QUESTION DRAWER. 



sometimes useful in not only stimulat- 

 ing the plants but also, it is claimed, in 

 destroying the millipedes. 150 lbs. to 

 the acre is recommended. 



Jas. Fletcher. 

 Ottawa. 



A Choice List of Roses Wanted. 



IIOO. Sir, — I have been looking anx- 

 iously for that gilt edged list of really hardy 

 Hybrid Perpetual Roses that Mr. T. H. 

 Race of Mitchell promised in the Magazine 

 for December. Please jog to his memory as 

 I hope to add to my few roses in the fall, and 

 according to the catalogues they are all per- 

 fect. I have Gen. Jacqueminot, Mrs. John 

 Laing, Anne de Diesbach, and Margaret 

 Dickson ; also a white one, and Crimson 

 Rambler. I have room only for a few more, 

 so I want extra choice varieties, and they 

 must have perfume. Mrs. John Sharman 

 Crawford is exquisite, but is it hardy ? and 

 I could not detect much perfume. Alfred 

 Colomb is a lovely rose, and very sweet ; can 

 you tell me its faults 1 



M. E. B. 



Toronto. 



Would our rose fanciers give their 

 views in answer. At Maplehurst Alfred 

 Colomb is a special favorite with its 

 large fragrant carmine-crimson flow- 

 ers. A good hardy and fragrant rose is 

 Baron Provost. It is rose color, and a 

 free bloomer. Some other special 

 favorites with us are Gabriel Luizet, a 

 beautiful pink rose, of excellent form, a 

 free bloomer, and very fragrant ; Paul 

 Verdier, carmine red ; and Paul 

 Neyron, deep rose, and somewhat fra- 

 grant, the largest variety known. 



Mrs. Doctor Hoskins of Newport, 

 Vermont, who writes so lovingly of tier 

 floral treasures, sends us a note on 

 roses, which may well be published as 

 a partial answer to our Toronto corres- 

 pondent. She says : 



Where one has room for a bed of 

 hardy roses and knows little of the 

 properties of them, a suggestion may be 

 useful. A few like Marshal P. Wilder, 

 Capt. Christy, Mrs. John Laing, Mabel 

 Morrison, Gen. Jacqueminot, La 

 France and Vick's Caprice, make a 

 fine selection. Then a border of the 

 half hardy and quite hardy Polyantha, 

 which are constant bloomers and can 

 be protected by leaves and a little 

 light manure after freezing, are well 

 worth the care. The Dinsmore is an 

 acquisition in northern latitudes, and a 

 profuse bloomer ; also Ulrich Brunner. 

 The La France rose is sometimes a better 

 gift to a boy or girl than even a book. 

 I knew one boy that was hard to man- 

 age, and whose aunt made him the 

 present of this rose, and for love of 

 them he became one of the model 

 boys of the neighborhood. The hybrid 

 tea roses are half hardy but, given a 

 banking up of soil and oldjmanure well 

 mixed, they will stand almost any 

 northern winter. In teas, a good 

 choice is the three Souperts, which are 

 said to be hardy with slight pro- 

 tection. Marion Dingee, Sunset, Maria 

 Lambert, Inconstant, Princess Bonner, 

 Etoile de Lyn and Perle des Jardins, are 

 my favorites. 



Do without some unnecessary thing 

 you are accustomed to, and plant a bed 

 of these roses, and see if you have not 

 made a grand exchange. 



M. A. Hoskins. 



Newport, Ft. 



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