286 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ROSA RUGOSA. 



Prof. J. L. Budd, writing to the 

 Frairie Farmir^ says : — " Four years 

 ago, through tlie kindness of Prof. 

 Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretiim at 

 Boston, we received a small plant bear- 

 ing the above name. Two years after 

 I noted, in the College Quarin/y, the 

 beauty of its large, full, distinctive, 

 rose-colored flowers, followed by large, 

 peculiar-shaped, highly-colored and edi- 

 l)le fruit ; and spoke of the rare beauty, 

 through the season, of its profusion of 

 dark, rich green leaves, plicated as per- 

 fectly as those of the vibunmm plicatum. 

 In addition I then said that such a dis- 

 tinctive and peculiarly hardy species 

 should give I'ise — by seedling produc- 

 tion and crossing — to a family of vari- 

 eties of peculiar value to the West. At 

 that time I shared the common belief 

 that it came from Japan, and wondered 

 that its foliage should so perfectly en- 

 dure our hot, diy summers, and that 

 its wood should endure our test winters 

 quite as well as our wild species of the 

 rose. 



'■'■ Since that time I have had an op- 

 portunity for studying the trees and 

 plants of the great " East plain" of 

 Europe, and found the Rosa rugosa in 

 public and private collections in iSTorth- 

 easfc Austria, Poland and over Russia, 

 from the shores of the Baltic to points 

 east of the Volga, where the rainfall 

 does not exceed ten inches per annum. 

 Nor was it confined to the single red 

 form coming to us from Japan. The 

 varieties differed in size and shape of 

 the leaf, length and number of spines, 

 size of bush, and above all in the size, 

 color, and perfection of flower. The 

 varieties known as " Rosa rugosa flore 

 pleno " varied from half double to one 

 as perfectly double as our best perj^e- 

 tuals. 



At the botanical gardens on the Vol- 

 ga the opinion was expressed that the 

 species was indigenous to North Bok- 



hara, and the plains of Asia west of the 

 Altai ranges. However this may be, 

 it is, and has been for ages, a favorite 

 species on the East plain of Europe, 

 and we have the best reason for believ- 

 ing that its varieties will take leading 

 rank over our great plains in the near 

 future. I will only add that the inter- 

 minable prairies north of the Carpa- 

 thian Mountains, and the Caucasus in 

 Europe, have many varieties of the I'ose, 

 with thick coriaceous leaves, like the 

 rugosa, not known in this country, and 

 which do not seem to be known in 

 South Europe. 



RAISING EARLY POTATOES. 



Early in June, Dr. E. H. C. Goodvnn 

 left at our ofiice some beautiful speci- 

 mens of Beauty of Hebi-on Potatoes, 

 raised by him at Governor's Island, in 

 New York bay. They were of marketa- 

 ble size and condition, and, at this sea- 

 son, something so remarkable that we 

 were anxious to learn how they were 

 raised. To an inquiry, the doctor oblig- 

 ingly replies. 



" The Potatoes were planted in the 

 open ground on March 29th, the ther- 

 mometer between that date and April 

 1st falling as low as 25°. On April 8th 

 the glass of the cold-pits was covered 

 with ice, and the following day it 

 snowed. The sprouts became visible 

 above ground on April 1 6th, and on 

 the 21st all were well up. The first 

 digging was made on June 4th, and 

 others occasionally till June 10th, 

 with a total yield of over twenty bush- 

 els from a piece of ground fifty by 

 twenty-five feet. 



" Toward the end of February, I put 

 seed Potatoes in a shallow basket and 

 set them in a rather warm room (say 

 60"), with plenty of light. By the 

 time the ground can be worked they 

 have made short, thick, dark green 

 shoots, with rootlets showing. They 



