416 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 11, 1675. 



and, very cnrioutly, fifty-four, or a fraction over half that 

 number, were named as iu tlie best twelve, no less than nine 

 of these having only a solitary vote. 



One of the most valued contributors amongst the amateurs 

 has suggested that the election of newer Roses should be 

 confined to the three previous years. There is something to 

 be said for this proposal. I, with all deference, think there 

 U more to be said against it. The proposal will suit those 

 to whom money is no object, who will buy the highly-vaunted 

 candidates for Englith money, coute qui contc, and if they 

 turn out worthless dispatch them to make room for others. 

 Bat our Journal does not write for this class alone, but has 

 always striven to help those who looked at both sides of a 

 shilling before spending the same in Eose-flesh or otherwiee. 

 Now to these it is sometimes a matter of doubt whether it 

 may not pay better to have a newer Rose at 3s. rather than 

 two at Is. tid. Now the present election is a case iu point. 

 There is a recent introduction comparatively, Capitaine Christy, 

 an 1873 Rose, ruuning close up for the premiership, losing 

 it in fact only by " the skin of the thorns," the only teeth a 

 Rose has. Better still, there are two 1874 Roses, Perle des 

 Jardina and Marie Guillot, that are also instances — cases, in 

 fact, where an intending purchaser might decide to lay out 

 the larger sum on account of the position of these Roses ; 

 but this position could hardly be so manifest if only the last 

 three years were tak«n. Then, again, to me it adds consider- 

 ably to the interest of the election to mark how old friends 

 hold their ground. In this respect I think the election of 

 1873 as compared with the piesent offers marks both of 

 interest and utility. F^r example, in 1873 several Roses were 

 placed highly which are in this election wholly out of the 

 running — viz., President Thiers, No. 11; Lyonnaise, 13; 

 Madame Lef. Bernard, 1.5; and Andrij Dunand, 16. Now, 

 where are these Roses in 1875, when, be it remembered, we 

 have twenty-five Roses named iustead of twelve, as in 1873 ? 

 One alone appears iu the return, although forty-six Boses 

 are named instead of twenty-six ! and this Rose, Andre 

 Dnnand, has only four votes, Lyonnaise has only three votes, 

 and Thiers but two. What a fall is here ! These Roses 

 appear, in fact, to deteriorate. On the other hand some, as 

 Marie Van Houtte, Madame Hippolyte Jamain, and Belle 

 Lyonnaise, have greatly improved their position. Such com- 

 parisons I fancy have their value. 



In the election of 1873 I ventured to remark that Frangois 

 Michelon would probably run Etienne Levet very closely for 

 the premiership of their year. They have now an equality of 

 votes, the latter having slightly the better class of votes. 

 Catherine Meimet, too, though standing well in 1873, has very 

 deservedly risen ; few Roses are more lovely, and she enjoys a 

 hardier character than many of her class. Of Madame La- 

 charme, for and against whom so much has been said, the 

 verdict is favourable, two-thirds of the voters naming her, but 

 mostly in the second division. Under glass there is no doubt 

 that she can be beautiful, but in the open she can be coy in 

 exposing her charms. 



1 hope in a fortnight's time to publish the result of the 

 Eoses as tried by the noses ; meanwhile I desire to express 

 my grateful thanks to all those who have kindly contributed 

 to make the present return of any value by sending in voting 

 papers. Without them the election would indeed be null and 

 void.— JosEi'ii HiNTON, Warminster. 



kindly give us the results of her experience, as, if she does 

 succeed, her experience would be of benefit to others similarly 

 situated. — James Faieweathee, Halston, Ostvcstry. 



EASPBEKBY CULTUEE. 



With reference to the difficulties of "A L.iDY Gaedeser" 

 in growing Raspberries, I would advise her to have the ground 

 where she is intending to grow her plants well trenched, and 

 after all is in readiness and the ground not too wet, have pits 

 taken out where the plants are to be placed sufficiently large 

 to hold one good bairowful of thoroughly decayed vegetable 

 refuse, and incorporate it well with the soil before planting, 

 and to fork-in a liberal dressing of the same material every 

 year round the roots and all over the ground. If she adopts 

 this simple mode of treatment I think she will succeed. 

 ;; I have seen the strongest canes and the best fruit I ever saw 

 picked from plantations thus treated, and where every other 

 kind of dressing had been tried and failed to produce satis- 

 factory results. I invariably adopt this mode of cultivating 

 the Raspberry, and I have not yet had any cause to change 

 my practice. I have, however, not had the opportunity of 

 of fleeing it tried in town gardens. 



