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JODRNAIi OP HORTIODLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 



( AprU 8, 1875. 



either in those belonging to Mr. Tarner or others. He was, 

 moreover, an excellent judge of plants and flowers, and I have 

 often, when the plants were staged and I had nothing to do 

 in the way of judging, said, "Now, Austin, come round and 

 tell me where the prizes ought to go," and rarely have I found 

 him at fault ; and when I add to this that he was a faithful 

 and honest servant, and had lived with his employers for 

 thirty years, I think I have established his claim to this brief 

 notice. — D., Deal. 



WHITE AND CLUSTER ROSES. 



" ConsuBiA " (page 25fi) has done well to direct attention to 

 this enjoyable type of Roses, and to the scant attention they 

 receive at our exhibitions. If their individual blooms are less 

 imposing than those of the Perpetuals, the clusters render the 

 plants admirably adapted for garden decoration. We seldom 

 find them cared for except in very old or cottagers' gardens, 

 yet how cheery and sweet and homely they are ! They are 

 excellent for shrubbery cultivation, rich soil being not at all 

 essential to their free growth, and their profuse blooming and 

 lively colours show to advantage in the dark evergreen setting 

 which the shrubs afford. 



They are extremely suitable as summer screens in covering 

 bowers, rustic fences, and piles of roots, and possess an easy 

 airy gracefulness and a delicate perfume which cannot fail to 

 be enjoyed. Their finely-wroathed clusters of blooms may, 

 too, be gathered by armfuls without robbing the plants, and 

 the free natural arrangement of these tresses are ever attrac- 

 tive in our dwellings. The tendency of the times is to foster 

 the increase of massively-formed highly-coloured Roses — and 

 splendid they are — yet at the expense of perfume and elegance 

 of habit of the clustered-flowering varieties. 



Burely, as "Cobnuhia" has suggested, means may be afforded 

 to bring the cluster Roses into our exhibitions, and thus add 

 diversify to the shows ; also to let the public see how attrac- 

 tive they are in themselves, and how eminently they are suited 

 to meet the special requirements of a flower-loving world. I 

 hope "Cor.NCBiA" will take up the theme again, and tell us 

 more about this charming class of Roses.— Anr^E Y:bert. 



RUSSELIA JUNCEA. 



JnnaiNr, from the miserable starved appearance which 

 Ruseelia junceahas in some gardens, one would think that it 

 was difficult to grow, and from the way in which it is in others 

 "stuck" in any out-of-the-way corner of the house, to be 

 hardly worth growing. Now my experience of this plant is, 

 that it is very easy to grow, and, when well grown, one of the 

 handsomest and most useful early-winter-flowering green- 

 house plants we have. I have had splendidly-flowered plants 

 of it from 3 to .5 feet high, one mass of bloom from top to 

 bottom, and continuing in flower from three to four months. 



The way I recommend it to be grown is as follows: — Sup- 

 pose the plants to be just done flowering, keep them rather dry 

 for six weeks or two months ; by this time it will be early 

 spring. The plants should be then shaken out of the pots, 

 and the balls carefully reduced and repotted in the same-sized 

 pots, which should be well drained. The compost ought to be 

 a good fibry loam, with a good allowance of half- rotted stable- 

 droppings, that from an old mushroom-bed does very well. 

 A few of the branches ought at the same time to be cut off 

 close to the neck of the plant, which will encourage new shoots 

 to make their appearance from the base, and it is to those new 

 shoots we must look for our future plant. 



The plants ought to have a good position in the house, and 

 be carefully and sparingly watered until the new shoots make 

 their appearance, when water can be given more freely. As 

 soon as the young shoots are an inch or two in length, a few 

 more of the old branches can (if an old plant) be cut away, 

 leaving enough of the freshest of them to nicely cover the pots. 

 The plants at the same time ought to have a good shift, and 

 no more shifting will be necessary. 



The old wood ehould be allowed to hang down, and the new 

 shoots encouraged to grow upright; but they must not by any 

 means be closely tied, as at this period they grow very fast; 

 they should only have as much support as to keep them from 

 touching the glass, or coming in contact with anything else, as 

 they are very brittle, and would snap off like young Asparagus 

 tops; in fact, if growing very strong they somewhat resemble 

 that plant : care should also be taken that they are not broken 

 by the hand when watering, as it is ruin to them to be stopped ; 



neither must they be allowed to suffer for the want of water ; 

 for one need not expect to have very nice specimens if checked 

 in any way when making their growth. As soon as they have 

 nicely established themselves in their new pots they ought to 

 have plenty of liquid manure. I find they are very partial to 

 soot. 



