42 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( July 13, 1875. 



in Bummer. Much injury is done by this exposure. Tlae pots 

 in which plants are growing should at all times be shaded 

 when standing in the open air in the summer months, either 

 by plunging, placing one pot within the other, or by other 

 (iBoient means. The roots either of a plant or tree cannot 

 but be injured if the sun has full play on the earthenware pot 

 which contains them ; but preferable to painting is shading. 

 Painting may do no harm in the summer, but at some time 

 and with some plants clean-washed pota are certainly preferable 

 to those sealed against the admission of air. 



With plants growing to be shifted on, pots are preferable to 

 tubs; but with trees perfected, as Bays, Aloes, Palms, &a., to 

 which it is inconvenient to add more root-room, and where 

 the roots are extremely matted and all the water that can be 

 given is necessary, then stout wooden tubs are advantageous ; 

 they do not, by their comparative non-eonductibility,part with 

 moisture and admit heat as do pots, and hence their adoption 

 on the continental terraces. If these tubs are painted a light 

 colour to repel the sun's rays, instead of a dark one to absorb 

 them, they answer their purpose still better. But while plants 

 generally flonrieh best in earthenware pots, those which are 

 porous should not be exposed to the full sun — indeed very soft 

 pots are not the safest to use, and should never be used, when 

 new, without first being thoroughly soaked in water and then 

 permitted to dry. This is a little matter of considerable im- 

 portance, and should never be neglected. 



Smooth clay pots washed clean inside and out, and dried 

 before using, are the pots which I have found the most gene- 

 rally satisfactory in dealing with a mixed collection of plants, 

 and in keeping them in the best condition during the different 

 seasons of the year. That a plant may be seen occasionally 

 to iJourish in a dirty pot or a glazed pot is more due to the 

 surrounding circumstances being, what may be termed, locally 

 favourable than to any intrinsic merits of such pots. The 

 practice, I venture to say, of general cultivators is overwhelm- 

 ingly in favour of clean, well-finished earthenware pots as the 

 best for plants generally, and there is little fear of them losing 

 the position they have attained of being almost exclusively 

 used by the best cultivators of plants. — Ex-Exhibitok. 



CONCERNING EOSES. 



The first series of Roses here is now over. They began 

 blooming June 7th in the open ground. The blooms have 

 been abundant and magnificent. They are making new wood 

 plentifully for the next series. A gentleman who visited the 

 Crystal Palace Rose Show told my housekeeper in my absence 

 that the Roses there were a joke to them. I cannot, therefore, 

 thick that I am so ignorant on the subject of Roses as some 

 try to make out. 



If the reader will refer to page 486 he wUl see that I did 

 not recommend Madame C. Joigueaux as a fully expanded 

 Rose for button-hole purposes. Of course, it would be too big 

 for the purpose. My words were, "These should be in bud 

 form, or only partially expanded." On this mistake Mr. Peach 

 founds his merriment. Let us see the opinions of other 

 roearians who may be supposed to know something about it. I 

 refer to three Roses to which Mr. Peach has objected, or called 

 trash — namely. Abbe Bramerel, Maxime de la Rocheterie, and 

 Baron Chaurand, three Roses of choice and excellent colour. 

 Mr. W. Paul in his able work on Rose culture, page C7, names 

 AbV,6 Bramerel with other Roses of 1871, and adds. "These 

 have already taken a piece among our established favourites." 

 Of Barun Chaurand in his catalogue he thus speaks, " Velvety 

 scarlet, centre shaded with blackish purple, large — [It is not 

 large here. — W. F. R ] — full, and of finely cupped form, foliage 

 fine ; one of the best dark Roses ! The following is the opinion 

 and description of Mr. Van Houtte of Maxime de la Roche- 

 terie : — "Beautiful, velvety, blackish purple, large and full. 

 Splendid." If I have erred in respect of these three Roses I 

 have erred in good company. We must, however, make an 

 allowance for difTerenee of tastes. 



The following are good button-hole Roses in bud form before 

 expansion, and they are beautiful — Mme. La Baronne de 

 Rothschild, Mdlle. Eugenie Verdier, and Solfaterre. Probably 

 Bouton d'Or would be good for the purpose. I do not keep it. 

 Now a word about Madame Lacharme. I have just bloomed 

 six plants of it. It is very beautiful, but it soils in foul 

 weather, is flimey in its petals, and scentless. I recommend 

 it highly for pots under glass. It casts an abundance of single 

 blooms. Since Louise Magnau's time I think it is the best in 

 the white line, being slightly tinted. 



