Ssptember 23, 1869. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



243 



They are a very fine sample, and when cooked they are white 

 and flonry. I treated them in the following manner : — I had five 

 Potatoes of equal size, I put them in the vinery and started 

 the eyes. I then cat them into sixty-two sets, and gave the 

 ground a coating of manure from the Melon pit, 2 inches thick. 

 I placed the sets 4 inches deep, and 16 inches by 30 inches 

 apart. — N. Castle, Gardener. 

 [Any other Potato would have done the same. — Eds.] 



HOUSE FOR ROSES. 



I HAVE had erected a Rose house in which the Roses are 

 planted in beds and borders. The novelties are — 1st, The 

 height of the sides, thereby allowing space for rampant clim- 

 bers, suoh as Mai6chal Niel, Isabella Gray, Cloth of Gold, 

 Solfaterre, &a. ; and 2nd (which is most important, and, I 

 think, an entirely new idea), that the side lights open on a 

 level with the ground' inside the house, so that the air cir- 

 culates well round the plants. 



Most Rose houses are built with a wall 3 or 4 feet high, and 

 then the glasswork is placed upon the wall, so that one of the 

 first principles of Rose-growing is violated by the plant being, 

 so to speak, in a hole. In cultivating Roses out of doors one 

 is continually stirring the soil round the roots in order to let 

 in the air. Now, what I wish to show is, that if a Rose house 

 is built in the ordinary manner, it is quite impossible that the 

 air can reach the roots and circulate round the lower part of 

 the plants, as it should; and, keep the soil stirred as one will, 

 there will always be a state of semi-stagnation highly pro- 

 ductive of mildew and other evils. 



To amateurs far enough advanced in Eose-growing to have 

 a Rose house built, I need not point out the benefit of syring- 

 ing often, and the advantage of having a liquid-manure well 

 not far ofit ; it is also good to have a butt at one end of the 

 house to lead the gutter-pipe into, so as to insure a supply of 

 rain water. This house is 32 feet long, 18 feet wide, 12 feet 

 high in the centre, and the height of the sides is 7i feet. It 

 is built on a brick foundation, and is made to take to pieces. 

 It is lined with wirework, so that the climbing Roses are inde- 

 pendent of the woodwork. 



I annex a hst of Tea Roses grown in the above house which 

 may be useful to some of your readers, with a few remarks on 

 the newer or more uncommon sorts. 



Celine Foresticr 



Cloth of Gold 



Isabella Gray 



Lflmarqne, elegant, not fall enoagh. 



Marechal Niel 



Narcisse 



SoUaterre, fine grower 



Triomphe de Reunes 



America, first-rate at limes, but not 



to be depended on 

 Adam 

 Alba rosea 

 Arcbim^de, good 

 Bouton d'Or. pretty button-hole 



flower 

 Eongere, first-rate 

 Climbing Devoniensis, too much 



wood in proportion to the flowers 

 Comte de Paris, very good, rather 



variable 

 Devoniensis 

 Dnc de Magenta, good 

 Eliso Sanvage, very elegant 



— G. H. M. 



Goabault 



Homer 



Jean Pemet, middling 



La Boule d'Or, fine nnder glass 



L'Enfant Troayt- 



Louise de Savoie, good under glass, 

 wiD not open here out of doors 



Madame Bravy 



Madame Falcot 



Madame Margottin, very fina 



Madame Willermoz 



M. Furtado, a fine yellow Rose 



Niphetos 



Pi-esident 



Rubens 



Reine de Portugal, bright orange, a 

 first-rate new Rose, slow opener, 

 wants growing under glass 



Sombreuil 



Souvenir d'Elise 



Souvenir d' uu Ami 



Vicomtesse de Cazes 



QUACICERY AMONGST THE GARDENERS. 



The pursuit of horticulture is generally thought to have a good 

 effect on the mind. The striving after truth, the effort at per- 

 fection, must ennoble. The gardener who loves his art has no 

 idea of keeping as a secret any improvement he has discovered 

 in culture. The readiness, nay, the anxiety, of our first-class 

 gardeners to impart knowledge is well known ; the pages of 

 "our Journal," and similar publications, bear evidence of this. 

 If a gardener professes to have secrets he is unwilling to im- 

 part, most persons set him down at once as a fool. 



