396 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULT0BE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ November 4, 1876, 



of Broccoli will work on that principle as being the most 

 rational, cfrtain, and profitable. 



Mr. Luckhnrst baa alBo mentioned the benefit of Burface- 

 manuriug when applied to the Vine border. I can also speak 

 nneqnivocally in favour of the practice. Other growers can, 

 and some do, grow good crops of Grapes without it, bnt I 

 cannot. I can with it, and I regard it as ujy most effective 

 aid in the production of heavy crops of fruit. Further than 

 that, I have had the privilege of seeing the works of better 

 growers than myself, and I have noticed that the best of them 

 are decidedly in favour of rich surface-dressings. 



My plain remarks have run to a greater length than I had 

 intended, but possibly the incidents of practice which I have 

 mentioned may stimulate others to adopt the same practice — 

 that is, if they have failed with any crops before, and they 

 fancy their failure is attributable to excessive digging and 

 undue exposure of the suiface of the soil, and especially in dry 

 weather. 



In penning these lines I wish to say that I am no enthusiast. 

 If, without the practice here narrated the results are satis- 

 factory I advise no change ; it is only when an old plan fails 

 that I suggest the trial of a new one. — Eadical Conseetative. 



THE EOSE SEASON OF 1675. 



A RETROSPECT. 



Taking it altogether I do not remember a more disappointing 

 Beason than that which we have just passed through. The bright 

 prospects of the early part of the year were all dimmed by the 

 dry May and June, and the wet weather at the end of June, 

 and the terrible July ! How (I speak of Kent) lovely our 

 meadows looked in March, with a prospect of a fine hay crop ! 

 But then came weeks and weeks of dry parching wind, and 

 hay is now double the price it was last year. Our Wheat and 

 other cereals were most promising, but the ungenial weather 

 ruined our prospects, and Wheat was rarely ever worse in 

 quality or quantity than about us. Our orchards were a mass 

 of beauty, Cherry trees were especially laden with frnit ; but 

 the wet of July caused them to split and crack so that they were 

 not worth gathering, and rotted in quantities on the trees ; and 

 lastly, the great crop of our county (Hops) was at one time a 

 Tery picture of beauty, but hundreds of acres have never been 

 picked, so completely had they gone off ; and if there be ex- 

 ceptions to the general failure it is in Nuts, Apples, and the 

 " Turmits" and green crops generally. 



Turning to our gardens, there has been much the same story 

 to tell. It was not until the latter part of August that bedding- 

 out was really effective ; our small fruits suffered terribly with 

 the wet of the latter end of June and July, and the same 

 causes militated against the Koses. A fair promise was nipped 

 in the bud, and Rose-growers had to mourn over hundreds of 

 blooms which never opened, but were gummed together by the 

 rain, and hence what at one time we were inclined to look 

 upon as the finest Rose season we should have had for some 

 years came at last to be, as in other things, a comparative 

 failure. I say comparative — doubtless we all had fine Roses, 

 but we had also a bloom which lasted but a short time, and 

 which was much diminished in quantity by the rain. 



I had the opportunity as judge of visiting most of the great 

 Rose shows, beginning at Exeter on the 18th of June. I was 

 at the Alexandra Park, Crystal Palace, Wisbeaoh, Spalding, 

 Tonbridge Wells, and Chipping Norton, and the autumn shows 

 of the Metropolitan Floral Society and Stamford. I could not 

 (and, indeed, should not have cared to) go to Birmingham, I 

 was not at Nottingham or Hereford ; but with these exceptions 

 I have, it will be seen, been present at most of the Rose tourna- 

 ments of the season, and should like to record a few things 

 which have struck me as worthy of note. 



In the first place I would gladly record the great and in- 

 creasing interest taken in the Rose. It is not merely that one 

 finds the giants of the ring entering into the contest with 

 keenness and ardour, but that the number of those who are 

 "putting on the gloves" is yearly increasing. Some are 

 coming to the front at what we may call our great national 

 exhibitions, while at the provincial shows amateurs exhibit in 

 a manner which some years ago would never have been dreamt 

 of, and in a way which would make them formidable opponents 

 in a more extended field ; while the observations made by 

 bystanders clearly fhow that it is with no idle meaningless 

 curiosity they scan the stands and take their notes, but with 

 an intelligent interest and desire to increase their already 

 promising collections, and this is, of itself, sufficient to show 



the value of our exhibitions. They afford a meeting-place for 

 those interested in the queen of flowers, and hundreds of 

 orders go to growers which but for these exhibitions would 

 never have been sent, and it is for this reason I deplore that 

 the Royal Horticultural Society has abandoned its Rose show 

 for 1870. 