These are Cue Roses — Marquise de Castellane, one of the 

 finest of late years; Comtesse d'Oxford, and Etienne Levet. 

 The last is scentless. The next two are, at any rate, success- 

 ful garden Roses — Pierre Seletzski and Hoi tense Mignard. I 

 have had a lot of successful blooms, not one bad one, of Fire- 

 brand. Von Moltke is very beautiful. The plant, however, of 

 it is at present very weak. We cannot fully estimate Roses 

 till they are on strong stocks. The form of Fran<,'oia Michelon 

 is excellent, but my three plants of it do not grow well here. 

 Perhaps the winter injured them. St. George is about to 

 bloom and looks hopeful. We want more dark colours. The 

 crimsons and maroons look well in foul weather, and at all 

 times set off a rosery. We are sick of rose colours. 



Que word about cut-backs. I quite agree with what Mr. 

 Peach and Mr. Camm have said on that point. Some of the 

 Roses here that I have had for years reach 4 inches in diameter, 

 and some are more than that. Mr. Prince gave me Paul 

 Neron on his seedling Briar, its second year here. At 4 feet 

 from the ground the bloom measured 5J inches ! I am not a 

 great lover of very large Roses, but there is a coarse taste for 

 and love of "whoppers." This is specially the case with 

 garden commodities — Potatoes, Cabbages, Onions, Cucumbers, 

 Melons, Carrots, and Parsnips ! Most people's idea of a show 

 Rose is, that it is a " whopper." Let ns hope that a better 

 taste may arise. 



The most perfect Roses are the medium-sized varieties — viz., 

 Duchesse de Caylus, Mesdames Rivers and Vidot, Cecile de 

 Chabrillant, William Griffiths, Devoniensis, and Souvenir 

 d'Elise Vardon. I wish the Rose-raisers would produce a Rose 

 of the colour of the Austrian copper, or cross one of our yellow 

 Roses with it. 



I must now thank Mr. George Paul for three excellent Roses 

 — Lord Clyde, Princess Mary of Cambridge, and the Duke of 

 Edinburgh ; and I must thank Mr. WiUiam Paul for the follow- 

 ing excellent Roses — Lord Macaulay, Lady Suffield, and Fire- 

 brand, and trust that I shall find Queen of 'iValtham and Star of 

 Waltham as fine as their seductive portraits. — W. F. Radclyffe . 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE GREAT SHOW ON THE 2l8T. 



It is with great pleasure that we are in a position to 

 announce that, by way of showing their approval of the 

 changes that have recently taken place in the Council of 

 the Koyal Horticultural Society, the exhibitors at the 

 shows have combined to make gratuitously the Exhi- 

 bition that is to be held at South Kensington on the 2lBt 

 one of the finest the Society has ever held. Those who 

 have already signified their intention of co-operating are 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons, Mr. B. S. Williams, Messrs. J. & C. 

 Lee, Mr. Bull, Mr. Charles Turner, Mr. Standish, Messrs. 

 Osborn & Son, Mr. Wills, Mr. Cutbush, Mr. Laing, Messrs. 

 Paul & Son, Mr. Parker, Mr. W. Paul, Mr. Ley, Mr. Morse, 

 Mr. Wimsett, Mr. Barr, Mr. Burley, Mr. Harrow, gardener 

 to Mr. Bessemer ; Mr. Hudson, gardener to Mr. Im Tlmm ; 

 and we are told there are many others expected whose 

 names have not been received. 



la reference to this Mr. Turner writes — " Roses will 

 remain good fill the Slst, and I have no doubt you would 

 have a good show not for competition. The bloom will 

 be prolonged on account of the rains." It is to be hoped 

 that this will be the ease, for Roses would be a great 

 acquisition, and they have scarcely been seen at South 

 Kensington this year. 



No more graceful compliment could be paid to the 

 present Council, and nothing could more show that 

 Horticulture is not dead, but that there is a power in it 

 which only needs the opportunity to have it called forth. 

 Let the Council only have the arrangements favourably 

 completed with the Royal Commissioners, which is the 

 only delay at present, and there is nothing between the 

 Society and perfect success. 



Cereus oeandiflortis — I enclose you a photograph of one- 

 half of the Night-blooming Cereus which I gave an account 

 of on July 13th, 1871. It has just finished blooming this 

 year. It has had 295 flowers out. It had 108 open the night 

 we had it photographed, which I believe to be the greatest 

 number of flowers that was ever seen on any plant of th« 