Nor is this willingness to impart information unknown 

 amongst nurserymen, and there are few of whom I should 

 hesitate to ask a question, either concerning culture or pro- 

 pagation. There may be a few ignorant men who, with low 

 cunning, will seek by any means to derive information, and 

 impart none in retum^to enter their neighbour's propagating 

 honse, for instance, whilst carefnlly locking the doors of their 



own ; but I am glad to say a more liberal spirit is now the rule. 

 The first-class horticulturist has the fcehng of a first-class 

 medical man, that knowledge ought to be disseminated for the 

 public good, and that it is as mean to withhold information as 

 it is foolish not to desire it. In spite of this increasing liberal 

 feeling, there are still symptoms of a quackish spirit abroad. 

 What is it but quackery, when nostrums are advertised at un- 

 heard-of prices? One can imagine a man unconnected with 

 horticulture advertising something for the benefit of gardeners, 

 and if it proves good and worth the money charged, gardeners 

 will use it till they discover something equally efficacious. But 

 for a man, whether gardener or nurseryman, to advertise any- 

 thing, a manure, for instance, at double or treble the price it 

 can possibly be worth, and to try to make people beUeve his 

 success as a cultivator is due to its use, is, in my opinion, 

 rank quackery. 



I have at the present time plants of Golden Champion and 

 Madresfield Court Vines, about 20 feet long, and as thick as many 

 walking sticks ; these have had good soil, plenty of heat, and a 

 little sheep-manure water, with plenty of attention, which are 

 all that Vines require, and I do not think any patent manure 

 would improve them. No doubt, competition in business is 

 great, and the profits of business small, but let us choose 

 rather the respect which follows professional conduct, if asso- 

 ciated with small profits, to the larger gains which sometimes 

 reward quackery. — J. R. Peabson, Chilwell. 



BOUQUETS AT THE MANCHESTER SHOW. 



My attention has been called to some remarks of Mr. W. H. 

 Turner respecting bouquets at the Manchester Exhibition, in 

 which he charges me with neglecting to place cards upon those 

 shown by me. Were it necessary, myself and four others are 

 prepared to state on oath that the Society's cards were placed 

 upon the vases holding the bouquets, and were there up to 

 the time the tent was cleared. When the judges came round 

 the cards had been abstracted, and the judges supposed the 

 bouquets were not for competition. Possibly some of the 

 baffled competitors may know something of the matter. — 

 RicHD. S. Tates, Sale, Cheshire. 



WHO IS TO blame; 



^ QUESTION certainly not answered by Messrs. Carter & Co., 

 who, I learn for the first time, are, in conjunction with Messrs. 

 Hurst & Son, the fosterfathers of Laxton's Supreme Pea. If 

 Messrs. Carter will re-read my notice of it, they will see that 

 they have not the least reason for saying that I pit my judg- 

 ment of the ijeneral character of that much-exalted Pea against 

 their own or anyone else's, I simply state a few facts (mighty 

 ugly ones, too, against the popularity of the said Pea), with 

 reference to its growth with me, and the manner in which it 

 has belied its character. I bought a sealed packet, and I re- 

 peat that it in no way resembled its picture and description, 

 save in the least important particular— the shape of its pods. 

 Remembering what the astute Horace says, that "pictoribus 

 atque poelis " a certain (rery uncertain) license is given, I 

 would not have complained of anything so trivial as the num- 

 ber of Peas per pod, but when one of the main points of excel- 

 lence for certain purposes is entirely mis-stated— viz., dwarf 

 habit, there is something to complain of. Nor would I have 

 been too particular here ; had it been 50 per cent, taller than 

 advertised, and in other respects true to its description, I 

 would have remained silent ; but when it exceeds by 100 per 

 cent., being 7J feet high), I am very slow to believe its average 

 height is 3! feet ; and I shall be glad to know whether anyone 

 has found Laxton's Supreme true to its character, especially 

 in this particular. 



Messrs. Carter's remark that, " as regards the price of an 

 article, it is worth just what it' will fetch," is at once both true 

 and false; it is the answer which the "cheap Jack" made to 

 the countryman who purchased the historical razors, "made 

 to sell." True in a sense in which Messrs. Carter would be the 

 last to accept it, it is false in this, that an article not worth 

 ed. would, backed by Messrs. Carter's name, sell readily for 

 3s. ed. ; but, then, they would sell not the article only, but so 

 much of their own reputation. Confidence in the integrity of 

 such firms as Messrs. Carter & Co. induces growers to give any 

 price asked for such novelties as they may desire ; nor can they 

 in reason complain of the price, if they get uhat the catalogue 

 says they pay for. In the present instance I certainly have 



