fine specimens of Duchess of Norfolk. I once 

 saw these covered with bloom fi-om top to bottom, and they 

 were most beautiful. To remedy the damp and mifavom'able 

 situation of the home garden, Mr. Eadclyffe has adopted a 

 very simple and at the same time very successful expedient. 

 He has formed raised banks from 1 foot to 18 inches high, and 

 about a yard in width, composed of the soil with a strong 

 mixture of thoroughly rotten manure and vegetable ashes. 

 He has on several occasions alluded to these banks and ex- 

 plained their composition. It is now, I beUeve, three or four 

 years since he first applied this method, and it is upon these 

 raised banks that many of the new Eoses are tried. Their 

 arrangement is such that the plants have the best possible 

 opportunity of a fair trial. At the time of my visit, Eushton 

 Eadclyiie, Duchesse de C'aylus, Lord Macaulay, Leopold I., 

 and King's Acre were iu bloom, and several others would 

 shoi-tly be so, some of which Mr. Eadclyffe has since reported 

 upon. 



Notwithstanding the vast quantity of bloom that had already 

 passed away, the robust health and vigour of the plants iu 

 sending out new shoots was so great, that the term " perpetual " 

 was hterally accepted and accompUshed. Both gardens had 

 every appearance of being gay with Eoses for weeks or even 

 months to come. 



With the recoUectiou of the Crystal Palace Eose Show fresh 

 in memory (it was two days previous to my arrival), I formd 

 the quality of the bloom at Eushton fully up to the mark. Hot 

 weather is an advantage to Eushton, it will stand it when 

 many other gardens would be burnt up. To see what could 

 be done in the way of cut blooms, we rose early on the morn- 

 ing after my arrival, and looked over the whole stock, consisting 

 of about 2000 plants, of which not less than 1600 are on the 

 Manetti. With ease Mr-. Eadclyft'e filled a box of twenty-four 

 trebles, which, had they been shown at the Ci-ystal Palace ou 

 the Saturday before, could not have failed to have taken an 

 honourable position. To show the varied character of the 

 blooms in this box, I subjoin the names, reading from left to 

 right: — 1st row: Solfaterre, Prince Camille de Eohan, La YUle 

 de St. Denis, Due De Gazes, Sehrismakker, Gloire de Santenay, 

 Wilhelm Tell, and Senateur Vaisse. 2nd row : Pius IX., Victor 

 Verdier, Caroline de Sansal, Comtesse Cecile de ChabriUant, 

 Clemence Joigneaux, Duchesse d'Orleans, Charles Lefebvi-e, 

 and Triomphe de Eennes. 3rd row : Devoniensis, General 

 Jacqueminot, Comte de Nanteuil, Souvenir- de la Mahnaison. 

 William Grifiiths, Gloire de Dijon, Napoleon (GaUica), and 

 Madame Knorr. 



It will thus be seen that the old summer Eoses find a place 

 in Mr. EadclyS'e's garden, and very justly so, for they stUl 

 afford variety of tint and beauty not yet obtained in the 

 Hybrid Perpetuals. A long row- of them on two-feet Briars 

 under the north wall, in excellent bloom at the time of my 

 visit, was a marked featm-e of the garden. It wUl be a matter 

 of regret that the surmner Eoses should be lost sight of in the 

 increasing demand for Hybrid Perpetuals. Mr. Eadclyffe has 

 always maintained the right of the best of them to a place in 

 the Eose garden, and has fi'equently given lists of those deserv- 

 ing cultivation. To remind yoiu- readers who may be planting 

 at the season now drawing near, I add a list of the twelve best 

 summer Eoses selected on the spot : — Charles Lawson, Coupe 

 d'Hcbe, Napoleon, BoiJa de Nanteuil, La Volupte, Madame 

 Zoutmann, Kean, Paul Eicaut, Ohl. Wilhelm Tell, Madehne, 

 Transon Cioubaidt. and La ViUe de Bruxelles. 



Of eom-se, the Hybrid Perpetuals form the bulk of the Eoses 

 at Eushton, and these principally in proportion to then- quality, 

 hence we find here — Senateur Vaisse, Comtesse de Chabrillant, 

 Charles Lefebvre, Jules Mai-gottin, Triomphe de Eennes, and 

 Ciloire de Dijon by the score; nearly as numerous are Duchesse 



