September 9, 1869. ] 



JOtTENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



201 



told me disgnsted him, by large branches dying almost every 

 season, these trees had no gouiy protuberances, but had slender 

 healthy shoots. The owner of the gardens dying, and the 

 place being far from home, I did not again see the trees. I 

 only know that the Apricot stock is most difficult to manage. 



My wish to make your readers acquainted with the nature of 

 different kinds of Quince stocks, has led me into a stock dis- 

 cussion more lengthy than I intended. The subject is, however, 

 full of interest, and many things are yet to be discovered rela- 

 tive to stocks. I can only say that my life has been, and still 

 is, a life of experiment, and although I am aged, and some- 

 times inclined to think that another threescore-and-teu years 

 should be added to my life to finish my tasks, the pleasure of 

 experimental horticulture never flags, for, assisted as I am by 

 a well-tried staff of employee, I can carry on my fancies with 

 less fatigue than ever. — Thomas Eivees. 



NOTES ON ROSES. 



Most questions, including, of course, those arising from hor- 

 ticultural matters, have two sides, a j"'') and contra, and " D., 

 Deal's," query why amateurs do not give their experience of 

 Roses is by no means an exception. To write commonplace 

 facts which every Rose-amateur knows, even if tolerated by the 

 reader, must be an infliction on the Editors, and they have 

 enough in that way. There is also a sort of egotism in putting 

 into print what is going on in one's own garden when the in- 

 formation accorded is little else than trite truisms. These are 

 some of the difficulties that beset a reply to "D., Deal's," 

 invitation in bis late article, " Among the Roses," yet I for 

 one hope that it will meet with ample response. A rosarian 

 can always find something to say about his favourites. He is 

 always glad to read, if not to write, about them. He is pleased 

 to meet with jottingi of them, or even any one of them, whether 

 they come from the antipodes. Loch Ness, Canada, or the 

 North Pole. Roses at the North Pole! Why not? Ancient 

 readers of " our Journal," as " Wiltshire Ekctor " has it, 

 will remember very long ago that there appeared an article on 

 " Gardening at the North Pole ;" and where there is a garden, 

 logically or illogically it follows there must be Roses. 



In one of the papers read at the Manchester meeting, the 

 writer stated his opinion that the strain of Remontants (the 

 Hybrid Perpetuals) had "got into a rut." This is precisely 

 the case. The seedlings are reproductions of the parents 

 without any distinguishable improvement, and the selection 

 is made with little difcrimination in a floral point of view. 

 One becomes tired of proving the worthlessness of the great 

 majority of new Roses announced every season to tempt 

 the unwary and disappoint the rosarian. We must therefore 

 fall back upon our tried friends ; they are yet numerous, most 

 beautiful, and afford unfailing pleasure season alter season to 

 the careful cultivator. But even with them no true rosarian 

 will be content to *' rest and be thankful ;" the process of 

 selection may be caiTied much further. It is quite a probability 

 that greater perfection is attainable both in the flowers and 

 habits of kinds which are still far behind our standard of real 

 or ideal excellence. Take, for example, light-coloured varieties, 

 as Caroline de Sansal, Mdlle. Bonnaire, or even La Baronne de 

 Rothschild ; these are the best of the light kinds, but not one 

 is equal to Charles Lefebvre or Senateur Vaisse in comparative 

 merit. Take, again, dark varieties. Prince Camille de Rohan 

 is still the best, but no one would compare it with the above- 

 named two. Take, for a third instance, purple kinds, or kinds 

 in which purple should predominate. There is yet scarcely 

 one worth cultivating, and we keep Souvenir de Dr. Jamain, 

 Gloire de Ducher, and one or two more only for the sake of 

 their colour. If these desiderata can be supplied by selection 

 only, there is still much to be done ; but selection alone will 

 not bring us out of that " rnt " that we have been trundling 

 along in lately. Were the French growers to take the full ad- 

 vantage of their better climate and turn their attention to 

 crossing, they might be well assured that any important result 

 would meet with its reward. The Remontants were obtained 

 by artificial means, there is no evidence that these means are 

 exhausted ; there is, then, every reason to believe that new 

 races, with new forms and new colours, may be brought into 

 existence. 



Till these things come to pass we may, therefore, be allowed 

 to gossip about the Roses we have. Tbe soil of this garden is 

 cf the lightest description, as it has been frequently stated in 

 these columns. The situation is rather high, being about 



425 feet above the sea level. The wind is troublesome at times, 

 but there is a great advantage to balance it, which is the com- 

 parative freedom from or tbe harmlessness of spring frosts. 