The point I strongly recommend is to get a fresh growth 

 from the bottom every year. My experience of this plant con- 

 vinces me that this is by far the best way of growing it. Grown 

 upon this system, it will be useless to expect large well- 

 bloomed specimens if they are half starved. They must have 

 fair pot-room, and be grown as vigorously as possible. They 

 can do with as much liquid manure as almost any other plant. 



Most cultivators keep the old wood year after year, as they 

 would that of a hardwooded plant. This, I am convinced, is 

 not the beat way of growing them, for they seldom flower so 

 well a second time upon the old wood. The flowering period 

 will be considerably prolonged by giving them a good top- 

 dressing of very rich compost. 



After they have completed their growth they can be neatly 

 tied to an upright stake ; two of the leaders will be quite 

 enough to take up their full length ; the others can be tied 

 half-way up, and allowed to hang down. Treated in this way, 

 they will make handsome specimens, by no means to be de- 

 spised as exhibition plants at a provincial flower show. — 

 R. Reid (in The Gardener). 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 



In the issue of your .Journal of date 14 th January, under 

 the heading, ".Jottings of Last Year's Gardening," it is ob- 

 served, " Culturally the Royal Agricultural Society has, to its 

 own satisfaction no doubt, proved there are no kinds of disease- 

 proof Potatoes. It is hoped the public, and especially the 

 ninety-four essayists, will be convinced that the prize of Earl 

 Cathcart was ' justifiably withheld.' " On what ground the 

 public could have come to such a conclusion I am not aware, 

 but as one of the ninety-four essayists I most emphatically 

 deny that all the essayists have been shown any valid cause 

 for admitting that the prize was " justifiably withheld." As an 

 essayist I consider the decision a very shabby one, and the 

 essayists have been treated with but curt justice and courtesy. 

 I, however, exonerate the distinguished nobleman who bo 

 generously offered the prize from participating in the pro- 

 ceedings. 



It may be true that the essayists did not succeed in working 

 a miracle by the "prevention of Potato disease" — a feat, I 

 venture to thiulv, beyond the power of man — neither is it in 

 our power to " prevent " frost ; but although the " prevention " 

 of the latter is not within our power, we can, by the adoption 

 of suitable remedial measures, render its injurious effects com- 

 paratively harmless. Precisely so, I presume to think, will be 

 the case with regard to Potato disease. It appeared to me 

 that the essayists were thrown overboard to meet the bright 

 idea which was conceived of inventing a kind of miraculous 

 Potato which was to be a "disease-proof Potato!" which, if 

 successful, would no doubt have caused a sensation, and made 

 the fortuue of the lucky person who could make the public 

 believe in its efficacy. 



I along with, I presume, the other essayists, was invited to 

 be a competitor in testing the efficacy of this golden Potato, 

 being given to understand that a considerable number of agri- 

 culturists had agreed to do so ; but having had no faith what- 

 ever in this miraculous tuber, nor in the conditions of compe- 

 tition, I made no response. Since then I understand the 

 project has been abandoned, but it is to be hoped the essayists, 

 notwithstanding their rebuff, will prosecute their respective 

 theories, the investigation being of incalculable national im- 

 portance, and by no means a hopeless one. I feel assured that 

 if " prevention " is impossible, satisfactory remedial measures 

 will ultimately be found. 



One hundred and fifty years ago he was reckoned a very 

 olever farmer who could from his scanty and precious stock of 

 seed spare a dish for his " Christmas dinner," a scarcity 

 arising from causes which experience and skill afterwards re- 

 moved, as it is to be hoped will be the case with Potato disease, 

 on which I do not mean to inflict on you a lengthened dis- 

 quisition. 



I cannot close those remarks without expressing my con- 

 currence in the very able, practical, and judicious views relative 

 to Potato disease expressed in the article in your issue of the 

 •1th ult. signed " Beta," whose views I thoroughly endorse. 



