February 14, 1895] 



NA TURK 



36: 



being devoted to such matters as soil, manure, planting, 

 pruning, propagating, and exhibiting. For the cultivator 

 the book covers all the ground, and Mr. Melliar's in- 

 structions arc as clear, as thorough, and as trustworthy 

 .13 any budding " Rosarian " could desire. There are 

 already plenty of books about the rose, of which as miich 

 as this can be said, but there is still room for Mr. Melliar's. 

 Me writes mainly for the amateur grower of roses, and 

 strongly recommends his hobby to the country parsons 

 who are, he says, "all so poor, and likely to be poorer 

 still." The delights of the rose-grower are only ex- 

 perienced when he himself does all the work entailed in 

 tlie production of plants from cuttings, buds or seeds, to 

 the exhibition flowers. The genuineness of Mr. Melliar's 

 love for his hobby is seen in the following extract from 

 his book : — 



" But if it was you alone who had found, chosen, and 

 grubbed out the [briar] stock from the hedge, or cut, 

 prepared, planted, and transplanted the briar or manetti 

 ■ utting if no hand but yours had budded it, cared for 

 It in all stages, and finally cut and shown the Rose— then, 

 when perchance it is declared on all hands to be the 

 finest specimen of the variety ever shown, it must be an 

 ulditional pleasure to know that it is your Rose indeed, 

 lor that, a^ far as all human aid is concerned, you made 

 It yoursell." 



If the bink has a fault, it is to be found in this treating 

 if the rose solely as a flower to be set on a tray at an 

 fshibition and win a prize. Mr. Melliar has something 

 of the narrowness of view of the old florist, for he sees 

 little beauty in roses which are not likely to win prizes. 

 He devotes thirty pages to instructions on exhibiting the 

 flowers. This chapter is interesting as showing how 

 much care and self-sacrifice are necessary to success in 

 the exhibition tent, the paper covers to protect the buds 

 from rain, wind, and sun, and the precautions necessary 

 even when the flowers are ready to pack in their prepared 

 mossy beds in boxes. In one very dry season, he says, 

 his mossed boxes had been kept in the shade and duly 

 watered, with the result that two huge slugs, each as big 

 as his thumb, concealed themselves in the moss, and 

 during the journey to the Crystal Palace regaled them- 

 selves on the roses ! 



Mr. Melliar speaks of several varieties of rose that 

 show deterioration since they were first introduced, or 

 " sent out," as the raisers express it. These fine varieties 

 of rose are always propagated from grafts or cuttings, 

 and deterioration is therefore unlikely. The same state- 

 ment has been made with regard to apples, pears, and 

 other fruits, which are multiplied in the same way as 

 roses, but they have never been substantiated. 



Until within the last thirty years or so, all the best 

 garden n ses were raised by continental growers, the 

 belief being t'lat they could not be produced in England. 

 The same belief prevailed until recently with regard to 

 chrysanthemums. It is therefore a pleasant suriirise to 

 see that of the 144 varieties of the Hybrid Perpetual 

 section of roses, selected by Mr. Melliar as the choicest 

 and best, no less than sixty of them were raised in 

 England, ar.d that the two best H.P. roses known, viz. 

 " Her Majesty " and "Mrs. J. Laing," were raised by the 

 ate Mr. Bennett in Surrey. To these I would add a third, 

 namely, " Grace Darling," also raised by Mr. Bennett, and 

 NO. 1 pO, VOL. 51] 



which, although not an exhibition rose, is yet one of the 

 most beautiful of all in the garden. Its only rival is 

 " Gloire de Dijon,'' raised in France forty years ago, and 

 of which Dean Hole, prince of rosarians said, " Were I 

 condemned to have but one rose for the rest of my life 

 I should ask, before leaving the dock, to be presented 

 with a strong plant of ' Gloire dc Dijon.' '' 



A book which deals chiefly with exhibition roses can 

 scarcely be considered to justify its title, " The Book of 

 the Rose," because to all but a very small section of 

 gardeners the rose appeals with greatest force when 

 seen as a naturally grown bush in the garden. The close 

 pruning and other rigorous methods of the grower- 

 exhibitor are suggestive of ear-cropping for dogs, and 

 comb-cutting for cocks, disfiguring, for a special purpose, 

 otherwise beautiful objects. Mr. Melliar has very little 

 to say for the many beautiful single-flowered roses which 

 are now coming rapidly into favour with gardeners, and 

 whose flowers are often as lovely as the highest floral 

 art could wish. Many of the perfect exhibition roses 

 are just about as attractive in form and colour as a red- 

 cabbage. The hybrids raised by Lord Penzance from 

 the sweetbriar crossed with garden roses, are exceedingly 

 beautiful, so too are the forms of the Japanese Rosa 

 rugosa, A', viultiflora, li. bracteata, R. indica, &c. 



It is becoming a too common practice amongst 

 professional gardeners to set about crossing beautiful 

 species of plants, roses included, with a view to 

 doubling or otherwise altering the form, or " im- 

 proving " the colour of the flowers, to satisfy some 

 absurd ideal, the consequence often being a con- 

 siderable loss from the point of view of true art. 

 We owe the garden roses of the present time to the 

 breeders of florists' flowers, and are duly thankful. At the 

 same time we would prefer to keep the best of the single- 

 flowered roses just as they are. Mr. Melliar does not 

 agree with those who look upon the rose as a decorative 

 plant for the garden, but only as a means whereby he 

 may obtain glorious roses. For me, the best tray of 

 exhibition roses ever produced has infinitely less charm 

 than a bed of yellow Banksian roses, or even a tangled 

 mass of sweetbriar when covered with flowers. How- 

 ever, Mr. Melliar's book will teach any one how to grow 

 good rose flowers, and there are thousands who would 

 find pleasure in rose-growing by reading and following 

 his directions. W. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Vlndustrie des Araneina. By Woldemar Wagner. 



(.St. Petersbourg : L'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 



1894.) 

 This work may be divided into two sections: (i) the 

 desciipiiiins of the cocoons, nests, &c., of the commoner 

 kind> of Russian spiders ; and (2) the conclusions re- 

 specting the evoluti(m of instincts and the classification 

 of the species, to be drawn (roni the data thus established. 



Wa>;ner recognises four kinds of silken structures — 

 namely, the snare, the retreat, the nest, and the cocoon. 

 About the first of these but little is said. The remaining 

 three, however, are discussed in considerable detail, and 

 to the question as to whether these structures are of 

 great :axonomic value, M. Wagner gives an unhesitating 

 and most positive affirmative reply. It is unfortunately 

 impossible within the liriiits of a short notice to criticise 