 Nearly all the Conifera; thrive admirably, and many species are 

 in vigorous growth that are scarcely ever met with except in 

 similar situations. My Roses are on tbe Manetli stock, which 

 I have adopted for several years. The Briar was a failure, and 

 except for Gloire de Dijon, Celine Forestier, Martchal Nie), 

 Charles Lawson, Blairii No. 2, Coupe d'Hebg, and a few of the 

 most vigorous Remontants, I have almost discontinued it. I 

 adopt Mr. Radcljffe's dictum of giving my plants " plenty to 

 eat and drink." Let our less experienced Rose friends pay at- 

 tention to these few simple facts : Give the plants plenty to eat 

 and drink ; neither stint nor overdo it. Wa'ch carefully for 

 that safe medium that, when they are doing well, keep them so. 

 Note the habit of growth of each variety, and regulate pruning 

 accordingly, neither timialy leaving what ought to be cut away, 

 nor barbarously mutilating healthy stems that yield good flowers. 

 Cut off the dead flower-heads, especially after the first bloom 

 is past, to one, two, or more joints, according to the strength 

 of the shoot producing them ; this will do much to insure suc- 

 cession of bloom. Pinch off in autumn the ends of long shoots 

 that show no sign of bloom in the current season to develop 

 buds lower down. Prune shorter in spring. Cut out as soon 

 as discovered, and at any time of the year, all shoots that show 

 signs of unsoundness, disease, or decay — they never recover. 

 These are some of the more prominent points to be attended 

 to in the cultivation of Manetti-stocked Roses. By carrying 

 them out a succession of bloom, greater or less, may be obtained 

 from May to December. 



I intend to forward shortly a few notes on some of the Roses 

 that I have in cultivation here. — AuoLrnus H. Kent. 



It is always a pleasure to take a stroll with " the Dean," 

 " among the Roses," even though it be in these pages, and not 

 over the wonderful Hertfordshire soil ; and as he invites the 

 experiences of other amateur growers, it may be well that 

 some of us should respond to the call. 



This, on the whole, has been a cruel Rose year with us in 

 the centre of Ireland. I walked in the end of June through 

 the garden of a fiiend, distinguished for his Roses (he has, 

 probably, somewhere about one thousand plants, or more), on 

 the eve cf a local show, and I doubt whether there were six 

 blossoms in the entire garden which would have satisfied us 

 any other season. I may say the same of most other gardens 

 at the same time of year, though things improved very much 

 after that. I myself am unfortunately circumstanced. My 

 garden is about the most evil-minded one I ever came across. 

 Before it came into my hands its life had been torn out of it by 

 repeated doses of Potatoes without one atom of fresh material, 

 except manure, ever compassionating its misery. It is too 

 much confined by neighbouring hedges, and mildew and orange 

 fungus run riot in it, and require incessant watching. Added 

 to this, I am on the top of a cold, high plateau land. Any 

 Rose that docs well with me, will probably do well anywhere. 

 I shall notice some of the Roses mentioned by " D., Deal," 

 with any others I have, which seem to me to call for remark. 



Paul Verdier bloomed splendidly ; the blossoms were nearly 

 5 inches across, and opened freely. I am in despair at hearing 

 "D." pronounce it not to be an autumnal bloomer. Mine, 

 certainly, shows no signs of a second bloom. Charles Verdier, 

 a lovely colour, would not open in July, though I gave it the 

 copious drenchings of water ordered by Mr. Radcljffe. It is 

 now giving a second series of blossom, opening quite freely, 

 but is deficient in size. I have to state precisely the same of 

 Sceur des Anges, Sombreuil, and Mdlle. Julie Daran. Jotephine 

 Beanharnais has grown miserably, and has never opened at 

 all ; likewise Ville de St. Denis, Mrs. John Berners, Exposition 

 de Brie, and King's Acre, except that the Itist-named is toler- 

 ably vigorous in growth. Mdlle. Annie Wood, though showing 

 a centre, I confess, generally is, I think, a lovely Rose, and a 

 most useful one ; very vigorous, very free in blooming and 

 opening, and a most enchanting colour when first expanded, 

 very like a light Senateur Vaisse. Fisher Holmes is dull and 

 ragged ; Antoine Ducher very good indeed, though rather com- 

 mon in colour, small ; Thorin. lovely in colour, something like 

 Alfred Colomb, very large, and with me full ; Monsieur Noman, 

 very pretty in colour, sufficiently vigorous, but the blossoms 

 soil with me in the most provoking way. I never had a single 

 blossom that did not look as if it had been taken out of a basket 

 of wet moss. Black Prince, I think, is a very poor affair, very 

 dull in colour, and not nearly double enough. It seems a 



