April 10, 1874. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



31o 



of the preceding year. Old fruit trees alike rejoiced in the 



generous fare and put forth fresh growth, which the subsequent 

 dry autumn matured into blossom, which will immediately 

 lighten up the earth with floral beauty. 



The frost, which at one time threatened destruction, has not, 

 after all, done material or substantial injury. Apples were back- 

 ward — hence safe; of them there was no fear. Small fruits, by 

 the same cause, gave no concern. Pears being more forward were 

 a cause of extreme anxiety, but not one spur of bloom in twenty 

 is kUled. Plums, Cherries, and Peaches were not sufficiently 

 advanced to endanger the crop, which promises to be good. 

 The one crop which bore the brunt of the frost was the pre- 

 cocious Apricots. These were regarded as " done for," yet in 

 most cases there is a sufficient residue to form a fair crop. It 

 is a question if in many places the frost has not done more 

 good than harm to the Apricot trees — that is, so far as the 

 current crop of fruit is concerned. Most trees were packed 

 with blossom to a degree that it was not possible for it to 

 expand, and under these circumstances a good "set" can 

 never be relied on. The frost thinned the blossom, and 

 almost every bloom thus left is leaving a fruit behind it. 

 Fruit blossom, and especially Apricot blossom, when preter- 

 naturally dense is apt to fall in a shoal after three consecutive 

 bright days ; whereas if a tithe had been removed, by its tenfold 

 vigour it would have withstood the exhaustive strain which it 

 would otherwise have had to bear. And even when set, or in 

 the last stage of setting, the young fruit will frequently shrivel 

 from a hot sun and the dry atmosphere of a southern brick wall 

 extracting the juices of the tree faster than the roots — at that 

 juncture comparatively inactive — can supply the loss. A gentle 

 syringing of the trees under these circumstances often will and 

 has made all the difference between a full crop of fruit and a 

 scanty one. 



Strawberries can hardly be spoken of with anything much 

 beyond a guess. They are late. I shall not be surprised if 

 the trusses show weakly ; they often do under a dry air and a 

 long term of sunny days. As soon as the blooms show, a 

 good soaking of liquid manure would be of great benefit, espe- 

 cially to old plants, and if it could be made o" or 10" warmer 

 than the soil this would increase its usefulness and pay good 

 interest for any little extra trouble on that point. This 

 should be given before the blooms expand, and as soon as ever 

 the trusses can be clearly seen pushing out of the crowns. 

 From the best judgment I can form I am almost certain I shall 

 see a weakly blossoming, and rain or no rain I shall treat those 

 under my care with a dose of Uquid in full confidence of seeing 

 after-benefit. Much injury is frequently done to many things 

 by using stinging cold water from a well or spring just at 

 the time when the chief requisite is an increased root- 

 temperature. 



The promise of 1874 is attributable to the wet year of 1872 

 pushing old trees into a better growth than usual, giving them 

 more power to form fruit buds, and the dry autumn and winter 

 of 1873-4 maturing the wood and keeping the buds in a resting 

 state until a comparatively late period in the spring. This latter 

 condition has been very noticeable and a matter of surprise to 

 many. When we saw Roses, Daisies, and other things forget- 

 ting their season and blooming at Christmas, it made one 

 tremble lest the fruit blossom should awaken into life a month 

 before its time and be destroyed by the frosts of spring. But 

 while the winter has been one of the mUdest on record — the 

 general mean temperature for the five months, November to 

 March, being 40°, the mean night minimum during the whole 

 of this period exceeding ,34° — the fruit buds kindly continued 

 their slumbers for a longer time than usual. This sap rest, in 

 spite of an abnormally high winter temperature, is due to an 

 absence of wet. That deciduous trees and shrubs will rest 

 under a high temperature, providing it is dry, most gardeners 

 will have noticed in the matter of Vines, Eoses, &c. ; but intro- 

 duce a moist atmosphere, and imitate rain with the syringe, and 

 the sap is at once excited into action. We have had scarcely 

 any rain this winter, and the sap was still, in consequence, to 

 a later period in spring than is ordinarily the case under a 

 lower temperature. Referring to the rain register I find that 

 the five months named have this winter not averaged quite an 

 inch per mouth, the gross amount being only 4 94 inches. In 

 the same period last winter 11-72 inches were registered on 

 the same spot — a monthly average of 2-34 inches. With the 

 exception of an apology for a shower we have had no rain for 

 twenty days, and only 0-8C inch for forty days. Many a " king's 

 ransom " — if a peck of dust in March is worth one — has been 

 distributed over hedge and field, and a finer spring seed-time 



has never been known. To-day (April 8th) a nice shower has 

 fallen and more is coming. It is especially welcome to the farmer 

 and gardener alike. — J. Weight. 