If "A Lady Gabdeneb" should try the plan she might 



SOIL AND CLIIMATE IN RELATION TO PRACTICE. 



I AM not unactjuainted (see page 355) with the use of burnt 

 clay, charcoal, charred rubbish, &a., having very early in my 

 gardening career seen the benefits arising from their free use. 

 This will be understood when I say that I received my first 

 horticultural lessons at Shrubland, where Donald Beaton kept 

 a man continually burning clay for the use of the gardens, and 

 where he left on his retirement a legacy of some thousands of 

 tons of it for the use of hia successors. Although I had not 

 the advantage of actually working under the directions of the 

 good old man I was well acquainted with him, and commenced 

 my employment in the gardens a few weeks after he left. 



Now, to show that I have not forgotten my early lessons, I 

 may say that if I do not use much burnt clay for reasons which 

 I will presently explain, I use what is preferable iu many ways 

 — wood charcoal in large quantities. 



For planting fruit trees, and also for growing plants of all 

 sorts in pots, it is almost the only thing used for keeping the 

 soil sweet and open. I have not iised a ton of sand in six 

 years. Hard burnt clay would also keep the soil sweet and 

 open — I mean clay which was not smother-burnt, for very stiff 

 clay cannot be burnt in that way. But charcoal does more 

 than this. The plants have actually the power of dissolving 

 and feeding on it, it therefore enriches the soil; most other 

 things used for keeping it open impoverish it. 



Rubbish of all sorts smother-burnt is invaluable for garden 

 purposes, and advantage should always be taken when burning 

 rubbish of any kind, after getting a good body of fire, to cover 

 it up with soil and leave it to smoulder away without a great 

 quantity of air reaching the fire. All this I have known and 

 practised for a long time, and I thought I knew all about it as 

 well as a good deal about drainage ; but since I have been here 

 I have found out that I do not know all about it yet. 



Not all clays can be burned profitably. I had one experi- 

 ment on rather a large scale. A quantity of drainage was 

 wanted for fruit borders ; stones and bricks were not forth- 

 coming in sufficient quantities, and I determined to burn clay 

 for the purpose. I had it burned and it made excellent drain- 

 age, and also provided me with many tons of small stuff for 

 mixing with the heavy soil. Well, I dare not tell the cost of 

 the experiment. I had an old practised hand to do the job 

 who had done a good deal of the same sort of burning on rail- 

 ways. Both wood and small coals were used for fuel, as we 

 could not keep the fire alight with wood alone ; and I will let 

 out this much of the secret, that on reckoning up costs I found 

 it would have been quite as cheap to have used the black 

 diamonds themselves for the drainage and saved the trouble of 

 carting the clay about. Let not this, however, prevent others 

 from burning clay, for it can be burned both easily and profit- 

 ably if it is not of too tenacious a nature. If I am obliged to 

 burn any more here I shall take a lesson from the brickmakers 

 and have my material cut and dried, and then piled up so that 

 air can circulate between it, for certainly it cannot easily get 

 into it. My surface soil which has been worked and arrated 

 for generations would of course burn ; but its quantity already 

 is much too limited, and to burn it would be taking a lesson 

 from the very learned man who a few months ago was advising 

 people to burn all their manure before spreading it on the 

 ground ! I wonder if he ever tried the experiment of living 

 on calcined beef. 



Mr. Luckhurst would like to know what has been done and 

 what is intended to be done to ameliorate the crudity of my 

 soil. I will endeavour to explain. The garden is well drained 

 all over, and it has a very sharp slope, so that there is no 

 difficulty in getting rid of the water. Well, then, all borders 

 for wall trees are dug out their full width — 12 to 15 feet, down 

 to the hard bottom, which is not far to seek. This is made 

 to slope sharply to the front, where there is a drain tile lowered 

 a few inches into the clay and connected with the main drains. 

 The hard bottom of the border is then entirely covered with 

 stones, clinkers, bricks, Ac, at least 5 inches in depth; for 

 Peaches it is 10 or 12 inches. Turf is placed on the drainage 

 to protect it, and then soil to the depth of about 2 feet. This 

 raises the border on the side near the wall a foot or 18 inches 

 above the surrounding ground. 



Of course the trees are not planted in the stiff clay to which 

 I have alluded. The soil used is such as would grow Peaches 