In the next place I think the past season has been singularly 

 barren in the production of any new Roses of great merit. A 

 few have come to the front, but only a few ; and when one 

 surveys the long list of French Roses with their magnificent 

 promises and their tmall performance, one cannot but be 

 struck with the great contrast. 



MacUmoisclle Marie Cointet as exhibited at the Crystal Palaoa 

 by Mr. Bennett of Salisbury was indeed a grand Rose ; the 

 brilliancy of colour — a deep carmine pink, its size, and apparent 

 constancy were qualities which, if it be a good grower, promises 

 fairly to make it a favourite Rose. Like others it has been 

 missed in the great rank of foreign Roses ; but now it will 

 doubtless be found in all collections and in most of the stands 

 of next year's shows. 



Miidajne Lacliarme. — I was rated soundly for praising thia 

 Rose, yet who that saw the stands of it exhibited at the Alex- 

 andra Park and Crystal Palace could refuse to assign to it a. 

 high place? Let it be borne in mind, too, that this was an 

 exceptionally bad season for light Rjses. As its habit of 

 growth is so very dense it is better to cut out some of the 

 shoots, leaving three or four only on each plant, and by this 

 finer and better blooms will be produced. 



Cajiitaine Cliristy, heralded as a fine Rose, has not been up 

 to the mark, and I have seen but very few good blooms of it ; 

 but, again, the season has had something to say to it, for 

 Mons. Noman and such-like Roses have not been at all good. 

 The habit of the plant is good. 



There are many other French Roses, such as Antoine 

 Mouton, Comtesse de Serenye, Ingenieur Madi'le, &c., of which 

 much has been said, but they have not been brought to the 

 exhibition-table in such form as to enable one to say much 

 about them. 



I now come to English-raised Roses, of which several have 

 been exhibited in fine condition. 



Duchess of Edinburgh (Bennett). — This has shared the same' 

 fate as most flowers of the same colour — pale pink with darker 

 centre, and I have hardly seen one bloom in condition. I had 

 one plant of it in my own garden, but its blooms were unable 

 to open themselves on account of the wet. 



Duchess of Edinhurgli (Veitch). — Not, I believe, an English- 

 raised Rose, though sent out by an EngUsh firm. It was said 

 to be a Tea, but I fail to see in it anything more than a China % 

 and it is, as far as I can judge, simply an improved Cramoisie 

 Supurieure. 



Sir Garnet Wolseley (Cranston). — I have seen some very 

 grand blooms of this product of the King's Acre Nurseries. It 

 is large, of good form and colour ; and as the habit is vigorous 

 it will be, I have no doubt, a favourite. 



The Shah (Paul & Son).— A clear bright red, beautiful in 

 form, not very large, and suitable for the front row in an 

 exhibition stand. 



Wilson Saunders (Paul & Son). — A very vivid crimson rose. 

 Petals very large, shape good, habit vigorous, and altogether a 

 Rose that will well maintain the reputation of this old-esta- 

 blished Rose firm. 



liev. J. B. HI. Camm (Turner).— Quite a novelty. Wonderful 

 shell-like form and beautifully imbricated ; remarkable, too, 

 as being one of the most delicately scented Roses that we have 

 — quite the perfume of the old Cabbage. 



Letty Coles (Keynes). — This is a very beautiful Tea Rose, 

 a pink Mademoiselle Willermoz, retaining the form and sub- 

 stance of that fine flower, but of a beautiful bright pink 

 colour. 



The third matter that struck me was the great superiority 

 of the seedling Briar as a stock for late exhibition Roses. 

 Whatever may be the opinion entertained as to its merits for 

 Roses in the height of the season, I have no hesitation in 

 saying that nowhere have I seen such Roses as it produces for 

 autumnal blooms. One fact is worth a hundred arguments j 

 and when I was urging on one of our largest exhibitors to 

 exhibit Roses at the Metropolitan Floral Society's show on 

 August 21th, his reply was, " Mine are all over, and Prince is 

 sure to be then in great force." Those who intend to compete 

 at autumnal shows would do well to have a supply of Roses 

 budded on this stock. 



My paper has run to my usual length, and I must therefore 