THE HISTORY OP THE EOSE.— No. 3. 



AccoKDixG to Nicander, in his "Georgics," beautiful Roses 

 grew at a place called Themis, or Thetis ; and at Olenum, a 

 city of Aehaia, not far from Patrie, now called Patras. Next 

 to these places, Megara, Nisjea, Phasolis, and Tenedos were 

 celebrated for their Roses ; but the finest grew at Magnesia ad 

 Mfcandrum, a city of Lydia, now called by the Turks Gysel 

 Hisar, or the Beautiful Castle. One of the speakers in " Athe- 

 nffius " is made to say that what is related by ^lithlius Samius 

 in his work upon the singular occurrences which take place at 

 Samos — namely, that in that island Figs, Grapes, Apples, and 

 Roses are produced twice a-year, appears neither improbable 

 nor untrue. Cyrene, also, according to Pliny, was celebrated 

 for its Eoses ; and, according to Herodotus and Martial, Egypt 

 was also renowned for these flowers. Herodotus says that in 

 the gardens of Midas Roses grew spontaneously, and that some 

 had sixty flower-leaves, and were more fragrant than the rest. 



According to the Calendar of Natural Occurrences in Greece, 

 the Rose blossomed in March ; the Rosa graica, or Lychnis 

 coronaria, in May. In the Roman Calendar we find early 

 Roses were in blossom in April, and that in May they were 

 generally in flower. In Egypt, according to Theophrastus, 

 the Rose blossomed two months before it appeared in Italy, 

 and continued in flower for almost as long a time in the former 

 country after it had ceased blowing in Italy. In the latter 

 country it succeeded the blossoming of the Violet and the Lily. 



Among the ancients the Rose was employed as a medicinal 

 remedy ; at their festivals and sacred ceremonies ; and as an 

 article of luxury at their banquets. Of the medicinal uses of 

 the Rose frequent mention is made by Oribasius, Actuarius, 

 Marcellus, Myriscus, Celsus, Ac, together with many ancient 

 writers on pharmacy. The accounts afforded by these writers 

 are not sufficiently interesting to claim particular notice. 



In alluding to the more general uses of the Rose among the 

 Greeks and Romans, the employment of flowers generally 

 must in some degree be referred to ; but the Rose was un- 

 questionably the most esteemed of all flowers. 



By the Greeks and Romans flowers were frequently em- 

 ployed. It was usual for them to adorn the temples, altars, 

 and statues of their gods with them. (See Euripides: Hippo- 

 lytiis, Troadea, Helena, &c.) Wreaths of flowers were also 

 worn by those who were present at, or assisted in, the cele- 

 bration of sacred rites (Eurip. Iphiijenia in Aulide). They 

 were also offered to those divinities to whom they were con- 

 sidered most grateful. It was a Grecian custom, according to 

 Athenaius, to decorate the doorposts of houses where a maiden 

 about to become a bride resided. The dead were crowned 

 with flowers. It is still a custom in the Levant to strew 

 flowers on the bodies of the dead, and in the hands of young 

 persons to place a nosegay. Sophocles has represented Electra 

 and Orestes as repairing to their father's tomb to deck it with 

 garlands and honour it -with libations. The relatives of the 

 deceased wore garlands of Roses during the days of mourning, 

 as emblematical of the shortness of life, which passes as quickly 

 away as the beauty of those Roses would which formed the 

 mourner's crown. The tombs of the dead were decorated with 

 Roses, under the idea that they possessed the power of pro- 

 tecting the remains of the deceased, and were peculiarly ac- 

 ceptable as an offering to their manes. Other flowers besides 

 the Rose were selected as having a special fitness for these pur- 

 poses. The Greeks also used the Amaranthus, which is com- 

 monly regarded as the flower now known by the name of 

 " Everlasting." Parsley and Myrtle were also funereal plants. 

 But the Rose has been for ages the favourite flower for funereal 

 and all other purposes. 



Among the Romans all flowers of a purple or white colour 

 were regarded as grateful to the dead. They were so fond of 

 the Rose, that we find inscriptions which refer to legacies left 

 in their wills for the express purpose of providing Roses, -with 

 which their tombs were annually to be decorated. 



.... Donavit sub bac conditione, 

 Ut qnotannls Rosas ad moDomentum ejus deferant. 



(He bequeathed it on this condition, that annually Rosea 

 should be brought to his tomb.) 



(See Le Anlicluta d' Aquileja,(iia,ndozrLemao Bertoli : Venezia, 

 1739 : p. xix. ccxxxvii., &c.) 



